Hell and human freedom
Within a day of Pope Francis having said that atheists who do good works go to heaven, a Vatican spokesman has contradicted him. Why am I not surprised?
Reading an article by John R. Sachs SJ, on theology and hell. It gives a number of different points of view within contemporary Catholicism ... I found especially chilling what Edward Schillebeeckx believed (footnote 40) ....
Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God (New York: Crossroad, 1990) ... he suggests that those who are evil "not so much through theoretical denial of God as through a life-style which radically contradicts solidarity with fellow human beings and precisely in that way rejects God" will simply cease to exist at death. That, and not everlasting torture, is hell. Such persons, together with all memory of them, will be totally obliterated, for there is absolutely nothing in them which can have a future in God. "God does not take vengeance; he leaves evil to its own, limited logic" (138). There can be no kingdom of hell; in the end, there is only the one kingdom of God. "The 'eschaton' or the ultimate is exclusively positive. There is no negative eschaton" (139).
Yikes! :(
Sachs goes on to mention the views of both Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar about hell and discusses von Balthasar's "The Mystery of Holy Saturday".
There's a final part of the article about human freedom and the idea that people freely choose to go to hell. I personally don't think human freedom is strong enough to support that idea (and it looks like Rahner and von Balthasar may agree with me). This part of the article is fairly long, but here's the beginning of it ...
[H]uman freedom is viewed as capable of rejecting God finally and irrevocably. Still, as far as I can determine, this view of freedom, while clearly presupposed by doctrinal pronouncements concerning universal salvation and the existence of hell, has itself not been the object of dogmatic definition. Most contemporary Catholic theologians have cautiously begun to raise questions about the nature of human freedom and about some of the traditional presuppositions regarding it. Both Balthasar and Rahner, for example, have insisted that the human "yes" and "no" to God are not on the same level. As a conclusion to this study, I would like to focus on human freedom and push these insights further by asking whether or not there are reasons for doubting that human freedom can truly reach final, that is eternal definitiveness in the state of rejecting God. I believe that there are. And if there are good reasons to question the presuppositions concerning human freedom which lie behind the Church's doctrinal pronouncements regarding the existence of hell, it may be possible to speak to the issue of apocatastasis in a new and positive way.87 ......
I still don't know what to think about hell but I know what I *want* to believe about it" that ... the preaching and actions of Jesus suggest that the fulfillment of the covenant with Israel involves all of humanity and the world as a whole.
Reading an article by John R. Sachs SJ, on theology and hell. It gives a number of different points of view within contemporary Catholicism ... I found especially chilling what Edward Schillebeeckx believed (footnote 40) ....
Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God (New York: Crossroad, 1990) ... he suggests that those who are evil "not so much through theoretical denial of God as through a life-style which radically contradicts solidarity with fellow human beings and precisely in that way rejects God" will simply cease to exist at death. That, and not everlasting torture, is hell. Such persons, together with all memory of them, will be totally obliterated, for there is absolutely nothing in them which can have a future in God. "God does not take vengeance; he leaves evil to its own, limited logic" (138). There can be no kingdom of hell; in the end, there is only the one kingdom of God. "The 'eschaton' or the ultimate is exclusively positive. There is no negative eschaton" (139).
Yikes! :(
Sachs goes on to mention the views of both Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar about hell and discusses von Balthasar's "The Mystery of Holy Saturday".
There's a final part of the article about human freedom and the idea that people freely choose to go to hell. I personally don't think human freedom is strong enough to support that idea (and it looks like Rahner and von Balthasar may agree with me). This part of the article is fairly long, but here's the beginning of it ...
[H]uman freedom is viewed as capable of rejecting God finally and irrevocably. Still, as far as I can determine, this view of freedom, while clearly presupposed by doctrinal pronouncements concerning universal salvation and the existence of hell, has itself not been the object of dogmatic definition. Most contemporary Catholic theologians have cautiously begun to raise questions about the nature of human freedom and about some of the traditional presuppositions regarding it. Both Balthasar and Rahner, for example, have insisted that the human "yes" and "no" to God are not on the same level. As a conclusion to this study, I would like to focus on human freedom and push these insights further by asking whether or not there are reasons for doubting that human freedom can truly reach final, that is eternal definitiveness in the state of rejecting God. I believe that there are. And if there are good reasons to question the presuppositions concerning human freedom which lie behind the Church's doctrinal pronouncements regarding the existence of hell, it may be possible to speak to the issue of apocatastasis in a new and positive way.87 ......
I still don't know what to think about hell but I know what I *want* to believe about it" that ... the preaching and actions of Jesus suggest that the fulfillment of the covenant with Israel involves all of humanity and the world as a whole.
posted by crystal | 4:06 PM
1 Comments:
Hey crystal, I also still don't know what to think about hell but I know what I *want* to believe about it is that GOD (Good Old Dad) LOVES all of HIS creation.
THAT'S RIGHT VICTOR! Hey Crystal, let's listen to professor ding a ling and we might just get lucky and see "ONE" of his so called cells getting "ONE" of his and/or her wings when "IT" rings NOW!
Victor don't forget that the spiritual coordinates to hell is 23,17,46,11 and if all of your cells follow them very closely, your soul might get into darkness and save the world NOW!
Really Victor, these coordinate are not simply a co in sin den, "I" mean coincidence. If YA multiply 23 X good and bad, "I" mean by 2, you've got 46 and that's the year after the worlds last war, yes the year you were born. Seven teens, "I" mean seventeen is when the world takes a rest on your birthday and let's just say that 7 is an Eternal number and you've heard that 7 comes Eleven when YA gamble don't YA NOW?
Be nice sinner vic! Don't be like that cause you know that GOD does exist! Don't YA NOW?
That's right and we are your gods and that's a LOT easier then believing that GOD created U>S all in His Image through this so called Adam and Eve. I better just wait for you to start your turd, "I" mean third blog before I try explaining that your GOD also loves all animals and that through our own Choices, he let's U>S all eventually make "IT" to heaven. Trust me getting into reading car nations, "I" mean re-incarnation would be a waist of "TIME" and talking about the birds and bees would also be interesting butt you're way off topic already so long story short people, science is all that matters these days NOW.
Believe what YA want to sinner vic but all of U>S (usual sinning cells) will tell YA all about "IT"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lmNV5q_wo4
Whatever Victor and like Crystal would say, Cheerful song :) butt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_98o3b3lXQ4
Go Figure folks! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLeApcRYNzI
Peace
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