Yes, I was raised Catholic, as you can tell.
Since no one really can comprehend infinity, and I would argue that no one can comprehend or prove that God is perfectly good (assuming that he is), thus maybe God can send no one to Hell, except the fallen angels who know much more than we do.
The only problem is Jesus spend a whole lot of time talking about Hell in the Gospels. I cannot read the Gospels anymore without getting extremely anxious.
Maybe people go to Hell, but it is a lower percentage than I fear. Because right now, with the sins people are doing, it seems like almost everybody is going there.
I am just confused. Thank you though for the thought that some may avoid Hell through invincible ignorance.
I would argue that no one can comprehend or prove that God is sadistic (assuming that He is), thus maybe God sends no one to Hell.
You make an interesting point about the fallen angels. The United Church of God (of which I am NOT a member) posits that only the fallen angels are sent to hell. In fact, they make a pretty good argument that we don’t have immortal souls to begin with. The same word “nephesh” is used in the OT to denote life, spirit, and soul, and it is translated according to the context. Of course, the NT (Greek being somewhat more precise than Hebrew) distinct words are used for each of these. The same is true of “sheol” and “hades.” The OT uses “sheol” 65 times. It is translated as grave 31 times, hell 31 times, and pit 3 times. The NT uses hades 11 times, translating it as hell 10 times and as grave once. So, in a sense, translation makes all the difference in reading the scriptures.
But I’m getting off the point: The UCoG says that Revelation 20:10 indicates that hell is the destination for the devil and his cohorts, where they will be tormented forever, but that Malachi 4:1-3 and Mark 9:47-48 indicate that any human beings cast into the lake of fire will be destroyed. So, in a sense a human’s punishment WILL be eternal, in that being destroyed is a forever thing, but humans will not be tormented eternally. They make a pretty good argument. I could send you a pamphlet they put out on it if you’d like.
Where lies the truth? To be honest, friend, I don’t know, and I’m content with that. I’m not sure that it’s possible for a human to understand all of the mysteries of God. Whoever God is, He is so much beyond what we are that we can’t comprehend Him in totality. It would be like asking a chimpanzee to understand Shakespeare. Fortunately, we are not asked to; we are asked only to have faith, and that, of course, is a gift from God, free for the asking.