Telling others they're going to hell?

[AnotherMe]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

 

[fastenatingguy]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

Yes, get it off your chest

 

[esieffe]

While Catholics are told to consider counselling people in error, I feel no one has the right to tell anyone that they are going to hell. Being able to predict if someone is going to hell implies they share knowledge with God.

Having said that, to witness the atrocities we see on TV and THINK “Wow, that serial killer stands a real good chance of spending eternity as barbeque” that does not cross the line to me. Telling someone that they are going to hell IMHO can be spiritually damaging in some cases.

I think most of us, and I include myself, have been guilty of this at some time or another.

I commend you for recognizing this and your desire to confess it.

 

[sirach2v4]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

You should repent (stop doing it) and pray. According to paragraph 1735 of the catechism, your guilt is lessened or canceled out, due to ignorance, inadvertence, etc. or other psychological or social factors.

Pope Francis says we all should stop being “sour pusses” and let people know about the good news of Jesus Christ.

In first Corinthians, Paul says people should not judge him, let God judge him. Let God judge you.

 

[RinoaHeartilly]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

Definitely repent. Judging others can be spiritually dangerous. It damages your relationship with God and it sometimes turns others away from the faith. Seeing how you’re reacting to the situation, you probably didn’t know you were sinning at the time, so a mortal sin likely wasn’t committed, and confession wouldn’t be necessary. But if you just can’t shake the guilt, confess and get the feeling off your chest.

 

[Beryllos]

Jesus said “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” We should all say the same.

 

[tawny]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

Yes, you should confess this to the priest and receive the graces from confession to give you the strength to stop being judgemental.

 

[Lasting_faith]

Let us make one thing clear, God does not send us to Hell, that we do our self in actions against what God want us to do.

Here is one interesting point though. We know that salvation is possible only thru The Church, but on the other hand we also know that all have the same possibility to make it to Heaven, as “my” priest did say, “the road is longer”. So in fact we do condemn people even if God don’t do it. I know I should start a new thread about this, but I think it fit this question, under thees circumstances. We are not supposed to judge, but when we declare that salvation is possible only thru The Church (RCC) we do judge. Could someone clarify this?

 

[Deus_tecum]

During my Born Again Christian days I, along with many others were telling everyone unless they were Born Again they were “going to hell.” I still believe Christ is the only Savior. But to tell someone they were going to hell because they do not believe the same way I did seems very judgmental. We know that Christ is our only Redeemer. We also know it’s a sin to judge others. I believe my words were judgmental. Should I repent and confess this to a Priest?

Did you come to my door once? I had a Baptist come to my door, and when I told him I was already saved, he demanded to know my “spiritual birthday”. What?? “You remember your physical birthday. The moment you got saved is your spiritual birthday and if you were saved you would remember it just as plain as day.” I told him it was terrible to go around implying people aren’t saved because there was no parade and brass band at the moment they were saved.

 

[josephback]

Did you come to my door once? I had a Baptist come to my door, and when I told him I was already saved, he demanded to know my “spiritual birthday”. What?? “You remember your physical birthday. The moment you got saved is your spiritual birthday and if you were saved you would remember it just as plain as day.” I told him it was terrible to go around implying people aren’t saved because there was no parade and brass band at the moment they were saved.

That’s a big cause of anxiety I think with faith alone: you have to know when you were “saved,” so for those who reject baptism as a sacrament you have to rely on when you prayed the sinner’s prayer or the like. Problem is, I have a natural melancholic character and prayed it at least six times, never sure whether it “worked.” It really makes one suspicious of religious claims in general when you convert. Everyone’s so certain they’re right, but we can’t all be right and it’s a HUGE world. You come to realize how much of a risk faith is.

 

[Mayita30]

When we tell others that they are going to hell, we are making ourselves as a GOD. We are taking away God’s right to judge therefore a good Christian should never judge and condemn another person who is a child of God. God alone can do that.

Humility and charity goes with fraternal correction. Jesus is our savior. Blessed be the name of the Lord !

 

[Lasting_faith]

when we tell others that they are going to hell, we are making ourselves as a god. We are taking away god’s right to judge therefore a good christian should never judge and condemn another person who is a child of god. God alone can do that.

Humility and charity goes with fraternal correction. Jesus is our savior. Blessed be the name of the lord !

i totally agree 100%.

 

[Rebecca_BE]

It happened to me once–that some guy came up to me and said “You’re going to hell because you havent accepted Jesus as your lord and savior!” First off, how did he know if I had or hadn’t? (he was a stranger on the street). Second, wow, that is totally off-putting! Thank God that I had a good upbringing or I would have been completely turned off to Christianity.

 

[animalis]

I wrote this on Jan 1st, it is worth mentioning again here:

Judging has its utility in the spiritual life. For instance, the intellectual gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the book of the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isa 11:2) - Knowledge, Wisdom, and Counsel perfect the intellect in order to judge (esteem the good) by the breath of the Spirit revealed in dogma by the establishment of what is ever henceforth revealed in the Divine Word.

Knowledge perfects in order to judge worldly things, thereby we reject the vanities and set our sole delight in the eternal desire of heaven, in other words the theological virtue of hope.

Wisdom perfects in order to judge divine things, thereby we correct our affections to the first truth which is love itself, by this correction we have an interior disposition for the theological virtue of charity, that is good will, exterior dispositions would be benevolence.

Counsel perfects in order to judge our own actions, thereby we set a command on our execution of the virtues of Justice, which is the greatest of the moral virtues, Fortitude, and Temperance. This command is reason. For St. Thomas Aquinas said reason consists in rule and command.

Judging others falls under the moral life, and the greatest in this respect is the Cardinal Virtue of Justice. But this presupposes law and authority to observe the law. If to judge is to put a someone in a place or a state of mind, this is left for God to do, unless a person is ordained by law.

Judgment is the considered the second act of reason. The first is considered understanding or insight. The third is considered reasoning or argumentation.

Insight is indicated with a term, such as “darkness of sin”, “light of faith”, “assent”, and “Sunday”. Judgment is indicated by propositions, such as a well formed sentence, a basic of these would be, “All Catholics legitimately assent to the Pope.” Reasoning would be an argument to form a conclusion, as example of this could be done in three sentences:

Sunday is a Holy day of obligation. Catholics of a parish morally assent to a Church on Holy days of obligation. Therefore, on Sundays Catholics of a parish morally assent to a Church.

It doesn’t answer your issue directly, but it should be considered if you want to understand the Church’s expression of the working of the moral life, by the intellectual gifts of the Holy Spirit, which perfect the virtues for the means of proper judgment.

ps- understanding, the intellectual gift non-mentioned, does not work for the judgment of reason, but rather the apprehension.