[Ronaldus Magnus]

Pure B.S. The Hell There Is!

I didn't think you were a Catholic. You've apparently proved me right. This is a caucus thread.

I am a Catholic and an R.C.I.A instructor. Frankly, you don't even sound Christian. You and the author you posted here seem to take an almost demonic glee in your false certitude that people have been condemned to eternal separation from God. I hope that you reexamine your position.

If you are Catholic, then you should trust in the Magisterium of the Church. If it were important for us to believe that people are in Hell, the Church would provide us with clear doctrine on this point. Since it hasn't, we are free to hope in God's infinite mercy for all of us sinners.

You may find the exert from the article linked below interesting. It is from a much better source than anything you have contributed to this thread.

The Population of Hell by Avery Cardinal Dulles

"The search for numbers in the demography of hell is futile. God in His wisdom has seen fit not to disclose any statistics. Several sayings of Jesus in the Gospels give the impression that the majority are lost. Paul, without denying the likelihood that some sinners will die without sufficient repentance, teaches that the grace of Christ is more powerful than sin: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Passages such as these permit us to hope that very many, if not all, will be saved.

All told, it is good that God has left us without exact information. If we knew that virtually everybody would be damned, we would be tempted to despair. If we knew that all, or nearly all, are saved, we might become presumptuous. If we knew that some fixed percent, say fifty, would be saved, we would be caught in an unholy rivalry. We would rejoice in every sign that others were among the lost, since our own chances of election would thereby be increased. Such a competitive spirit would hardly be compatible with the gospel."

[piusv]

I am a Vatican II Catholic and an R.C.I.A instructor..

Fixed that for you.

We are free to hope in God's infinite mercy for all of us sinners.

It doesn't surprise me that you believe and teach as the Modernist Barron does. Pope Pius IX condemned such "hope" in his Syllabus of Errors:

Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ. -- Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur," Aug. 10, 1863, etc.

[ebb tide]

I am a Catholic and an R.C.I.A instructor.

I feel sorry for your students; I'll pray for them.

If you are Catholic, then you should trust in the Magisterium of the Church.

Cardinal Dulles is not, and was never, the Magisterium of the Church.

Check out the Council of Trent on Hell.

[ebb tide]

If you are Catholic, then you should trust in the Magisterium of the Church. If it were important for us to believe that people are in Hell, the Church would provide us with clear doctrine on this point. Since it hasn't, we are free to hope in God's infinite mercy for all of us sinners.

Apparently you didn't read the link I provided you in post #20. Here's an excerpt from it. It quotes both the Catholic Catechism and Pope St. John Paul II.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "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" (CCC 1035).

In his 1994 book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope John Paul II wrote that too often "preachers, catechists, teachers . . . no longer have the courage to preach the threat of hell"(p. 183).

Concerning the reality of hell, the pope says, "In point of fact, the ancient councils rejected the theory . . . according to which the world would be regenerated after destruction, and every creature would be saved; a theory which abolished hell. . . . [T]he words of Christ are unequivocal. In Matthew’s Gospel he speaks clearly of those who will go to eternal punishment (cf. Matt. 25:46). [But] who will these be? The Church has never made any pronouncement in this regard" (pp. 185–6).

Thus the issue that some will go to hell is decided, but the issue of who in particular will go to hell is undecided.

emphasis mine