When in heaven, do you feel pity for those in hell?

[Dave_B]

When you, as a faithful Catholic enter heaven, you will, I guess, be singing eternal praises and continual worship to God. I guess thats what happens in heaven. Maybe you could be reunited with your loved ones if lucky.

But what about the vast majority of people who dont make it.

People like myself who are born in the wrong sect or religion. I guess it would also include my wife, friends and family, who are atheist, agnostic or not practicing Christians.

We would, according to church teaching, be spending eternity suffering eternal torment. An eternity for most of humankind in hell-fire. I’ll be there, according to church teaching, along with all the world’s Muslims, Buddhists and all others born in the wrong time or place or religion.

Would you feel anything? Would you feel pity for us, or would you feel nothing?

 

[Tyrion]

There was a tread not too long ago about this very issue. Here is the link to it: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=739845 Quite interesting.

 

[Fan_of_Francis]

There was a tread not too long ago about this very issue. Here is the link to it: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=739845 Quite interesting.

QUOTES from above link:

Dec 26, '12, 12:37 pm
marymary1975
Junior Member

Join Date: July 27, 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 138
Religion: catholic
Re: Augustine on Hell
I think St Augustine is one of the most misquoted saints ever! It is so common to see people grabbing parts of what St Augustine said and changing it or misquoting that by now, I don’t even believe anything secular that quotes St AUgustine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MidnightSun12
“Schadenfreude … is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

The difference is that while on this earth it is God’s will for all men to be saved. To rejoice at the suffering of those who are still alive would be contrary to the Will of God.

After God casts judgment on a sinner and sends the soul into the outer darkness, however, the situation becomes quite different. Now God has actively willed for this sinner to experience un-ending torments and it is just for us to rejoice at the fact that God’s will has been done.

Besides, the damned soul is so full of hate that even if you gave this soul the option to come to heaven and end its torments, it would slap your hand away out of pure rage and return itself to the fire. Anybody who goes to hell is going there because they have chosen this fate for themselves… God has merely granted them their wish.

So in the end, we are all where we want to be." (bold is the reply)

ME:
Your welcome

 

[Dave_B]

ME:Your welcome

Thanks interesting quotes.

But what do you personally think. Should you pity those in hell or not?

 

[Dave_B]

“Anybody who goes to hell is going there because they have chosen this fate for themselves…”

Does this include people born in the wrong time or place?

What about Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or people who followed mythological gods of the past, which were considered valid in their day?

In the UK we have 60 million people, of which very few are practicing Catholics. I personally dont know any. I know a few practicing Anglicans. But >90% of people dont actively follow a faith. Are they “choosing” to go to hell? for eternity?

 

[wanabesaint]

Yes, you will feel pity for those in hell, as it comes in a sense to encounter those that sense a hell a derivitive here on earth, and those that have had a vision of hell or comparison here in different ways. a wakens our desire to not be condemned to hell. a brief glimpse of heaven, and a seperation will be a hell alone… AS we pray for those that have already passed, that they might be free of pergatory, the people of heaven pray for those in pergatory that they might be freed to heaven. that is your obligation, to pray for those that have passed.

the church began on the day that Peter opened the gates to all people (gentiles) that they might seek eternal life…and to that is your obligation to not only get your soul to heaven, but all souls that you encounter.

all souls seek God, for God created all, to judge that only some are called is a false mind.
your soul seeks to be with God, that is a natural order that all are born with, and more so comes to be confused

what we have to recognize is the saints, those of the tradition of the church often spoke of this, but in ignorance people defied tradition, threw that away and want to go it their own, those christian faith communities that confuse the issue.

Heaven and Hell are real, denial is not good.

denial of God, is denial of Heaven itself. denial of the sacraments, is denial of God, denial of the saints is denial of God. if you deny God, how can you hold an expectation to be with God is the question.

native americans are noted to recognize God, for God created them. same as the Islamic…
but we want to deny that, interesting. what they find intersting is how people come, as the person asking, argue over God? how does that come to be?

every thing proves God, thier is no room for denial or even, question…

 

[miguel]

Does this include people born in the wrong time or place?

What about Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or people who followed mythological gods of the past, which were considered valid in their day?

In the UK we have 60 million people, of which very few are practicing Catholics. I personally dont know any. I know a few practicing Anglicans. But >90% of people dont actively follow a faith. Are they “choosing” to go to hell? for eternity?

I trust God’s judgement. I have no idea what his judgement will be for the individual Muslim, the individual Buddhist, the individual Hindu, the individual athiest, the individual Aztec from 600 years ago (i.e. before Christianity). I am not the judge, God is the judge. And his judgement will be just.

 

[Dave_B]

AS we pray for those that have already passed, that they might be free of pergatory, the people of heaven pray for those in pergatory that they might be freed to heaven. that is your obligation, to pray for those that have passed.
…

Thanks for the reply. But why just pray for those in purgatory / limbo. Don’t most people, in Christian theology, go to hell? Shouldnt you pray for those too.

 

[Dave_B]

I trust God’s judgement. I have no idea what his judgement will be for the individual Muslim, the individual Buddhist, the individual Hindu, the individual athiest, the individual Aztec from 600 years ago (i.e. before Christianity). I am not the judge, God is the judge. And his judgement will be just.

Is it just / fair that most people will go to hell, and only a minority through the “narrow door”? Or that only those who believe in Jesus go to heaven. Thats alright for religious states within the US, but what about secular Europe and the rest of the world, who believe in lots of different faiths.

 

[miguel]

Thanks interesting quotes.

But what do you personally think. Should you pity those in hell or not?

I don’t think so. Personally, I do hope I don’t end up there. I also hope none of my family members or friends will be there. The time for pity will be over though. I’m not saying Hitler or any of those types of people are definitely there. Should we feel pity for people who unrepentantly spent their lives murdering their brothers and sisters? Hell is there to punish evil-doing. This is what justice is. Justice is scary. But Justice is good. His mercy is available to us in life. It is our choice to repent or not. After death comes justice.

 

[miguel]

Is it just / fair that most people will go to hell, and only a minority through the “narrow door”? Or that only those who believe in Jesus go to heaven. Thats alright for religious states within the US, but what about secular Europe and the rest of the world, who believe in lots of different faiths.

This is not a numbers game. All I can say is those who end up in hell will deserve to be there. God is just. I would not say that only those who believe in Jesus go to heaven. There is such a thing as invincible ignorance. I think believers will be held to a higher standard than the ignorant. More is expected from those to whom more has been given. But ignorance can also be culpable. God is able to distinguish between invincible ignorance and culpable ignorance in his judgement of each person.

 

[Joe_5859]

I think you have a misconception about Church teaching. There is no teaching that any individual – let alone a whole group – is certainly and unmistakably hell-bound.

We hold out hope for the salvation all people. God is a God of mercy. He’s not out to trip us up and send us to hell on a technicality.

Your fundamental question, though, is a good one and not at all new. It’s hard for us to answer seeing as how we cannot call upon anyone’s first hand experience.

Being in the presence of God, I don’t think we will be experiencing sorrow. I think we will probably recognize that those in hell are there because they chose to be.

This is one of those vexing theological questions. If we say we don’t feel pity, it makes us seem callous and heartless. If we say we do feel pity, then it seems to undermine the idea of heavene being a place of pure bliss. I’ll have to think more on a better answer. I’m sure some theologian more holy and intelligent than I has already answered this question.

 

[bzkoss236]

Thanks for the reply. But why just pray for those in purgatory / limbo. Don’t most people, in Christian theology, go to hell? Shouldnt you pray for those too.

We do not know who goes to hell. While God has perfect justice, He also has perfect mercy. Catholic Church teaching actually states that it is possible for those not of the Christian faith to make it to heaven given certain circumstances. Also, it is possible for someone who is a Christian on earth, even a practicing one, to wind up in hell (also given certain circumstances).

Since the trip to hell is a permanent one, prayer for those in hell is pointless and a wasted effort. It would not be able to reduce their suffering, or be able to get them to purgatory to get them to heaven. Prayer does nothing for those in hell. We can only feel pity.

And we can’t pray for those in heaven, because they are already with God in paradise, so no prayers are needed, so it would again be a wasted effort. But those in heaven do indeed pray for us.

 

[Dave_B]

Since the trip to hell is a permanent one, …

Do you think infinite punishment is fair, for a finite amount of sin?

 

[bzkoss236]

Do you think infinite punishment is fair, for a finite amount of sin?

Do you think if someone receives 2 or more life sentences for a crime is fair?

 

[Dave_B]

Do you think if someone receives 2 or more life sentences for a crime is fair?

Yes. But that is a finite amount of time.

Even if I was “saved”, I dont think I could live with the idea of billions of people suffering in hell fire, just because I was lucky enough to be born into the correct belief.

Cause if we are honest with ourselves if we were born into say, an atheist family in japan, or a muslim family in pakistan, we would think very differently to how we do here.

 

[bzkoss236]

Yes. But that is a finite amount of time.

Even if I was “saved”, I dont think I could live with the idea of billions of people suffering in hell fire, just because I was lucky enough to be born into the correct belief.

Cause if we are honest with ourselves if we were born into say, an atheist family in japan, or a muslim family in pakistan, we would think very differently to how we do here.

Well, a crime against God has consequences too. And since God is eternal (residing “outside” of time), forever would seem quite finite. It’s not about being born into the correct belief. It is about having faith in God and following His will for us. If an ignorant atheist, even unwittingly, followed God’s plan for himself to the best of his ability, he could make it to heaven.

 

[fatimaoligist]

Does this include people born in the wrong time or place?

What about Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or people who followed mythological gods of the past, which were considered valid in their day?

In the UK we have 60 million people, of which very few are practicing Catholics. I personally dont know any. I know a few practicing Anglicans. But >90% of people dont actively follow a faith. Are they “choosing” to go to hell? for eternity?

You are being silly. Since you do not believe in hell it should not bother ya. By default you are saying that I and millions of people are following faith blindly, so when we die, we are dead, so whatever you believe is true we are all wrong. Interesting

 

[Dave_B]

You are being silly. Since you do not believe in hell it should not bother ya. By default you are saying that I and millions of people are following faith blindly, so when we die, we are dead, so whatever you believe is true we are all wrong. Interesting

bingo

 

[The_Bucket]

Well, a crime against God has consequences too. And since God is eternal (residing “outside” of time), forever would seem quite finite. **It’s not about being born into the correct belief. **It is about having faith in God and following His will for us. If an ignorant atheist, even unwittingly, followed God’s plan for himself to the best of his ability, he could make it to heaven.

Quite right, as was the poster who quoted Christ in saying that much is expected of those who are given much. Those “lucky enough” to be born into the Catholic faith and had a strong upbringing have the responsibility to live up to that upbringing. Those born with little to no understanding of God are obviously not held to the same standards.

Do some research about culpability. I’m plenty sure there are people born as Catholics who are in hell and people born as pagans who believed in 1,000 different gods up to the day of their deaths who are in Heaven. It’s not about being born into a faith, it’s about making our lives into a constant search for Truth and taking action in that search that benefits others and glorifies God… even if the searcher has no knowledge of God.