The greatest blessing?

[Qoeleth]

A person who dies immediately after baptism, having been washed of original sin, is assured of a place in Heaven.

Does it follow therefore that the greatest possible blessing a person could receive would be to die immediately after baptism- thus receiving the purity of heavenly joys, and avoiding the dangers of further sin, and hence the risk of damnation, and purgatory?

Or, is it a blessing to live longer- although this incurrs the risk of Hell, the joys of this mortal life are worth the risk of eternal punishment?

 

[mytruepower2]

If there is, or can be, anything about this life which is worth the risk of Hell (and I don’t think that’s logically-sound,) it certainly isn’t joy.

Joy is useful, in that it can help you get through the workday with a smile on your face because of the hope that is in you, but it’s bought at the terrible price of always knowing that you’ve missed out on something.

In any case, joy in this life is only temporary, whereas eternal damnation is… well… eternal.

 

[tonyrey]

Does it follow therefore that the greatest possible blessing a person could receive would be to die immediately after baptism- thus receiving the purity of heavenly joys, and avoiding the dangers of further sin, and hence the risk of damnation, and purgatory?

No!

Or, is it a blessing to live longer- although this incurs the risk of Hell, the joys of this mortal life are worth the risk of eternal punishment?

It is not solely a question of enjoying this life but of developing our capacity for love.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

A person who dies immediately after baptism, having been washed of original sin, is assured of a place in Heaven.

Does it follow therefore that the greatest possible blessing a person could receive would be to die immediately after baptism- thus receiving the purity of heavenly joys, and avoiding the dangers of further sin, and hence the risk of damnation, and purgatory?

Or, is it a blessing to live longer- although this incurrs the risk of Hell, the joys of this mortal life are worth the risk of eternal punishment?

Very poorly designed. Some people get Baptized just as a formality. These people have committed Sacrilege. To die immediately after committing a Sacrilegious act wouldn’t be a good thing!

Linus2nd

 

[Qoeleth]

Very poorly designed. Some people get Baptized just as a formality. These people have committed Sacrilege. To die immediately after committing a Sacrilegious act wouldn’t be a good thing!

Linus2nd

Well, most people get baptised when they are infants. Presumably they are not guilty of sacrilege (or, if they parents have them baptised as a formality, the sacrilege is hardly on the part of the infant, but rather of the parents).

 

[Qoeleth]

No!

It is not solely a question of enjoying this life but of developing our capacity for love.

There is that possibility. But there is also a possibility of developing the opposite. I suppose once a soul arrives in Heaven, it then no longer need to ‘develop’ a capacity to love, since they have a perfect vision of God.

 

[IvanHR]

Very poorly designed. Some people get Baptized just as a formality. These people have committed Sacrilege. To die immediately after committing a Sacrilegious act wouldn’t be a good thing!

Linus2nd

Would they still be classified as baptised (both in the eyes of God and human)?

 

[Robertanthony]

Nothing is worth the risk of hell (so, conversely, everyhting is worth securing salvation–>salvation may be that long sought-after, elusive end that does justify the means). Remember the movie The Hours when the mother (played by Julianne Moore) drives off and her son understands something is wrong, take his feeling of abandonment and disarray, make it times 1000, make it permanent and that’s hell. I feel it’s a coward’s easy way out, but given the choice i’d elect to go back in time and die before I could freely commit sin and put my soul in danger, and you’d see my image in all the pictures ever taken with me in it fade the way it did in Back to the Future when it looked as if Marty’s future parents were never going to be together as a couple (that was a stroke of genius). The only things i would have really missed out on would have been music and the beauty (both physical and inner) of women (and I mean this largely in a non sexual kind of way). Everything else was in some way a source of disappointment, either big or small.

Did you get the idea for you thread from here forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=826584? Again I’m not going to make many friends saying this, but what these Spaniards did (if they did) was the highest and most noble form of euthanasia you could ever think of. It compares favourably to God requesting that babies’ skulls would be smashed against a rock (and although 1- it may look like it, this is not a slight against God 2-the babies’ salvation was not God’s primary reason for making that request). Last consideration, losing a child is reportedly one of life’s greatest trials, the contrast is stark: baby in perfect bliss beholding the Beatific Vision, parents are depressed and devastated.

 

[Mumbles140]

Neither? If it were God’s Will, then I’d accept it (saying that half-jokingly, because we don’t have much say in the matter!), but I’d like to think that God could work good through me after my Baptism.

 

[tonyrey]

There is that possibility. But there is also a possibility of developing the opposite.

The alternative is to lack free will.

I suppose once a soul arrives in Heaven, it then no longer need to ‘develop’ a capacity to love, since they have a perfect vision of God.

I don’t believe life in heaven is as static as that…

 

[Aloysium]

. . . the risk of damnation, and purgatory?

Or, is it a blessing to live longer- although this incurrs the risk of Hell, the joys of this mortal life are worth the risk of eternal punishment?

Risk? It’s not a chance situation. It’s a choice.

Although I would say I do have many regrets, my life has not been such a tragic mistake that it would have been better not to live it. I would add that there is no one I would trade places with. As for Hell, concupiscence is an ever-present concern, but it does paradoxically, like suffering, make me focus on God.

 

[Hypnotoad]

**Would it be a blessing to die immediately after baptism?
**

I think any Christian would say regardless of what happened the blessing would be that God’s will was done. Whether God wills for the person to die after baptism or to die much later than that is irrelevant since neither one is more blessed than the other.

 

[tonyrey]

I think any Christian would say regardless of what happened the blessing would be that God’s will was done. Whether God wills for the person to die after baptism or to die much later than that is irrelevant since neither one is more blessed than the other.

It is a false dilemma because no two lives are exactly the same but we can be sure that no one is short-changed because we all receive more than we deserve regardless of when we die or how long we live. Heaven is a gift not a right.