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Dear Liam,
Thanks for your question.
The premise of your question implies that everyone that does not believe in God is predestine to Hell.
The Church holds a different position. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
CCC 847 Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
As my colleague Paul said a different answer:
There are three basic ways to certitude for the human being:
- faith
- reason, and
- science.
Boiled down it is information processed through:
- the soul
- the mind, and
- the senses respectively.
Scientific knowledge, which comes through observation, corresponds to the lowest part of our nature, that which we share with the other animals, the senses. We believe because we see. Doubting Thomas in the Gospel of John got his reputation from trusting only in this kind of knowledge.
Rational knowledge is actually a higher kind of knowledge because it relates directly to the mind. The intellect can understand things even without ever seeing them or observing them with any of the senses. Hence, Aristotle called us rational animals. We can think and reason. The most basic example is the syllogism.
For example: Socrates is a man, all men have heads, therefore Socrates has a head. I don't have to see Socrates to figure that out.
The highest form of knowledge comes through faith.
That said, even if atheists deny that they have a soul, they still have reason and science, corresponding to the mind and their senses.
Their reason is a great gift because with it comes free will. A free will to make good choices that seek good reasoning or a free will that denies good reasoning and makes bad choices.
A viable proof, in my opinion, for the reality of the soul can be found in the natural law.
The natural law is that thing inside an atheist that tells them, without anyone else telling them, that certain things are obviously good to do, while other things are obviously bad to do.
The Catholic Church has always taught that God never sends anyone to Hell.
People with their soul, mind, and senses choose Hell.
You present God as the enemy in your question but He is not the enemy. He is the Loving Father who created you for a specific purpose in life. Think of the one thing you love the most in this life ...... (pause) ....... God loves you a million-times and more than that. Even when you are sinning He loves you immensely more. He gets it Liam!
Because He was a man like us in all things but sin: Jesus Christ: the Incarnate God-Man, who is one substance with Father.
You said:
- Also why did God create the devil and evil?
Paragraph CCC 391 states:
CCC 391 The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.
You said:
- Why couldn't he just create good in the world, then we could all go to Heaven?
Paragraph CCC 412 may answer your question:
412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?
St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away."
And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good.
Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more';
and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"
I hope this answers your question.
Mike
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