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COLOS
Guest
Thatâs the problem. Not knowing the truly infinite dignity of God and not recognizing the magnitude of even the smallest offence against Him.
If you slap your little brother, you will get grounded for a day.
If you slap your mother, you will get whipped and grounded for a month.
If you slap a police officer, you will get arrested and sent to jail for a year.
If you slap the President of the United States, you will go to prison for decades.
In all four examples the action is the same, itâs aggression is the same, itâs forcefulness is the same, itâs intent is the same, and the person committing the act is the same. Only the person which you act upon is different. By changing the dignity of the person you offend, you change the punishment associated with your offence.
God has infinite dignity. You are a finite creature. What infinite punishment are you, a mere creature, capable of experiencing? A punishment of infinite time. A punishment without end. It is the only way for you to fully experience the consequences of offending the infinite God.
Physically, we can only experience a limited amount of pain with respect to the temerature of the fire. Blazing, white-hot pain seems to be the limit, regardless of how much hotter the fire gets. So, if an infinite temperature of fire cannot be experienced, then that leaves only an infinite duration.
None of us can see clearly how horrible our sins are. None of us can yet appreciate the Mercy of God to allow us time to repent and do penance.
Pray for me,
Andrew
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LilyM
Guest
Of course there is.
I am a lawyer, and in my work I see lots of people who are basically good but have made one or two mistakes for which they get punished harshly, either in the criminal justice system or by being taken to the cleaners in the civil courts. Sometimes simply for being a bit too trusting of others who have advised them to sign contracts or whatnot.
It absolutely breaks my heart at times to see it happen. But at the same time even âbasically goodâ people need to learn from their mistakes, and make reparation to society and others who suffer from their errors. And not seeking proper advice before signing a contract is dangerous too, and people need to realise that as well.
So by the same token, donât think that those who believe in Hell are unsympathetic by any means. If anything, my belief in Hell makes me work all the harder to help whoever I can to avoid it!
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Rascalking
Guest
Oh, good heavens-For the 44th time,I donât think those who believe in hell are unsympathetic. I never said that,and I donât think that way. I do think that there is a huge difference between hell and the real world-even a murderer in jail for life may not have that punishment for eternity-I donât know, and frankly, no mortal does.
I DO think that some people seem almost giddy in the fact/thought of sending even people who sin to hell-there are alot of self-righteous people out there.
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
Well, I hope youâre wrong about that last. I mean the part of some people seeming almost giddy about âsending people who sin to hellâ. Itâs hard on message boards even with cute little emoticons
to convey our feelings along with our words, but I hope and pray that people addressing this are doing so in a spirit of charity and concern and not with any ideas of being self-righteous or hateful. Personally, I hope that every person with mortal sin on his/her soul, in the past, in the present, or in the future, will at some point before death repent, confess, and be reconciled with God so that nobody ever has to face hell.
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wjp984
Guest
My guess is that upon our judgement we will come to a full understanding of the choice we made to either choose or reject God. Those who have chosen to reject God will understand that they belong in Hell even in torment as it would be less painful than facing God at any time in eternity.
Think of it this way. The criminal who commits murder and is on the run and therefore potentially gets away with it. He does not want to turn himself in. He would rather be on the run outside of prison rather than turn himself in and face the justice system, therefore being accountable for his actions.
People who have rejected God are on the run for all eternity in Hell and this is better for them than to face God. Hell is the absence of God after all.
Think of it this way. The criminal who commits murder and is on the run and therefore potentially gets away with it. He does not want to turn himself in. He would rather be on the run outside of prison rather than turn himself in and face the justice system, therefore being accountable for his actions.
People who have rejected God are on the run for all eternity in Hell and this is better for them than to face God. Hell is the absence of God after all.
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wjp984
Guest
Your comment about appropriate punishments made me laugh thinking back over a memory.
There was never much discipline in my family and my ciblings and I got away with just about everything. However, here is when I got one of my only punishments in my life.
For whatever reason it was time to go, and my mom came to tell me. I was playing a video game though and did not want to quit because I was doing quite well in the game and could not save it.
After telling me to leave several times my mom finally came in to physically grab the game out of the console. To prevent her from doing this I shoved her out of the way. That little stunt got me grounded from video games for a month and unlike any other punishment in my life it was actually enforced to the full extent. So ya, I guess the one month length seems like the right amount because I never pulled something like that again.
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HeWillProvide
Guest
Peopleâs wills are bound at the moment of their death. Once you die, there is no more time, there is no time to change your mind, the hour of mercy is up and it is time for the hour of judgment. The blessed continue to worship God for ever and ever and the damned continue to blaspheme God for ever and ever.*
So mercy is only offered while weâre alive and not while weâre dead??
So mercy is only offered while weâre alive and not while weâre dead??
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COLOS
Guest
The Blessed in Heaven will experience the Mercy of God for all of eternity.
The damned in hell have made it the practice of their lives to reject Godâs Mercy. The only way that you, a sinner, can respond to and receive the Mercy of God is by cooperating with His grace. Once you are sentenced to hell, there is no more grace given to you. You have decided on your own to ultimately and completely reject God by the way you have lived your life.
If you will not have God in life, you most certainly will not have Him in death. By rejecting His grace minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day you have ultimately refused the One Who made you for Himself. When you die, you die with that same attitude, that same habitual rejection of the Love of God. That decision is locked in forever. God gives you what you want. You want His absence. So, in hell, there is no grace for you to cooperate with. It is what you have chosen. âŚand you will curse God and everyone else forever because of your own choice.
One Saint said that one single drop of true contrition would empty out hell. The problem is that true contrition is a gift from God. You have rendered yourself unwilling and unable to receive anymore gifts from God; therefore, there is no possibility of true contrition in hell.
The damned in hell hate it there, but they hate God more. That hatred was demonstrated in their lives by their continual rejection of Him Who loved them. That rejection which they have chosen will continue forever in the fires of hell. He loved you first. You rejected Him. Ultimately, He will reject from eternal life those who have rejected Him by giving them exactly what they have wanted.
The gates of hell are locked from the inside.
[by âyouâ I mean âyouâ in general and not you specifically, Hewillproide. Just to be clear that I have no clue what the state of your soul is]]
Pray for us all,
Andrew
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COLOS
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puzzleannie
Guest
no it is the opposite
heaven is excessive reward for being absolved of sin
none of us deserve heaven
all of us deserve hell
it is Godâs mercy that admits us to heaven in the first place, and the only thing we need to claim that mercy is to ask for it and accept it.
No one is sent to hell, all there have chosen it freely in full free will and knowledge and are kept their because they reject God eternally
hell is the consequence of that choice
to say hell is excessive punishment for sin makes as much sense as saying death is excessive punishment for jumping off a cliff.
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Theophilus777
Guest
I have read C.S. Lewisâ The Great Divorce many times, and itâs kind of obvious that people who do not love God would not enjoy Heaven being that it is a place where He is exalted and worshipped and adored. Lewis made some interesting points that the bliss of Paradise would not be very accomodating to anyone who did not reverence the virtues. The point is that the principle agony of Hell is the absence of God. I donât think we understand how everything in life that gives pleasure reflects the goodness of God and that it is sin that corrupts those things by promising, falsely, a pleasure in them that does not include God. It would logically follow that to reject God is to choose a place where God is absent, and that the pleasures that naturally accompany Godâs presence would likewise be absent. The tortures of Hell are indeed horrible but the greatest torture of all is that there is no love. God really is love, and there will be no love in Hell.
We have a lifetime to choose. God makes His truth known to us. He will give us that which we choose in the end.
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