God and Hell Part 1 and 2

[Denise]

Lenten reflections by Fr. Weinandy on the proper understanding of Hell.

Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.

SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020

Part 1

The question of whether everyone is saved, and thus no one goes to Hell, was debated (and censured) in the early Church, as well as in the wake of Hans Urs Von Balthasar’s 1987 book: Dare We Hope “That All Men be Saved”? Recently, this dispute has intensified with the publication of David Bentley Hart’s book: That All Shall be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation.

Though I have not yet read the book, I gather from the various critiques and his response that Hart adamantly argues and definitively concludes that everyone is ultimately saved. Thus, no one will reside everlastingly in the pains of Hell.

I do not want to tackle Hart’s arguments directly, here. Instead, I want to attend to some questions that I believe are pertinent and, from what I have read, have not been adequately addressed.

First, it’s commonly argued that since God is all-good and all-loving, he would not allow anyone to be punished forever in Hell. Such eternal damnation would be contrary to his supreme love and goodness – his all-consuming mercy and forgiveness. I would hold, instead, that God’s goodness and love demand Hell’s existence and that it is forever inhabited by the damned.

Because he is goodness itself and love itself, God loves all that is good, and therefore, by his very nature, he must hate what is evil. Evil, by its very nature, is an affront to and an attack upon God himself. If God tolerated or excused evil, or if he thought it to be of little account, he would not be all-good and all-loving, for he would sanction and so participate in evil itself.

He would then be a malevolent deity, a God who does not possess genuine concern for what is morally good, just, and upright. Thus, God himself, in his very goodness and love, is the foundational principle that validates the possibility of Hell.

Second, while God does not hate those who perpetrate evil, for he is their good Creator, yet he does hate, he cannot endure, the evil they do. Those who willingly and knowingly do evil are incapable of dwelling in his all-good and all-holy presence. They simply are not morally suited to abide with him.

Because of this sinful situation, the Father, in his love, sent his Son into the world, not to condemn sinners but to save those who believe in his incarnate Son – that they may not perish but possess eternal life. (see Jn. 3:16-17). The Father eternally and lovingly wills that “we should be holy and blameless before him,” and so become “his sons through Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 1:4-5) We perceive God’s lavish mercy and compassion in the crucified and risen Jesus.

Third, not every evil act makes a person completely abhorrent to God, but some evil acts so conform someone into an evil person that, unless they repent and undergo change of heart, they can never abide in God’s presence.

This is why the Catholic Church distinguishes venial from mortal sin. (1 Jn. 5:16-17) Even venial sins must be purified, either in this life or in purgatory after death. Only then can the venial sinner enter fully into the presence of the all-good, all-holy, and all-loving God. Those who knowingly and willingly commit mortal sins, and remain unrepentant in this life, deprive themselves forever from entering into the full, heavenly presence of God.

Intrinsically evil acts – such as murder and adultery – are specified in the Ten Commandments (though not every act prohibited in the Ten Commandments is necessarily a mortal sin, e.g., “small” lies).

Other examples can be found, for example, in St. Paul’s letters (e.g., Gal. 5:19-21). Paul warns that those who do such evil acts, if they remain unrepentant, “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Every sin conforms a person to the likeness of the sin committed, but some sins are so evil that they can completely stamp or seal moral character – making someone a murderer, thief, fornicator, adulterer, deceiver, and hater. Mortal sins justly exclude the unrepentant sinner from God’s good presence.

Fourth, we should understand that those who have perpetrated such heinous evil acts and have remained unrepentant here on earth are repulsed when, at the moment of their death, they are confronted with the all-good, all-holy, and all-loving God. It is utter folly to think that those who die in mortal sin will be overwhelmed by their vision of the all-loving and good God and so will immediately repent of their sin and love him everlastingly in return.

They will indeed be overwhelmed, for they will not be able to bear the sight of someone so radically and utterly different from their own evil selves. They will straightaway flee in repugnant disgust and fearsome hatred. The last place they will want to be is in God’s presence, and they will never want to be there for all eternity.

Thus, while, from one perspective, they are eternally condemned by a just God, yet, from another perspective, they have willingly and eagerly cast themselves into their own everlasting damnation.

Is this not all rather frightening, to say the least? That is why the Church, in her motherly concern for her children, has, for centuries, accentuated the importance of Lent. Lent is a time for turning away from the evil of sin – sin that can lead us to everlasting death – and for turning towards the mercy and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.

Lent is not simply a time of purification, it is also a season of holiness – a time to grow in goodness and love, a time to conform ourselves to the likeness of God, in whose image we were created and now recreated in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Thus, the sacrament of confession is opportune and may be a necessity. Moreover, our participation in and love for the Eucharist ought to increase, for there we meet him who is our life and our salvation.

Part 2

Sin, by its very nature, is a direct attack upon or a violation of some good. For example, lying offends the good of truth; gluttony transgresses the good of proper eating. Now, do some evil acts contravene a good to such a degree that they merit everlasting damnation? According to the Catholic tradition, these acts are termed mortal sins. Let us look at some examples.

Fornication and adultery grievously violate the good of marriage and sexuality. While couples, in these sexual acts, may desire to express their love for one another, what they are actually doing is attacking the good of marriage and the sexual acts that pertain exclusively to marriage.

By holding that fornication and adultery are mortal sins, Christian morality perceives that marriage, and the sexual acts performed within marriage, possess so great a dignity and goodness, that to violate the inherent beauty of marriage by engaging in fornication and adultery is to merit damnation. The damnation related to fornication and adultery, thus, is a recognition that accentuates the unassailable sacredness, the inviolable goodness, and the indissoluble bond between a man and a woman in marriage. To diminish the judgment against fornication and adultery, to suppose that they are “no big deal,” is to demean the absolute God-given goodness of marriage itself.

Again, grievous violations against the inherent dignity and value of the human person are also mortal sins that merit everlasting damnation – e.g., murder, slavery, human trafficking, and extreme hatred and prejudice. To kill the innocent, to perform or have an abortion, to sell others for sexual exploitation, to attack and assail others because of their race or religion, to euthanize the elderly, or the physically or mentally handicapped, all of these acts, as do similar acts, seriously abuse the sacrosanct goodness and dignity that resides within each human being.

Once more, to hold that such evil acts are not deserving of Hell is to say that the dignity and worth of each person is not of supreme value. The nature of the punishment must always be in proportion to the offense committed and the good violated. In the above examples, the good of the person is so desecrated that, without repentance, Hell is the only appropriate punishment.

Although mortal sins are deserving of Hell, what cannot be forgotten is the Father’s mercy made manifest in Jesus Christ. To repent of such deadly sins and to ask for forgiveness, along with the doing of penance for the offense, brings the sinner back to life through the Holy Spirit. This is the good news of salvation – no sin is unforgivable. Right up until the moment of death, everyone can avoid Hell and come to enjoy eternal life with God.

Here, some may, nonetheless, propose that repentance after death may be possible. Those who die in grievous sin may be punished for a time, maybe for a very long time, but, eventually, they will be purified and forgiven, and so enter into heavenly bliss. To advocate such a position, however, makes life here on this earth a farce.

If all go to Heaven, nothing done in this life would have any eternal significance – either for good or for evil. The good that one enacts does not merit, in Jesus Christ, eternal life, and the evil that one enacts has no lasting condemnatory consequences. The urgency of this life is lost. Striving to live a virtuous life becomes meaningless. Valor, courage, gallantry, and nobility lose their inherent integrity.

There are no situations wherein one can manifest one’s mettle and steadfastness – caring for a sick friend or an elderly spouse, or forthrightly standing up for what is true and good against the forces of evil. There would be no resolve to preach the Gospel, or even to practice one’s own faith. There would be no “High Noon” moments where one must choose to be courageous or shrink away in cowardice – in the end neither would really matter.

Martyrs are not made in a world where Hell is not a live option, for one would never feel challenged to love God and neighbor to the fullest degree, the freely giving up of one’s life. Without the possibility of Hell, life loses its zest, its vibrancy, its earnestness, for nothing one does here would have any everlasting worth. Life merely becomes a charade – a pretending of making important choices, of executing significant decisions, of actually accomplishing something important.

A good and loving God, however, would never have created such a futile world nor would he have approved of such a wasted life. God created us to expand his goodness and imitate his love, and to do so is to his and our eternal glory. Not to do so is to our everlasting condemnation.

Ultimately, if there’s no Hell, Jesus’ glorious coming at the end of time would be a ho-hum event. We would already know the outcome. Truth, goodness, and justice would not, finally, win the day over lies, wickedness, and corruption, for, in the end, neither uprightness nor evil would be of any everlasting importance. Goats would not be separated from the sheep and thrown “into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), for even the earthly unrepentant goats would now graze in the sheep’s heavenly pasture.

Such a scenario would not be in keeping with the goodness of the Father, nor with the truth of his Son, Jesus, nor with the love of the Holy Spirit. What will actually transpire when Jesus comes again in glory is that the Saints will shine like the stars. They will rejoice in each other’s steadfast goodness and virtue, and together they will give praise and glory to God, he who is truly a God of love and goodness, a God who has rescued them from sin and sin’s condemnation – Hell.

Moses tells the Israelites, just prior to their entering the Promised Land, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.” If the people keep God’s commandments, they will live; if they do not, they will perish. Moses exhorts them: “Choose life” (Deut. 30:15-20).

Lent is a time for choosing life – a time of further cultivating virtue and growing in holiness. Choosing life here on earth has eternal consequences – the gaining of eternal life in Heaven. Not to choose life here on earth also has everlasting consequences – that of perishing forever in Hell.

As Christians, we know that it is only by abiding in Christ, he who is the light of life, that we can truly choose life – the life of the Holy Spirit through whom we become children of our heavenly Father.