Happy or Hopeless Hell
Much passion and prayer have been focused recently on life and death.
With Karol Wojtyla passing from this world to his Creator, some have suggested that while John Paul II was an admired leader and all other such effectively patronizing nonsense, he did not do much for the Catholic Church. Clearly the thinking of empirical rather than eschatological minds.
Has all of this reawakened thinking, or more importantly, a reflection on Heaven and Hell?
I do not know, but I can only have the Hope that it has.
Happy Hell can only be a place in our minds where God lets us smoke pot, engage in adultery of the mind or body, and otherwise offend His Word, and He simply pats us on the head and says, "I still love you no matter what you do." This is a place where God is Loving but not Holy. Did Jesus have to die if God is not Holy?
No.
What cultural and historical events like Terri Schiavo and the John Paul II epoch have illuminated is that there are Truths that we deny at our own peril and the peril of civilization itself.
We deny life only by playing God when there is no compelling need to do so except to placate our own selfishness rationalized through bigotry.
We also risk being intoxicated by the narcotic of narcissism when we think John Paul II was a conservative crank who would have done much more for the Catholic Church by passing out condoms and bananas.
My respect will endure for someone who celebrated Mass in the forest out of sight of the Communist Deity in 20th Century Poland. My respect will never exist for those who think it helpful for us to teach children how they can safely indulge their senses without regard to the health of their heart here on Earth and their soul for eternity.
No, I am not saying that sin cannot be forgiven. On the contrary, it is!
However, Grace is not without price, and Heaven does not exist without Hell.
Believing in a non-existent or Happy Hell only leads to a Hopeless Hell.
With Karol Wojtyla passing from this world to his Creator, some have suggested that while John Paul II was an admired leader and all other such effectively patronizing nonsense, he did not do much for the Catholic Church. Clearly the thinking of empirical rather than eschatological minds.
Has all of this reawakened thinking, or more importantly, a reflection on Heaven and Hell?
I do not know, but I can only have the Hope that it has.
Happy Hell can only be a place in our minds where God lets us smoke pot, engage in adultery of the mind or body, and otherwise offend His Word, and He simply pats us on the head and says, "I still love you no matter what you do." This is a place where God is Loving but not Holy. Did Jesus have to die if God is not Holy?
No.
What cultural and historical events like Terri Schiavo and the John Paul II epoch have illuminated is that there are Truths that we deny at our own peril and the peril of civilization itself.
We deny life only by playing God when there is no compelling need to do so except to placate our own selfishness rationalized through bigotry.
We also risk being intoxicated by the narcotic of narcissism when we think John Paul II was a conservative crank who would have done much more for the Catholic Church by passing out condoms and bananas.
My respect will endure for someone who celebrated Mass in the forest out of sight of the Communist Deity in 20th Century Poland. My respect will never exist for those who think it helpful for us to teach children how they can safely indulge their senses without regard to the health of their heart here on Earth and their soul for eternity.
No, I am not saying that sin cannot be forgiven. On the contrary, it is!
However, Grace is not without price, and Heaven does not exist without Hell.
Father Lombardi, in his public debate with Italian Communist leader Velio Spano in Cagliara on December 4, 1948 stated, "I am horror-struck at the thought that if you continue in this manner, you will be condemned to hell." Spano replied, "I do not believe in hell." Father Lombardi replied, "Precisely, and if you continue, you will be condemned; for to avoid being condemned, one must believe in hell."
Believing in a non-existent or Happy Hell only leads to a Hopeless Hell.
posted by Sierra at 9:00 PM
<< Back to Sierra Faith