School Doctrine Help! Please!

[Jesusonthecross]

Hey Guys!
So I am writing an argument for my religion class about why hell is better than not existing at all. I know St. Thomas Aquinas says something about this, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere! Thanks!

 

[Eliza10]

Hey Guys!
So I am writing an argument for my religion class about why hell is better than not existing at all. I know St. Thomas Aquinas says something about this, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere! Thanks!

You will probably get a quicker answer of this question if you post it in Apologetics, or Philosophy. And title it: “Is Hell is better than not existing?” That way someone who likes to take on these kinds of questions will see it. Here in Family Life where people read who think especially about family issues you might not find your theologian/philosopher to answer it very quick.

I hope you do that becaseu I will look forward to seeing the answer! I really want to know! (And I am confident there is an answer).

 

[clem456]

Hey Guys!
So I am writing an argument for my religion class about why hell is better than not existing at all. I know St. Thomas Aquinas says something about this, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere! Thanks!

I don’t think your comparison “better than” works.
To not exist is just nothing.
Hell is bad.
I’m not sure how you can compare something bad with a nothing.

Perhaps hell is to wish you did not exist. I dunno.
Very unpleasant paper you have there.

 

[Eliza10]

Clem, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote on it, so there is a good answer. Its a good question, too. I have had some arguments with atheists who say that God is a terrible and awful to condemn people to hell forever (I have good arguments for this but he is a closed mind). But this has made me think, and I would like to know why it would be better for them to be in hell than not to exist.

 

[clem456]

Clem, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote on it, so there is a good answer. Its a good question, too. I have had some arguments with atheists who say that God is a terrible and awful to condemn people to hell forever (I have good arguments for this but he is a closed mind). But this has made me think, and I would like to know why it would be better for them to be in hell than not to exist.

Yes I didn’t mean to minimize a sincere question.
I just expressed myself poorly. I would be interested to see Aquinas’ reasoning here. I didn’t know he made this comparison.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Hey Guys!
So I am writing an argument for my religion class about why hell is better than not existing at all. I know St. Thomas Aquinas says something about this, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere! Thanks!

You also might want to focus on what Jesus said of judas. Better he not be born…

 

[Eliza10]

You also might want to focus on what Jesus said of judas. Better he not be born…

 

[Beryllos]

Can’t find it? Try looking up Summa Theologica, Question 98, Article 3, “Whether the damned by right and deliberate reason would wish not to be?”

Perhaps you have a preferred online version of Summa Theologica. I don’t, but the first one I clicked on…
Christian Classics Ethereal Library — Summa Theologica
… has the Article to which I referred on “pdf page” 6890, which appears as “book page” 6738. Aquinas refers to (and I think actually disputes) arguments by Augustine, which I have not explored.

I have not fully absorbed either side of this question. Perhaps, when you have figured it out, you could report your findings here. Thanks!