Dear friends,
… (Snip)
I say this pretty much because of the existence of hell. Why would He create when He knows that He will ultimately put His creatures at risk of going to hell. Not only at risk, but at great risk, as we know that the Lord said that it is a hard and narrow road that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
…
Obviously I’m so worried and frustrated about this issue, because I feel at major risk to go to hell under these conditions.
… As far as I’m concerned, even if 1 person ends up in hell, God’s creation is ruined. It doesn’t matter to me that if someone is in hell, it was their choice. Mainly because I find it hard to believe that someone would ever choose a life of eternal torment over eternal bliss. I don’t believe that anyone would EVER make such a choice. To me, it seems that everyone should go to Heaven since everyone in this world desires the good,??
… I can’t imagine a parent ever wanting to put their child into a severely dangerous situation, even to the point of perhaps not having children so as to not put their potential child into a harmful situation. I simply feel that God has allowed us into a very dangerous situation, without asking us if we’d like to be born or not…
Another thought that just entered in:
How can God live with Himself knowing souls are suffering in hell forever?
God bless you.
-struggleMt71314
This is probably not going to help you much, but I’ve written ad infinitum that the night my own father died, he materialised in my room. He started with an apology, we argued and conversed, and at the end, he gave this almighty scream and then disappeared.
I believe he’s in hell. He even said at one stage “I always was doomed! I didn’t have any choice!” I argued back (I was an atheist at that time incidentally) saying “That can’t be right!”
To which he replied, “Oh, it’s right all right! You can see that from here!”
Later on however he also admitted “I was WILLING!” I’d say, very willing.
Now I’ve had other experiences which indicate God knows very well what’s going to happen, and indeed can exert His Will without us being aware of it, and very subtly too. For examples of what I’m talking about go to the following reference and read posts #22 and #23.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=10335723#post10335723
There are a couple of things which came out of this apparition. The first was the sheer terror he displayed just before he disappeared. It was also clear something was coming for him.
However he was also “WILLING” to be cruel, bad tempered, etc. I had a firearm pointed at my head at one stage (loaded as far as I know), was punched coming out of the shower with no warning, was spat at once, hit from behind a number of times, and was the butt of endless put-downs. He basically admitted the night he died that he did it deliberately.
Now he had 25 years to do something about his temper and stupid cruelty, and did nothing. Did he “desire the good?” I don’t think he did. And I can tell you now, that while I might feel quite sorry for him if I were to see him now, I wouldn’t want to spend eternity with him if he hadn’t changed. I have no desire to live for eternity with a bad tempered, vindictive, cruel, stupid, ridiculing mongrel (and he described his behaviour himself as “I’ve been an absolute mongrel to you!”).
SInce he had no intention of changing his behaviour, then I suspect he’s in a part of hell where they’re all bad tempered, vindictive, endlessly critical etc. And of course such an attitude could only get worse and worse and worse in an environment like that. Yet in one sense he got what he wanted. Whether he wanted what he got is another question.
As for God not being able to “live with Himself”, He doesn’t seem to be having much trouble with that as far as I can see. He’s alive and well, rest assured.
This is not a new question. Even my wise old Protestant pastor once commented to me “I sometimes wonder if it’s true (Ie. God is love). He seems to write people off pretty easily.”
However he also made the comment, “Love and judgement are two sides of the same coin.” God must judge the way we treat other people in particular (and animals) if He’s going to make any claim to be just, and that’s what it boils down to. As Christ said, the commandments pin on just two - Love the Lord etc. and Love your neighbour. That’s the ten commandments in a nutshell. Which is why Justification by Faith Alone is a distortion of the Biblical teaching. It’s a bit more involved than that. When Paul was writing about “works”, he had come from a Pharasaical background himself. The “works” he was talking about weren’t about how you treated your neighbour, but all the petty fogging rules the Jewish hierarchy thought were necessary for salvation, as well as the temple sacrifices etc.
I also once had a bit of a brief vision when I was younger where “Someone” said “What is Love?” If we can answer that in the divine sense, we’ll probably understand how “Love” can allow and even plan for Hell.
As Catholics of course we also believe in Purgatory, which Protestants don’t. There may be more people there than we think, and if they’re in Purgatory, they’ll get to heaven eventually.
As for yourself, if you’re worried about Hell, then you’re probably also watching your own behaviour. Which means you’ve got a pretty good chance of not going to hell. It’s the person who doesn’t even give it a thought who’s in particular danger.
Yet even my father admitted, “Oh, it’s
RIGHT, all right! You can see that from here!”
Somehow or other, we’ll recognise it’s right and just, even if we’re condemned. We’ll know to the core of our being the judgement is just. We’ll also know, with appalling certainty, that there is no hope of appeal.
