Do you ever think about this?

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Many Catholics today do not believe in Hell. Even many believing Catholics tend to steer clear of the topic. I do believe in the existence of Hell, and I see clearly the works of Satan upon this earth.

Have you ever thought about just how many people will go to hell- people that you know, family members, friends? The sheer numbers.

There are around 1.2 billion Catholics in the world. I cant say how many are faithful or who will die in a state of Grace. But think of that- if the world was to end this second, how many people in the world right now would go to Hell. And that doesnt even count the numbers in the past.

I once tried to imagine Hell., the unimaginable. Horror, pain, death for all eternity (all time, can you even imagine that,eternity?) I scared myself just thinking of it.

I cant help but feel some amount of anguish for all the souls who will go to Hell. Maybe even me. How can our culture toss this thought aside and make grave sin a fact of life? I cannot even begin to think… 😦
 
Think of this,

There are about 6.5 billion people in the world.

Of that about 2 billion are Christian, with around 1.2 billion as Catholics.

Now, of those 1.2 billion Catholics my optimistic guess (at the current state of affairs) is that around a third are faithful, practicing Catholics.

So, that leaves about 400,000,000 people, out of 6.5 billion. In our age of technology and communication, not many can claim ignorance of Christ.

So that leaves around 6.1 billion for Hell. That is 6,100,000,000 people. That is, if the world ended this second.

Isnt anyone else scared by that? Horrified by that?
 
I know that Hell exists, but I try to live my life, not trying to avoid hell, but to love God, so I don’t think about it too much. As for my family members, friends and others, all we can do is try to show them the truth and the light, and pray to God to have mercy on their souls after they die. In heaven we won’t be sad if someone didn’t make it, because we will see God’s justice for what it is and rejoice in that.
 
Caesar said:
Have you ever thought about just how many people will go to hell- people that you know, family members, friends? The sheer numbers.

There are
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not my problem,
my concern is getting myself to heaven, and guiding those for whom I have been given responsibility, esp. my children. I assume that the average good Christian person, or the non-Christian who does their best to live by the moral code they have been taught, will probably end up in heaven, but I am not so confident about myself. To spend time speculating about the fate of anyone else, esp. about people I know could very well lead me into sins such as pride and presumption so I avoid such random thoughts.
 
Never think of Hell :nope: nor the fact that Hell is the destination for those who sin at all :nope: even though we begin each Mass, and indeed spend much of the rest of each Mass, begging mercy from God :bowdown2: for our individual and collective sins - which otherwise would send us there :bigyikes:

(OK, I think I’ll stop channeling the spirit of Zooey now :yup: )

Not to mention my daily exam of conscience and Confiteor or Act of Contrition and my biweekly or weekly confession - mortal sin or no.

In all seriousness of course I reflect on Hell - but to do so too often can lead one to despair of salvation, which is in itself a sin.
 
Yes, I think about this. I know that it’s something that I cannot avoid without the help of God, so I have to constantly depend on His Mercy.

When I think about the lives of others, I have to admit that my own life is far less holy than theirs. My unceasing prayer is to follow the Will of God.
 
Caesar said:
I once tried to imagine Hell., the unimaginable. Horror, pain, death for all eternity (all time, can you even imagine that,eternity?)
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Some folks think about it a wee bit too long and decide it is too awful to exist. Other folks get tempted to think it isn’t quite as bad as advertised. For me, I escape those horns by avoiding thinking about it much. I assume the real solution is to have more faith, hope, and love, perhaps stirred up by contemplating our Saviour on the cross. That, and to pray for our relatives, friends, fellow man.
 
First of all Matthew 7:14 says:

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Secondly-

I really don’t think we should say this person or that person is going to hell because of x, y, or z that they’ve done. We need to keep our own noses clean and live out our lives as servants to each other and in love as Jesus taught us.

I think hell exists, but it is not a big sulphury place, rather isolation from God. You can isolate yourself from God here and now if you choose to, I know some people who seem like they’ve put themselves in hell already!
 
Yep. The vision of hell given to the children of Fatima was enough to scare me. Just read Sr. Lucia’s account of that. (shudder)
Jesus talked about hell in the bible more than he talked about heaven! That should also give you an idea of how serious it is.
Gee, I think I need to go to confession again…
 
puzzleannie said:
not my problem,
my concern is getting myself to heaven, and guiding those for whom I have been given responsibility, esp. my children. I assume that the average good Christian person, or the non-Christian who does their best to live by the moral code they have been taught, will probably end up in heaven, but I am not so confident about myself. To spend time speculating about the fate of anyone else, esp. about people I know could very well lead me into sins such as pride and presumption so I avoid such random thoughts.
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I don’t understand this. Given the conception we have of hell, when I personally attach a defiant Catholic or a non-believer, or especially a loved one who disregards thier faith my heart breaks and I cannot think of anything else. I can’t reconcile this in terms of the loving God we are to follow.
 
FightingFat said:
I think hell exists, but it is not a big sulphury place, rather isolation from God. You can isolate yourself from God here and now if you choose to, I know some people who seem like they’ve put themselves in hell already!
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But if this is true, it would follow that the visions of a firey torturous hell that the children of Fatima and Saint Faustina (among others) had were false.

We can’t have it both ways.

On that note another thing that troubles me about the vision’s of Fatima is Our Blessed Mother’s statement that there are many souls going to hell because they have nobody to pray for them.

Are popular sinners more fortunate then unpopular sinners?

This whole “hell” thing really disturbs me because it is on this topic more then any other that we christians talk out of both sides of our mouth. We accept the irrational.

Augustine believed that once ressurrected the body burns in hell, in a true fire, without ever incinerating to nothingness. That the body restores itself only to burn again and again and again for all eternity.

Yet we christians make the claim that people chose hell. This is a monumentally illogical and irrational statement.

I just can’t a grip on this. To be perfectly honest I can see why people walk away from the faith for this reason. NOT because of hell. Because of the conflict between the irrationality of the doctrine with our intrinsic human compassion.
 
Mijoy2 said:
I don’t understand this. Given the conception we have of hell, when I personally attach a defiant Catholic or a non-believer, or especially a loved one who disregards thier faith my heart breaks and I cannot think of anything else. I can’t reconcile this in terms of the loving God we are to follow.
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Perhaps you are being too judgemental and too harsh about how God will judge these folks. Quite obviously you will pray for these loved ones, and God’s mercy being such He will in all liklihood answer your prayers.

Our Lady tells us that some souls make it to Purgatory solely because someone holy prayed for them. Otherwise they would have been lost. You ARE most likely that holy person praying for those you love. It will be by the grace of your prayers that they may be saved.

I would love all of my friends and relative to be converted and to turn away from sin. It is what I pray for, and I too hope and pray that all will make it to Heaven. With the mercy of God they all will. Undoubtedly some may have to spend some time in Purgatory. But far better in Purgatory that somewhere else.

But each has a free will and hopefully none are so evil or arrogant that they will reject God outright and end up lost forever. We can not force anyone to accept Heaven, and we can not force anyone to reject Hell. Even God can not do that.

We can only hope that folks recognize which is which and hope they make the right choice.
 
Interesting joke in this political season.

A politician dies and approaches St. Peter. St Peter says you have a choice of Heaven or Hell BUT you must spend 24 hours in each befoe you decide, but once you decide the decision is final.

The politician says I can choose now, St Peter says sorry company policy. So the politician is sent way down below. Once in Hell, he sees a beautiful golf course, he talks to old friends, has a great time, and even the devil has dinner with him, and he seems like a really great guy.

After a day, he is sent up to Heaven, there he bounces from cloud to cloud, there is singing and prayer, he feels at peace, and time passes quickly, afterwards. St Peter asks him, which will it be. He says, you know I really enjoyed Hell a whole lot more. I choose to go there.

SO down he goes, and when he gets there, it is a dump, everything is desolate, folks are cleaning up the debris, and it is simply awful. Finally he sees the devil and he asks, what happened ??? yesterday everything was beautiful, today it’s a dump !!! Satan smiles, yesterday we were all campaigning, today, you already voted.
 
Caesar said:
Think of this,

There are about 6.5 billion people in the world.

Of that about 2 billion are Christian, with around 1.2 billion as Catholics.

Now, of those 1.2 billion Catholics my optimistic guess (at the current state of affairs) is that around a third are faithful, practicing Catholics.

So, that leaves about 400,000,000 people, out of 6.5 billion. In our age of technology and communication, not many can claim ignorance of Christ.

So that leaves around 6.1 billion for Hell. That is 6,100,000,000 people. That is, if the world ended this second.

Isnt anyone else scared by that? Horrified by that?
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Do you really believe all non-Catholics are going to hell? And even those Catholics that aren’t “faithful, practicing Catholics”…???

I’m curious… :confused:
 
] On that note another thing that troubles me about the vision’s of Fatima is Our Blessed Mother’s statement that there are many souls going to hell because they have nobody to pray for them. to save them" - and through the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I am dedicated to and through Mary, and I like to hope that when I pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, ask her intercession, it is something I can do.

“Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.”
 
As I see it, so many people have gone to and are going to hell, that Dawn of the Dead doesn’t seem like such a farfetched plot for reality.

I really hope that I suck at this sort of thing. 😦
 
For me, Heaven is to be in God’s love, hell is the opposite, because I believe physical suffering is less than spiritual/mental suffering. Can imagine when you can’t feel God’s love anymore?
It’s hell for me.

Why should we focus on the destination (hell/heaven)?

Since I will start exam in few hours, I’ll make a comparison.
When I study for exam, I don’t focus on how it feels if I fail, instead I will study hard and prepare well. After the exam, I won’t know the result yet, but I believe that I will do well because I have prepared well.

Thus, we should focus on how we live our life, and be positive that we have the chance to be in heaven (positive thinking) because we love God and we live our life according to His will. We can only imagine until the time comes. But when it comes, there’ll be nothing we can do about it. =)

So let’s live a good life and ask for God’s mercy, don’t forget to pray for souls in purgatory.
 
All the more reason to pray for others. The message of Fatima is not that we should be depressed that so many souls are lost, but that we should pray that more folks can avoid Hell and that we can relieve suffering in Purgatory.

It is a shame when any soul is lost, and it is all the more reason to pray for more conversions and changes of heart.

We can do so much more good, that it is a shame when we fail to pray as we should. The good news is that more souls go to Purgatory than to Hell so at least that is still in the majority. But many more souls go to Hell than directly to Heaven, that is a sad detail, but maybe something that our prayers can do something about.

IF you think someone is in danger of losing their soul, pray for them sincerely and just maybe you will be the one that saves them from eternal damnation.

Most times it is very difficult to pray for some one who commits a very serious sin. It is far easier to pray for a murder victim than it it is to pray for the murderer. BUT it is the murderer who needs the prayers more than the victim. All too often it is difficult to separate the deed from the person who commits the deed. We are to hate the sin, but love the sinner. All too often we hate both, or we tend to hate the sin and assume the sinner is doomed because of it.
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Non-Christians and Non-Catholic-Christians can go to heaven.

I don’t think we need to worry about judging who will get into heaven or hell though, or worry about the numbers. Leave it to God.
 
Kevin42 said:
Non-Christians and Non-Catholic-Christians can go to heaven.

I don’t think we need to worry about judging who will get into heaven or hell though, or worry about the numbers. Leave it to God.
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[SIGN]AMEN![/SIGN]
 
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