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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.(1 John 3:14-15) 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. (cf. Matthew 25:31-46) 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.
(cf. Matthew 5:22, 29; 10:28; 13:42, 50; Mark 9:43-48) Jesus solemnly proclaims that he will send his angels, and they
will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of
fire, (Matthew 13:41-42) and that he will pronounce the condemnation: Depart
from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire! (Matthew 25:41)
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. (Paul VI, Solemn Profession of faith: Credo of the People of God § 12; cf. DS 76; 409; 411; 801; 858; 1002; 1351; 1575) 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. (Matthew 7:13-14)
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. (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 48 § 3; Matthew 22:13; cf. Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 25:13, 26, 30, Matthew 25:31-46)
1037 God predestines no one to go to Hell; (cf. Council of Orange II (529): DS 397; Council of Trent (1547):1567) 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: (2 Peter 3:9)
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.
Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer I (Roman Canon) 88
You said:
Why would God create people when, from the beginning, He knew their fate will be
to spend eternity in Hell?
For those who He knew would be in Hell, wouldn't it be love
if he didn't create them?
God does not choose the fate of the people he created. The people themselves,
through their choices, either make good, holy choices; or bad, evil choices
and in doing so decide their own fate. God doesn't send anyone to Hell. People through
there own choices send themselves to Hell.
My colleagues may be able to help address your final two questions.
Mike
Eric replied:
Hi James,
Mike asked us to help him answer your remaining questions.
You said:
If Heaven is a spiritual place, how could
Enoch, Elijah and Jesus go to Heaven with their
physical bodies?
I think you are confusing spiritual with immaterial. No one said
Heaven is an immaterial place, i.e., a place where matter cannot be admitted.
We know very little about the nature of Heaven. In Scripture, it's
the place where God dwells. Today we might speculate that it's an
alternate dimension or universe but we really do not know. It's associated
with the spiritual but there is no reason to suppose that it excludes the
material, as you point out.
It's important not to equate material with non-spiritual, or to pit the
material against the spiritual. That's creeping into the Gnostic heresy,
which says that spirit is good and matter is bad and to combine them is
a crime against nature.
In Gnosticism, the soul is imprisoned in
the body and the goal is to free the good soul from the bad body. In
Christianity, matter was created good, and our bodies are divinized by
Jesus' incarnation. So matter is spiritual too.
You said: The Bible says that men are destined to
die once and after death judgment, but Enoch
and Elijah did not die.
Is this an exception?
What this means is that people, in general, do not die more than once (for
example, as in reincarnation). It does not mean that people absolutely,
without exception, have to die but as you point out it is not generally
wise to take statements from Scripture as absolutes.
For example,
Lazarus, Tabitha, and several others died twice (i.e., were resurrected
and then died again) but these were exceptions. The general principle
is that you die once and are then judged, but there are limited exceptions.
Hope this helps,
Eric
John replied:
Hi James,
Elijah, Enoch, and the Blessed Mother, for that matter, had their bodies
transformed in similar fashion to Christ after His Resurrection.
I'm sure Enoch and Elijah were judged even though they didn't die but they
aren't the only exception.
What about those who will be alive when Christ
returns?
Certainly we will all be judged. St. Paul put it this way:
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed.
We have to be careful when reading Scripture not to misinterpret figures
of speech and collective use of adjectives to be imperative statements
that don't allow for exceptions.
