As Catholics,
how will you personally feel as you witness sinners such as myself burning in hell?
Will you be happy that the earth will be cleansed of the impure?
Will you feel sadness or pity for unfortunates like me?
Is it morally correct that disbelivers should be condemned to suffering for all eternity?
Jesus regularly talks about “Gehenna”. Gehenna was the Jewish Hell, sort of - the name is taken from that of the Valley of Hinnom, which was used as Jerusalem’s rubbish dump. It was burned; centuries before, the valley had been used for the practice of human sacrifice; something utterly forbidden - which is why some OT kings are severely criticised, either for not suppressing it, or for doing it themselves.
Although one must be careful of pressing comparisons too far, this suggests that Jesus (& His contemporaries) thought of Hell as something like a rubbish-dump; if so, it would be outside the heavenly Jerusalem; not part of it.
And a rubbish-dump is for remains, left-overs, stuff that useless. Which suggests that this is what the damned are: remains, rubbish; that they are not men, but the remains of men - ex-men, in fact: not human beings, but ex-human rubbish, fit only for burning. The real life is in the heavenly city - those there have come in from the outside; they have no concern with the rubbish smouldering away outside.
If this right at all, then one of the features of Hell is its finality - the story’s over for the damned; they are not even men, so they have no future as men. So there is no comparison between heaven & hell: the Blessed have Life, in all its fullness - the damned are so dead, that their existence is not even a human one in any sense worth talking about; ours is. There is no point in pitying the damned - even were it possible. Who pities rubbish ? Jesus Christ is the Saviour of men - not of the contents of their rubbish-bins. Something similar is true here AFAICS.
I don’t think the Blessed give the damned a thought, let alone pity them - besides, they are getting what they wanted: their own will. If they don’t like it, that is no fault of God. Hell is the supreme punishment of sin, & sin is so great an evil that no other can compare with it: God is very clearly against all sins in all forms; all of us, no matter what our culture or religion, are warned in many different ways; if we prefer our wills to His, why blame Him ? No one is damned except by his own fault - everyone in Hell deserves to be; all men do. So it was in principle a sound instinct that led some writers to suggest that one of the joys of heaven would be the misery of the damned - it may sound unkind, but it is a good thing that the damned are damned, for this is just: so it is worthy of a Just God. Mercy is a greater justice - but it is possible to be unable to receive it: & then, only avenging Justice remains.
That’s partly why the Book of Revelation shows the joy of the Blessed at the punishment of the wicked - for it would be dreadful if sin, which is both idolatry, & enmity to God, were to have the last word. Because of Christ’s defeat of sin, it can’t & won’t.
Any of us can be or may be damned - a great help to avoiding Hell after death, is to go there spiritually during this life. This is also a help against rash judgement of others: for many who seem to be unbelievers may be far nearer Christ than many of us professing Christians. I
strongly recommend C.S.Lewis’ book “The Problem of Pain” - he used to be a non-believer. The chapters in the book on Heaven & Hell (in that order) deserve to be known by heart.
Hell is very terrible - let’s be clear about that: it is in no way inescapable. There are far better & more important things to fill our hearts & minds with
