One Saint's Vision of Hell

[distracted]

St. Faustina wrote in her diary (741):

“Today i was led by an Angel to the chasms of Hell. it is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures i saw: the first torture that consittues Hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destorying it - a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventth torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blashphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls.These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me… the sinner … will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those sense which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by syaing there is no Hell, or that nobody has ever been there…”

 

[cheddarsox]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

 

[jay29]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

Then people BETTER make the right choices in life.

 

[inJESUS]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God.

because you haven’t read about God’s love in her diary.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

 

[FightingFat]

Pretty Scarey Stuff Eh?

 

[R_not]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

How do you explain people like Hitler who was a Catholic who chose what he did?

Or how about mohammed, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Che, and all those who behaved as they did in this life? They all tortured and killed way too many people, that we can only guess, in this life. And some commanded their followers, and others just followed with no command, their same behaviors after they died. If any of them had a physical problem - then God will judge them accordingly. Sometimes a physical problem doesn’t mean they did not know right from wrong though - so that is something else to consider.

We are not their judges and as for God being this or that - God is God and I will leave it to Him to judge us all.

Personally, I would say that we should ensure it doesn’t happen again and do what we can to control what we have the power to control.

 

[LutheranDK]

St. Faustina wrote in her diary (741):

“Today i was led by an Angel to the chasms of Hell. it is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures i saw: the first torture that consittues Hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destorying it - a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventth torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blashphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls.These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me… the sinner … will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those sense which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by syaing there is no Hell, or that nobody has ever been there…”

Sounds more like this Faustina had a lifelike dream, than an actual revalation of hell.
First of all: Hell does not YET exist contain anyone. It is the place that is prepared for satan and his demons, and it is where the unbelievers will be sent at the final judgement.
Secondly: The “different tortures for different sins”-part makes this “vision” not only shout, but indeed SCREAM “I am not a divine revalation”. That thought is thoroughly unbiblical, and probably has more to do with a human desire for revenge.
Plus, it raises an issue: All humans have sinned in more than one way, so the “different torture for different sins”-idea is just meaningless.

But at least I now know where Dante got his inspiration from…

 

[R_not]

I just had another thought.

These bad men could also be sent here, or allowed to exist, in order to test us.

Look at mohammed, Stalin and Mao - or even Hitler - so many people chose to follow these guys. To do nothing or even to follow orders and kill their own people and others. In Germany, the lull of Hitler - against a weakened conservative warning - was his using socialism during a time when times were tough, the lure of saying that they are the superior ones because they are Arayans, combined with nationalism - showed us that if there were good men - they did nothing but follow.

In islam, many people were just slaughtered and then the women and children were enslaved and forced to convert. But, what about his followers - those willing to just kill for mohammed and islam/allah? People would make peace treaties and mohammed figured out that he could just say he would make the treaty but break it at first chance. Now we see that same thing with muslim peace treaties now - hudna is the word for it. But, we are chosing not to learn about it and are lulled into a false sense of security. is this evil? I would say that chosen ignorance is doing the devil’s business - if one has the power to make peace treaties knowing that a group of people don’t honor them then not finding out why is chosing ignorance. Because too many lives are at stake in this situation.

Way too many men/women chose with their own free will to follow creeps like these and thus gave them the power and ability to do such atrocious things to others.

So, who are the more evil - those men who led such regimes/idiologies or those who followed them and did nothing to stop it?

Hitler could have been stopped since he didn’t have the numbers of men leading the way. For example - there were not that many SS per thousands. He always got in with a minority of a vote. It was thuggary and the lure (of what I said above) that people were chosing to follow, or let Hitler, get away with what he did. Basically, it is easier to do that than to stand for what is right.

 

[cyberjacques]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

This is a rather childish, and unfortunately common attitude. Saying that nobody would choose to go to hell is like saying that nobody chooses to go to prison. Of course they do! Every human being with even a basic understanding of right and wrong knows that everything has a consequence. If you choose certain behaviors, you cannot then argue that you did not choose the consequences of those behaviors.

 

[inJESUS]

Hell does not YET exist contain anyone. .

how then would it be a vision of “hell”?i

Secondly: The “different tortures for different sins”-part makes this “vision” not only shout, but indeed SCREAM “I am not a divine revalation”. That thought is thoroughly unbiblical,

 

[R_not]

Could it be that differenct Christian religions teach that hell doesn’t exit yet?

I have a cousin who says she is a Christian - of no particular sect - and she says that no matter what we do we are forgiven. I was flabberghasted.

She actually said that she was thinking of suicide and that she would be forgiven?!!? Well, of course I (tried to be calm) said that she was raised a Catholic and she knew what was right and wrong. And suicide is wrong. The 10 commandments also have a commandment about that sort of thing and I said did she really believe that it was null and void if one murdered oneself? We had a long talk and of course I bought up other things and to make a long story short - she is still here. I just hope she took my advice and went to a therapist. (she won’t tell me)

But there is that thinking out there. So, my question is - what does the sect of Christianity teach about hell?

 

[ufamtobie]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

Cheddarsox,

Above you say “This makes me fear Hell, but it does not make me love God”.

You have the same exact feeling of those in Hell.

Perhaps someone dis-liked one of you closest family member and he or she killed them and was caught by the authorities. This killer would go to trial aka “Judgement” and being found guilty would spend the rest of thier life in prison untill death.

NO ONE would choose Prison! No one… would want to spend the rest of his or her life that way! BUT THEY DO DON’T THEY BY THEIR “FREE WILL” And so it is with Hell!

So we too, by God, will be judged according to our sinful state in life and if we are found Worthy we will merit Eternal Life and if we are found guilty we will merit eternal damnation.

We decide not God to where we will spend Eternity! So actually we damn our own selfs. And those who are saved will be by the Grace of God.

Ceddarsox, you seem to have some rage in your heart like those in Hell will have/do have for God and those who will merit Heaven “Christians”.

Tell why are you truly here at this site? You may think otherwise but it is by the Grace of God that you are here TO LEARN! He loves you with all his heart. Its your choice your call to wether you want to spend Eternity with God or in Hell.

God Bless you

Ufamtobie

 

[LutheranDK]

how then would it be a vision of “hell”?i

 

[cheddarsox]

I indeed do have a very childish attitude.

I think most people have no concept of what hell is, if indeed this vision is correct.

One cannot choose what one does not know.

Even the worst human, who wreaked the greatest suffering and havoc does not deserve to suffer thus for all of eternity.

But I am not God, so it’s not my call.

Is the vision of hell supposed to help us love God?

My suffering in life has made me more merciful toward people. I guess I know what happens to people like me.

 

[cyberjacques]

Even the worst human, who wreaked the greatest suffering and havoc does not deserve to suffer thus for all of eternity.

I feel the same way, but keep in mind that God does not send anyone to hell. The wicked and unrepentant flee from His presence, ending up in a very bad place.

My suffering in life has made me more merciful toward people. I guess I know what happens to people like me.

If you are a better person because of what you have suffered in this life, then you’re better off than you seem to realize. Too many others cannot make that claim.

 

[inJESUS]

a vision is something that will happen, not necessarily something that happened. It is like a prophecy/depiction of something that did not happen yet.

2: Scripture does not teach this kind of hell divided into sections according to one’s sin.

the author was speaking about specific cases, not all. Not all people sin in the same way…am sure that stealing, though a sin, is not like massacring a 100 human …do you think that a robber will be punished like a human who massacres people ? just curious

 

[Techno2000]

This makes me fear hell, but it does not make me love God. Why would anything with true power resort to this? Not that God should meet my understanding.

But truly…it is hard to choose to love a being that would allow someone to suffer thus if they had the power to prevent it.

NO ONE would choose that. So don’t speak to me of free will. No one…would choose to spend eternity that way.

catholicforum.com/churches/cathteach/divinemercy1.htm
our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/

 

[Gara3987]

The Pains of Hell

From the Writings of St. Anthony Mary Claret

The sensation of pain in Hell is essentially very dreadful. Picture yourself, my soul, on a dark night on the summit of a high mountain. Beneath you is a deep valley, and the earth opens so that with your gaze you can see Hell in the cavity of it. Picture it as a prison situated in the center of the earth, many leagues down, all full of fire, hemmed in so impenetrably that for all eternity not even the smoke can escape. In this prison the damned are packed so tightly one on the other like bricks in a kiln… Consider the quality of the fire in which they burn.

First, the fire is all-extensive and tortures the whole body and the whole soul. A damned person lies in Hell forever in the same spot, which he was assigned by divine justice, without being able to move, as a prisoner in stocks.

The fire, in which he is totally enveloped, as a fish in water, burns around him, on his left, his right, above and below. His head, his breast, his shoulders, his arms, his hands, and his feet are all penetrated with fire, so that he completely resembles a glowing hot piece of iron, which has just been withdrawn from an oven. The roof beneath which the damned person dwells is fire; the food he takes is fire; the drink he tastes is fire; the air he breathes is fire; whatever he sees and touches is all fire…

But this fire is not merely outside him; it also passes within the condemned person. It penetrates his brain, his teeth, his tongue, his throat, his liver, his lungs, his bowels, his belly, his heart, his veins, his nerves, his bones, even to the marrow, and even his blood.

“In Hell,” according to St. Gregory the Great, “there will be a fire that cannot be put out, a worm which cannot die, a stench one cannot bear, a darkness one can feel, a scourging by savage hands, with those present despairing of anything good.”

A most dreadful fact is that by the divine power this fire goes so far as to work on the very faculties of the soul, burning them and tormenting them. Suppose I were to find myself placed at the oven of a smith so that my whole body was in the open air but for one arm placed in the fire, and that God were to preserve my life for a thousand years in this position. Would this not be an unbearable torture? What, then, would it be like to be completely penetrated and surrounded by fire, which would affect not just an arm, but even all the faculties of the soul?

More Dreadful than Man Can Imagine

Secondly, this fire is far more dreadful than man can imagine. The natural fire that we see during this life has great power to burn and torment. Yet this is not even a shadow of the fire of Hell. There are two reasons why the fire of Hell is more dreadful beyond all comparison than the fire of this life.

The first reason is the justice of God, which the fire serves as an instrument in order to punish the infinite wrong done to his supreme majesty, which has been despised by a creature. Therefore, justice supplies this element with a burning power, which almost reaches the infinite…

The second reason is the malice of sin. As God knows that the fire of this world is not enough to punish sin, as it deserves, He has given the fire of Hell a power so strong that it can never be comprehended by any human mind. Now, how powerfully does this fire burn?

It burns so powerfully, O my soul, that, according to the ascetical masters, if a mere spark of it fell on a millstone; it would reduce it in a moment to powder. If it fell on a ball of bronze, it would melt it in an instant as if it were wax. If it landed on a frozen lake, it would make it boil in an instant.

Pause here briefly, my soul, and answer a few questions I will put. First, I ask you: If a special furnace were fired up as was customarily done to torment the holy martyrs, and then men placed before you all kinds of good things that the human heart might want, and added the offer of a prosperous kingdom – if all this were promised you on condition that for just a half-hour you enclose yourself within the furnace, what would you choose?

 

[Gara3987]

A Hundred Kingdoms

“Ah!” you would say, “If you offered me a hundred kingdoms I would never be so foolish as to accept your brutal terms, regardless of how grand your offer might be, even if I were sure that God would preserve my life during those moments of suffering.”

Second, I ask you: If you already had possession of a great kingdom and were swimming in a sea of wealth so that nothing was wanting to you, and then you were attacked by an enemy, were imprisoned and put in chains and obliged to either renounce your kingdom or else spend a half-hour in a hot furnace, what would you choose? “Ah!” you would say, “I would prefer to spend my whole life in extreme poverty and submit to any other hardship and misfortune, than suffer such a great torment!”

A Prison of Eternal Fire

Now turn your thoughts from the temporal to the eternal. To avoid the torment of a hot furnace, which would last but a half-hour, you would forgo all your property, even things you are most fond of; you would suffer any other temporal loss, however burdensome. Then why do you not think the same way when you are dealing of eternal torments? God threatens you not just with a half-hour in a furnace, but with a prison of eternal fire. To escape it, should you not forgo whatever He has forbidden, no matter how pleasant it can be for you, and gladly embrace whatever He commands, even if it be extremely unpleasant?

A most terrible thing about Hell is its duration. The condemned person loses God and loses Him for all eternity. Now, what is eternity? O my soul, up to now there has not been any angel who has been able to comprehend what eternity is. So how can you comprehend it? Yet, to form some idea of it, consider the following truths:

Eternity never ends. This is the truth that has made even the great saints tremble. The final judgment will come, the world will be destroyed, the earth will swallow up those who are damned, and they will be cast into Hell. Then, with His almighty hand, God will shut them up in that most unhappy prison.
From then on, as many years will pass as there are leaves on the trees and plants on all the earth, as many thousands of years as there are drops of water in all seas and rivers, as many thousands of years as there are atoms in the air, as there are grains of sand on all the shores of all seas. Then, after the passage of this countless number of years, what will eternity be? Up to then there will not even have been a hundredth part of it, nor a thousandth – nothing. It then begins again and will last as long again, even after this has been repeated a thousand times, and a thousand million times again. And then, after so long a period, not even a half will have passed, not even a hundredth part nor a thousandth, not even any part of eternity. For all this time there is no interruption in the burnings of those who are damned, and it begins all over again.

Oh, a deep mystery indeed! A terror above all terrors! O eternity! Who can comprehend thee?

The Tears of Cain

Suppose that, in the case of unhappy Cain, weeping in Hell, he shed in every thousand years just one tear. Now, O my soul, recollect your thoughts and suppose this case: For six thousand years at least Cain has been in Hell and shed only six tears, which God miraculously preserves. How many years would pass for his tears to fill all the valleys of the earth and flood all the cities and towns and villages and cover all the mountains so as to flood the whole earth? We understand the distance from the earth to the sun is thirty-four million leagues. How many years would be necessary for Cain’s tears to fill that immense space? From the earth to the firmament is, let us suppose, a distance of a hundred and sixty million leagues.

O God! What number of years might one imagine to be sufficient to fill with these tears this immense space? And yet – O truth so incomprehensible – be sure of it, as that God cannot lie – a time will arrive in which these tears of Cain would be sufficient to flood the world, to reach even the sun, to touch the firmament, and fill all the space between earth and the highest heaven. But that is not all.

If God dried up all these tears to the last drop and Cain began again to weep, he would again fill the same entire space with them and fill it a thousands times and a million times in succession, and after all those countless years, not even half of eternity would have passed, not even a fraction. After all that time burning in Hell, Cain’s sufferings will be just beginning.

This eternity is also without relief. It would indeed be a small consolation and of little benefit for the condemned persons to be able to receive a brief respite once every thousand years.

 

[Gara3987]

No Relief

Picture in Hell a place where there are three reprobates. The first is plunged in a lake of sulfuric fire, the second is chained to a large rock and is being tormented by two devils, one of whom continually pours molten lead down his throat while the other spills it all over his body, covering him from head to foot. The third reprobate is being tortured by two serpents, one of which wraps around the man’s body and cruelly gnaws on it, while the other enters within the body and attacks the heart. Suppose God is moved to pity and grants a short respite.

The first man, after the passage of a thousand years is drawn from the lake and receives the relief of a drink of cool water, and at the end of an hour is cast again into the lake. The second, after a thousand years, is released from his place and allowed to rest, but after an hour is again returned to the same torment. The third, after a thousand years, is delivered from the serpents; but after an hour of relief, is again abused and tormented by them. Ah, how little this consolation would be – to suffer a thousand years and to rest only one hour.

However, Hell does not even have that much relief. One burns always in those dreadful flames and never receives any relief for all eternity. He is forever gnawed and stricken with remorse, and will never have a rest for all eternity. He will suffer always a very ardent thirst and never receive the refreshment of a sip of water for all eternity. He will see himself always abhorred by God and will never enjoy a single tender glance from Him for all eternity. He will find himself forever cursed by heaven and Hell, and will never receive a single gesture of friendship.

It is an essential misfortune of Hell that everything will be without relief, without remedy, without interruption, without end, eternal.

The Kindness of His Mercy

Now I understand in part, O my God, what Hell is. It is a place of extreme pain, of extreme despair. It is where I deserve to be for my sins, where I would have been confined for some years already if your immense mercy had not delivered me. I will keep repeating a thousand times: The Heart of Jesus has loved me, or else I would now be in Hell! The mercy of Jesus has pitied me, for otherwise I would be in Hell! The Blood of Jesus has reconciled me with the heavenly Father, or my dwelling place would be Hell. This shall be the hymn that I want to sing to Thee, my God, for all eternity. Yes, from now on my intention is to repeat these words as many times as there are moments that have passed since that unhappy hour in which I first offended You.

What has been my gratitude to God for his kind mercy that He showed me? He delivered me from Hell. O, immense charity! O, infinite goodness! After a benefit so great, should I not have given Him my whole heart and loved Him with the love of the most ardent Seraphim? Should I not have directed all my actions to Him and in everything sought only His divine pleasure, accepting all contradictions with joy, in order to return to Him my love? Could I do less than that after a kindness that was so great? And yet, what is it that I have done? Oh, ingratitude worthy of another Hell! I cast You aside, O my God! I reacted to Your mercy by committing new sins and offenses. I know that I have done evil, O my God, and I repent with my whole heart. Ah, would that I could shed a sea of tears for such outrageous ingratitude! O Jesus, have mercy on me; for I now resolve to rather suffer a thousand deaths than offend You again.