I have heard it said that when a baby closes its eyes, it perceives the entire world has gone away rather than just their ability to perceive it. I have often wondered how scientists can know such a thing, but I think that now I know. They must have witnessed this same behavior in adults and merely extrapolated backwards.
Case in point, Newsweek’s religion editor Lisa Miller has a new book out on Heaven and the various different notions of it. In an interview with Sally Quinn, Miller is asked whether she believes in Hell, to which she replies with an emphatic “no.” Asked why, she cites the dwindling polls numbers for hell. Hell is not hot right now.
Of course, we know that reality is not altered by poll numbers. President Obama’s poll numbers have likely fallen faster than hell’s, but he is no less real than when most believed in him back in November 2008.
It seems that some people believe that if enough people ditch belief in Hell, that perhaps Hell will be closed for lack of interest. No such luck.
The Church teaches the existence of hell because Jesus taught the existence of hell.
CCC 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. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,“and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!”
I would be interested to see how the poll numbers would change if the question changed. Instead of “Do you believe in hell?” how about if we asked “Do you believe that all people, no matter what they did in life, go to heaven?” If you asked them whether Hitler was in heaven, I suspect that the numbers would look drastically different. Most people, I suspect, would exclude Hitler from residency in heaven (whether or not God has is a different question). So, if Hitler is not in Heaven, where is he? The larger question, I suppose, is “what is not heaven?” The catechism answers that question as well saying “the chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God.” In other words, not heaven is Hell, to be separated from God forever.
I would suspect that in any society throughout history that Hell’s polling numbers are inversely proportional to the virtue of that society. In our society, sin polls well. You can do the math. Yet I think that when thrown into the everlasting fire, having poll numbers on your side will be of little comfort.
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I really appreciate your presenting the question about hell in a different context - such as ‘are all people in heaven’? How a question is asked makes all the difference when taking a poll or even talking with your kids. For example, “How was school today, Johnny?” gets a different reply than “What did you talk about in history?” And with abortion - “Do you believe in the right to abort a fetus?” or “Do you believe in the right to kill a baby with a beating heart?”
Part of the problem is that people don’t believe in evil, as a supernatural element personified by Satan. Perhaps our culture is so inundated via broadcasting and net with violence and evil, that it’s come to be accepted as a “normal” part of life.
A dinner conversation in recent months, centered around people’s abhorrent behavior. When I expressed my opinion that people feel free to do whatever they wish to one another because they have lost or never developed the sense of being accountable to anyone, namely, God, the person shouted at me that God had nothing to do with it. Moments later, they mentioned that they thought I was correct about the “accountability part.”
Some people will go to great lengths to avoid a spiritual life.
EXCELLENT! What a dangerous thing to believe: that there is no Hell. A truly spiritually mature person perhaps does not need to fear Hell in order to follow Christ, but for someone on the brink, it is a really important point to consider.
Good post as usual, Patrick.
I wonder if for some, when polled ‘Do you believe there is a Hell?’, they answer no because they don’t believe that’s where they’ll end up.
Kind of like when Congress gets really low approval numbers, but the incumbents get re-elected a lot of time - because it’s “my representative/Senator is great - it’s everyone else’s who’s really terrible!”
Almost like a ‘Hell for thee, but not for me’ phenomenon.
If The Four Last Things were preached more often, perhaps more people would take their eternal destination a bit more seriously, instead of deluding themselves into thinking ‘I’m basically a nice person, so God will let me in’, when scripturally and through Church teaching, nice isn’t good enough. It’s holiness that makes the cut, as it were, not basic niceness.
Holy moly! You have read my mind! My mother-in-law doesn’t believe in hell and has expressed this to me before… but I’ve always been too afraid to speak up (Don’t judge! It’s my mother-in-law!) But I’ve always “planned” out what I’d say and this post you have written is EXACTLY what I was planning… even the Hitler detail! You’ve added some other points I hadn’t thought of, so I will definitely be bookmarking this article for future use!
When people tell me they don’t believe in something, I’d like to know how they reached that conclusion, so I ask why. As I told my class, today, hell was not created for man, but for Lucifer and the rest of the fallen angels. Man is not meant to go there, but if he chooses not to follow God…eternity without God is hell, as a concept. Where do they think they will go? Do they think that the energy of our spirits simply dissipates? That’s not even sound science, let alone spirituality.
Not considering something doesn’t make it not exist. Take gravity, for an example. Invisible, but don’t ignore it.
A+
And can I just say, “Hell is not hot right now,” might be one of the best possible play on words ever?
Bravo Patrick.
There’s nothing to be afraid of, because all I have to do is knowingly assent to the belief that there is a god, do nothing else, and I’m golden! (Apparently Satan will make it back to heaven now too!) Yipee!
Great article. Agree with all the comments. Additional thought for Maggie: It is not in the least bit judgmental to correct erroneous thinking (gently, of course) - in fact it is a duty of Christian charity because you want every soul to get to heaven!!
Hell exists, you just pray that you, and no one you love will end up there.
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” -Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects)
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