Why does the church refer to going to Hell as a choice

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oliver109

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Most of us sin mortally, most of us i hope dislike sinning mortally but still end up doing it because we are weak as a result of the fall. When i go to church i often hear homilies that talk about people who end up going to Hell because they choose to go there. The problem is that these people are just ordinary people like you and I who struggle to repent of their sins, who may die on a day when they are not wearing their best clothes so they are barred from the wedding forever. There seems to be a lack of mercy in the church, the sort of attitude like where one says to a homeless person they know “you deserve to be out on the streets homeless because of the crimes you committed in your life, had you lived more morally you would be in a job now living in your own house but because you did those crimes you are on the streets and you deserve to be there and rot” It seems this is the way people in the church talk about the damned, these damned remember are people just like you and me who did good but also did some wrong.
 
Every sin we commit is a free choice we made. If it’s not a free choice, it’s not a sin. So it’s correct to say that the choices we make are either heaven-bound or hell-bound, and we make the decision to do what would lead us to either destination.
 
But a lot of us commit mortal sins, it is our fault but why wont God have mercy on the last day of our lives?
 
I believe that God will always forgive, i pray each day that he may help me to fulfill my vocation and love him properly, i sadly do commit mortal sin occasionally although i will to end doing it now but i hope and pray that when the last day comes God will find goodness in me.
 
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oliver109 said:
But a lot of us commit mortal sins, it is our fault but why wont God have mercy on the last day of our lives?
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God can show mercy, but He also must show right judgement. Read the book of Ecclesiastes. There’s a time for love, a time for war, a season for all things. Just the same, there’s a time (and conditions) for mercy, as well as judgement. Mercy is for the penitent, who is sorry for what they have done and wishes to make restitution- and judgement is for both the penitent and impenitent. Both will be judged, rightly, by God.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Mercy is not owed but shown, and God said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)
 
Correct i just hope that Gods judgement will look on our good deeds as well as our bad deeds and declare most of us fit for Purgatory and then Heaven!
 
oliver109 said:
There seems to be a lack of mercy in the church
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I don’t think there is a lack of mercy in the Church. That may be a case of selective focus?

As far as I know God will look upon our good and bad deeds but especially on the love we have shown others, freely without regard to return or gain apart from the gaining of God’s approval.

We can’t know whether a soul has been saved through a last minute change of heart. With God all things are possible.
 
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oliver109 said:
but i hope and pray that when the last day comes God will find goodness in me.
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Maintaining that goodness is a personal choice. If someone chooses to give up that goodness, through sin, then there would be none for God to find.

Either way, the choice to give up the goodness falls up the person, THEY are the ones that make the choice, NOT God.
 
oliver109 said:
The problem is that these people are just ordinary people like you and I who struggle to repent of their sins,
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There are plenty of people who do not repent of their sins, rather they celebrate their sins and want others to celebrate with them.
They want nothing to do with God and don’t care at all what God thinks.

If a priest is talking about sin and hell in his homily, really, that is his job to remind us. We get very busy with dealing with every day life, it’s good to be reminded that God wishes us to be in heaven with him for eternity. It matters what our decisions are every day. However, our focus should be on loving God and through the merits of Christ, we cooperate with bringing down mercy and love into our situations. Being a force for good in this world. If we need to have a good confession, we need to take care of that too. God bless you!
 
oliver109 said:
But a lot of us commit mortal sins, it is our fault but why wont God have mercy on the last day of our lives?
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“A lot of us commit mortal sins…” Do we? I think that’s debatable, not that there is any way to prove it one way or the other. Only God knows.

As I keep pointing out to the back-and-whiters, the world is mostly gray. You need full consent of your will to commit a mortal sin. Raise your hands out there those who think they have full control of their will at all times… There are genetic, psychological, environmental, etc. etc. factors that constantly impair our wills. Think back to any major decision you’ve made–marriage, accepting or quitting a job, deciding where to go to school–and ask yourself if you had complete freedom of choice in any of those situations. No economic constraints? No second guessing what your family or friends would think? No pride that makes you take a job (or go to a college) you’re unqualified for? And then transfer all that to sin.

Some think that at the Last Judgment, God will present you with your past sins, and then, and only then, will you be completely free to either embrace or reject them. Your choice. No impairment of your will. So if you choose sin, you go to Hell. Your choice.
 
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It goes like this. There is good & bad. There is God & Satan. There is Heaven & Hell. The Bible is the map to heaven. God gives us help to know the way home. WE CHOSE OUR PATH…
SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.
YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY GODS BEFORE ME.
This life is temporary. Ppl look for fulfillment & happiness in this life. Often, that happiness doesn’t take us to heaven. We chose, where we seek our happiness! Chose wisely
 
I struggle with this idea too. So if I go 20 years without committing a mortal sin, commit one in the morning, end up in a fatal car wreck that day, then I go to hell because I haven’t made it to confession? But say I sin mortally every day, make it to confession one day, walk straight out of the church and have the same accident… well then I go to Heaven (or purgatory)? That’s a great example of mercy in the latter case… the former, not so much. Yes, our sins are choices. But was hell really the choice for the first person? Or were they just a product of bad luck?
 
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When you look at Jesus on the cross, he came to earth to open heaven for us, and it was a great cost. He is not looking for the chance to catch you in a sin when you’ve spent time and effort to do his will. He’s a loving father! He is trying to embrace you, with tears of joy! It’s not an event of good luck or bad luck. If a person you know is persisting in sin, he says to offer prayers and sacrifices for them so they can come into his friendship! He wishes all to be saved.
 
PennyinCanada said:
When you look at Jesus on the cross, he came to earth to open heaven for us, and it was a great cost. He is not looking for the chance to catch you in a sin when you’ve spent time and effort to do his will. He’s a loving father! He is trying to embrace you, with tears of joy! It’s not an event of good luck or bad luck. If a person you know is persisting in sin, he says to offer prayers and sacrifices for them so they can come into his friendship! He wishes all to be saved.
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If God really wishes all to be saved, than guaranteed by God all to be saved.

God bless
 
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Latin said:
If God really wishes all to be saved, than guaranteed by God all to be saved.
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You are saying ‘if this…’ than this.
He forces no one.

I know a lot of people who grew up in a Catholic home and want nothing to do with God. They think he is a stupid fairy tale that idiots believe in. Unless they respond to the many graces God offers them, they are in big trouble. We can team up with God and pray and offer sacrifices every day for the conversion of sinners and peace in this world, as our blessed Mother asked at Fatima. Don’t forget there are evil forces at work in the world as well.

It is amazing to me that the sun danced at Fatima on a day and time told ahead of time and 70,000 people witnessed it. Yet, if you show this to people today, it makes no impact on them. This is how strong their refusal of God is.
 
Marie16 said:
I struggle with this idea too. So if I go 20 years without committing a mortal sin, commit one in the morning, end up in a fatal car wreck that day, then I go to hell because I haven’t made it to confession? But say I sin mortally every day, make it to confession one day, walk straight out of the church and have the same accident… well then I go to Heaven (or purgatory)? That’s a great example of mercy in the latter case… the former, not so much. Yes, our sins are choices. But was hell really the choice for the first person? Or were they just a product of bad luck?
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You still chose to commit a mortal sin, and to not repent until death. That’s what matters.
 
Because every time you sin, you are making the CHOICE to turn away from God.
 
I get that. I hope I do not sound ignorant. What gets me is the repentance part. So all that is required for confession is imperfect contrition to be absolved of your sin. But when a person dies with a mortal sin with imperfect contrition doesn’t that mean they go to hell if they have not been to confession thus are not in a state of grace? But if a person, same mortal sin, manages to make it to confession (also with imperfect contrition) before death then they are saved?

Isn’t the only difference here often opportunity to get to confession? They have the same serious sin and the same level of repentance.
 
And that’s just the consequence of sinning. Call it what you want but if you don’t turn to God and detest your sins, all you can do is trust in mercy.
 
Let us not forget that the Sacraments bind us but they do not bind God.

The only ways we are guaranteed to be forgiven of a mortal sin are confession or perfect contrition. That does not mean that for someone who has lived for 20 years in a state of grace and then committed a mortal sin that morning that they won’t have a second after the accident where God allows them to live long enough to say “I’m sorry.” God alone can do what He wants outside of the Sacraments. We cannot. The Sacraments are our only guarantee.

We also need to look at the flip side of the coin. Let’s presume that after committing that one mortal sin after 20 years in a state of grace, you will go on to sin and never be in a state of grace if allowed to live 50 years, forever, etc. Would it not be mercy to then take you to hell with only one mortal sin on your soul instead of decades of them?

In the end, it is our choice. The only guarantees we have are the Sacraments. God can work outside of them, but we’d be foolish to presume.
 
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