[WKB]

Everybody on my page ping

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

Stoddart, a former Baptist minister, says he no longer believes in Hell in the sense of a future destination. "But there is still a lot of value in talking about Hell because it allows us to say no to things in a moral sense. It's a way of making a judgment on what is right or wrong."

So he thinks it's just jiffy to shade the truth a wee bit in order to drive home lessons on morality?

Might be he's a candidate for a warm and sulferous holiday destination.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Only "more than a third"? Man, if the CIA had the operatives that Satan does the WOT would be over ...

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - Add me to the column of believers in a place called Hell.

[WKB]

A spokesman for the Catholic Church, which last week announced it was to scrap Limbo, the state between Heaven and Hell into which unbaptised babies were dispatched, said: "The Catholic Church affirms the existence of Hell, understood as eternal separation from God. However, the Church has never formally defined who, if anyone, is in Hell."


Ping

[Prime Choice]

I do believe there is a Hell. As for who goes there, that is up to God in His infinite wisdom.

That said, I believe that all who confess their sins and accept the Lord with purity of heart will sit at the right hand of God on Judgment Day.

[Bonaparte]

A careful reading of the article reveals that it does not square with the claim in the title.

[185JHP]

Remember how as a child, whe you were caught doing something wrong, and your face felt real hot? That is one theory about what the fire is. OTOH we have Dives' lament
"I am in torment in these flames..."

[ReformedBeckite]

Far fewer ministers in the east and south of Scotland are convinced that their parishioners will suffer a fiery fate being lashed by Satanic demons.

Hell is there any body living in the Northren part of Scotland. There probably isn't too many ministers in the Northren reaches of Scotland. And about the subject of hell, well they would probably say, "I've been there and done that."

[paudio]

If hell doesn't exist, why do we have to do good thing and/or believe in any savior?

[fish hawk]

A survey of said Born again Christians, Barna Survey

55% do not believe in the Holy Spirit
52% do not believe in the existence of Satan
35%do not believe in the resurrection of Christ
34%say they believe good works will get them to heaven
28%believe Jesus committed sin while here on Earth

George Gallup survey of Seminary Students: 
35% deny that faith in Christ is necessary 
Adult Evangelicals: 35% deny that faith in Christ alone
is necessary for salvation. 

This may be the reason the world is in the "handbagged".

[Reverend Bob]

"The east coast appears to be less Hell-fearing than the west". Imagine that!

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

What is breathtaking about the article is that it implies more than half of Scotland's clergy does NOT believe there is a literal Hell when Hell is clearly mentioned many times by Jesus.

It makes you wonder about the multitude of ordained ministers who might be standing in Hell's front rows.

For those who say there is "limited seating available" in Heaven and only a handful will get in, I recall the words of Jesus:

"In my Father's house are many mansions."

The road to Heaven may be narrow but it is passable for ALL who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.

[RoadTest]

"The ministers, from a wide range of denominations, are convinced that lost souls will still suffer eternal mental anguish after death."

Actually, flames. Once the fire has burned off all the flesh (no blood) worms crawl out and back into the skeletal bones, then the flesh gradually grows back on until it's complete and then the flames come and burn it all off again.

That's the resting times in between Satan and the demons torturing these souls.

It's real. Jesus testified of it over and over, and he's not a liar. The fact that belief has fallen out of fashion doesn't change heaven or hell.

[nmh]

Only a little over a third!

Hmmmm ... Jesus Christ is the one that spoke the most about Hell ... guess He didn't know what He was talking about ... .

Hell is for REAL. If CHrist says so, So do I. He isn't a liar as mere mortals are. Hell is going to be a very crowded place.

[NYer]

Catechism of the Catholic Church

IV. HELL

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."[610] Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.[611] To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.[612] Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"[613] and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"[614]

1035 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."[615] 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.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."[616] Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."[617]

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;[618] for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":[619] Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen.[620]

Catholic Ping
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[Sensei Ern]

Thanks for the ping.

The idea that Hell should have gone away with the thought that the world was flat is in error.

The Bible teaches that the world is not flat. Clergy believed Aristotle and other Greek philosphers, rather than the Word of God.

So then, the Bible was right about the shape of the earth, it's right about Hell as well. The focus on Hell being hot is just a side note, to describe to the one who would not understand that the worst part of Hell is that those that are there have no awareness of the prescence of God.

The atheist may not care, but he cannot fathom the suffering that the soul would suffer were God not ever present.

[narses]

+

[BibChr]

News flash: many who are going to Hell don't believe in it.

[Cicero]

Statements about Hell in the Bible, including numerous clear saying of Jesus, are unmistakable. It is impossible to be a real Catholic or a Bible-believing Protestant and not believe in Hell.

Purgatory is much more controversial for Protestants, but as a Catholic I find it very comforting. If you die in a state of sin, but not of deliberate, mortal sin, then you will go to Purgatory until these sins have burned away. It's hard to believe that most of us are likely to head straight for heaven, and Purgatory is certainly preferable to Hell.

It is a place of what is usually portrayed as refining fire, a theme found in numerous places in the Old Testament and the New, and it explains why early Christians universally prayed for the dead. There is no point praying for those in Heaven, and no use praying for those in Hell, as Augustine points out. But the souls in Purgatory, or whose fate is in doubt, deserve our prayers.

Is Purgatory biblical? Not so directly as Hell, but numerous passages which talk about refining fire and the like can be read as pointing to it. Maccabees calls on the faithful to pray for the dead, but of course Maccabees is considered apocryphal by Protestants (and canonical by Catholics).