If that is the case…then I probably have a spot in Hell with my name written all over it!
Hey jlengle, the church doesn’t ever tell a person they are going to hell. 1 unrepentant mortal sin will result in a person going to hell, but mortal is requires the person’s sin meet the 3 conditions of significant matter, being fully informed, and fully intended. I don’t mean to offend at all, but I would say that some of the sins you’ve mentioned (premarrital sex, contraception, etc…) meet the significat matter, but you personally may not have been formed well enough yet to have mortally sinned in this reguard. (basically I’m saying yes, God does know the difference of judging a person who knew they did wrong and intended to vs. a person who didn’t know it was wrong or did something by accident - and the church admits only God knows then, no created person fully knows; thus Catholics err on the side of cautiuon and always confess significan sin b/c we don’t know how informed/intentional we are in every action)
Yeah…maybe things about contraception and whatnot are in the bible, but times have changed…situations have changed. I’m sure God understands that.
This may come across as majorly theological, but 1 teaching pretty much universally accepted is that God is all knowing (it’s a component of being omnipotent or all powerful). That being the case God cannot change. Since from before the Earth ever existed, He alreadly knew every lesson our world could ever demonstrate or concieve, his witnessing the miracle of birht, the horror of a civil-war, etc…can not change his opinon. Thus with God we do not speak of opinion but truth. His ‘opinion’ defines the rules of the universe and the rules of salvation, thus His thoughts are that big ‘T’ truth that every religion if trying to bring to the world. God may say X is good in situation Y and sinful in sitation Z, but never says I changed my mind, X is now okay in both situations (this His truth can be specific/complex, but is never hypocritical and wavering)
My husband had cancer and he was told he would never be able to have children. Plus I was on birth control when we had our first child. So what does that tell you? Obviously God is not punishing us for having sex before we got married…he provided us with a miracle.
1st let me agree that your children are a miracle, the are a blessing, are loved by God more than we can imagine. He wants them in heaven (and you and my family too), and will act through all of our lives to get in to follow His truth and enter heaven.
However, just because a miracle results that in no way meants the cause was good. Imagine if a grandfather raped and impregnated his 10 year old granddaughter, could we ever argue that was good b/c of the resulting miracle? At times evil will result of good action and good will result of evil actions. This is just the randomness of life. Some want to fight the b/c it seems unjust, but these are little ripples of challanges and blessings that keep the faithful on the right path and hopefully draw the unfaithful to better actions. The true and perfect justice of the Lord will be made manifest after death (don’t mean to make that ominous).
There are a lot of things that happened in my life that made me think I would never be accepted back into the Catholic Church and it wasn’t anything that I should be ashamed of. (Like sex before marriage, having a child out of wedlock, living with my husband before we got married)…things like that. Those things are frowned upon by the Catholic Church. But I don’t see that being wrong…we have been together for 10 years…we’re happily married…have 2 beautiful children.
Once we’ve done things and seen good result, it is easy to rationalize bad choices. A man cheating with another married woman may find she was being abused and come to the rescue. But that doesn’t exonerate the fact the 2 were both cheating. Again, just an ends don’t justify the means argument. God defines reality, so His truth determines right/wrong. Catholics teach premarrital sex is wrong (and this is clear in the Bible and agreed on by nearly every faith on earth) not b/c we feel like it, but because we are of the position that God says so and thus it is true and important.
So if the church would have the nerve to tell my children we’re going to hell because I used contraception and my husband chooses not to go to church…then I guess it’ll be time to find a new chuch.
Please never believe if a Catholic (or anyone) tells you that your action will put your children in hell. St. Thomas Aquinas is obviously a great saint, his parents weren’t so hot on the idea of his being a priest. They went as far as locking him in a room with a prostitue to temp him away from the priesthood, sin on their part but certainly not his. Another example would be the child of a rapist, who may unfortunately bear shame, but are not guilty or tainted in any way. Each person is responsible for their own salvation. We do affect others greatly, but ultimately we are responsible for our own soul. Also Catholics never close the door on healing and redemption, so no matter what we do - hell isn’t certain, we can repent until the moment of death.
Church should be enjoyable for everyone not frightening! I want my children to enjoy the teachings of God…not be frightened by them saying that if you do this…this is going to happen to you.
Just remember, the church’s job is to spread Truth as given to us from God. The church of a mouth piece for God and if that is frightening or soothing, it is just a reflectiong His truth and His justice.