What makes humans deserving of Hell?

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At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
 
All of us are born with a wounded nature and lacking saving grace because of the fall of Adam and Eve. They lost, and so could not pass onto us, their descendants, those things they no longer had. God’s justice must be met, therefore, we do not deserve heaven on our own merits. This is why Jesus came to us and died on the cross for us. Once we are baptized, then we are to “keep our baptismal gown unstained” by sin–especially mortal sin by availing ourselves of God’s grace in the Sacraments Christ instituted for our benefit. Being that we are still wounded creatures, we fail in this, which is why Christ instituted reconciliation (confession). In order to “become new creatures in Christ” we need to be dilligent in practicing our faith by use of the Sacraments, prayer, and doing good for others, as Christ commanded us. It’s not as much about deserving hell as about not deserving heaven for there is no other destiny for us than heaven or hell. Purgatory being a part of heaven. I hope that helps. 🙂
 
I think the question is, “what makes them deserving of Heaven?”
 
1ke said:
I think the question is, “what makes them deserving of Heaven?”
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I wouldn’t make such a claim, but this creates a problem since a child that dies before the age of culpability also does not deserve hell, so what do they deserve?
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
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The idea that humans are by nature deserving of hell is a non-Catholic position, but, unfortunately, this doctrine does surface in other Christian groups. While we’re unable to save ourselves this is completely different from saying that we deserve hell.
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
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your team leader probably means that human beings have a PROPENSITY to do wrong. (This is termed “concupiscience”.) Also in a sense, as !ke noted, we can never, on our own, ‘deserve’ heaven. For the majority of people who are not mentally incapacitated such that they cannot distinguish between right and wrong, our human nature does send us on the ‘track’ toward hell which indeed we would ‘deserve’ if we do not repent.

Now I’ll turn it around and ask what, in human nature, makes us deserving of heaven?
 
I would suppose that human nature “deserves”, at least conditionally (since in an absolute sense we do not even “deserve” to exist) that for which it was created - the Garden of Eden. Since by man came death, however, that is no longer a possibility. Therefore we must rely on God’s grace to get us to Heaven, in which we can confidently hope provided we choose to follow his commandments that are given to us in the natural and divine laws. Willfully transgressing those commandments is a choice against God that leads to Hell if we die unrepentant.

This is the theological speculation of an amateur - if any of the above is material heresy I recant it and yield to the authority of the Church.
 
truthseeker32 said:
I wouldn’t make such a claim, but this creates a problem since a child that dies before the age of culpability also does not deserve hell, so what do they deserve?
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We know we can rely on the mercy of God in cases such as the death of an unBaptized child. We all need be thankful that God’s love and mercy know no limits! He doesn’t always give us what we deserve!!!
 
truthseeker32 said:
I wouldn’t make such a claim, but this creates a problem since a child that dies before the age of culpability also does not deserve hell, so what do they deserve?
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This question has been pondered over by theologians for twenty centuries. Initially it lead to the development of a theological opinion of the limbo of infants. In this century, there is a “greater theological hope” that they may be simply admitted into heaven by a special grace as indicated by the remarks of Christ on little children.

However, it is beyond debate that we are not born in sanctifying grace due to the stain of original sin, and thus the necessity of Baptism. That God may nevertheless wash away that stain and give life to the unbaptized soul through mysterious ways has always been part of the Church’s understanding of the universality of salvation, though only lately this teaching has been further emphasized.

Remember that hell is not a place where God sends men, but a state of eternity in which the soul that rejects God finds itself. While in time, on earth, we can repent and accept God and be reconciled with Him as many times as needed. After death, the choice becomes as definite as that of the fallen angels - a self-imposed eternal separation.

It is clear then that neither the evildoer nor the fallen angel of light “deserve” eternal separation from Life and Love…they simply chose that 🤷 This also makes it quite obvious that Hell would not contain children or others more or less shielded by invincible ignorance, for God is not an unjust and unfair judge, but a loving Father, a merciful Savior, and a faithful Advocate to defend us even when our shame is before our eyes.
 
truthseeker32 said:
What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
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Nothing.

No human, regardless of what they have done in their life on earth, deserves to be punished and if you believe the accounts of some Saints, suffer indescribable torture, for eternity.

Sarah x 🙂
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell.
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There are lots of heresies about the human body or flesh being evil. It’s easy to inadvertently step into the territory of error by not clearly expressing one’s thoughts. 🤷 He could not have suggested that being human was reason for condemnation, not just because it would be heresy, but because God took flesh and up to this day Christ, our Savior, true God, is in fact human. If human beings (soul and flesh) deserve Hell because of flesh, then God would not have created them soul and flesh, but pure spirits, like the angels. If God gave us flesh and took flesh, and destined us to receive a glorified, resurrected body on the last day, there must be something profoundly sacred about being human (as in both soul and body).

Of course, we mustn’t forget about the loss of sanctifying grace (stain of original sin) and about the three concupiscences that are the law of the flesh (pride, vanity, lust). Those are a mark of imperfection, but every saint in heaven, beginning from the very apostles, bore all of these and overcame them by God’s grace. And one has the impression, in the eyes of the Good News, that the persistent temptations of the flesh have been elevated from an inherited spiritual imperfection into a means of sanctification.
 
Jesus Who is judge of souls, in** Matthew 25 verses 31-46**, explains why heaven, why hell.
He’s the ultimate authority…and it’s about whether we live lives of practical kindness, of love, according to His command to love God above all others as self…or simply to reject genuine unselfish love and thereby, reject God and heaven.

God bless you with abundant grace this Easter.
 
atheistgirl said:
Nothing.

No human, regardless of what they have done in their life on earth, deserves to be punished and if you believe the accounts of some Saints, suffer indescribable torture, for eternity.

Sarah x 🙂
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Actually, this is not quite accurate, for it does not take into consideration God’s nature. The issue is that “what makes humans deserve hell” is not a question to be asked, for it relies on an erroneous premise - that hell is imposed on those who deserve it.

Ultimately, even the smallest sin makes us immediately “deserving” of hell, because it is beyond the powers of the human brain to comprehend what it means, to offend a perfect and infinite Goodness, and it is our imperfect mind that subjectively considers as “minor” an offense to goodness. Thus even the apostles write: “if we say we have not sinned, the truth is not in us”, for all are sinners, even the saints while on earth, though not according to our standards of ethics and morality.

The issue is not lack of sin or a “scale” of sin, then, for - as we saw - even the tiniest sin is a major offense to God, if we understand the essence of God’s nature. The issue is that God’s goodness is by its nature infinite, and thus nobody goes to hell because he “deserves” it - for God would not and could not send any of His children to eternal separation from Him (which is one of the greatest torments of the fallen angels and the damned souls) - but all who go to the state of hell go because they “chose” it, and nobody goes to Hell unless he chooses so.

Disbelief in God is not sufficient, of course. I can chose not to believe in God, but I may still believe in charity for those who suffer, in justice, in unselfish love…in short, in all the attributes that reflect God…true rejection of God is the choice of darkness for the sake of darkness, of hatred for the sake of hatred, of injustice for the sake of injustice. I know I am about to hurt myself or someone and I go ahead and do it. This is true evil. All else is covered in smaller or greater degree by a shield that the Church calls in her wisdom “invincible ignorance”, and that allows men who do not know Christ to still pursue virtue and attain salvation.
 
One way of looking at it is that Hell is a very human concept. So are Heaven and Purgatory. No animal souls go to any of these places. Only humans have an immortal soul that is imbued in each body and made for greatness. In our human state, we are burdened by concupiscence, as Tantum ergo pointed out. The promise of Heaven, the threat of Hell, and the trial and sorry of sin are all uniquely human experiences.
 
Elizium23 said:
One way of looking at it is that Hell is a very human concept. So are Heaven and Purgatory. No animal souls go to any of these places. Only humans have an immortal soul that is imbued in each body and made for greatness. In our human state, we are burdened by concupiscence, as Tantum ergo pointed out. The promise of Heaven, the threat of Hell, and the trial and sorry of sin are all uniquely human experiences.
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Hell was created for the Devil and his Angels.
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
Click to expand...
In the Fall, humans have lost their expectation of salvation and beatific vision. Salvation and beatific vision are actually basically the same and they mean beholding God. The lack of ability to behold God, which is connected with the original sin, is not the same as the torment of fire. It is said that the loss is worse than the fire, but a Catholic can also safely believe that the fire is only for those who have committed actual sins. The hell connected with solely the original sin would still be a place of natural happiness according to St. Thomas Aquinas if I recall correctly, and corresponds with the descriptions of paradise in many cultures. In this light, the argument that we don’t have a natural right to salvation looks different than if it was claimed that the original sins makes us personally guilty of something which deserves the worst flames hell has to offer (which it doesn’t).

Plus, according to the teaching of Pope John Paul II, because of the mercy of God everybody must have a concrete opportunity of salvation (and he didn’t say an opportunity of escaping the fire, but salvation), while the Church has always taught baptism by desire, meaning that God can save people even without an externally completed baptism. Baptism of desire does not necessarily require knowing the precise details of the object of the desire, either.

This does not unmake the necessity of baptism which the Church is obliged to preach but at the same time the Church entrusts all departed to the mercy of God, including unbaptised children and others.

I strongly recommend good old Catholic Encyclopedia for this type of reading:
newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm
newadvent.org/cathen/09256a.htm

Catholic Encyclopedia does the job of explaining without relying on impossible leaps of logic or (solely) the argument from obedience. It’s been of immense help to me personally for years now.
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
Click to expand...
If we weren’t and we were all going to heaven, there would be no reason for needing a savior and redeemer…right? Afterall, a savior from what? redeemer from what?
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell. This doesn’t seem right, since it seems we should only be culpable for things that are in our control. I had always thought that we were only deserving of hell when we knowingly did something grave (i.e. Mortal Sin). Further, it has always made more sense for me to see Christ as a doctor that comes to heal, rather than a lawyer that comes to plea for us. I thought I would bring my question here to get your perspectives.

What, if anything, makes humans deserving of Hell?
Click to expand...
“Deserving” is the wrong word. No human being “deserves” Hell, but neither can any human being “deserve” Heaven.

I find it easier to think of as a lost inheritance. Adam and Eve threw away the treasure they had been given, of eternal life. They deliberately chose death through their sin.

This means that they were unable to pass it on to us, their children.

Imagine if you had a wealthy grandfather. Your wealthy grandfather gives his wealth to your father. Your father, instead of investing it, squanders it on things that have no lasting value (doesn’t matter what - point is, the money is gone).

Now that the money has been squandered, there is nothing left to give to you. It’s not because you “deserve” to be poor, or that you “don’t deserve” to be rich - it is simply that the inheritance that you were to have received is just gone. This also means that you have no inheritance to give to your own children. It doesn’t matter that they are innocent and had nothing to do with squandering the money - the money is just gone, because your father squandered it - and it has nothing to do with anything your children did or did not do - they can’t receive what no longer exists.

Adam and Eve lost our original innocence. It cannot be restored to us, because they lost it.

Jesus had to die on the cross for Adam’s sin in order to restore us to that original innocence - but it doesn’t happen automatically. In order to receive the graces that Christ poured out on the Cross, we must enter into them by means of His Church, and through the vehicle of the Sacraments of the Church, which are (metaphorically speaking) the blood and water that poured out of Christ’s heart to save us from sin.

Getting back to the inheritance analogy, imagine then that an uncle, seeing what has become of your family fortune, and having no children of his own, decides to share his portion of the wealth with your family. But in order for you to receive it, you and your family must go to the country where he is living, learn the language that they speak there, and become citizens of that country, in order to be allowed to inherit the money. (For the sake of the analogy.)
 
truthseeker32 said:
At RCIA, the team leader seemed to suggest that human beings, just by being human, are deserving of Hell.
Click to expand...
I think that’s an awful way of stating the situation. All humans are born in a state of separation from God, and God has revealed only one way to repair this separation - baptism. At the same time, God has declared that he desires the salvation of all, and we know of some who were not baptized (with water) and yet who were saved.

The key thing, I think, is that the initiative to repair our separation does not lie with us but with God, and that he takes that initiative for each and every one of us. Not only that, but he also gives each of us sufficient grace to respond to his initiative.
 
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