The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable
fire" reserved for those who refuse to believe, where both soul
and body can be lost. But Jesus solemnly proclaims that He
"will send His angels, and they will gather . . . all
evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire",
and that He will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart
from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"
"And the angels will throw them into the
fiery furnace, where there will be   Today hell seems to be soft-pedaled, a back of the mind thing we do not want to think or talk about. It is not often addressed in church these days, yet it is the boogey man who hides in the closet of our minds, coming to the forefront whenever we are forced to take a good look at it. And if we look too close, some of us may find ourselves looking squarely at how we may be living our lives contrary to what God teaches. If
God loves us so much, many ask, why does He send
people to hell?"
God does not send anyone to hell. God gives us a choice. It is we who send ourselves there using the free will that God gave us. We turn our backs on His priceless gift of eternity and instead choose to make our own laws and rules. We can decide to accept or reject His Son, Jesus Christ, Who offers to pay for our salvation and avoid hell. Sadly many of us choose to indulge ourselves with things we know goes against God's teaching. And we change anything that does not fit in with the lifestyles we have chosen.
Matthew 13:36-43 tells of a separation of those who are
destined for heaven and those who will be sent to an eternal hell.
“Then, leaving
the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, 'Please explain to us
the story of the weeds in the field’ Jesus replied, ‘The Son of Man is the
farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the
people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who
planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and
the harvesters are the angels. Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so
it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send His angels and they will
remove from His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels
will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with
ears to hear should listen and understand!"
In an
article entitled "THE HELL THERE
IS"
Catholic Answers
has this to say:
"The
doctrine of hell is so frightening that numerous heretical sects end up denying the
reality of an eternal hell. The
Unitarian-Universalists, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the
Christadelphians, the Christian Scientists, the Religious Scientists, the New Agers, and
the Mormons—all have rejected or modified the doctrine of hell so radically that it is no longer a serious threat. In
recent decades, this decay has even invaded mainstream Evangelicalism, and a number of
major Evangelical figures have
advocated the view that there is no eternal hell—the wicked will simply be
annihilated. But
the eternal
nature of hell is often stressed in the New Testament.
For
example, in Mark 9:47–48 Jesus warns us, "It is better for you to enter the
kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does
not die, and the fire is not quenched." And in Revelation 14:11, we read: "And
the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night,
these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its
name. Hell is not just a theoretical possibility. Jesus warns us
that real people go there. He says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for
the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and
those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way
is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt.
7:13–14).
Pope
John
Paul II wrote, in his 1994 book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" that too often
"preachers, catechists, teachers no longer have the courage to preach the threat of
hell" (p. 183)... "In point of fact, the ancient councils rejected the theory . But In
Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus speaks clearly of those who will go to eternal punishment
(cf. Matt. 25:46). [But] who will these be? The Church has never made any pronouncement in
this regard." (Pages 183-186) It seems today we have a modern adaptation of that place called Hell. We have renamed, redefined, and packaged it to suit our sense of propriety, thus sparing our delicate senses. It has been labeled in such acceptable terms it leads us to believe if we do go there it really might not be all that bad. And the roads pointing to Hell have been made extremely attractive enough that we are inclined to take chances hoping we will be able at some point to repair the damage to our souls in the time left to us. But, you see, time is not promised to anyone. And heads of church speaking on the issue of Hell may say it is not necessarily a place but a state of mind or better yet do not even discuss it unless pressed. Fr. Marcel Nault (1927-1997), speaking at the Fatima Bishops Conference relates, "I preach often on Hell. My friends, you have received your catechism, you have received your gifts from God. For me, Jesus wants me, Jesus asks me, Jesus begs me, Our Lady of Fatima begs me to preach Hell. There are many revelations that we can read in the holy books and some souls in Hell have spoken, given the privilege by God, to help us in our faith. And those souls in Hell say, "We could accept to be in Hell a thousand years. We could accept to be in Hell a million years, if we knew that one day we would leave Hell."
Fr. Nault continues,
"But
no, my friends, we must meditate, not only on the
pre-destination of seeing God in Heaven, we must also meditate on the eternity of Hell. I
heard a priest in the charismatic conference with about 10,000 lay people and 300 priests
present. He was preaching, "My friends,
God is love, God is mercy and you will see His Infinite Mercy at the end of the world,
delivering souls from Hell. What heresy! Yet his bishop did not remove his
faculties, and he was allowed to continue to preach such heresy. With our little human
intelligence we make a little "philosophic reasoning"........" How many times have you heard that hypocrisy? My friends, Hell exists. Hell is eternal. I can go into Hell. You can go into Hell.
And if God had called me to my eternal reward some years ago, I would have
gone to Hell for all eternity, weeping, crying.
Not
for a million years, not for a thousand million years, but for eternity. I preach to bishops
like I preach to everyone because bishops too have a soul to be saved." The Lord Jesus has chosen us among men to make us
priests for one reason, to offer sacrifice to the Almighty Father and save souls from
Hell. When I preach at parish retreats, I
always end with the preaching on Hell."
Born in
Father Robert
Barron,
on the subject of hell, has
this to say in part: "Time and again, as I go about the work of
evangelization, I encounter from both believers and non-believers, a
fierce objection to the doctrine of Hell. In its most radical form,
it runs something like this: how could a God who is described as
infinitely good create, sustain, and send people to a place of
everlasting torment? Many people have directed my attention to a
video done some years ago by the comedian George Carlin, a former
Catholic. In front of a deeply sympathetic audience, Carlin exposes
what he takes to be the silly inconsistency of Catholic belief: “for
one mortal sin (usually having to do with sex), God will condemn you
to a place where you will suffer forever in unbearable pain…but
yet,” the comedian goes on in a mocking voice, “He looooves you!”
Judging from their hysterical reaction, the audience can’t get
enough of this. One wonders whether Carlin doesn’t have a point.
Perhaps we ought simply to jettison this horrifying and apparently
illogical doctrine, this superstitious holdover from a primitive
time. Theologians have wrestled with the interpretation of Hell for centuries. The Bible is very specific in telling us if we choose to make our own laws and live our lives in mortal sin without seeking God’s forgiveness for our actions we will be sentenced to Hell for eternity. God does not want this calamity to befall any of us but chooses to give us an alternative, a way to gain perfect existence forever. The only answer being Jesus Christ Who says in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one gets to the Father except through ME." Read also 1 Timothy 2:5-6, "For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time."
"And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better
to
|
