Hell... A Choice?

So this week, the blog is going to be a three part series on Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. The theology on these Last Things has always been very interesting, and people are always hungry to learn about what will happen after death. We will start from the bottom and move up. We will start with Hell.

What is Hell? Is it real? How do you get there? Is it forever? If God loves us, then why? All of these are questions that people normally ask in reference to Hell.

First, what is Hell? Some people view Hell as a place of eternal punishment where the unlucky soul gets burned by an eternal fire. Doesn’t sound too fun to me. This could be more or less true. No on really knows what really happens in Hell, some say its fire, some say ice, some have ridiculous punishments that relate to the sin you have committed. One thing we do know however is what the Church teaches on Hell. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church teaches that, “To die in Mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the Blessed is called “Hell”. (CCC 1033) What does this mean? If you remember back to a past blog of mine, there are two types of sin, venial and mortal. Mortal sins are deliberate grave sins that separate us from God until we go to confession. So when we die in this state, we die with mortal sin, separated from God without going to confession. The one thing we need to keep in mind is that we can go to confession up until the point that we die. After death, we can no longer fix anything that we did. The concept of converting on our deathbed is not going to work. No one knows when they will die. To die in mortal sin means that you have chosen to not accept God’s mercy by going to confession. Hell is defined as TOTAL SEPERATION FROM GOD. Mortal sin is a choice. Not going to confession is a choice. God is always ready to forgive; we just have to take Him up on the offer.

Hell is forever. Once someone goes to Hell, there is no turning back. Like I said above, our decision making time is over. We can no longer convert ourselves after death. We remain in the state that we choose in life.

One thing that a lot of people have a problem with is if God is so loving, then why does He allow people to go to Hell? God actually wants all mankind to be with Him in Heaven. He is very sad when someone chooses to go to Hell. God does not send them, they choose to go down that path. God loves mankind so much that He gave us free will to choose to love Him. Love isn’t true unless it is freely chosen. Unless we freely choose to Love God, it doesn’t mean anything. Because of this, he can never force us to love Him and go to Heaven.

So how do we avoid Hell? LOVE! Love is the only way that we will avoid hell. Love God and Love one another. It is through love that we are united with God and we join Him in heaven…. On the next blog: Purgatory…