How can the main pain of hell be the separation from God?

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Ah… wouldn’t we like all the people we consider to be bad to have something bad happen to them after their death, as death itself is manifestly insufficient punishment?
Hell, with fire and suffering, seems to me to be the construct of a very vengeful and childish mind. One that had the misfortune of being thrown in with other religious writings… but was kept around throughout the times as a seemingly efficient deterrent of misbehaviors.

So, nowadays, we have this friendly concept of separation from God… as punishment for… check it out… not believing in an unsubstantiated claim (among other not so nice behaviors).
Imagine if you got eternally separated from fairies, if you didn’t believe they exist while you’re alive… or leprechauns, or dragons, or Merlin, or whatever…
 
You’re only saying that because you’re childish.

See, I can do ad hominems too.
 
someone429 said:
But isn’t the pain of fire much more severe than the pain of separation?
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so being in the presence of the Beatific Vision, a place of perfect love, and then never, ever for all eternity knowing you will be separated would make the pain of fire look like a sunburn.
 
The pain of seperation from God who made me and loves me would be much greater than the pain of any fire. I have Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome which has been called the worst chronic pain condition there is. I would never think any of the pain I have ever experienced could come close to the pain of being seperated from God
 
clarkgamble:
Then what about the souls now in Hell? They have no resurrected bodies to feel all that human body pain?
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.

These are good questions clarkgamble.

Some of HOW a spirit can suffer is a mystery to us in this life.

We KNOW they can suffer because revelation (not necessarily the BOOK of Revelation) informs us spirits can suffer.

That would include humans who die.

(YOU know this clackgamble, but lurkers here may not.)

Death in humans (at least natural death) is separation of body and soul.

The soul then immediately goes to be judged by God.

At the end of time EVERYBODY gets back their body. They get a body that will NOT pass away.

The people who end up in Heaven get their bodies back.

And the people who end up in Hell ALSO get their bodies back too.
. . . . I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come . . .
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(From an older translation of The Creed)

This bodily involvement in the suffering process is much easier for us to understand because we have all to a certain extent, experienced it firsthand.

The purely spiritual dimension of suffering though, is not so easy to understand.

Good questions though.

God bless.

Cathoholic
 
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I don’t think that there is any problem with the possibility for a soul to suffer the pain of fire, because the pain of fire is just a sense, and therefore there doesn’t need to be any real fire to make the soul suffer. The soul can just have a sense, which is the same as, or similar to the sense of being burned in this world.
 
someone429 said:
But isn’t the pain of fire much more severe than the pain of separation?
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Modern Catholic Dictionary:

FIRE OF HELL. The physical reality, outside the person, by which those in hell are punished besides their loss of the vision of God. It is called fire in the Scriptures to emphasize the excruciating pain it causes, and to identify it as some external agent tormenting the lost. But it is not ordinary fire, since it does not consume what it burns, and, although material, it can affect the purely spiritual substance of the soul.
 
I think it was Bishop Sheen who stated that a soul separated from God is in unimaginable pain. As long as we live, we are united with God. Our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit. Upon death, if we are no longer united with God due to sin, the suffering begins.
 
Good question. I don’t know the answer.
As I recall his talk, which I listened to on YouTube, he compared a soul separated from God with someone with a bad asthma attack and unable to breath.
 
It may have been from the same talk…Bishop Sheen has a metaphor about a stream and a fish out of water?

It goes something like this: Picture yourself walking a path alongside a brook. The sun is shining, birds singing, etc. You think to yourself, “This is heavenly.”

Then you come across a trout that has jumped out of the stream and is on land. The trout is madly flipping around trying to get back to the water. He is suffering greatly and can’t breath.

This is like the fate of a soul who is not ready for heaven, compared to one who is ready.
 
Regardless of the analogies or metaphors that he comes up with… how would he have access to any such information?
If he fails to tell how he got it, then how can we discern it from “he’s just making it all up”?
 
All good things actually come from God. Permanent separation from God means permanent separation from all good things in the world.
 
pocaracas said:
How would he have had access to such information? 🤔
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Theology. It would be a natural conclusion to draw, that a soul separated from God would be in torment, if there is indeed a God who created man in the first place. In other words, if the theology is true (the God of Christianity created man in His likeness and image [with a soul that is spirit], and our purpose is to be with Him for eternity) then it logically follows that eternal separation would be an eternal torment.
Now, some may object that the theology isn’t true. But that’s not the question in the OP. The question in the OP is in regards to why separation from God would be the main “pain” in hell, assuming that it all exists.
 
ahs said:
our purpose is to be with Him for eternity) then it logically follows that eternal separation would be an eternal torment.
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Why does it logically follow that it would be torment to be separated from god?
If one feels such a purpose as strongly as we do on this life, those who do not believe (because they feel no such purpose) will feel no desire to be with god in the afterlife… or is there something in the theology that I’m unaware of?
 
pocaracas said:
Why does it logically follow that it would be torment to be separated from god?
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There have been answers to that question above. In layman’s terms, the best I can tell you is that it’s because we were created to be in union with God. If you want something more detailed, philosophical, and based in the theology, I would recommend “Theology for Beginners” by Frank Sheed. You need not be a Christian to read and understand it. Regardless of whether you agree with it, you would at least have a basic understanding of the theological aspect, the nature of the soul/spirit, etc…
pocaracas said:
or is there something in the theology that I’m unaware of?
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Original sin and the fall of man; mercy; some possible opportunity immediately prior to death; a calling from the heart that one may or may not choose to ignore; invincible ignorance…
 
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ahs said:
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pocaracas:
Why does it logically follow that it would be torment to be separated from god?
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There have been answers to that question above. In layman’s terms, the best I can tell you is that it’s because we were created to be in union with God.
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How would you have come across that piece of information?
 
Theology is the answer. Bishop Sheen took known truths from scripture, tradition, and the magisterium and applied his own logic to better understand God and His creation.

The theology is not binding.
 
pocaracas said:
How would you have come across that piece of information?
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What piece of information?
Oh, you mean “we were created to be in union with God”? I came across that by using logic to conclude that there must be a God, and then followed the theology. Of course, I have had the added benefit of experiencing God’s presence, and the terror of His absence, and the gift of Faith; and I do wonder why not everyone gets that. But, in short, logic and theology and faith.
 
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