Hi everyone - Ive become interested in the various notions of Hell - eternal sepeartion from God? Fire and torture? What do Catholics think of “annihilation”? Also, any chance for people to choose God and Heaven after physical death? What are the official Catholic doctrines on this? Thanks!
Hey Zaida,
Here’s what is written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding salvation of those outside the Church, who don’t know God:
*846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338 *
scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm#847
It’s God’s mercy vs. God’s justice. Various people come down on various sides of this doctrine. Some Christians are taught and believe that hell is not real, but only a literary invention or a scare tactic. (Many atheists believe that humans invented religion and an the notion of an afterlife as a way to deal with the harshness of death and bring themselves comfort…So the question is–why then would anyone invent the notion of a judgment and hell after death. It’s not a very comforting idea…Doesnt’ make any sense.)
And some believe that everyone who doesn’t believe or know Jesus as their personal Lord and savior is going to hell.
I think we have to realize that hell is a real place. It is taught by Jesus, the apostles, it continues to be taught by the Catholic Church and other orthodox Christian churches.
Yet there are plenty of verses in the Bible that can give us hope that the Lord knows each and everyone of us well. He knows how much stuff we’re dealing with, how much stuff we’ve had piled on us from childhood and he will judge accordingly. And Jesus had much more anger towards the religious leaders who constantly showed their hypocrisy. He said—“If you were blind you would not be guilty, but you remain guilty because you claim to see.” There are other verses that speak to the fact that a person’s knowledge of God’s revelation will determine one’s culpability.
We cannot discard the doctrine because it is uncomfortable. But we can hope and we can accept the Lord’s promise and do our best everyday to follow His commandments, ideally out of love, not fear.
God Bless.
