Are Nice People Guaranteed a Place in Heaven? Let's Find Out! In this previously unreleased Live session I discuss the theology behind understanding our final destination, who goes where, and why.
I was raised as a pre Vatican ll Catholic. I am also remarried in the Catholic Church and I am now a widow in relationship with a loving male partner.
I have depression and I have lived a frightened life in part due to the concept of Hell.
Simply, Jesus died for my sins. So why are they not forgiven?
God is all loving…
I have been the mother of male children, all grown men now. To say they never hurt me, disrespected me or broke my heart would be a lie.
However, I could no more cast my sons into eternal damnation than I could incarcerate them. BTW, they are all fine men.
If God loves us unconditionally, I believe he will welcome us based upon our efforts, non of which are perfect like his son.
As a woman growing up in the 1950’s, Hell was used as a behavior control device.
I am choosing finally after a great deal of spiritual and psychological work to believe that God loves me as I am and knows my thoughts, feelings and actions.
I do not believe God sends any of His children to hell. If hell is populated, it is only by those who mistrusted God or chose to be there.
This was a great comment!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your personal story. I'd like to respond to a couple of things.
"Jesus died for my sins, so why are they not forgiven" He died to cover the debt of your sins (and mine). We have to take advantage of it through the sacraments, through a firm intent to change, and through penances (even tiny ones). Even we may forgive the people we love, but it doesn't "pay the debt" of the hurt they causes us, until they come to us and tell us they're sorry. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it illustrates the point. I couldn't cast my children into "damnation" either but if they're too far away from me then I can't protect them, feed them, guide them, make them the best version of themselves. They become "damned" (so to speak) by their own choices, not by my actions.
God will welcome us based on our efforts, you're right. But we s should also ask "What are those efforts?" No one ever asks, they just suspect that getting out of bed in the morning, and not murdering anyone during the day is sufficient effort. I don't believe "effort" has to be anything extreme, mind you, but it has to be more than "nothing". Even Jesus never did "nothing". He was the God-man and even he, in his humanity, made the effort—an effort the didn't have to make.
God doesn't send anyone to hell. But we have no right to heaven. Heaven is a gift. Hell is not a destination that God sends us to, it is a consequence of being too far away from God's saving hand.
I don't want this to sound insensitive. I'm not insensitive to what you're saying. But as a culture we have gone 1000 miles off course from how we should understand Heaven and Hell and I dont' want people to get the wrong idea, and go further off course. Maybe hell was. little overplayed in your day, but they were close to the mark than we are today. Today we teach that everyone goes to Heaven, that God has no standard, that heaven is automatic as long as you're nice. None of that is true. Jesus own words contradict those errors. So while we shouldn't be obsessed with hell (I said as much in the essay) we shouldn't have an over-relaxed idea that we instantly get sucked into heaven upon our death. Heaven is something we can lose. It's important that people have a healthy (not overreactive) understanding of that risk.
God bless you, and be with you—and with those you love.
I was raised as a pre Vatican ll Catholic. I am also remarried in the Catholic Church and I am now a widow in relationship with a loving male partner.
I have depression and I have lived a frightened life in part due to the concept of Hell.
Simply, Jesus died for my sins. So why are they not forgiven?
God is all loving…
I have been the mother of male children, all grown men now. To say they never hurt me, disrespected me or broke my heart would be a lie.
However, I could no more cast my sons into eternal damnation than I could incarcerate them. BTW, they are all fine men.
If God loves us unconditionally, I believe he will welcome us based upon our efforts, non of which are perfect like his son.
As a woman growing up in the 1950’s, Hell was used as a behavior control device.
I am choosing finally after a great deal of spiritual and psychological work to believe that God loves me as I am and knows my thoughts, feelings and actions.
I do not believe God sends any of His children to hell. If hell is populated, it is only by those who mistrusted God or chose to be there.
This was a great comment!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your personal story. I'd like to respond to a couple of things.
"Jesus died for my sins, so why are they not forgiven" He died to cover the debt of your sins (and mine). We have to take advantage of it through the sacraments, through a firm intent to change, and through penances (even tiny ones). Even we may forgive the people we love, but it doesn't "pay the debt" of the hurt they causes us, until they come to us and tell us they're sorry. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it illustrates the point. I couldn't cast my children into "damnation" either but if they're too far away from me then I can't protect them, feed them, guide them, make them the best version of themselves. They become "damned" (so to speak) by their own choices, not by my actions.
God will welcome us based on our efforts, you're right. But we s should also ask "What are those efforts?" No one ever asks, they just suspect that getting out of bed in the morning, and not murdering anyone during the day is sufficient effort. I don't believe "effort" has to be anything extreme, mind you, but it has to be more than "nothing". Even Jesus never did "nothing". He was the God-man and even he, in his humanity, made the effort—an effort the didn't have to make.
God doesn't send anyone to hell. But we have no right to heaven. Heaven is a gift. Hell is not a destination that God sends us to, it is a consequence of being too far away from God's saving hand.
I don't want this to sound insensitive. I'm not insensitive to what you're saying. But as a culture we have gone 1000 miles off course from how we should understand Heaven and Hell and I dont' want people to get the wrong idea, and go further off course. Maybe hell was. little overplayed in your day, but they were close to the mark than we are today. Today we teach that everyone goes to Heaven, that God has no standard, that heaven is automatic as long as you're nice. None of that is true. Jesus own words contradict those errors. So while we shouldn't be obsessed with hell (I said as much in the essay) we shouldn't have an over-relaxed idea that we instantly get sucked into heaven upon our death. Heaven is something we can lose. It's important that people have a healthy (not overreactive) understanding of that risk.
God bless you, and be with you—and with those you love.
Thank yo❣️
Thank you! I love this discussion!