Isn't eternity in hell a disproportionate punishment?

[felicerose]

So if you have a bad relationship with God you think you can fix it by a) running away from Him and b) specifically NOT doing something that He has commanded us to do?

On the contrary - Jesus said that those who labour and are heavy burdened (and that means in spirit as well as body) need to come to HIM for rest. And the best way we can do that is to join in worship of Him in Mass.

I believe I did mention that if one had a problem with going to Mass (or in other words, having a problem with one’s relationship with God), one should fix that problem fast. To my thinking, fast means a matter of hours or a day. Usually that can be done by seeking help or answers from those who are able to help. I’d suggest a priest or a nun. I usually ‘fix’ my problems by GOING to mass. I believe I did mention that as well. I run TO God for help. But not everybody is like me.

But then, herein lies the problem with communicating via the typed word. Everything has to be laid out, complete and clear.

However, we digress from the main topic of this thread.

 

[PPeterson]

I know, anybody can come on here and pretend to be Suzy Special Catholic with enough knowledge to be a doctor of the Church. Well, you know, check Suzy out. If Suzy has maybe 50 posts, most of which are “the Church is wrong on this”, I wouldn’t trust Suzy just yet. But if Suzy has 10,000 posts on a great number of threads, is well-regarded by her peers, has no ‘sanctions’ against her, expresses herself without use of profanity, has been known to sometimes make an error and as soon as she is made aware, responds with apologies and thanks to the ones who pointed it out, seems patient and caring. . .well, then Suzy might be somebody whom one can trust to some degree. I mean, don’t you ‘vet’ most 'experts? You just don’t accept people to be ‘experts’ because they say so, right?

IOW, take some time to act (research, think, pray) and not just knee jerk ‘react’ to people.

It’s interesting because for me, this thread goes away to confirm my impressions of many of the near or above “10,000 post” posters. Someone comes one here, asking:

a) please don’t judge them to harshly because they do follow teachings they don’t understand

b)at the same time they are looking for some answers which better explain those teachings referenced in a).

Then 10,000 posters entirely disregard a) and jump all over them for B like a pack of wolves, all the while providing little more in the way of insight that what you get by checking the index of the Chatechism. It’s a pretty ugly way of treating people.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

It’s interesting because for me, this thread goes away to confirm my impressions of many of the near or above “10,000 post” posters. Someone comes one here, asking:

a) please don’t judge them to harshly because they do follow teachings they don’t understand

b)at the same time they are looking for some answers which better explain those teachings referenced in a).

Then 10,000 posters entirely disregard a) and jump all over them for B like a pack of wolves, all the while providing little more in the way of insight that what you get by checking the index of the Chatechism. It’s a pretty ugly way of treating people.

Ummm. . .so basically you’re stating that ‘many’ high-post count posters (care to give us some names?) are ‘jumping all over people like a pack of wolves’ and ‘not providing insight’ and you find that ‘ugly treatment?’

Well, that is your perception. You could be right about some of the posters, You could also be in error.

What you ‘see’ as ‘jumping on’ people might simply be a person trying to address the ‘heart’ of the matter’ in order to help the person understand. Some people do in fact learn much more quickly with a direct approach. And some people pretty much approach all aspects in their lives directly (mostly men but some of us women too, especially as we get older! )

What you perceive as ‘disregarding’ might have many reasons. It might be due, as the above, to a perception that addressing the root of the matter needs to be done first (have you really followed ALL the posts of those ‘mean old’ posters? Have those ‘mean old’ posters in fact even finished their discussion? People do have lives outside these fora, and it’s the weekend. Is it possible some of those posters addressed the original question and have simply not yet had the opportunity to ‘follow up?)’

Is it possible that with a ‘pure visual written’ format you’re simply not seeing a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ which you personally value (and certainly warmth and charity are important) but which might very well exist outside your awareness?

I don’t think that the majority of people posting here are playing the "Holier than card’, "How DARE you even think this you heretic’ game. We are all different people and we communicate as best we can. Just because poster A might be one who posts in long sentences, and poster B likes ‘hit and run’ short posts, poster C is all about ‘feeling’ and poster D likes to bring up ‘authentic sources’, poster E talks about history and poster F about personal experience, poster G is young and poster H is old, poster I is a cradle Catholic and poster J a Protestant Christian, etc. etc. doesn’t mean that none of them is capable of understanding the posts of the others. Certain ‘styles’ will be more appealing to some individuals than others, but it is not necessary that somebody ‘speak’ using just the words or the ‘feelings’ that you find appropriate, in order to make an accurate and indeed a loving post. . .right?

I hope that as you yourself make what I hope will be a long and fruitful association on these fora that you will make good friends --‘short’ and ‘long’ posters alike.

Thank you for giving us something to think about and consider.

 

[PPeterson]

… You could also be in error.

It definitely wouldn’t be the first time

 

[Debora123]

This is very interesting. It kinda helps bring a better understanding to the original question of this thread:

(Marija being interviewed after being showen a vision of Heaven, Hell, and purgatory by Our Lady of Medjugorje)

Marija: “I don’t know. When a man dies, God gives him special graces and blessings to decide where he should go himself. God gives him a scene, reviewing his whole life, what he has done in his life, and so God gives him graces to decide where he should go, according to his life. He has a free choice.

Question: “Well, say that you deserve hell but you want to go to Heaven. What happens then because didn’t God give you a choice?

Marija: “Yes, but God gives you these special graces to understand fully so you will only answer truthfully.

Question: “So, He gives you so many graces you say, ‘God, I don’t deserve Heaven, I deserve hell or Purgatory.’ – like truth serum?

Marija: “Yes, correct.

Question: “So, God never sends anyone to hell, they decide it themselves?

Marija: “Yes, we are judges to our life.

Question: “So when it is stated, ‘God sends no one to hell, they send themselves,’ it means just that?

Marija: “Yes, correct.

Question: Have you, Marija, ever asked Our Lady if you will go to Heaven, like Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia of Fatima did? They asked Our Lady, ‘Are we to go to Heaven?’ and She told them, ‘Yes.’

Marija: “No, I have never asked Her that!

Question: “Are you scared?

Marija: “I would be happy to be behind the gates in Paradise, if only I could be there.”4

Marija also adds from another interview:

Marija: “We choose Heaven, hell, or Purgatory for ourselves. The Blessed Mother explained to me that at death we are the same person we are in life, though we no longer have the use of our body. It returns to the earth. We receive the light at death to see the plan God has had for us from the beginning. We then understand how we have chosen to comply with His Divine plan. In the light of truth, we know where we belong, where we fit, and we choose Heaven, hell, or Purgatory.”

medjugorje.com/medjugorje/heaven-purgatory-hell/614-stories-of-seeing-heaven-purgatory-and-hell.html

 

[davidv]

The idea of even ONE rational being in an eternal fiery torture chamber, including Satan, is terrifying to me, and a huge obstacle for me.

I will attempt to explain why I refer to our eternal destiny as a sordid game or a roll of the dice.

let y = the number of people in heaven

let x = the number of people in hell

let p = the total human population that has lived on the earth

(so x + y = p, as everyone is either in heaven or hell, and not both)

Imagine you are observing our completed universe at the end of time (the “final judgement” has occured and every human person is eternally fixed in heaven or hell) as an outside observer, like a scientist trying to discover why things are the way they are.

Let’s say you select a randon person P1 from population p.

The probability that P1 is in hell equals x / p

The probablity that P1 is in heaven is y / p

Now, the probability that randommly selected P1 is myself, slywakka250, is 1 / p

Therefore, the probability that I, P1 am in hell is x / p.

Furthermore the probability Q that the observer who observes one randomly selected human, actually observes ME in hell, is (x / p * 1 / p ) = x / p^2​

I am simply terrified to live in a universe where the probability Q (the probability that one randomly selected human is Me in hell) is greater than 0.

But hell is freely choosen right? probability has nothing to do with it! right?

Yes, but this doesn’t tell the whole story, and is unconvincing for me.

My argument is that there must neccessarily be some causual factor to explain why the number of people in hell is x, and not say x + 1, or x - 1, or even 0.

This causual factor can be compared to a physical law. The law of gravity says that objects with mass attract one another. Notice the law of gravity is in effect even when the objects in question are rational beings with free will.

Now, our free will is subject to the spiritual laws of the universe. For instance we can’t use our own free will to manipuate the free will of somebody else. Now, As each human uses his or her free will to make a choice for or against God, it is the case that y people choose God and x people ultimately reject him. Unless we want to consider the values of x and y to be randomly generated somehow, we must postuate a perhaps probabilistic (if not probabilistic, directly willed by God) causual factor, operating on the existential level underneath our free will, which works to determine the distribution of x and y.
The probability y/x (the number in heaven vs the number in hell) represents the difficulty of getting to heaven, and as I see it, the “risk” God took on us when he created us and subjected us to this horrible game. For we have very minimal information about the value of y / x; We have no idea if the universe is easy or hard. We can’t determine if most are in heaven or most are in hell.

Especially if the universe is very hard, (which I’ll say it is if > 40 % are in hell), I feel I am justly angry at God for creating me in a universe where the odds are stacked against me!! Its just awful feeling. Where is the mercy and love of God in all of this? I know he loves me, but God can’t have it both ways. He can’t love every human person infinitely while at the same time creating a universe in which he FOREKNOWS via his omniscience that x people will burn for eternity. God’s outside of time, so when he created the universe, he pretty much willed x people directly into hell (yes through x freely willed decisions which he forknew) , from his perspective.​

Debora, I was really sad and despairing reading this exchange here as many posters felt the need to hammer home to you that you just may well have been on the brink of hell when you missed those Masses, had you died in the seconds, minutes, or hours, before you repented or ran to the confessional. They are trying to bring you to a “realization” that the universe is much more dangerous than you previously thought. You didn’t know you were so close to going to hell when you missed those Mass did you? the universe is a perilous and dangerous place, and God put me right into it with “love.”​

Just think of all the non-Catholics, non-Christians, happily living there lives, completely oblivous to the danger of hell. I want to be one of them, but I’m trapped here in Catholicism, with all the terminology and carefully defined lists of mortal sins, requirements for forgiveness, etc. I just want out! I can’t take it anymore! How I am I supposed to pray when all the Church seems to be about is getting me salvation, (i.e getting me out of hell!) I dont’ want that, I want for hell to never have existed in the first place!!!*
Your mathematics lesson is enlightening. However it is irrelevant. Salvation is not a probablility problem. None of these statistics mean anything. Every person is guarenteed going to heaven, provided they repent and love God and neighbor.

 

[vz71]

Your mathematics lesson is enlightening. However it is irrelevant. Salvation is not a probablility problem. None of these statistics mean anything.

When someone beats me to the very words I wanted to post, all I can do is clap.
:clapping:

 

[Brooklyn]

Your mathematics lesson is enlightening. However it is irrelevant. Salvation is not a probablility problem. None of these statistics mean anything. Every person is guarenteed going to heaven, provided they repent and love God and neighbor.

That could not be stated any better. Christ came and opened the way to heaven for everyone. His Sacrifice was final and complete and won the victory over Satan. The only reason any of us will not get to heaven is because we have said no to Jesus. Of course, that means saying yes to Jesus every moment of our lives, and no one except the Blessed Mother has ever done that. That is why we have the sacraments and so many other ways to cleanse our souls. But we have to want it.

 

[slywakka250]

davidv:

Your mathematics lesson is enlightening. However it is irrelevant. Salvation is not a probablility problem. None of these statistics mean anything. Every person is guarenteed going to heaven, provided they repent and love God and neighbor.

vz71:

When someone beats me to the very words I wanted to post, all I can do is clap.

Brooklyn:

That could not be stated any better. Christ came and opened the way to heaven for everyone. His Sacrifice was final and complete and won the victory over Satan. The only reason any of us will not get to heaven is because we have said no to Jesus. Of course, that means saying yes to Jesus every moment of our lives, and no one except the Blessed Mother has ever done that. That is why we have the sacraments and so many other ways to cleanse our souls. But we have to want it.

Fundamentally, I am concerned with discovering why it is that while one person chooses God, another person rejects Him. It is such a strange phenomenon to me that us humans divide into two such radically opposed eternal states of being.

We know that after the final judgement, there will be a countable population in hell, and a countable population in heaven.

How is the final count determined???

Consider this thought experiment.

Suppose that our universe could be “repeated” over and over again. In each “trial,” God sets things in motion the exact same way as he did in fact do , as God is unchanging, and he couldn’t do anything different anyways.

All of time plays out from Adam and Eve until the final judgement each time.

God does everything the same each time, but if free will is free will, then man has the power to completely alter the outcome, even with an identical start state.

Free will is only free because it is not determined by any outside forces. It acts entirely on its own.

In each trial, would the freely willed actions of humans be different? if so, why?

Now if we repeated the universe millions of times, and recorded the final ratio (people in hell vs people in heaven) each time, what sort of distribution would we see???

Would we see the same number every time? (God predestines and directly wills the number of blessed and reprobate)

A random sequence of numbers? (free will is essentially a random event; if this is the case, God gambled on the result, because he creates the universe the same way every time, and man chooses the outcome, God is bound by man 's decision here, for better or for worse i.e. it could have been the case that ZERO people choose heaven (although very unlikely, we have no reason to assume this couldn’t happen given the random numbers))

Clusters of numbers?? (perhaps the freely willed decicions of a few people, (perhaps like Mary and Joseph, or World Leaders) greatly influence the population for or against God to a greater or lessor extent for the rest of time)​

–
Does anybody see what I am getting at here??

Precisely how is the final count determined? is our universe easy or hard? Why do x people go to heaven and y people go to hell??? WHAT forces are working to make the final distribution what it is, instead of something else???

 

[Sonny69]

I often find myself having a hard time believing in the eternity of hell. I mean, even for Stalin or Hitler (if they’re there), wouldn’t, say, a million years be enough to suffer? And let’s say they are in hell for eternity as the Church teaches. Are you telling me that the person who deliberately and knowingly skipped Mass on Sunday, and a person who had premarital sex with his girlfriend (again, knowingly and deliberately) will spend the same eternity there??? That’s harsh, and seem like a disproportionate punishment.

I know some pretty devout Catholics who are getting pretty interested in so called Universalism, namely, that in the end, everyone, including the demons, will ultimately be reconciled to God. I saw a write-up about it in an ecumenical newsletter for Eastern Catholics and Orthodox. Universalism is gaining steam and people are giving it another look despite the fact that Origen was condemned for it so many centuries ago.

But ETERNITY for even one mortal sin? Sorry, I have a hard time accepting that. It just seems too unreasonable.

Here is the problem you may not understand the infinite worth and value of the one whom is offended. Jesus would outweigh the value of all of creation put together. Until one sees the infinite worth or value of jesus, then one cannot understand why a single sin is so grievous.

There won’t be a soul going to hell that will not agree. Look at the prophet Isaiah when he had a glimpse of the glory and holiness of God; he was the most righteous person in all of Israel and damned himself when he saw what he saw; that gives a small picture of how bad sin really is before God. Truth remains truth whether one believes it or not or wheter one existed or not, that is what makes it truth and the truth is God is an infinitely holy and worthy of all.

 

[IntegraCatholic]

A mortal sin is an insult to an infinite God and is, therefore, a sin of infinite magnitude. Because God cannot punish this infinite offense with infinite pain (because finite creates cannot experience infinite pain or anything infinte, for that matter), he punishes each according to varying magnitudes but for an infinite duration of time. This varying magnitude corresponds to the varying degree of punishment in hell, which are applied according to each one’s demerits (e.g., missing mass on Sunday or killing 20 million people).

(There can be a varying degree of magnitude even among “infinite” offenses, just as you can have “infinity” added to 1 or 10 with the same result. Or, to take another example, you can hit someone over the head with enough force to kill him or with 10 times that force, and both achieve the same result but to differing degrees. One can kill the soul by mortal sin of a lesser nature, e.g., desiring to steal $1M, or by a mortal sin of a greater nature, e.g., actually stealing $1M; in either case, you accomplish the same thing: mortal sin and, lacking repentance, eternal punishment in hell but with different degrees of punishment once you get there.)

 

[davidv]

Fundamentally, I am concerned with discovering why it is that while one person chooses God, another person rejects Him. It is such a strange phenomenon to me that us humans divide into two such radically opposed eternal states of being.

We know that after the final judgement, there will be a countable population in hell, and a countable population in heaven.

How is the final count determined???

By God separating the “sheep” from the “goats”.

Consider this thought experiment.

Suppose that our universe could be “repeated” over and over again. In each “trial,” God sets things in motion the exact same way as he did in fact do , as God is unchanging, and he couldn’t do anything different anyways.

All of time plays out from Adam and Eve until the final judgement each time.

God does everything the same each time, but if free will is free will, then man has the power to completely alter the outcome, even with an identical start state.

Free will is only free because it is not determined by any outside forces. It acts entirely on its own.

In each trial, would the freely willed actions of humans be different? if so, why?

Neither you nor I have a clue one way or the other.

Now if we repeated the universe millions of times, and recorded the final ratio (people in hell vs people in heaven) each time, what sort of distribution would we see???

Neither you nor I have a clue.

Would we see the same number every time?

Neither you nor I have a clue.

(God predestines and directly wills the number of blessed and reprobate)

do you have any evidence for this?

A random sequence of numbers?

Neither you nor I have a clue.

(free will is essentially a random event; if this is the case, God gambled on the result, because he creates the universe the same way every time, and man chooses the outcome, God is bound by man 's decision here, for better or for worse i.e. it could have been the case that ZERO people choose heaven (although very unlikely, we have no reason to assume this couldn’t happen given the random numbers))

A conclusion that is not based on the earlier premises.

Clusters of numbers??

Neither you nor I have a clue.

(perhaps the freely willed decicions of a few people, (perhaps like Mary and Joseph, or World Leaders) greatly influence the population for or against God to a greater or lessor extent for the rest of time)​

–
Does anybody see what I am getting at here??

No. I think it all irrelevant.

Precisely how is the final count determined?

By God separating the “sheep” from the .goats".

is our universe easy or hard?

It is hard to love as God loves, which is the way we must love to enter heaven.

Why do x people go to heaven and y people go to hell???

Love and not-love.

WHAT forces are working to make the final distribution what it is, instead of something else???

Free will acting on the temptations and trials of everyday life.

 

[IntegraCatholic]

Does anybody see what I am getting at here??

Precisely how is the final count determined? is our universe easy or hard? Why do x people go to heaven and y people go to hell??? WHAT forces are working to make the final distribution what it is, instead of something else???

“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?” Rom. 11.33-35.

That is the only satisfactory answer. Otherwise, there are several speculative ideas concerning grace (five main schools). You could research about these, if you would like more of an explanation. I think St. Alphonsus Liguori does a fine job of explaining these things in his “Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection”, after which he gives an excellent treatment of mental prayer, the exercises of a retreat, and the choice of a state in life.

 

[Sonny69]

A mortal sin is an insult to an infinite God and is, therefore, a sin of infinite magnitude. Because God cannot punish this infinite offense with infinite pain (because finite creates cannot experience infinite pain or anything infinte, for that matter), he punishes each according to varying magnitudes but for an infinite duration of time. This varying magnitude corresponds to the varying degree of punishment in hell, which are applied according to each one’s demerits (e.g., missing mass on Sunday or killing 20 million people).

(There can be a varying degree of magnitude even among “infinite” offenses, just as you can have “infinity” added to 1 or 10 with the same result. Or, to take another example, you can hit someone over the head with enough force to kill him or with 10 times that force, and both achieve the same result but to differing degrees. One can kill the soul by mortal sin of a lesser nature, e.g., desiring to steal $1M, or by a mortal sin of a greater nature, e.g., actually stealing $1M; in either case, you accomplish the same thing: mortal sin and, lacking repentance, eternal punishment in hell but with different degrees of punishment once you get there.)

Division of sin makes no sense to me; how many sins does it take for a man to deserve to die and why? One, but why?

I would argue that every sin is a mortal sin because it either breaks “love you neighbor as yourself”, which means one also just broke the greatest command “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength”; either way if one breaks one he/she breaks them all and isn’t that exactly what the bible & the Lord teaches?

Like hanging over a cliff with ten links and you are at the end of the chain; how many links have to be broken before you perish? One.

 

[IntegraCatholic]

Because we are human and finite, we cannot avoid all sin. If we were to be damned on account of the lightest fault, we would have no chance. Besides, it is clear that not every slight entirely destroys a friendship. (Think of your own friends; you do not rupture a friendship based upon a slight insult, especially something that is unintentional.)

The fact that we are damned for mortal sin, that is, sin that is grace and deliberate, is necessary from God’s essence. He is perfect, and therefore, he must punish sinners. Not to do so would be to lack justice. God’s action is a perfection of both justice and mercy, and we see this, in one way, through the division of punishment for sins: venial with temporal punishment in purgatory, mortal with eternal punishment in hell.

 

[slywakka250]

Free will acting on the temptations and trials of everyday life…Love and not-Love

OK.

So the frame this in my terms, you are saying when faced with the temptations and trials of everyday life, y humans will Love, and x humans will not-Love.

This does not answer my question. I am asking WHY is it that x humans love and y humans NOT-love. If its not random, if its not directly willed by God, then how is it determined???

 

[IntegraCatholic]

This does not answer my question. I am asking WHY is it that x humans love and y humans NOT-love. If its not random, if its not directly willed by God, then how is it determined???

Free will. Everyone loves. Some people put things that ought to be loved less, e.g., riches, honors, pleasures, above things that ought to be loved more, e.g., God.

 

[Brooklyn]

OK.

So the frame this in my terms, you are saying when faced with the temptations and trials of everyday life, y humans will Love, and x humans will not-Love.

This does not answer my question. I am asking WHY is it that x humans love and y humans NOT-love. If its not random, if its not directly willed by God, then how is it determined???

I wonder if you understand what original sin is. Do you know that we are all conceived and born in sin, completely cut of from God, and all of us are destined for hell. What changes that? Absolutely nothing that we do other than saying yes to Christ, and accepting his death on behalf of our own. There is nothing random about this. From the time we are conceived until our dying breath, Christ is calling out to us, offering us his mercy and love. But he can do nothing unless we say yes to him, and continue saying yes until the day we die.

None of us - absolutely none of us, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin - deserve to go to heaven. Salvation is a free gift from God. We all deserve hell, but God in his infinite and vast love for us, has paid the price and opened the door to heaven. Why do some people say no and some people say yes to him? Because we all have free will. God will not force any of us to spend eternity with him. But there is only one other choice - eternity in hell with the devil, completely separated from God. Forget all your math - it has nothing to do with reality.

Why don’t some people love? Because they have said no to God.

 

[Brooklyn]

Because we are human and finite, we cannot avoid all sin. If we were to be damned on account of the lightest fault, we would have no chance. Besides, it is clear that not every slight entirely destroys a friendship. (Think of your own friends; you do not rupture a friendship based upon a slight insult, especially something that is unintentional.)

The fact that we are damned for mortal sin, that is, sin that is grace and deliberate, is necessary from God’s essence. He is perfect, and therefore, he must punish sinners. Not to do so would be to lack justice. God’s action is a perfection of both justice and mercy, and we see this, in one way, through the division of punishment for sins: venial with temporal punishment in purgatory, mortal with eternal punishment in hell.

None of us will enter heaven with even the slightest stain of sin our soul. Christ told us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Mt. 5:48. Those who go directly to heaven upon death are those who have attained perfection in this life. For all the rest of us, thank God for purgatory. But we will not be released from purgatory until we have attained perfection.

 

[Sonny69]

Because we are human and finite, we cannot avoid all sin. If we were to be damned on account of the lightest fault, we would have no chance. Besides, it is clear that not every slight entirely destroys a friendship. (Think of your own friends; you do not rupture a friendship based upon a slight insult, especially something that is unintentional.)

The fact that we are damned for mortal sin, that is, sin that is grace and deliberate, is necessary from God’s essence. He is perfect, and therefore, he must punish sinners. Not to do so would be to lack justice. God’s action is a perfection of both justice and mercy, and we see this, in one way, through the division of punishment for sins: venial with temporal punishment in purgatory, mortal with eternal punishment in hell.

Eve ate a piece of fruit and shared it with her husband. All of mankind was stained with a sin nature after that “little offense”.

Isn’t the reason why Jesus came to die for a group of redeemed humanity to reconcile man to Himself because of that “little sin” od eating a piece of fruit?

People just do not understand the infinite worth of Christ and how offensive the smallest sin is toward Him and until they do they will not have the possibility of entering into His kingdom.