Death Is Not the End

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The title of this thread comes from a short story by David Foster Wallace, in which the narrator is eventually revealed to have committed suicide, and is telling the story from an afterlife of sorts. The narrator alludes to how, after death, he was able to look back on his life and understand it, and understand better the people he loved and the people he hurt.

In a roundabout way, this got me thinking: why should death be the end? Not in the conventional sense of an afterlife, but why should death mark the point at which we are judged, and at which we go to hell, purgatory, or heaven? When a person is sent to hell, the Catholic Church teaches it to be permanent; why is this so? I find it difficult to believe that a person is suddenly forever set in their ways once they’ve died. Why should a biological event be so important for the destination of the soul?

And why should a person, consigned to hell, be there for eternity? The Catholic Church seems to teach that the person has essentially decided to be there; why does death make this decision permanent? As far as I know, the Church teaches that no living person is beyond repentance/acceptance of God/etc. Why is the afterlife any different?
 
AidanM32 said:
If God forgives why is there a hell?
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I assume this is where free will comes in. Hell is separation from God, and a person can choose that separation. That’s why Hell would exist. However, I don’t see why that separation must be permanent. If free will exists, why wouldn’t a person be able to change their mind in the afterlife, and move toward God [and thus “leave” Hell]?
 
Hell was revealed to us by God first, not the church…

it is not about whether or not God will forgive them, God forgives you as long as you are sorry, and that is the problem…so many cling to their evil ways, even after death, and literally say no to heaven and yes to hell…they do not want forgiveness, they do not want to be with God, they hate God even when they die, they were separated from God on earth, and choose to remain that way for eternity,
of course we do not know how God judges each individual person, perhaps many are forgiven after death, but we do not know, and God does not want us to assume such a thing, because then we may become lax in our religion and virtues and our loyalty to Him…

i think the problem here is…you are forgetting your purpose in life, what you were created for, and who is the most important,
you were created to know, love, and serve God in this life, so you can be happy *with Him *in the next, there should be nothing else of interest to you, to think you have some higher purpose or some other spiritual journey that only you can accomplish is really only pride, God can do all things, He does not need you for anything more then to love Him and spread His love…of course we all have our own unique road in life, and God will use us even when we deter from the road that is best for us, “God draws straight on crooked lines” as we are told…
we only choose hell when we choose the world and turn from God, we choose it when we do bad things knowingly and do not care, and we choose it when we choose ourselves over God and others…

maybe these articles on hell will help you -
gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=14178473
i’m not trying to scare you by showing you these stories, but i simply want you to see how and why people choose hell, and how they are able to have their hate for all eternity without any hope whatsoever(for example, read the “letter from a soul in hell”),
and the various ways in which we let ourselves become fooled by the devil and how we could have taken precautions if we had only listened to those who tried to warn and help us.

and lastly i would like to add, that as a catholic, you should want nothing more, even here on earth, then to be with God and enjoy His love for all eternity, to want anything else is an insult to God, and really there is nothing that could compare with God, all is His creation is only a mirror of His beauty, which only pales in comparison, like pebbles compared to diamonds, or bricks compared to gold, of course you would choose the diamond and gold right? and even then those are such poor comparisons to what creation is compared to God…the love of God is so great and more enjoyable then anything you can imagine, and i really feel like i could never explain this enough…i am really disappointed with my own explanations, God is so much more…He is everything,
if you want to find God and know His love, simply spend time alone with Him every day, talk to Him about anything, He hears you and listens, and He is even more present in the tabernacle, especially during Eucharistic adoration…

well i guess i’ve said more then enough, i hope this helps you, tc.
 
One of the ways the devil wreaks havoc on people is to convince them that there is no hell. This kind of subtle deception is so prevalent. Let us pray hard and abide by the teachings of Christ and His Church that we do not fall victim by this temptation.
 
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