Do you send yourself to Hell?
By Tom Quiner
We are created in God’s image.
Since God is eternal, we have eternity “locked into us,” so to speak, according to Fr. Dwight Longenecker.
He has an interesting take on Hell. He thinks we are all invited, and some, perhaps many, decline the invitation:
I believe there are many people who will reach the gates of heaven, be invited through the doors of repentance and howl with rage, fear and hatred. They will spit on the invitation and run as far and as fast as they can in the other direction. The sober fact is they will prefer hell to heaven. Heaven, for them, would actually be a greater torment than hell. Their pride will be so great and their loathing of the holy so great that the demons waiting below will seem to be their brethren and even in their torment they will scream, “Hell is Fabulous!”
Finally, there is this interesting speculation (I think from C.S.Lewis) that perhaps, in the end, everyone goes to the same place.
Perhaps all will enter the presence of God and all that is real, good, beautiful, and true.
Those who are saved will experience that light as everlasting glory of heaven.
Those who are damned will experience that same light as the searing torment of hell.
You can read his complete thoughts on the subject at his blog.
As long as Father does not contradict the Catholic doctrine on hell, he is free, canonically, as a Catholic priest, to hold an opinion and to share it with the flock about what it means to him. Neither Father Longenecker, nor I, nor any of us for that matter knows what specifically happens to each of us after we die. I have read Catholic scholars who believe that we are given the choice to pursue heaven or hell during the process of dying. That theory is not implausible to me. We can use our reason and come to conclusions as long as we do not contradict the teachings. However, that Catholicism is filled with mysteries hidden in God and only known to us through His revelation is also a doctrine, so there is much we don’t need to know and I prefer to keep those mysteries mysterious as I believe God allows us to know all that He wishes for us to know for our own salvation. And I also believe there are some personal revelations from God which we are not meant to share because God reveals to each of us in His time that which we are ready to receive.
The apostle John wrote the following about the final judgment in Revelation and we know from Church teaching that all Sacred Scripture is inspired:
“And I saw a great white throne, and Him sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And a place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the small and the great, stand before God. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was judged according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).
There is much more written in Sacred Scripture about the Four Last Things, some of which I can post if anyone is interested.
http://quinersdiner.com/2015/09/02/do-you-send-yourself-to-hell/
Great insights, Barbie. Thanks for writing.