Does Catholicism condemn unbelievers to Hell?

[Holly3278]

Hi everyone. Does Catholicism condemn unbelievers such as Atheists and Agnostics who truly don’t know what the truth is to Hell? Catechism references and other official Church documents being cited would be helpful.

 

[guanophore]

Hi everyone. Does Catholicism condemn unbelievers such as Atheists and Agnostics who truly don’t know what the truth is to Hell? Catechism references and other official Church documents being cited would be helpful.

No. God desires that all be saved.

1 Tim 2:3-5
God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

If you read the catechism, you will see that this is an erroneous assertion. God saves whoever He wants, and the Catholic Church …

1 Tim 3:15-16
“the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth”

supports that God saves all whose hearts are inclined toward Himself, and wish to spend eternity with Him, whether the know His name, or not.

 

[Holly3278]

No. God desires that all be saved.

1 Tim 2:3-5
God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

If you read the catechism, you will see that this is an erroneous assertion. God saves whoever He wants, and the Catholic Church …

1 Tim 3:15-16
“the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth”

supports that God saves all whose hearts are inclined toward Himself, and wish to spend eternity with Him, whether the know His name, or not.

Oh ok. What about people like my Atheist Grandpa and Agnostic best friend? Do they have a chance at going to Heaven?

 

[Luke65]

Hello Holly!

The Church has never condemned anyone to Hell, per se - Her teachings are binding and loosing on earth and enforced by God (Matt. 18:17-18), but only Christ can judge. The Church teaches that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church - “invincible ignorance” is the only caveat, which, again, only God can judge. However, Scripture makes it clear that unbelievers need not apply…

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20 NIV)

Unbelievers are “without excuse” because you have to suppress the obvious truth of God not to believe in Him and obey the law written on your heart (Rom. 2:12-16). Of course, it’s never too late to repent, not until Christ declares you dead (cf. Matt. 9:18-26), as we saw with the thief on the cross (Luke 23:32-43). And so the Church teaches that we can always have hope for someone’s salvation, and we should always pray, even for unbelievers - especially for unbelievers, that God will have mercy on them and give them the grace to repent, especially at “the hour of death” (we can pray for them retroactively, too).

Some relevant Catechism paragraphs are 1790-1794, 1860. If all of that still seems a little ambiguous to you… good! Pray the Rosary, it does a soul good.

 

[thistle]

Oh ok. What about people like my Atheist Grandpa and Agnostic best friend? Do they have a chance at going to Heaven?

Neither God nor the Church condemns anyone to Hell. People condemn themselves.

If someone rejects God and dies unrepentent then through their own free will they have condemned themselves to Hell.

 

[ConallCernach]

Oh ok. What about people like my Atheist Grandpa and Agnostic best friend? Do they have a chance at going to Heaven?

There’s a wonderful saying:
“Between the saddle and the ground, many a soul lost, and many a soul found.”

The Church doesn’t claim to know about the final destination of people after their death with the exception of the canonized saints of course.

Pax

 

[guanophore]

Oh ok. What about people like my Atheist Grandpa and Agnostic best friend? Do they have a chance at going to Heaven?

Absolutely! God created man for Himself. He wants to have eternal fellowship with everyone He created.

 

[ateista]

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20 NIV)

Gotta love the utter disregard for law of contradiction! So God is not really different from the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

The “invisible” qualites that are “clearly seen”… just how gullible do you believe us heathen are?

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

Matthew 10
28 And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.

only God can condemn anyone to Hell. Many people confuse “the one who can destroy both soul and body” to be the devil but they are wildly mistaken.

No Salvation Outside the Church

First we find that the Church insists many times over that those who
through no fault of their own do not find the Church, but keep the moral
law with the help of grace, can be saved:

#16 says: “For they who without their own fault do not
know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere
heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in
practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain **
** eternal salvation.”

 

[Awful_Things]

Gotta love the utter disregard for law of contradiction! So God is not really different from the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

The “invisible” qualites that are “clearly seen”… just how gullible do you believe us heathen are?

You must have been tripped up by the use of a complex sentence. There is no contradiction anymore than there would be in this sentence:

For since the purchase of a wind sock, the wind’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been tied to the porch of my house.

You may disagree with the conclusion, but you’re in error crying “contradiction”.

 

[guanophore]

You must have been tripped up by the use of a complex sentence. There is no contradiction anymore than there would be in this sentence:

For since the purchase of a wind sock, the wind’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been tied to the porch of my house.

You may disagree with the conclusion, but you’re in error crying “contradiction”.

Good example!

 

[Nickkname]

Hi everyone. Does Catholicism condemn unbelievers such as Atheists and Agnostics who truly don’t know what the truth is to Hell? Catechism references and other official Church documents being cited would be helpful.

The Church condemns no one. You can only condemn yourself by mortal sin. God is love, and love is the means of salvation. Mortal sin chokes love out of man’s heart. Hence by mortal sin man is separated from God, that is, he chooses to separate himself from God. Hell is eternal separation from God. If man persists in his sin, he will go to hell, that is, he will choose hell over salvation.

 

[Paul2274]

God is the only judge.

Paul

 

[Luke65]

Gotta love the utter disregard for law of contradiction! So God is not really different from the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

The “invisible” qualites that are “clearly seen”… just how gullible do you believe us heathen are?

Yes, we know, heathen, you are a proud man (?), you refuse to have the faith of a little child, which is why God hides His face from you. But to us who are being saved, who humble ourselves before our Creator, He reveals all. Seek the truth, before it’s too late, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free - promise made, promise kept billions of times.

 

[Sunniva]

Now that you are a Pentecostal I wonder what the Pentecostal view is on who goes to Hell.

 

[Abbadon]

I love this. You have free will, and my love is unconditional, but if you don’t do absolutely everything I say I will put you in hell where you will be tortured for all eternity

What kind of choice is that?

Lets face it, the endless, remorseless suffering of all those people in hell are on gods hands. He is the one that CHOSE to put them there.

 

[Abbadon]

Hi everyone. Does Catholicism condemn unbelievers such as Atheists and Agnostics who truly don’t know what the truth is to Hell? Catechism references and other official Church documents being cited would be helpful.

Holly3278, don’t worry about it. IF there truly is a loving god. I doubt he would torture someone for ever just because they didn’t believe in him. I’m sure god would understand why they didn’t and if they were good people? were they good people? why not?

Just think about it for your self. What kind of a god do you believe in? Would he do something so horrible to your grandfather? You don’t need the church to tell you, we know from history that they have been wrong so many times in the past, trust not them and trust your own heart and the message that god will give you.

But if god is not loving and not just… well then 2/3rds of the worlds population are screwed, as well as al the offshoots of “the one true faith” that picked the wrong offshoot. So which offshoot is right?

 

[ateista]

You must have been tripped up by the use of a complex sentence. There is no contradiction anymore than there would be in this sentence:

For since the purchase of a wind sock, the wind’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been tied to the porch of my house.

You may disagree with the conclusion, but you’re in error crying “contradiction”.

So you say it is just “sloppy” wording in God’s “inspired” words? “Invisible” does not really mean invisible?

Your example is incorrect. The “wind” is just the moving of the air, a physical phenomenon of a physical object. We can experience it with our senses. God cannot be experienced with any of our senses.

Everything else is just a cop-out.

 

[Awful_Things]

So you say it is just “sloppy” wording in God’s “inspired” words? “Invisible” does not really mean invisible?

Your example is incorrect. The “wind” is just the moving of the air, a physical phenomenon of a physical object. We can experience it with our senses. God cannot be experienced with any of our senses.

Everything else is just a cop-out.

Is putting words in my mouth your best strategy? Where did I say “sloppy” (you did use quote marks, after all). I said a “complex” sentence. That’s a grammatical term for a sentence with a dependent and an independent clause joined together. It isn’t sloppy.

My example is right on. Wind is invisible, yet the “physical phenomenon” (that’s the correct use of a set of quote marks) makes its appearance known, even to someone inside a house, who cannot feel the wind. The verse in question also claims that God’s invisible nature is made visible through the physical phenomenon of that upon which it acts.

And I’m not arguing one way or the other as to whether such a proposition is true. Simply pointing out your logical and grammatical fallacy. You can acknowledge the error or keep stabbing at me like the poor black knight.

Given your unwillingness to admit what is right in front of you, though, suggests something of the nature of your atheism.

 

[Luke65]

Good Stuff, Awful Things

But why do we engage these unbelievers? I forget. They obviously have no interest in seeking the truth; they just want to mock. Unfortunately (for them), they can’t think rationally, which only proves what they’re trying to disprove (wisdom is a grace from God, whom they deny, at the same time they prove that they have no wisdom).

Yes, the analogy was correct - wind is “invisible” but you can “clearly see” it’s effects. Same thing with gravity. There is no “contradiction” (actual quote!) as ateista foolishly charged. He claims to be wise but he doesn’t know the difference between a contradiction and a paradox. Nor does he know how to say, “Actually, you’re right. It is a paradox. But I still don’t believe!”