Me in Heaven, my mother in eternal hell

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Metlzerboy, correct me if I’m wrong, but since Judaism is not a monolithic collective in the same way Catholicism, and to a lesser extent general Christianity, is, there can be a multitude of opinions on topics like that.

Certain rabbis teach there is a Hell, others teach that there isn’t.

In Biblical context, this was a big difference between the Sadducees (who rejected any belief in an afterlife), and the Pharisies (who did believe in an afterlife).
 
Not exactly. However, there is considerable latitude permitted with regard to the notion of hell including the belief that there is no hell. Some streams of Judaism believe that only the truly wicked go to hell; others that hell is the separation from Gd but there is no physical torture; still others that the souls of the wicked are obliterated; and so on. One of the reasons why there are these differences of opinion is that the Torah (Law) does not really spell out the details about hell (or heaven, for that matter). Further, the Torah is so layered with subtlety and meaning upon meaning that diverse interpretations about all sorts of matters (not only hell) are possible and considered a good thing, because they reflect the inexhaustible richness of the Law.
 
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Basically, yes. Most rabbis don’t talk much, if at all, about hell, one way or another. And the focus of Judaism is not heaven either, although most (not all) Jews believe there is a heaven. The focus in Judaism is the present life and our free will to make it a good and meaningful one by putting into practice the teachings of the Law as we interpret them. Whatever errors we may make in our personal interpretation are implicitly thought to be forgiven by Gd.
 
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meltzerboy2 said:
e are both too contentious! But there it is…

Surely you don’t love all people equally. I think this shows one of the differences between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity paints people as they ought to be, whereas Judaism paints them the way they are, warts and all. An overgeneralization of course, but there is some truth to it, I think.
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Of course I don’t love all people equally. I’m only human. I should love all equally, but I don’t. I’m curious, where does Catholicism paint people as better than they are? All we do is love them, no matter how bad (or good) they are.
 
No, you don’t paint them as better than they are; that’s not what I meant. In fact, Catholicism (Christianity in general) says we are all sinners. At the same time, it seems to me they are painted according to their ideal potentialities, that is, according to the people they should be, sometimes, I believe, without paying enough attention to their limitations.
 
meltzerboy2 said:
No, you don’t paint them as better than they are; that’s not what I meant. In fact, Catholicism (Christianity in general) says we are all sinners. At the same time, it seems to me they are painted according to their ideal potentialities, that is, according to the people they should be, sometimes, I believe, without paying enough attention to their limitations.
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The best way to become more perfect is to strive towards total perfection. That said, nobody expects you to become perfect at once. I don’t expect an aetheist convert to spend 2 hours of prayer a day all at once.
 
Well you don’t know your mother or brother is in hell or will be. I personally think not many people go to hell and most people go to purgatory. If your family was not Catholic I even would think that might lessen their culpability if you think they committed grave sins or something. You just have to trust God. Catholics always seem to justify hell by saying people choose it, but I think most people don’t want to go to hell and aren’t directly choosing to go there. They may fall into grave sins often out of weakness and just because of concupiscence. Obviously you can’t know until you die, but you can pray and hope in God’s mercy
 
rosejmj said:
Catholics always seem to justify hell by saying people choose it, but I think most people don’t want to go to hell and aren’t directly choosing to go there. They may fall into grave sins often out of weakness and just because of concupiscence. Obviously you can’t know until you die, but you can pray and hope in God’s mercy
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I think you misunderstand what we mean by saying that. My belief is that at the end of your life, you are given a choice: Heaven or Hell. You go to the one of your choice. I also believe that people are capable of incredibly crazy choices.
 
It seems the focus is on if you commit a mortal sin and don’t confess you will go to hell, which seems kind of legalistic. I will say that the Catholic Church often seems overly legalistic when it comes to sin, or at least the way people talk about it on this forum is. I have never heard you really have a choice when you die, like God asking you do you want to be with me or not? Because I doubt everyone who has committed a “mortal sin” would choose hell. I doubt God himself is legalistic. I think one of the last things he considers is whether someone’s sin is considered “mortal” by the Catholic Church
 
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rosejmj said:
It seems the focus is on if you commit a mortal sin and don’t confess you will go to hell, which seems kind of legalistic. I will say that the Catholic Church often seems overly legalistic when it comes to sin, or at least the way people talk about it on this forum is. I have never heard you really have a choice when you die, like God asking you do you want to be with me or not? Because I doubt everyone who has committed a “mortal sin” would choose hell. I doubt God himself is legalistic. I think one of the last things he considers is whether someone’s sin is considered “mortal” by the Catholic Church
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Essentially when you commit a mortal sin, you are saying “I prefer this to God.” And if you prefer something to something else, then if you are given a choice between them, it is obvious which one you chose. Therefore, a person in a state of unrepentant mortal sin would choose Hell.
 
I think it depends on the sin. Someone who falls into a mortal sin like masturbation most of the time is not choosing hell. Maybe if you kill someone or do something really malicious, but sins of weakness are different t
 
rosejmj said:
I think it depends on the sin. Someone who falls into a mortal sin like masturbation most of the time is not choosing hell. Maybe if you kill someone or do something really malicious, but sins of weakness are different t
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In the act of masturbation, an individual is saying “I chose this over God.” There is no reason to think that they would change their mind after death.
 
I would be okay if my mother and father were in hell and I was in Heaven.

The decision is regrettable, to an infinitely vast degree, but I know Jesus well enough to know with 100% certainty that he did absolutely everything possible to save them.
 
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