Deep question about Catholicism?

Question

I am not against Catholics, I am a Christian, but have a question regarding heaven and hell. Well, Catholics say God is all-powerful, all-loving, but then conradict themselves by saying that if you do not obey his will, he will send you to hell to be separated from him for all eternity. First of all, if God was all loving, how could he send HIS OWN CREATION to hell? He created us. We are his children. If God absolutely had to punish someone could it not be only for a little while? Do you think he could possibly be at war with a devil, if he is so powerful? Even most of us HUMANS would not wish eternal damnation on our own children even if they did something horrible.
I believe only in heaven, that good is all there is.
What is your take on this? Can you please answer some of my questions? I would like a different point of view of someone who believes in hell. Thank you.

Answer 1

You are a bit mistaken about Catholic doctrine.

Yes, God is all-powerful and all-loving.

But we are not condemned to hell just for disobeying God's will. It is a bit more complicated than that.

Heaven is eternal life with God. Being in communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the blessed.

Hell is the state of complete and final self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives.

Hell is not a punishment. Hell is a free will choice. God will not overrule a person's free will choice to be separated from Him.

By the way, this is a basic of all of Christianity, not just Catholicism.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

This is an easy one.
As a human goes through their life, they are constantly challenged by "do I do this the way God would want? or do I do the way I want?"

The nature of sin is simple. I don't care about what is right or what God wants, I am my own god and make my own rules.

If you spend your whole life being your own god what is going to happen when you are faced by the real God? C.S. Lewis writes an excellent example of what will happen. Try reading The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. God doesn't throw anyone into hell. They make their own hell and run away from God into it. Creating and going to hell is one of the real possibilities that result from free will. The way I can explain that is that if you own a dog, you don't whip or beat it into submission. You feed it, brush its coat and give it a warm house to live in. The dog can submit to your guidance and it will live a long and healthy life and feel good while it does that. Or, the dog can snap at you and run away. In the opposite case, the dog creates its own hell where there is cold, and hunger and loneliness. That's not a precise analogy but it is functional.

If the RC can be taken to task for anything it is telling people they will go to hell if they don't follow man made church rules. The judgment is precisely outlined in the Gospel, you fed me when I was hungry, you clothed me when I was naked, you visited me when I was in prison. It is when we are loving others as ourselves and loving God above all else that our lives become real. Other than that it is all "he said-she said"

Answer 3

This is why there are so many sects of Protestantism. I agree with you except I don't believe God is at war with Satan. Satan wanted to be god and rule over everything; God said I can't do that but I'll give you your own kingdom and I won't interfere with it. That's probably not good enough for Satan, so he tries to gain more and more of God's kingdom. But I don't believe in the Christian idea of hell; I believe man makes his own heaven or hell during his life, but eventually his inner self achieves enlightenment and he moves on to either a higher plain of existence or joins the Divine Self (God.)

Answer 4

Not Catholic, but..............
No-we are not all God's children. No one is a child of God except those who have been born again (John 3). Neither baptism, nor any church, or denominational ceremony can save a person or make them acceptable to God.
However, God is merciful- He sends no one top hell. Hell is automatic. All humans are born destined for hell (fall). God offers redemption to all mankind. Some accept it, others reject it. Those who reject God, and die unrepentant-will spent eternity in hell. That is not just my opinion-its what God says in the Bible. There is no middle ground here. You either accept God, or suffer forever.

Answer 5

First of all, all christians who belong to any organized religion believes this.

You're good, you go to heaven, you're bad - you go to hell.

It was the Catholics who decided that this seemed really unfair (the Protestant's think it's a great concept), so they invented purgatory, or at least they truly believe that the purgatory idea was revealed to them through their pope.

In other words good-heaven, bad-hell, is a tennet of all christian faiths. Which christian faith do you belong to, if you don't believe this?

Answer 6

Honey, it's not just Catholics. Most Christians believe that when Christ comes back, that the wicked will end up in hell.

Answer 7

I have a different take on hell, it would be stuck in a room working out nonsense and gibberish for eternity. Oh my God, maybe yahoo Answers is really......

Answer 8

the catholic church acknowledges a class of people - the saints - whom the church affirms are in heaven.

the catholic church has never said that anybody is in hell.

god could indubitably send a sinner to hell if it seemed right to him to do so (he is omnipotent).

but we do not know that he has ever exercised this power.

for all we know hell could be no fuller today than the day it was created.

Answer 9

It's not God Who Sends us to Hell. It's our own choice.

Answer 10

I think catholics believe that you go to Hell only if you do not repent. If you repent you DO however have to go through purgatory. Only saints go strait to God so they can pray for you and your dead relatives.