This is where we have fun Thomas.
Let's do it!
Thomas I believe if you asked most Catholic parishioners about this topic or these articles if the church purports an actual hell of eternal damnation...they would.
But I did say 'fire and brimstone' ... sorry, that was a bit trick.
My point is, I think a lot of non-Christians are more certain about what Christians believe than Christians!
... which included despite the fact that we were in the woods for the weekend, they better get up early and make it to mass on Sunday or they were going to hell.
But there is another point: If it's that important, why didn't the archdiocese get a priest out there on a Sunday to say Mass in the woods? Or be really clever, get a military priest out there and do a full-on battlefield service ...
I was a cub and a scout, and I went camping, and so I missed mass on those Sundays. Sort it out in the Confessional. Or get the priest to give a dispensation beforehand. We didn't get to go monthly, mind. Monthly, if it was a Catholic troop, should have organised an attending priest.
So the more I think on this, the more I side with you. Your diocese was being lazy ...
The simple way to keep the flock in line is provide them with two clear choices...heaven or hell...as physical eternal locations for their soul. And this isn't a choice you make once... But every single moment, with every decision, action and thought in your life.
Well, that's the way Jesus did it. And the truth is, it is quite simple. As ET says: "Be good."
When you say it starkly, it sounds cold and uncompromising. But then I think every religion would say, 'yes, that's the way of it' — Buddhism is replete with examples of how little, inconsequential actions compound ...
(aka if they "sin" (an archery term for 'missing the mark') ...
This is not quite correct. The Greek term is
harmatia means 'to miss the mark or 'err', but its use is far more complex than the mundane idea of missing a target in archery.
Hamartia was used by Aristotle in his
Poetics. It refers to an error or a flaw that leads to disaster. The error can result from ignorance, an error of judgement, a flaw in character, or wrongdoing. But in the philosophical and theological sense, it does not mean a blameless 'missing the mark' as it might in archery.
Thomas I believe if you asked most Catholic parishioners about this topic or these articles if the church purports an actual hell of eternal damnation...they would.
Yes, but then if you want the actual answers, the general population is not the place to look. That's the populist answer.
Except they had a further explanation....that the church itself...the learned members believed one thing...but they did not believe the masses that goto mass were ready for this knowledge...so it isn't taught in catechism, it isn't taught to us as we are not ready. Evidently not ready until after we have had a bachelor's degree and want to learn more.
I don't know what you're talking about, so I can't comment.
From the Catechism:
1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."
The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. (
emphasis mine)
Note that "eternal fire" is in quotes. The 'chief punishment' is separation.
1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness,
it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offence, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.
Here's a view:
According to the Catechism, "hell" defines a state of separation. Gehenna gives us a workable image — not simply because it's a place of desolation, pf rubbish tips and fires, but because it was a place 'apart' — the bodies of the unclaimed dead were dumped there. If you're in Gehenna, you're off-grid, you're no longer in the world of man, as it were. Physically, it's a vally outside Jerusalem. Metaphysically, I'd say, it's nowhere. It's nothingness. It's out of sight, out of mind ...
From the Catechism and the Fathers, I could argue that Hell describes a state of non-existence. If 'in Him we live and move and have our being', then separation from Him means we no longer live, we no longer move, we no longer have being. 'I', as an existential mode of being, has ceased to be.
