Is hell good for some people?

[mek42]

During life on earth, some people are damaged severely. I wonder whether some people become so damaged that an eternity of solitude would be the merciful outcome and not a punishment. Has anyone ever else thought about this?

 

[Amandil]

During life on earth, some people are damaged severely. I wonder whether some people become so damaged that an eternity of solitude would be the merciful outcome and not a punishment. Has anyone ever else thought about this?

No. For soemthing to be good it must serve a purpose. Hell has no purpose. Neither is hell even “good”.

Purgatory has a purpose, to purge the remnants of concupiscience from human souls and to prepare them for eternity with God.

Hell, is utterly purposeless. It is “outer darkness”, nothingness. Utterly void of all hope, love, joy, goodness, truth, and beauty.

Hell is un-reality and the loss of all individuality and self(imagine the irony).

So, sadly no, hell would serve no good purpose for anyone.

The purpose of heaven is to cure the inequity of our lives on earth. But that cure requires self-surrender to the supreme Doctor and Healer. The calamities that we suffer on earth are meant to be remedial, to redirect us to seek out the Doctor so that our sufferings can find meaning and healing, if not here in heaven.

That is where my hope lies. That is the Pearl of great price.

 

[Pat_Albertson]

Hell is eternal torment, but somewhat confusingly (or at least it’s confusing to me) without time.

My guess, and perhaps it’s a heretical one, is that for some people, it may be that the best they can hope for is one of the cooler spots in hell, which would still be pretty hot. I tend to think that way with regard to myself, but then I have problems with depression and despair (although I don’t have OCD, or at least not in the classical obvious sense - a therapist did once tell me that I have some of the symptoms though, but for me scrupulosity is not among them).

So, is it good? No, but given the nature of who you are, maybe it’s the best you’re going to get, both in this life and the eternal (timeless?) life to come.

 

[Amandil]

Hell is eternal torment, but somewhat confusingly (or at least it’s confusing to me) without time.

My guess, and perhaps it’s a heretical one, is that for some people, it may be that the best they can hope for is one of the cooler spots in hell, which would still be pretty hot. I tend to think that way with regard to myself, but then I have problems with depression and despair (although I don’t have OCD, or at least not in the classical obvious sense - a therapist did once tell me that I have some of the symptoms though, but for me scrupulosity is not among them).

So, is it good? No, but given the nature of who you are, maybe it’s the best you’re going to get, both in this life and the eternal (timeless?) life to come.

Try to remind yourself as often as possible that there isn’t anything that you can to make God love you any less than He loves you right now. You can’t do anything to make Him not love you.

I’ll keep you in my prayers as well.

 

[petra22]

Hell is eternal torment, but somewhat confusingly (or at least it’s confusing to me) without time.

My guess, and perhaps it’s a heretical one, is that for some people, it may be that the best they can hope for is one of the cooler spots in hell, which would still be pretty hot. I tend to think that way with regard to myself, but then I have problems with depression and despair (although I don’t have OCD, or at least not in the classical obvious sense - a therapist did once tell me that I have some of the symptoms though, but for me scrupulosity is not among them).

So, is it good? No, but given the nature of who you are, maybe it’s the best you’re going to get, both in this life and the eternal (timeless?) life to come.

Good Heavens! You have a choice. You have free will. All you have to do is desire to be closer to Jesus. ?

 

[TK421]

During life on earth, some people are damaged severely. I wonder whether some people become so damaged that an eternity of solitude would be the merciful outcome and not a punishment. Has anyone ever else thought about this?

Yeah, I thought about it, but I don’t agree with it.

In the Christian view, where three or more are gathered, Christ is present. Indeed, God himself is a gathering of three persons. The unfathomable nature of God is about community. The less a person becomes like a beacon of light, and the more a person becomes like a black hole, sucking inward towards themselves, the more their misery increases. A person severely damaged in this life needs the perfect community of Heaven, which erases all wounds as if they never were.

 

[Catechist54]

Try to remind yourself as often as possible that there isn’t anything that you can to make God love you any less than He loves you right now. You can’t do anything to make Him not love you.

I’ll keep you in my prayers as well.

AMEN!

 

[meltzerboy]

Try to remind yourself as often as possible that there isn’t anything that you can to make God love you any less than He loves you right now. You can’t do anything to make Him not love you.

I’ll keep you in my prayers as well.

Do you think G-d still loves people whom He (or they) sentenced to hell? And, if so, do you think hell is their punishment or reward?

 

[Charlemagne_III]

No. For soemthing to be good it must serve a purpose. Hell has no purpose. Neither is hell even “good”.

Hell is not good for anyone. But justice is good. And hell is justice.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Do you think G-d still loves people whom He (or they) sentenced to hell? And, if so, do you think hell is their punishment or reward?

Again, God created hell for a purpose. We have the free will to enter hell or heaven.

If we choose hell, it is ultimately because we hate God.

Whether God continues to love us is unknowable (unless you know something from scripture that I don’t know), and therefore we shouldn’t even be asking the question.

 

[Cricket2]

During life on earth, some people are damaged severely. I wonder whether some people become so damaged that an eternity of solitude would be the merciful outcome and not a punishment. Has anyone ever else thought about this?

Being “damaged” as you state, would not be an indicator that one would land up in hell. Hell is a place of eternal separation from God and all hope. It is a place from which there is no escape.

We are all damaged in some way. Some have greater sufferings than others, but this suffering should serve to unite us with God, not keep us from Him. Hell is something people choose by denying God and sinning against God. Through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross we have a chance of being united with God and of being forgiven and healed totally.

Hell is a punishment for the unrepentant sinner. Not a place of solitude and mercy. It is the opposite of God.

 

[Mount_Carmel]

During life on earth, some people are damaged severely. I wonder whether some people become so damaged that an eternity of solitude would be the merciful outcome and not a punishment. Has anyone ever else thought about this?

Hell is most definitely NOT a better place to be, it is worse than the worst that this life can throw at us. Heaven is our natural home, to be with God our maker/creator - that is to experience a bliss and contentment far greater than anything we can imagine or feel in this world - Hell is the antithesis of this state.

 

[stephe1987]

God doesn’t “send” people to hell; people choose to go their through their actions and lack of repentance (often due to pride).

Hell is not “good” but it is better than heaven for the souls that go there. Being in God’s presence is actually more painful for their souls.

Hell is not the same for everyone; the degree of pain will be proportionate to the level of mortal sin and hatred for God. Just like some people will have higher places in heaven than others. God is just and that means that someone who spends their whole life as a good and faithful Catholic will have a higher place than someone who lives a life of sin and then has a deathbed conversion.

 

[Amandil]

Do you think G-d still loves people whom He (or they) sentenced to hell? And, if so, do you think hell is their punishment or reward?

Yes, G-d still loves them.

An analogy I like to use is that of a parent and a child in a toy isle. The child is demanding that the parent buy them a toy they want.

The parent refuses. The child doesn’t need the toy, he has dozens at home.

The child’s behavior turns into a temper tantrum. Crying, screaming, stomping, etc.

The parent is slightly perturbed but loves the child anyway and tries to pick the child up and hold him.

Instead of being comforted by the parent’s love the child instead acts out more violently. Punching, kicking, scratching, yelling and screaming even louder.

The more the parent tries to show love, the more the child reacts in anger and violence and the more the child pulls away because he’s not getting what he wants. And what he wants is anything else but the love of the parent who’s telling him what he can’t have.

This is the dynamic between G-d and the unrepentant sinner. G-d refuses to allow the sinner to be a sinner, but that’s all the sinner wants. So G-d’s love for that sinner is necessarily torture.

The very fires that the blessed receive as G-d’s loving embrace are the same fires which will be eternal torment to those in hell.

 

[Mount_Carmel]

Hell is a rejecting of that which nourishes us, the Love of God. There is no Love in Hell, no nourishment.