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Beliefs about Hell

Fr Barron comments on hell, and how you have to believe in hell if you believe that God is love and that man has free-will. Hell is not somewhere that people are sent, rather it is a place where they go if they reject God's love, and it's always locked from the inside.


There was a post about Heaven being hotter than Hell on one of my side links at some point recently. I can't remember which blog. I think the person was implying that there was something wrong with this concept as presumably Hell is supposed to be where people are being burned alive forever. But if you think of Hell as the rejection of God's love and the fire of Hell being God's love that because it is rejected, torments those in Hell forever, then in Heaven God's love must be a heck of a lot stronger because God would tone it down quite a lot for the souls in Hell, therefore Heaven would be hotter than Hell.

Related link: Would God send someone to Hell? ~ Matt Fradd

Comments

  1. I think Fr Barron is or more or less correct. His commentary brought to mind two passages:

    2 Thessalonians 1:3-10:
    We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

    Revelation 14:9-11:
    Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

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  2. (Continued)

    This puts God outside of the category of anyone we can conceive because at the same time as Jesus is punishing those in hell for ever, for all eternity Jesus himself will be with the redeemed in the New Jerusalem. Truly, truly the question remains, "What did you do with My Son?" to each one of us. And what we do results in Him either being our punisher or our redeemer.

    - The italics just means it isn't in the original Greek.
    - many translations add text to the Thessalonians passage I put in bold because they can't understand it or don't like it.

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