Hrm…I’m sure this won’t fit with the teachings of the church and perhaps my beliefs should not be considered for comfort but for caution.
I have agonized over whether or not I would go to Hell since I was a small child and the fear consumed me many times. So it’s certainly possible I have rationalized this as a defense mechanism.
I have trouble believing that there could be a Hell, or that God could send any of us there. I know what is written and I am scared, but if God is a perfect being and we were made in his image and he is love and hate and all other things and I am an imperfect imitation…then I don’t see how he could condemn anyone to eternal suffering when an imperfect imitation such I could not do that to anyone. It just doesn’t seem logical to me.
Welcome to CAF, MH:
You’re no doubt reading quite a few posts that are not especially helpful of your particular position. Actually, you shouldn’t get any posts helpful to your position. Hell would not be a thing, or a place, so to speak, had it not been mentioned as many times as it was - and by Jesus - in Scripture. That said, Hell must be
real. However, no human being, nor the Church, has ever said that someone was in hell. But, we know how to get there, don’t we?
Hell is essentially where God is not. Think of a situation, in your life, when another person dissed you. Well, if you were merely an acquaintance of that person, you probably reacted by allowing yourself to remain distant from that person. On the other hand, perhaps it was you who dissed another, and found that that person reciprocated in kind, and steered clear of you. Do we expect God to be any different? If a soul prefers not to be with God, why should God force him/her to come with Him?
God gives us plenty of opportunities to want to become friends with Him. We were given only two primary commandments - promulgated essentially as one commandment: love your Creator with all of your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself. This is not an “either or.” If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will find that you love God too. If you love God, you will find that you love your neighbor as yourself.
Read some of the posts by non-theists. They don’t even
sound like they love any of us, or anyone else that might come across their diatribes, do they? So, how can they love God? These are the essential two commandments, to be taken as one. Not hard to do, are they? If one loves one’s neighbor as himself - and, hence, God too - then one gradually, but quickly, ceases and desists the commissions of sins, both venial and mortal. Also, one of the conditions of a sin being a mortal sin, is that we unconditionally know it to be mortal.
Do we go through parts of our lives when we do not realize that an action is sinful? I’m sure we do. Should we work to discern what Christ considers sinful? No doubt. As one gets older, our views open up, become wider. As they do, our awarenesses of what is sinful increases. By adulthood, we should be relatively well aware of what is sinful. Another sinful problem for earthlings is to be so arrogant that we embrace a selfishness that inclines us to alter God’s Words to our own predilective words. That’s not expressive of love for Him, is it?
Perhaps God has been represented to me incorrectly as the epitome of unconditional love and forgiveness, but I find myself believing that he must be so.
He is. IF YOU WISH IT. All of us are imperfect. All of us, from time to time, sin. Remember the sin; confess the sin, and try to keep from repeating the sin.
If I could not condemn anyone for anything no matter how grave the offense, I don’t see how God could.
It’s not up to you. God has explicated to us who He is and what he’d like us to do. Volunteer at Church. Become a sacristan, or a Lector, or an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister. Unless there are only a very few members of your Church, they will more than likely be very happy for your service. You’ll find yourself in proximity with people of faith, which helps one learn what one ought to do.
Even if my view is correct, that doesn’t mean it should be taken for granted. The most reassuring thing my mother ever told me when I was a girl was that even if I was an axe murderer she would still love me. That was very profound for a girl of an age represented by a single digit. I don’t abuse my mothers love, even though I know it is unconditional, and I don’t abuse the Lord’s love. I mean, I am sure I offend both at times, but I don’t take it for granted.
God loved Lucifer, and may still love him. No one on earth knows for sure. But, Lucifer (Satan) opted to be separated from God’s Holy Vision, and so, God made it so.
I know this isn’t what the Church teaches and I do fear Hell and if it does exist than I pray for the release of all those within and that nothing should ever suffer eternally. It brings me to tears even now typing this to think that right now anyone could be suffering their own eternity in Hell. It’s almost too formidable to bare.
As it should. But, souls are not imprisoned in Hell by God. It is said, that Hell is the only prison where the doors are locked from the inside.
If going to Hell is a statistical sort of thing then I imagine I could be going there, but I do believe it is written somewhere that it is not my place to judge, even myself. I pray we all go to Heaven and that we can all be with God, I pray for that most of all; for us to all be together with the Father.
Well, it’s not a “statistical sort of thing,” but it is certainly a thing that people often, it seems, prefer. Your example of sadness for those who are there, even by their own choosing, is helpful to many who are on the fence.
God bless,
jd
I know this isn’t what the Church teaches and I do fear Hell and if it does exist than I pray for the release of all those within and that nothing should ever suffer eternally. It brings me to tears even now typing this to think that right now anyone could be suffering their own eternity in Hell. It’s almost too formidable to bare.Even when we choose not to believe in him or choose to rebel against Him, His love for us never changes. In the end it is our choice whether we want to love Him or be separated from Him and he honors our own wishes. Not loving us is never His choice, only ours.