Road To HELL !?

[dang71]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

now this statement (and others like it) really freaks me out. even though i live my life trying to do good things, i’m still going to hell? shouldn’t we always try to do everything with good intentions? can anyone help me with what this statement is really trying to tell us?

thanks

 

[joeybaggz]

As I understand it, the phrase you quote is not a reference to anything spiritual at all.

There is an old law called the Law of Unintended Consequences. Your phrase is simply a metaphor for it. It is a fanciful way of saying that so many people start out with a good intention, and that the end result is not only not what they wanted to accomplish, it is the worse of all possible outcomes.

This pithy little phrase has nothing to do with your soul, and it has no religious significance. It’s only a saying, sort of like, all’s well that ends well. Don’t lose anymore sleep over it.

 

[lpioch]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

now this statement (and others like it) really freaks me out.

There are two ways to read the quote.
The way you should read it is:

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions that are never followed through.”

You know the kind. “Wouldn’t it be good if I …” fill in the blank. But then you never do it. A lifetime of such bad habits will certainly send you away from God.

Now, if you DO (whatever it is you do) with the right intention (i.e…for the glory of God), even if you mess up whatever it is you are doing, then you are perfectly fine.

So it really is:
The road to hell is paved with good (unattempted) intentions
and
The road to heaven is paved with right intentions.

 

[Eilish_Maura]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

now this statement (and others like it) really freaks me out. even though i live my life trying to do good things, i’m still going to hell? shouldn’t we always try to do everything with good intentions? can anyone help me with what this statement is really trying to tell us?

thanks

Actually DOING the good things is not the same as stopping at good intentions.

Take a moment and re-read the comment, meditate on it, pray that God teaches you what it means.

 

[Other_Eric]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

now this statement (and others like it) really freaks me out. even though i live my life trying to do good things, i’m still going to hell? shouldn’t we always try to do everything with good intentions? can anyone help me with what this statement is really trying to tell us?

thanks

The saying is meant to call one’s attention to those subtle forms of deception that one might use to rationalize whatever it is one wishes to do. Even Hitler can be said to have had “good intentions.” What the saying warns one against is putting blinders on and focusing solely on one’s intended outcome rather than the means one uses to achieve it.

 

[dang71]

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions that are never followed through.”

Ah, now this makes sense, even to my infantile spiritual mind it’s kind of like, “yeah, i’ll get to that do-good stuff sooner or later”, and the “sooner or later” never really comes.

focusing solely on one’s intended outcome rather than the means one uses to achieve it.

so the ends don’t justify the means.

these are two really good interpretations. thanks

 

[Lief_Erikson]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

now this statement (and others like it) really freaks me out. even though i live my life trying to do good things, i’m still going to hell? shouldn’t we always try to do everything with good intentions? can anyone help me with what this statement is really trying to tell us?

thanks

We should all do everything with good intentions. What the statement means is that people doing evil often do so with good intentions, so good intentions aren’t enough to make a person moral. In fact, while one person with good intentions can be wonderfully moral, another can be hideously immoral while still having good intentions.

Just look at the Nazis, or the abortion activists of today, people who are content to see millions of people slaughtered and yet did or do so with good intentions. Many abortion activists are concerned for the health of the mother, the Nazis were concerned for the health of their society and the protection of their families from “evil Jewish influence.” A man might encourage another man to commit adultery because he’s in a rough marriage and the first man thinks it might make him feel better. But he’s doing evil. Good intentions can produce wickedness or righteousness.

Therefore we need to do good according to God’s absolute standard of morality, not according to man’s constantly changing moral standards.

Don’t worry. Just do what the Bible says, listen to what the Church teaches, and seek and praise the God who loves you and is leading you toward heaven!

People who think good intentions make good morality are a danger to themselves and the society around them. People who combine good intentions with the moral standard God has given us are an immense blessing to society.

 

[rwoehmke]

My wife and I both heard this phrase from the good sisters who taught us lo these many many years ago. We always understood it to mean that while good intentions are not bad, that lack of follow through gets your bippy in the fire.

 

[IrishAm]

Relax, it’s a proverb, not a dogma.