God and hell..I'm kind of depressed about this

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slywakka250

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hell is so bad, we have every reason to avoid it at all costs…indeed our whole life revolves arround the drama of whether we will make it to heaven or hell…indeed it is the ONLY significant question of our lives…will we love God or choose hell??

I believe the church teaches that infants and those who die before reaching an age of reason, do not go to hell. This makes me wish I had died very young, for why would I not happily take the lowest level of heaven, or even limbo…then to take that awful risk for even a minute the horror of finding myself in hell.

and the odds don’t look good. How “little” a sin (keep in mind ANY mortal sin can be considered amoung the greatest evil in the universe), in the eyes of the world does it take to land oneself in hell? I feel as a Christian the best one can do is up the odds a little. Even for the dedicated Catholic, who gives himself fully to God, striving to live a Christian life, he has no gurantees that he will persevere in Grace to the End.

Now what is there to say of the average person, who just is too busy with life, work and family to take religion seriously?? what is to say of the “cafeteria Catholic” who practices contraception and knowing the evil has convinced himeself its ok, and thus does not confess or repent it ever? what can we say about the unbaptized? the agnostics? atheists? indeed every single person on earth who does not strive to follow the voice of God and of counscious, and the promptings of Grace, and the Holy Spirit, with suffiecient love???

and where is the cutoff point?? for surely if some go to heaven and some go to hell, there must be some level of love which sends us to one or the other…Its such a roll of the dice…if only I had died at my best moment…now what if I die at my worst instead?? do we fluctuate between heaven and hell throughout our lives like the colors on a roulette wheel?? surely some do…while its true God knows what each person will eventually freely choose, on our side of things…it is much more dramatic and frightening…

sometimes in my lack of love for God, I wish daily life wasn’t so dangerous, as in the eternal aspect of every little thing we do…It makes me quite depressed and completely turned off from the Christian life in general… …how can I see all this reality as more of a good thing???
 
Is God merciful?

The answer to that question is the answer to your question.🙂
 
Hell isn’t as bad as you think, it’s just Satan, burning up eternally, screams of horror, bleeding, and pain, and torture forever and ever with no end at all. You can’t even die either

And it could easily happen that you stole an apple from the market, and died of a heart attack after you left, so you couldn’t even repent. Doesn’t even matter if you live a perfect holy life too.
 
edit: I am the OP, accidenttly signed in a different name
Jack17 said:
Hell isn’t as bad as you think, it’s just Satan, burning up eternally, screams of horror, bleeding, and pain, and torture forever and ever with no end at all. You can’t even die either

And it could easily happen that you stole an apple from the market, and died of a heart attack after you left, so you couldn’t even repent. Doesn’t even matter if you live a perfect holy life too.
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are you being serious?? cause that sucks…with so many people in the world something like this is is likely to happen a lot.

God is merciful.but it seems so so easy to reject his mercy…
 
And it could easily happen that you stole an apple from the market, and died of a heart attack after you left, so you couldn’t even repent. Doesn’t even matter if you live a perfect holy life too.
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  1. You make it sound like someone could accidentally steal an apple and then go to Hell. If someone accidentally put it in their cart and forgot to ring it up with the cashier and then died right after they walked outside, that would not be theft. One cannot sin on accident. If you forgot to pay for something, but did not intend to steal it, you would not be guilty of theft.
  2. Even if you did steal an apple, it would probably not be mortal sin since the amount stolen (the cost of the apple) would most likely not be grave. See the Catholic Encyclopedia article on theft: newadvent.org/cathen/14564b.htm
There are ways to increase your chances of, if not guarantee, going to Heaven:
  1. Frequent Confession
  2. Wear a blessed Brown Scapular
  3. Pray the Rosary
  4. Be very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary in general (many Saints have talked about how the more devoted one is to the Mother Mary, the more likely they are to get into Heaven)
 
nsper7 said:
  1. You make it sound like someone could accidentally steal an apple and then go to Hell. If someone accidentally put it in their cart and forgot to ring it up with the cashier and then died right after they walked outside, that would not be theft. One cannot sin on accident. If you forgot to pay for something, but did not intend to steal it, you would not be guilty of theft.
  2. Even if you did steal an apple, it would probably not be mortal sin since the amount stolen (the cost of the apple) would most likely not be grave. See the Catholic Encyclopedia article on theft: newadvent.org/cathen/14564b.htm
There are ways to increase your chances of, if not guarantee, going to Heaven:
  1. Frequent Confession
  2. Wear a blessed Brown Scapular
  3. Pray the Rosary
  4. Be very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary in general (many Saints have talked about how the more devoted one is to the Mother Mary, the more likely they are to get into Heaven)
Click to expand...
He stole it, and the cost is expensive for him because he lives in some poor fishing town that doesn’t get apples much. And it’s some special type of apple imported.

I never said accidentally happen either, he stole it for the intent to eat it. He just happened to have a heart attack afterward.
 
Andrew210 said:
edit: I am the OP, accidenttly signed in a different name

are you being serious?? cause that sucks…with so many people in the world something like this is is likely to happen a lot.

God is merciful.but it seems so so easy to reject his mercy…
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I bet it happened a lot, and in a lot of different scenarios.

But God is merciful, so we don’t know how those people went to heaven.

6 billion people at any given moment, roughly time this up by 8 (decades of a life) * 20 (representing 2,000 years since Christ)

i’m guessing 960 billion lived on Earth at minimum since Christ, and at least 1 person out of each 100 died with a mortal sin

so 9 billion at minimum are in hell right now… but that’s one person out every 100 most likely its 5 or 10 even out of every 100

so realistically

192 to 400 billion are in hell

and that’s only 2,000 years ago

humans first appeared 200,000 years ago, so what happen to all of those? And some of the hominids, they had (base on studies) some form of intelligence and religion, but they weren’t as smart as humans. So do they have a chance in heaven, or are they just animals? Like the Neanderthals… but if we draw the line on them do we draw the line on mentally disable humans?
 
Jack17 said:
it’s just Satan, burning up eternally,
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The Christian faith is rooted in a narrative, the narrative of the Gospels. You can also find it in Dante’s creation where Heaven and Hell are presented in rich and compelling ways. Satan is not, for example, burning up eternally but locked in ice.

Here’s an intro to an essay by Anthony Esalen that is well worth your time and deals with the two freedoms that Dante presented 700 years ago and reads like an article out of today’s Wall Street Journal.

payingattentiontothesky.com/2009/07/31/the-freedom-of-heaven-the-freedom-of-hell/

Hope you enjoy it.

dj
 
Without speculating about how many souls are currently in Hell, I nevertheless pray daily that I do not die without benefit of the Last Rites. Even the “smallest” sin must appear heinous to sheer perfection. I believe that my only chance of going to Heaven is a chance to make a last confession and Eucharist. I fear dying without them.
 
God’s not only merciful but infinitely just, much fairer than we even know how to be. We can trust He’ll always do the right thing, judging people according to perfect righteousness. But more importantly, God is love and that love, according to our faith, even trumps His justice. One way or the other, in the end no one will ever question His judgment because its’ wisdom will be plain for all to see. Those in hell would be their only because they chose hate over love, evil over goodness, separation from God over union with Him, the very source of all goodness. In any case He knows our hearts and that’s what He judges us by-not by human systems which are useful for describing the nature of sin and how it separates us from Him but not necessarily perfect when it comes to ensuring that we know how His judgments will go.
 
slywakka250 said:
hell is so bad, we have every reason to avoid it at all costs…indeed our whole life revolves arround the drama of whether we will make it to heaven or hell…indeed it is the ONLY significant question of our lives…will we love God or choose hell??

I believe the church teaches that infants and those who die before reaching an age of reason, do not go to hell. This makes me wish I had died very young, for why would I not happily take the lowest level of heaven, or even limbo…then to take that awful risk for even a minute the horror of finding myself in hell.

and the odds don’t look good. How “little” a sin (keep in mind ANY mortal sin can be considered amoung the greatest evil in the universe), in the eyes of the world does it take to land oneself in hell? I feel as a Christian the best one can do is up the odds a little. Even for the dedicated Catholic, who gives himself fully to God, striving to live a Christian life, he has no gurantees that he will persevere in Grace to the End.

Now what is there to say of the average person, who just is too busy with life, work and family to take religion seriously?? what is to say of the “cafeteria Catholic” who practices contraception and knowing the evil has convinced himeself its ok, and thus does not confess or repent it ever? what can we say about the unbaptized? the agnostics? atheists? indeed every single person on earth who does not strive to follow the voice of God and of counscious, and the promptings of Grace, and the Holy Spirit, with suffiecient love???

and where is the cutoff point?? for surely if some go to heaven and some go to hell, there must be some level of love which sends us to one or the other…Its such a roll of the dice…if only I had died at my best moment…now what if I die at my worst instead?? do we fluctuate between heaven and hell throughout our lives like the colors on a roulette wheel?? surely some do…while its true God knows what each person will eventually freely choose, on our side of things…it is much more dramatic and frightening…

sometimes in my lack of love for God, I wish daily life wasn’t so dangerous, as in the eternal aspect of every little thing we do…It makes me quite depressed and completely turned off from the Christian life in general… …how can I see all this reality as more of a good thing???
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Hell is the eternal separation from God. It is much worse than fire and that state can never change. But the real question is who are those who remain in that state after death. It is those who choose to remove themselves from God here and now. Jesus came and died so that all may be saved. He would do anything to find that a person did not reject Him. It is that willful rejection that God respects and honors. It is because of His infinite love that He will not force us to be with Him. He will allow us to remain in the state that we chose for all eternity.

God’s infinite mercy and infinite justice were most completely demonstrated on the Cross. God will look into one’s heart infinitely complete to where there is no better judgment as to the person’s acceptance or rejection of HIm. God’s will is that all are saved and in His infinte mercy He will extract all of the love that our souls can hold so as to find the exact reason why one may have rejected Him.

Our ability to even judge ourselves pales in comparison to His judgment. So, what do we do? We continue to keep ourselves in check, receive the sacraments, live a life of love, tell God that we are sorry when we fail Him (reconciliation), and accept His mercy and His infinite love.

In closing, our relationship with Christ is like our realtionship with our loved ones here on earth. Yes, many times we fail them and even hurt them. Would they never allow us back in their homes? Only if we refuse to go. How many times have you forgiven someone who hurt or offended you? That is the beauty of our Christian faith. Christ died so that we might live. He grabbed Peter’s hand when he began to sink. Just reach out your hand and He will be there. Do not fear hell if you love God. Remember that God loves you from all eternity. He just gives us this brief moment of time, called life, to say, “I love you too,” Say that daily and God will hear you. Many people say it in many ways…teachccd 🙂
 
fhansen said:
God’s not only merciful but infinitely just, much fairer than we even know how to be. We can trust He’ll always do the right thing, judging people according to perfect righteousness. But more importantly, God is love and that love, according to our faith, even trumps His justice. One way or the other, in the end no one will ever question His judgment because its’ wisdom will be plain for all to see. Those in hell would be their only because they chose hate over love, evil over goodness, separation from God over union with Him, the very source of all goodness. In any case He knows our hearts and that’s what He judges us by-not by human systems which are useful for describing the nature of sin and how it separates us from Him but not necessarily perfect when it comes to ensuring that we know how His judgments will go.
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Excellent response…👍
 
If we must fear something then we should fear the Lord, for he is the only one deserving of fear
 
today we read about Elijah…

how he prayed to the lord to die and said that he was no better than his fathers.I think the passage was in first kings of the old testament.then an angel came and put food and drink at his head and he woke up and ate and drank and then layed down again to sleep but the angel came back and said get up and eat and drink because if he didn’t he wouldn’t have the strangth for the journey ahead.

The homily (as much as I was able to hear running after a one year old) our priest said something about when we see this world, how it realy is, we want to give up and how it takes so much spiritual energy just to make it day by day that we find ourselves wanting to die rather than fight the fight when in reality we should realize that God gave us the bread and drink to strengthen us for the fight.When we lose the fight we need only to realize we are not perfect exept that Jesus makes us perfect. It is not a lay down depend on the bread of life to make us perfect fight but rather a resolve each and every time we take in the body of christ to change those things in our lives that are not in keeping with what our lord would have us to do. We fall we get back up and we fight again. The thing is that every time you fall you choose Jesus instead of just giving up and wanting to die. We get up again, choose God, resolve not to make that mistake again and we fight on. Only those that are called see this life and ourselves as sinful as we realy are. The change comes when we use our faith to fight back. Have faith that god has given you substance have hope because he has given you substance to fight that fight and know that Christ sees that you choose him no matter how many times you stumble and fall. As Paul said it best. all I want is to do good but all I do is bad except for what the lord gives me( or something like that) You are called, now is the time for you to choose. The question is now is what is it that you will choose???
 
I wish the universe could provide a way for me to cease to exist…but instead I’m presented with complete submission to a God I don’t even know if I believe in, or to endure ultimate suffering for eternity…

we are compelled to make a decision…you can’t run away or take a middle way…

you must commit or risk the worst fate imaginable…
 
slywakka250 said:
I wish the universe could provide a way for me to cease to exist…but instead I’m presented with complete submission to a God I don’t even know if I believe in, or to endure ultimate suffering for eternity…

we are compelled to make a decision…you can’t run away or take a middle way…

you must commit or risk the worst fate imaginable…
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Yes, in Catholic teaching the choice is between eternal existence in complete and overwhelming happiness or eternal existence wallowing in our own misery.
 
slywakka250 said:
and where is the cutoff point?? for surely if some go to heaven and some go to hell, there must be some level of love which sends us to one or the other…Its such a roll of the dice…if only I had died at my best moment…now what if I die at my worst instead?? do we fluctuate between heaven and hell throughout our lives like the colors on a roulette wheel?? surely some do…while its true God knows what each person will eventually freely choose, on our side of things…it is much more dramatic and frightening…
Click to expand...
A person’s going to heaven or hell is not determined by a roll of the dice. Our eternal destination is determined by the life we live; whether we lived a life in God (in sanctifying grace) or whether we lived a life rejecting God and the new life he had given us. If a person ends up in hell it is because they sent themselves there because they rejected God.

You make it sound like such a gamble or that there are odds against you. This is not the case. You make it sound like there are limitations to the sacrifice of Christ. Now Christ does not control us over like puppets on a string, we need to live that life we have received in baptism and flourish in the grace of Christ, it is our choice to accept that or not.

I don’t wake up in the morning asking if my odds are terrible for getting into heaven. I wake up thanking God for a new day and ask for the grace and strength to continually grow in virtue and holiness. I don’t wake up and walk in fear that I have little chance of entering eternal life in heaven - I suggest you don’t either.
 
JG77 said:
A person’s going to heaven or hell is not determined by a roll of the dice. Our eternal destination is determined by the life we live; whether we lived a life in God (in sanctifying grace) or whether we lived a life rejecting God and the new life he had given us. If a person ends up in hell it is because they sent themselves there because they rejected God.

You make it sound like such a gamble or that there are odds against you. This is not the case. You make it sound like there are limitations to the sacrifice of Christ. Now Christ does not control us over like puppets on a string, we need to live that life we have received in baptism and flourish in the grace of Christ, it is our choice to accept that or not.

I don’t wake up in the morning asking if my odds are terrible for getting into heaven. I wake up thanking God for a new day and ask for the grace and strength to continually grow in virtue and holiness. I don’t wake up and walk in fear that I have little chance of entering eternal life in heaven - I suggest you don’t either.
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I agree…I understand that…

my problem is I am trying to even believe that God even exists really…maybe I’m bothered by the fact that you can go through a real intellectual struggle about the truth of the faith, and even the existence of God, and about morality, all the while being required to live a perfectly holy life, in order to avoid hell…
 
slywakka250 said:
I wish the universe could provide a way for me to cease to exist…but instead I’m presented with complete submission to a God I don’t even know if I believe in, or to endure ultimate suffering for eternity…

we are compelled to make a decision…you can’t run away or take a middle way…

you must commit or risk the worst fate imaginable…
Click to expand...
I hardly find someone who doesn’t know if they even believe in God worrying about their eternal destiny. Your entire life consists of decisions. When looked at from an earthly perspective we make decisions that affect our lives constantly. I surely don’t live in fear that my wife might leave me at any moment. But ultimately it is those decisions that I make that keep our relationship stable and solid. Have I messed up in the last 28 years? Of course I’ve done some stupid things but with a solid relationship all things can be overcome.

Just as in this life whereby we cannot runaway or take middle roads so it is with God. Is it really that hard to base our lives on love? Yes it is. Because there is the glamour of evil lurking everywhere. People make gods out of material goods and forget about the God who created and sustains them. So what can we do? Make God the center of your life. When you fail Him tell Him that you did and ask for forgiveness. It really is that easy. Those who are in hell are those who either won’t ask or just lived in so much evil that they forgot about God.

The universe did not make you nor can it cause you to cease to exist. A loving God created you and all He wants is for you to say, “I Love You Too”. Say that everyday and quit dwelling on eternal damnation. God loves you… teachccd 🙂
 
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