Forgiveness after death

[Nap66]

Can God forgive us after our death? I hear stories of people with near death experiences whereby they went to hell and cried out for God’s forgiveness and were brought out of hell to heaven and then told to change their lives. Of course these people never “really” died permanently so technically God’s forgiveness was not after their deaths.

I suppose God can do whatever he wants and grant forgiveness to anyone even after death, but does he? And if he does, and those souls sent to hell need only ask for his forgiveness and they are brought to heaven, how does that help us to live a good life on earth not to land in hell in the first place? I know we are not saved by good works alone but in faith in Jesus. What if Stalin (who should have landed in hell), asked for God’s forgiveness after his death and God granted it. Does that mean Stalin had some sort of faith in Jesus/God to begin with or else he wouldn’t have even known who to ask for forgiveness?

Maybe those who truly disbelieve in God/Jesus wouldn’t even ask for forgiveness after death, and so those people who do ask for forgivenss actually deserve such forgiveness even if they only did evil works while alive. Such musings that will never be answered while I walk the earth I suppose.

 

[NeedImprovement]

Hi @Nap66

. . . Quite a few questions , rather than try to answer them all, I might offer a couple of adjustments in light of what the Church teaches.

God can “forgive” us at the moment of death - as long as we repent of our sins. “After death” is a different matter.
Father John Hardon tells us that -

“The existence of hell is consistent with divine justice, since God respects human freedom and those who are lost actually condemn themselves by their resistance to the grace of God.”

After death, if we have loved God imperfectly , our sins can still be expiated both by our own soul’s sojourn in Purgatory, and by Reparation of others when they offer their suffrages for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.

Hell however is eternal - for all who end up there. Some of our Orthodox brothers and sisters have what might probably at its best be called a heterodox view that souls can eventually be saved from Hell (apokatastasis or doctrinal universalism). But they do not define the doctrine and dogma of Purgatory as the Catholic Church does. Universalism is to them a “theory that hell is a type of Purgatory in which sins are expiated.”
Sins can be and are expiated in Purgatory, but Hell is eternal.

 

[NeedImprovement]

A little background info on the aforementioned:

From Modern Catholic Dictionary, Father John Hardon, S.J.

UNIVERSALISM, DOCTRINAL. The theory that hell is essentially a kind of purgatory in which sins are expiated, so that eventually everyone will be saved. Also called apokatastasis, it was condemned by the church in A.D. 543, against the Origenists, who claimed that “the punishment of devils and wicked men is temporary and will eventually cease, that is to say, that devils or the ungodly will be completely restored to their original state” (Denzinger 411).

HELL. The place and state of eternal punishment for the fallen angels and human beings who die deliberately estranged from the love of God. There is a twofold punishment in hell: the pain of loss, which consists in the deprivation of the vision of God, and the pain of sense, which consists in the suffering caused by outside material things. The punishment of hell is eternal, as declared by Christ in his prediction of the last day (Matthew 25:46), and as defined by the Fourth Lateran Council, stating that the wicked will “receive a perpetual punishment with the devil” (Denzinger 801). The existence of hell is consistent with divine justice, since God respects human freedom and those who are lost actually condemn themselves by their resistance to the grace of God.

From EWTN , The Particular Judgement
by Rev. William G. Most:

Jesus will come at the end of time to judge all human beings. This is called the parousia, His second coming. It was foretold by the angels as He ascended: “This Jesus who is taken up from you to heaven, will come in the way in which you saw Him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

However, those who die before the parousia will be judged immediately at their deaths. This is known as the particular judgment. The Epistle to the Hebrews says (9:27): " It is appointed to men to die once, and after that comes the judgment". Then, “Each one will receive his pay, according to his works” (1 Cor 3:8).

There are three possible outcomes to the particular judgment. Those whose love for God has been perfected in this life are taken straight to heaven, where they enjoy endless happiness in the face to face vision of God. Those who die in God’s love but still love Him imperfectly must be purifed in the intermediate state of purgatory. Those, however, who reject God’s love by mortal sin and die without repenting are condemned to the everlasting torments of hell. The general judgment at the end of time simply solemnly confirms the particular judgments of each one, with the difference that then the body as well as the soul will receive what is due it. And all God’s judgments will be revealed as most just.

 

[LoyalViews]

This is your most coherent answer. God’s mercy is endless, okay? But God’s mercy requires our own repentance. Dying in mortal sin, without repentance, is an immediate descent into Hell. Can we say someone is in Hell?

No.

Can we say anyone is in Heaven? Yes. Officially we call this canonization. Certain individuals merit the public recognition of saint.

Can we say if anyone is in Purgatory? Yes and no. One ought to pray for all the deceased members of ones family. Someone can live with their faith, and have it inflicted with mental illness which prevents them from doing what we deem necessary, but also, someone can live a faith we deem orthodox yet they might remain unrepentant for their true sins.

See how this is confusing?

Don’t worry about it. Just pray. Pray, pray, pray. Prayer is always the best thing. Keep praying. I am praying for you. See praying for your questions.

God is love. God is mercy. God is JUST.

 

[STT]

What if you die while you are sinning? You don’t have chance for repentance.

 

[EyeFull]

Read Rob Bell’s ‘Love Wins’ Chapter 3.

 

[pianistclare]

Well yeah. That’s the point of Reconciliation. Amending your life. God is merciful, but we have to truly be sorry.

 

[BornInMarch]

God can forgive us after death … to an extant. That’s the idea behind Purgatory. If you die with only unconfessed venial sins over your head, or if you repented for your mortal sins before death but didn’t carry out the acts of penance, then you will be purified for a bit so you can enter Heaven without any of the flaws that caused you problems in life.