I mean no disrespect, but can you prove me wrong about hell?

[dalaizeppelin12]

First off I don’t know what I would be considered based off of my beliefs (though I am not an atheist , I guess some kind of agnostic), but I admire both Christian and Buddhist ideals/ principles and practice them both in my daily life. I love this life wholeheartedly and thank God for creating this beautiful and wondrous universe as well as all the different things that make it so worthwhile to live in. I highly respect your beliefs, and appreciate that you’ve dedicated your life to spreading a message of peace and kindness. I do my best to do the same but obviously hold no position in any kind of church, regardless I thank you for any time you’ve spared to answer or even look at my message. I was raised Christian but then kind of stopped going to church and got interested in Buddhism. To my delight I found that they share the practices of kindness, patience, honesty, peace, and most notably, love. Perhaps it is through here that we can find common ground. So, let me begin.
Basically the biggest thing I do not understand about Christianity is the concept of being sentenced to eternal damnation. In all my experience I have been told that God is wise, loving, and caring towards all. And without a doubt he must be if he created this wonderful world. But wherever I have searched, it seems the one condition for going to hell is, not believing in Jesus. Unless I am wrong, this would mean that the average peaceful, celibate, Buddhist monk, who would have spent almost his entire life demonstrating nothing but kindness and love towards others (and perhaps has never even heard of god or any Christian doctrine) would be sentenced to everlasting torture in a pit of fire. Whereas you could have a normal American man, who claims to believe in Jesus and goes to church, but is not honest and does not even try to practice things like kindness, love, or compassion towards others. Christianity says this man ends up going to eternal paradise when he dies, while the peaceful monk roasts.
To me, this is not right, and it would make more sense that with all of the different and diverse religions of the world, one’s afterlife would be determined not by his beliefs, but by his thoughts and actions towards himself and others.
And another thing, many if not most religions (except Buddhism as far as I’m aware) promise torment in the afterlife if you are not a follower of said religion. What makes Christianity any different? Because it’s the “right one?” As far as I’m concerned I could argue any other major religion’s case as much as Christianity’s. Others have ancient texts that have documented miracles performed by supposedly divine characters. I believe in a God, no doubt, but I would think if he was so wise and powerful as to create the universe, he would not sentence a peaceful and loving soul (let alone any soul) to such a thing as eternal damnation just because we weren’t his follower. It makes more sense that such a God judges by one’s actions. Beliefs should be irrelevant, mainly because every religion is capable of scaring people into following it, I’m just as concerned about Islam being correct as I am Christianity. If I am not one or the other, I burn forever. This, makes no sense. Please give me your opinion.
Thank you for your time.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

First of all—all that I am going to say is what the Catholic Church teaches. Not all of it is shared by other Christian churches. It is true that the Catholic Church teaches that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church and that the only way to attain salvation is through Jesus Christ. BUT this does not mean that anyone, who through no fault of his or her own, doesn’t believe what the Catholic Church teaches will be damned.

“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” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 16).

Before moving on to Hell and damnation, and a God who allows such things, it will be necessary to think outside of the human box. So often people, without realizing it, see God as just a bigger version of themselves. It they were God they wouldn’t allow any kind of suffering whatsoever. They will say, “If God is so loving, why does He allow babies to die?” By beginning with themselves, they become the ultimate point of reference and pass judgment on everything according to what sounds right to them. If taking innocent life would be morally wrong for them, then it must be for God as well. This, of course, completely ignores the fact that as the creator of human life, God has the right to take it whenever and however He chooses.

To believe in God is not to believe in Big Brother. The God of Judeo-Christian Revelation is beyond our ability to fathom. For Christians He accomplished quite the impossible. For us to grasp a God who loves infinitely is beyond anything we have experienced. All our experience is with the finite. But we do know something of suffering. So by becoming a human being and allowing himself to be tortured and even put to death on our behalf, he gave us a handle to the extent of his love. The Jews never expected God to love his creatures in such a way. The followers of Islam cannot accept a God who would show such weakness. Theirs is a God of strength–a warrior God. Buddhists are not into God—certainly as Creator. Catholics believe that even Christians are only able to accept such love as the result of grace.

We believe that God’s goodness is beyond anything we can think of. Certainly, we see Him as the ultimate Good. We believe that He created us for union with Him—something far, far more sublime than simply a human experience of enlightenment. He does not force Himself on us. Justice requires that we love Him back. But we are free to choose not to do so. We are then left with the choice to either choose Him–which we call heaven or not–which we call hell. The second choice is described as fire, etc. But basically, it is to not choose him as our all. This is not unloving on God’s part. The choice is ours.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.