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In a television interview watched by millions, Pope Francis recently made a comment about hell that has been widely reported.
In the words of the Catholic News Agency:
“When asked by the interviewer, Fabio Fazio, how he ‘imagines hell,’ Pope Francis gave a short response. ‘What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is.'”
I have a different — indeed, completely opposite — view.
I should make it clear that I, too, hope that sometime in the future — hopefully the near future — no one will be sent to hell. That would mean goodness had finally so prevailed on Earth that not one person was deserving of punishment in the afterlife.
But as of this moment, I fervently hope that some people are in hell — or whatever one wishes to call punishment after life; just as I hope some people are in heaven — or whatever one wishes to call reward in an afterlife.
Why? Because if no one is punished after death, that would mean either there is no God or, equally depressing, it would mean God is not just.
It should be added that if no one is punished, the corollary would mean that no one is rewarded. Pure logic dictates it is not possible to have an afterlife in which people were rewarded but not punished. It would mean either everyone is rewarded — which would mean there is no justice — or only some are rewarded. But if only some are rewarded, that means those who are deprived of reward are thereby punished.
It shows how little serious thought is given to the subject that a vast number of people do not think the existence of a heaven and a hell are important subjects and/or dismiss them as religious nonsense.
This absence of serious thought can be easily demonstrated. Let’s imagine a society in which there were no rewards or punishments. I suspect almost no one — though not no one, as we shall see — thinks that would be a good society. How many people would want to live in a society in which murderers and rapists were never punished while people who engaged in exceptional goodness were never rewarded?
If that doesn’t make the case, let’s not imagine a whole society. Let’s imagine a school. Would you send your child to a school in which students who routinely disturbed their classes and flunked all their subjects were never punished and students who excelled behaviorally and academically were never rewarded?
I assume not. So why, then, would anyone want such a scenario for all of life? Why would anyone want people who committed terrible evils not to be punished and people who committed heroic, self-sacrificing good acts not to be rewarded?
This is why I wrote that there is an absence of serious thought on this issue. What people would find utterly objectionable in their society or even just in their child’s school, they are at peace with regarding life.
But there is more to this issue. People are in fact increasingly at peace with no reward or punishment in this life. This is the egalitarian impulse that is coming to dominate intellectual life. More and more people are in fact advocating such a society. No more “retributive justice.” No more merit-based standards. No more valedictorians. No more failing grades. No more SATs. Indeed, no more standards. No more bail. No more punishment if you are caught stealing less than a thousand dollars’ worth of goods. No more prosecutors who prosecute. Only “equity.”
I am convinced that is what animated Pope Francis’ words. Note that he said he was stating his opinion, not church dogma. And as a man of the Left, he’s uncomfortable with reward and especially punishment. As an egalitarian, the thought that anyone is in hell disturbs him.
So, why do people who think like the Pope oppose rewards and punishments?
Because rewards and punishments mean that one must make judgments about better and worse — morally, academically and in most other spheres of life. It’s better to just assume no one is better than anyone else. That is what has animated participation trophies — no one, not even a team, is better or worse. In much of the contemporary intellectual world, the greatest sin is judging sin. And when you do away with sin, you do away with hell.
Jesus never said everyone will go to heaven. Some will indeed go to hell. Francis is not a very good Pope, if he is a Christian at all. I think his pushing paganism, islam, and perversions is not the way to heaven. I think that there is a hell, but I also do indeed believe in purgatory (whether the protestants like that or not – if they are sola scriptura then they better stop making things up, overlooking verses, etc. Luther was a troubled man and just couldn’t deal with some things and purgatory was one of those things and he helped the devil achieve one of its tactics – to divide. (Satan has three very common tactics – division, violence and perversions) I think that Satan got some grips in the Catholic church too with its infiltration in the late 19th century/early 20th century of communists into our society. They found more ease of infiltration into our institutions and even the Protestant churches but finally was able to infiltrate the Catholic church by the mid 20th century (Per Bella Dodd). Vatican II is one of those signs as are many bad priests and including some Popes with the ‘star’ bad one being Francis. At least up to this time. I hope it doesn’t get worse.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/did-jesus-believe-in-purgatory
“ Satan has three very common tactics – division, violence and perversions”
Sounds like he has joined the UN.
Better to be divided by the Truth than united in error.
Sorry, what are the scripture verses for purgatory?
There aint
Just more water to dilute salt
The Pope is DEFINITELY not a Christian. I is most likely the False Prophet or BEAST from the earth spoken of in Rev 13. Catholicism is a wicked and evil perversion of true Christianity. They deny salvation by faith alone. Therefore, any true Catholic is not going to heaven.
A couple of years ago, I took the bus to my nearest shopping centre. The route passes the local Roman Catholic cathedral, and I prayed “Lord, bless them” as I passed it. And the Lord said to me “Who’s the “them”? They are part of my bride, though in error.”
And the aberrant religion that the pope is setting up with Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and some Protestant sects can be found as the whore that rides the beast in Revelation 17.
You forgot to sign your ID Ten T form
And the Scripture verses for purgatory are?
As I understand it, the text most commonly cited is 2 Maccabees 12 in the Apocrypha. It deals with Israelite soldiers who, after their deaths, were found to have symbols of idolatry, and a sacrifice was offered on their behalf. It does not say that God accepted the sacrifice. There is also the point that idolatry is a mortal sin in RC theology, so it is open to question whether they would have been in purgatory at all, even had that place existed.
Well since you believe purgatory is real than on the rich will be the only ones to be able to buy their way into Heaven. That also says that Jesus’ dieing on the cross was not needed but Jesus did die on a cross for our sins of which we deserved GODS righteous judgement but Jesus who is GOD himself loves us so much that he sent his only son to take our punishment. 3 days later he resurrected and ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of his Father and GOD. Hell is where unrepentant sinners go to. They will feel every bit of pain and torture by Satans legions. They will remember everything they have done in their Earthly life. The worst part is they will totally be cut of from Jesus! They will have weeping and nashing of their teeth the Lord GOD says. They will be completely alone with no love! The po_e is making his congregants twice the citizens of Hell than they are. The po_e is the false prophet! His time is almost up and true believers say come Lord JESUS!
Amen! One way, one mediator… Jesus. If there was a purgatory, then Jesus died for nothing.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the world of His power, when He had Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, Hebrews: 1-4
Jesus Christ purged our sins.
All through the Old Testament we see because of God’s love for man he kept drawing Him different ways. All failed. Finally, He became a man, God the Son and did it all!!!! “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT of God.” STUDY AND BELIEVE GOD’S WORD. HE HAS DONE IT ALL. BELIEVE.
1. A Lie, or anything untrue cannot exist in Heaven. The “Spiritual Physics” of the Most High does not permit it.
2. God cannot lie. It is impossible.
3. Therefore, a “Sinner” cannot exist in Heaven. We are ALL “Sinners”!
4. Only two kinds of people in Heaven, the “Forgiven” and the “Perfect”! Raise your hand if you are “perfect”. NOTE: There was only ONE.
5. Only Jesus Saves and Forgives. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 KJV.
6 godssimpleplan dot org/languages-in-print
“It is appointed unto man, once to die and then the judgement.”
Those who have trusted the blood of Jesus Christ death on Calvary to pay for their sin and believe in their heart and confessed with their mouth that God has raised Him from the dead shall be saved. Romans 10: 9-10. The word purgatory is not in the Bible. Neither is the word Christmas or Pope. Jesus is the head of His Church. Not Mary and not the Pope. If the Pope is the Head of your organization, then your organization is not the Church.
Jesus said, “Narrow is the gate and “few” there be that find the way to eternal life, but broad is the path and many there be that pass by on the road to hell.”
His harshest words were reserved for the lawyers and religious leaders of that time. The Pope wasn’t invented until about 350 years later, but he falls in the same category as the Pharisees.
Newsflash: There is no one in hell for the simple reason that hell does not exist.
Neither do heaven, purgatory or Valhalla.
Jacob Grossman – I think this Pope would agree with you.
How do you know that?
Oh the arrogance of the atheist. I wonder if you have already created your own hell on earth?
Jesus strongly disagrees. He speaks of the reality of hell more than any other person in the Bible. He ought to know. He became human and died, himself suffering the wrath of God (hell) on our behalf, so that any who believe in him can escape that horrific fate. But I don’t suppose you believe Jesus is God, either, or that we need a Savior. If that’s so, I hope you change your mind before it’s your turn to encounter God at your death.
Sorry Jacob. The Bible is the Word of God. It is Truth. Jesus was resurrected immediately after the tomb was closed. Mt 12:40 ” For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He descended into hell where Hab 3: 9 “Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
Jesus split the head of the angel Apollyon down to his shoulders, the son of Satan, Ge 3:15, who was responsible for His crucifixion. This is the mortal head wound. Re 13:14. The anti-Christ, angel son of Satan rises at the 5th trumpet. Re 9:11; 17:8. Jesus rose to outside the tomb after beating up hell.
Guess where you are going?
Jesus spoke quiet extensively about hell, and it being a place to stay out off at all costs (by believing in His atoning sacrifice). Do you know more than our Savior?
Keep in mind, Satan’s greatest illusion is convincing people he doesn’t exist… and therefore he deceives people into thinking hell doesn’t exist. You have been greatly deceived.
What no one in hell ?! Where’s Hitler then? Hiding out in the Vatican
Working for Hamas.
At the United Nations.
Pope Frank is SATAN’S “BAG-MAN!”
The Pope is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He will be burning in hell one day along with about 90% of the worlds population.
My Dad use to say that the next Sunday after the rapture, most modern Churches won’t even notice anyone missing.
The question is not, “why did God choose for a few to be saved and go to heaven while sending the rest to hell?”
The question is, “why did God choose anyone at all to be saved from hell and receive His forgiveness, since we are all sinners deserving hell?”
Forgiveness would be the answer to your question
But Why does God choose to forgive the few and save them from hell, but not the many? It is already understood that no one can go to heaven without Gods forgiveness and that is based on them trusting the shed blood of Jesus on Calvary. But unless God chooses to touch a person with His Holy Spirit and change their heart, they can never change their own heart because their own heart is desperately wicked and they are incapable of changing it themselves. That’s why Jesus is called “Savior.” Man must have a Savior in order to be saved because he can’t save himself. So again, “why would God choose to save anybody at all, considering that we all deserve hell?
More like 80% go to hell and 20% go to heaven. The Pareto principle applies to this too! We have to try and be the best we can, do as many good works as possible and still also plead and beg the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy and forgiveness for all our sins, and hope in God that he has mercy on us for all our sins that we cannot cleanse ourselves of even with good behavior. So that if Jesus and God do not choose us to be a part of their kingdom then at least when we go to Hades, we will not be in the most hardest part of hell and will only suffer the most minimal of pain as possible in hell. Then when the great day of Judgement comes God can choose what kind of fate we will have, whether to live again on the new earth or to be condemned to the lake of fire where the second death comes and we dissipate into nothing like we never existed. I hope this helps someone.
We can know definitely that we are saved and will be going to heaven, because, when we are born again, we enter into relationship with the Lord Jesus. New birth is not conferred by infant baptism – we need to choose to repent of our sins, to recognise that there is nothing we can do to atone for them, and to ask the Lord Jesus to be both our Lord and our Saviour. And then part of our repentance is that we start loving Him, where we didn’t before, and expressing our love often (abiding in HIm) – and He will reciprocate. And once you’ve experienced His love and His personalised response to you, you know that this relationship will last forever, and that you will be where He is.
Francis is a Freemason. Freemasons don’t believe in an afterlife, but rather man can become his fullness here on earth. That is why Francis never discusses heaven or hell or any action that could lead you to either place. Even though Freemasons give lip service to “the great architect”, it is really practical atheism and Francis is slowly, step by step, revealing his colors. What a great coup by Satan to get his atheist in the chair of Peter. Or at least apparently in the chair. God help us!
The TRUTH is that as many as 90% of all mankind that exists or has ever existed goes for eternity to burn in the Lake of Fire AKA Hell. How does one avoid this punishment? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.Study your Bible!
I wouldn’t think that many. I think it more likely that the total number two thirds to the furnace, one third to heaven, replacing the one third of angels that followed Lucifer.
There’s a long list of Popes in Hell already, waiting for THIS one!
ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO..,SATAN WAS IN HEAVEN CRYING ON GODS SHOULDERS,..HE WANTED TO DOUBLE THE SIZE OF HELL ,BECAUSE GOD IS SENDING 90% OF AMERICANS TO HELL.. AND THERE WAS NOT ROOM FOR THEM ALL…,NOW THE GOOD NEWS..THERES ROOM FOR EVERYONE IN HELL NOW,,SATAN WAS ALLOWED TO DOUBLE THE SIZE OF AMERICAS NEW HOME..POPE FRANCIS AND OBAMA ARE BOTH GOING TO THE LAKE OF FIRE,…OH .HELL ISN”T EMPTY,I WAS THERE IN 1986,IT WAS HAFT FULL THEN,,Millions of people screaming “HELP ME,HELP ME…SAVE ME, SAVE ME” SCREAMING IN TERROR AFTER REALIZING WHERE THEY ARE….The FOUNDING, FATHERS,OF AMERICA KNEW,THATS WHY WE GIVE ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES THAT OATH..,IF THEY LIE..their going to HELL….and they all do…
Since I was taken to the lake of fire on Friday evening, August 30, 2002 in my automobile accident, I can assure you that hell is real, it is worse than imagined and lots and lots of people are there. The worse part was the screaming of these people in this eternal torment, it made my skin crawl. It was literally the grace of God that I was rescued and set free of my 3 sets of chains and taken out of hell. God knows how bad hell is, which is exactly why the Father sent His son to warn us about ending up in this place and to repent and accept His escape plan through His son.
Correct me someone, please, if I am wrong.
Does it not say in the bible that once we perish, our souls rest until the day of final judgement? Am I the only one to remember that or comment on it?
I hope religious leaders will soon look beyond the November elections to consider matters of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Many are cold and a few are frozen.
The Roman Catholic clerics hold sway over 1.5 billion minds. The RC ‘magisterium’ determines what congregants are allowed to believe. Historical, Biblical research by laymen is forbidden to carry authority to contradict what popes, bishops, priests, etc. determined for them. This, Mary adoration, eucharistic transubstantiation. and sacerdotalism are why I remain a generic Christian, only labeled by my difficult adult conversion to Christ 54 years ago.
Many, many times Hell is mentioned in The Bible.
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Hell
This website also has many of the most popular translations of The Bible, including the KJV and the NIV so you can see and compare the differences in how translations can and have been rendered.
Another good resource is the interlinear Scripture section of http://www.bayithamashiyach.com/Scriptures.html. Each chapter of the Bible is on a downloadable Word document comprising the Hebrew, the transliterated Hebrew, the English translation, Greek, transliterated Greek and English, and it is colour-coded so you can see which word in Greek or Hebrew represents which in English.
Pimp Demon – mouthpiece of Satan continues his Apostate Regime setting the table for the Anti-Christ.
This phony Pope better repent he is Worshipping False Gofs of the Earth and just what kind of saanic service is really going on at the Vatican?
Or we could accept what the Bible has to say about it. Our Creator knows that we are born damaged and dying through no fault of our own, we live in a world system dominated since the loss of Eden, by Satan the devil – not our choice. And also he knows how tragically short our lives are now.
He wants to help us, to restore us to life and perfection, not to punish us! The Hebrew Scriptures assure us that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all” – and that hell is simply the ground, the grave, where the dead sleep the dreamless sleep of death until the time comes for the resurrection, the re-awakening. And won’t that awakening for most be on this lovely earth? Jesus himself said that the meek would inherit “the earth”, not heaven.
Wasn’t it here, on the earth, that our first parents were made, to live forever?
This Pope is as authentic as a 3 Dollar Bill the Vatican blew it