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kage_ar
Guest
God never sends any person to hell.
We choose to go there. Everyone in hell choose hell.
You really sound like a protestant.
What is the sin with the worst (long-term) consequences (to the soul)?
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We choose to go there. Everyone in hell choose hell.
You really sound like a protestant.
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spn82756
Guest
No…I’ve sold nothing I own. I give as I can. But I also don’t believe that Jesus ever professed legalism. That is the danger. When we take certain things in the Gospel as meant to be literal we run into problems. Jesus expects of to do the best we can. We cannot expect from others beyond their means. So no…I have not sold all that I own. But when challenged with literal interpretations by fundamentalists…it is only fair to bring up the Scriptures that they do not take literally when applied to themselves.
Jesus cares about what is in our hearts. I do my best.
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
It’s not about Jesus wanting to blast people. If someone skips Mass though, with full knowledge of the gravity of this sin and with full consent to his own action (not under strong outside pressure that might diminish culpability), it’s a mortal sin. The reason is that the person has taken the Church’s authority and teaching very lightly. That is the grave sin that is committed. When the Church binds us with a command, she has the authority to do so because Christ gave her that authority, and she only will do that for our own good. Going to Sunday Mass regularly is deeply important to the salvation of the soul, so the Church has made it a requirement for our own good.
When a person violates the direction of the Church, he sets himself up against God’s Kingdom and pridefully puts his will above the will of God.
It is possible though that a person who commits this sin doesn’t have full knowledge of the gravity of what he’s doing. In that case, he won’t go to Hell because he isn’t fully culpable. But if he does know, he will go to Hell if he does not repent before death. The sin is pridefully setting oneself above the will of God . . . it’s rebelliously committing the sin of Adam and Eve all over again, taking the command of God lightly and putting one’s own desires above it. This is a grave attitude problem, one that can have disastrous consequences. Jesus never wants such a person to be outside of His Kingdom, but the person places himself outside of the Kingdom through rebellion and pride.
All of this, of course, depends on the culpability. But a mortal sin is mortal and by definition will lead someone to Hell if it is not repented of before death.
And by the way, a man who has full knowledge of the Church’s teachings and gives full consent to committing an action that is gravely against what is right is NOT a “God-fearing man.” He might look like a God-fearing man on the outside, or he might have been God-fearing at one time, but this person has rebelled against the God by deliberately violating the Church’s authority and putting his will and his desires above the command of God. That is choosing separation from God’s Kingdom, for anyone who refuses to submit to the commands of his King is a rebel.
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spn82756
Guest
I’m glad to see you feel free to judge others for having different views than you. I won’t ask if you’re protestant because it might be insulting to God fearing protestants.
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
You guys, let’s not judge each other, insult each other or name-call. There’s no point. This can be a civilized discussion, and we’re Catholics, so it should be.
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hellopeople
Guest
No one chooses hell. No one dies and has a choice between paradise and eternal torment and says “hey, I think I’m going to go with eternal torment.” God is the one that sends them there, just like a judge sends someone to jail. No one in court is saying “you know, I think I should go to jail.” It is the judge that sends them to jail.
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baylee
Guest
Wow…now you are the ideal Catholic aren’t you? BTW, have you heard about the sin of pride?
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hellopeople
Guest
You must know it is a serious sin for it to be mortal, right? And how would you know something is a serious sin if you aren’t catholic?
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baylee
Guest
Kagear makes a habit of judging others on this forum…but he/she knows his/her Catholic teaching!
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spn82756
Guest
I’ve not read many of his/her posts…but I’m getting that feeling.
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
I’ll explain the Catholic teaching for you. God is Love. Whenever someone chooses to act in a loving way, they are uniting themselves with God because God’s nature is Love. To the extent that someone acts in an unloving way, they are separating themselves from God. This is by nature, and “judgment” is according to choice. To the extent that someone chooses to be mean, nasty, or do bad things, he becomes a worse and less happy person – further from Love.
Someone who commits a mortal sin is someone who knows what is in the nature of Love in some matter of serious importance, and yet with full knowledge and without being unduly pressured to his choice, he chooses the reverse. He has willfully rejected the fullness of Love by choice during his life on Earth.
Being fully united with Love is being fully happy; being fully separate from Love is being fully miserable. We can see this in our lives here on Earth and it is more completely revealed when our journeys end and our lives are “judged.” The judgment is that those who reject God shall not have Him, and those that embrace Him shall have Him. Those that live in Love on Earth shall live in Love forever and those that reject Love on Earth shall reject Love forever. This is all our own choice, and yet it is simultaneously a righteous and fair judgment fully in harmony with the nature of love. Love strives with us throughout our lives to convince us to unite ourselves with Him, but if we refuse to unite ourselves with love to the end, He lets us have our way.
The end of life brings us the fullness of what we choose in this life. If in this life we choose separation from love, preferring misery and all the consequences of acting in unloving ways, Love will “judge” us by allowing us to have the fullness of separation from Him that we have sought and chosen. If, on the other hand, in this life we choose unity with love (“Love God and love your neighbor” is the commandment Jesus says will bring us life), we will again be granted the fullness of what we seek and desire.
God’s goal in this life is to convince us to choose love, which is choosing Him.
All sin is unloving and consequently by nature is self-chosen separation from Love; all righteousness is loving and consequently by nature is self-chosen unity with Love. We will be given the fullness of what we seek on Earth. Everyone reaps what they sow.
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
Natural law. God has written many of the principles of morality on the consciences of all people around the world. This was an act of creation. We know the truth more fully still through revelation.
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momor
Guest
Lief Eriksen
You have given some long beautifully written responses but let’s get back to the basics of the story.
A 35 yr old man who has lived a good life according to Catholic teaching decides one day to miss Mass for a game and he dies before he can repent.
Is he going to hell for that one mortal sin? Is the entirety of his good life wiped out by that one offense?
You have given some long beautifully written responses but let’s get back to the basics of the story.
A 35 yr old man who has lived a good life according to Catholic teaching decides one day to miss Mass for a game and he dies before he can repent.
Is he going to hell for that one mortal sin? Is the entirety of his good life wiped out by that one offense?
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momor
Guest
So would you send yourself to hell for missing one Mass out of a lifetime of living like a good Catholic?
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
I have one other thing to mention to you, hellopeople. If you saw Heaven and Hell before you right now, would you choose God because you loved Him or out of self-interest?
Seeing as God is Love, if you choose Him out of self-interest, you aren’t really choosing Him but yourself. You have to choose Him out of love to be united with Him, so if He showed you Heaven and Hell, that wouldn’t help you.
It is possible to know and love God intimately and personally in this life, to see Him answer our prayers and speak to us personally, showing us His great love in our lives. It is possible to know Him intimately. Many martyrs have died for Him, not for an intellectual belief or the hope of glory and eternal joys, but for a living Lover that they loved personally and would never desire to offend.
God will give us what evidence we need to believe in Him, if we seek Him truly, willing to surrender ourselves to Him if He exists. He also is willing to give us faith if we pray for it. He has both the power and the desire to give us all the things we could need to come into Heaven.
Seeing as God is Love, if you choose Him out of self-interest, you aren’t really choosing Him but yourself. You have to choose Him out of love to be united with Him, so if He showed you Heaven and Hell, that wouldn’t help you.
It is possible to know and love God intimately and personally in this life, to see Him answer our prayers and speak to us personally, showing us His great love in our lives. It is possible to know Him intimately. Many martyrs have died for Him, not for an intellectual belief or the hope of glory and eternal joys, but for a living Lover that they loved personally and would never desire to offend.
God will give us what evidence we need to believe in Him, if we seek Him truly, willing to surrender ourselves to Him if He exists. He also is willing to give us faith if we pray for it. He has both the power and the desire to give us all the things we could need to come into Heaven.
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Lief_Erikson
Guest
That’s what I tried to answer in post 63
.Attending Sunday Mass is very important to our salvation. Knowing this, the Church has required Catholics to attend on that day, for their own good, using the authority of binding that Christ gave her. The Church speaks with the authority of Christ the King. The bishops are His representatives on Earth.
If a man knows that the Church has authoritatively required Catholics to attend Mass each Sunday, and he knows what this authority is and means, then by refusing, he is rejecting the command of Christ. This is putting his will above the will of God in a matter of grave importance to salvation, with full knowledge of what he is doing.
Being inside the Kingdom of God is being united with God. Rebelling against God’s commands is separating oneself from God. So by putting his will above the will of God, the man separates himself from the Kingdom and places himself and his temporary desires above God and His eternal desires for the man’s good.
So the man has damned himself unless he truly, from his heart, repents.
A lifetime of good doesn’t make up for one mortal sin because of the nature of that sin. However, I will add that I suspect many Catholics who would do such a thing are probably not fully aware of how serious what they are doing is, so they may not have “full knowledge” and may not be guilty of mortal sin.
Someone who goes to a ball game instead of Mass without knowing how serious that is may very well not go to Hell. He may not have full knowledge of the Church’s teachings on the matter.
But a mortal sin is always enough to destroy a person, no matter how much good the person did before, if it really, truly is mortal. For a sin to be truly mortal, it must be concerning a very serious issue, it must be committed with full knowledge of the Church’s teachings and of how wrong is one’s action, and it must be committed freely. I think most people who would choose a ball game above obedience to the Church probably don’t have full knowledge of the Church’s teachings, but if they do, they are separating themselves from God by choosing rebellion against His authority. For when they reject the Church’s authority, they are rejecting God’s authority, and when they put themselves above the Church, they are putting themselves above God.
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Lauds
Guest
Very Good Post, God knows man is weak & all he asks is that we try, He knows that we are going to fail over & over again , so long as we live. God knows our hearts, & That is why he Sent His Son Jesus to atone for the sins of weak mankind
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kage_ar
Guest
Could you please show me where Jesus said this?
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kage_ar
Guest
Through our actions, every moment of every day, we choose God or we reject God.
Whichever choice we make, God honors at our death and gives us the eternity that we chose.
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kage_ar
Guest
If I chose of my own free will to reject Christ by breaking His commandment, be it murdering a child or sitting on my sofa instead of going to Mass, I am choosing hell.
Why would I want to spend eternity with someone who I’d not spend an hour at Mass with?
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