No, you would not. I live in a secularized/dechristianized part of North America, but people here don’t kill each other left and right Now, remove police and jail , and then you have total anarchy, chaos, sons killing their father, guys killing girls who don’t reciprocate their feelings, students killing their teachers because they got an F on their finals, and so on.
Here’s the funny thing. I think many “secular” people are influenced by Christian values, but don’t think of it that way.
^ bingo.
Ignoring that Hell is actually a consequence of God’s love (and the respect for our freedom that this implies) and so that it’s absence would negate all kinds of things:
Hell is a fundamental piece of reality. It is so deeply engrained into human nature, asking to image its none existence is like asking a human to image his life without electrons floating around his protons; people will give wacky answers, but nobody has any true clue how to image the absence of something so fundamental.
Disbelief in hell is simple one of many forms of denial documented among humans. For instance, someone who finds out she has cancer may simply pretend it does not exist. Her disbelief doesn’t change the underlying reality. Her disbelief may lead her to avoid doctors or treatment, but it won’t change the symptoms she experiences.
That’s just not true. Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I have at least one mortal sin on my soul, perhaps numerous mortal sins. Guess where I’d still like to go? I essentially commit sins as a way to stifle rage, to comfort myself for the loneliness and the mortifying feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, not to mention depression, anxiety and hopelessness, not to mention rejection, constant fear of not being liked, in heaven I will be free of all these afflictions, I’ll be with the source of all that is good and beautiful, if I die in the next few hours, I’ll ask God to forgive me, I’ll beg him to accept me, BUT according to Catholic doctrine, he won’t. Please stop sugar-coating hell, loving sin doesn’t mean you don’t want to be with God, same as if you hate working it doesn’t mean you hate money (usually, money is the consequence of working, likewise, I like the fleeting comfort that sin brings and how it makes hopelessness more bearable, but if hell is the consequence, then I hate the consequence of sin and love the consequence of virtue–>God). If you sin by presuming of God’s mercy, you do expect to be accepted by God, you might be in for a surprise. Breaking news: souls who are assigned to hell ,at least some of them, would probably want to be with God, someone who touches a hot stove would rather not feel the burning sensation.
I disagree that hell is deeply ingrained in human nature, unless I’m not human. As I stated in my previous post, it is not a concern in Judaism. If one is raised Catholic, Protestant, or Muslim, for example, hell might become a part of one’s thinking, but it is not part of Jewish teaching.
Actually, you may not fully understand Church doctrine on mortal sin and Reconciliation. Yes, we are supposed to go to Reconciliation to be forgiven for our sins. However, if you were to whatever reason die suddenly with mortal sin on your soul, but had had every intention of going to confession because you had repented of your sins, then God would not send you to Hell.
I am convinced that fear of hell is THE wrong kind of motivation for any Christian and a potential source of some very unhealthy obsessions (for me, the grief of losing a dear one was doubled by the terror about the fate of her soul - and the traditional representation of purgatory as “hellish torment” didn’t help either). If a Christian can bring himself to do good and refrain from doing bad things only or primarily by thinking of hell, then his good behavior is faked and worthless. Loving God, the others and ourselves because we fear hell is impossible. Do we love our fathers and mothers because we fear being beaten, thrown away from the house and disowned?
This is because you don’t understand what heaven is. Heaven is not just pleasure. Heaven is perfect communion with God. It involves a constant acknowledgement that there is nothing more important than God and that all things should be ordered towards God’s will, and all actions are done along these lines. For those not in a state of grace, Heaven would be eternal pain.
While there are things that can lessen guilt and make a grave act not a mortal sin, a person who completely willingly and knowingly commits grave sins for pretty much any of the reasons you have just said is putting themselves above God, and hence would find heaven unbearable. Again, heaven is not pleasure, nor will God be used merely as a way to escape whatever problems we may have in this life.
Actually I do. What if I had a heart attack and all I could think was’ “God have mercy” and had not enough time to even entertain the thought of going to Confession before I expired (the plot thickens).
God is merciful. There will be no unjust condemnations to Hell. How God would handle such situations is unknown, but suffice it to say that we need not play such games. We are to do our best to follow what the Church teaches as the normative ways to get to Heaven, and to trust that whatever happens to us will be just. We should keep in mind (though not rely on) that God is not bound by the sacraments.
So you’re absolutely positive that no damned, from the first ever soul who was damned to the one who was seconds ago, not one of them would like to be with God in heaven? Without my past, my crummy brain and the weight of both my subhuman lineage and original sin, I don’t think doing God’s will in heaven will cause me too much trouble. You’re right heaven is not pleasure, it is bliss and the fufillment of man’s deepest longings and ultimate destiny—>union with his maker.
Yes, I am absolutely certain of this. No one who is in hell would trade his damnation for what heaven actually is.
Interesting insight, meltzerboy. This idea of hell is so ingrained in our collective (Catholic) psyches that we assume that it’s the same for everyone on the planet. The “No true Scotsman” could become “No true human”.
