Does anyone know where to find the Pope's recent statement on hell on the web? I have seen some stories about it, but not the full text.

-- Steve Jackson (SteveJ100@hotmail.com), July 31, 1999

Answers

I got mine from "Vatican Information Service" You could try it today but it is to be down for a month beginning Aug 1. Also try Cintuss @cin.org

Br. Rich S.F.o.

-- Br. Rich S.F.O. (repsfo@prodigy.net), July 31, 1999.

Br Rich,

Is your site correct? I can't get thru.

-- Jamey (jcreel@hcsmail.com), August 01, 1999.

The Pope said--- Pope John Paul said that hell was not a physical place. He said that hell is for real and rather than being inflicted by God, it was something sinners bring on themselves. "Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life. More than a physical place, hell is the state of those sho freely and definitively seperate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. So eternal damnation is not God's work, but is actually our own doing." The Pope described hell instead as "the pain, frustration and emptiness of life without God." He also said that demons do exist. "Christian faith teaches us that there are creatures who have already given a definitive 'no' to God. These are the spirits which rebelled against God and whom we call demons. Eternal damnation remains a real possibility for us too." This statement came after last weeks statement in which the Pope said "Heaven was not a physical place in the clouds but a living and personal relationship of union with the Holy Trinity."

-- Ellen K. Hornby (dkh@canada.com), August 02, 1999.

So, according to your statement The God is condeming us from inherited sin (if we fail in accepting Him or never hear of him) even though we are not directly respnsible for it?

-- Jamey (jcreel@hcsmail.com), August 03, 1999.

Jamey --

Please read Romans 1 & 2. Man is a creature. He is also a sinner -- by nature (original sin) and by choice (his so-called "free will"). Therefore, it is appropriate for God to hold him accountable for his sin. Now, there are those who have never heard the Gospel message. Can they be saved? This seems unlikely because Paul says a man who rejects God is "without excuse." This may appear harsh, but we have to accept what God teaches, whether it offends OUR idea of justice or not.

-- Steve Jackson (SteveJ100@hotmail.com), August 07, 1999.

Steve,

Paul also said he would not have known sin unless he had been given the law. By your reasoning I'm to belive a "loving" father is going to condemn a person - with inherited sin - to 'hell', when he never had a chance to even learn the "law?"

The Bible says in other instances "ALL" will be save?

-- Jamey (jcreel@hcsmail.com), August 08, 1999.

If God exist he is a perfect being. A perfect being would never send somone to eternal damnnation just because they had bad luck in being born somewhere. You aren't appeasing God, you are appeasing your own ego. If there is a heaven, I dont think that someone has to know about Christ and the Bible to get there. It is naive to think that rituals or verbal statements can reward you in the next life. You go to heaven by living a good life, and emulating Christ, not by simply knowing who he is and going through the rituals. By that reasoning Gandhi would go to hell and a rapist and murderer who went to confession, baptised, etc. right before his execution would go to heaven. God gave us reason to answer these questions. The bible is a guide, not a rulebook. Don't close your mind off to things because you feel that whatever the bible says has to be true. The bible has changed drastically throughout the years, and it is still just a collection of essays that were "thought" to be the most relevent. Believing what your holy book says without applying reason is ignorance, not faith. I believe that since God is being of infinite reason, by reason can we discern what we should do.

-PJ

-- PJ (Notgonnagiveit@nunya.com), December 16, 2002.

PJ,
This is a Catholic discussion forum.
Please quote to us an official Catholic document that says we think that Gandhi is in hell.

To which denomination of Protestantism do you belong? Some of our self-assured visitors, like Tim, need to look at you to see how far people can stray if they try to "do theology" on their own.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 16, 2002.

I do not believe that I have an "original sin" because this original sin was actually made first of all by Adam and Eve. I never wen't their at the garden of Eden and ate some of the forbidden fruit.

-- Nelson B. Tragura Jr. (appolyon17@yahoo.com), June 13, 2003.

nelson,

way to drag back an old thread after a year. do you have the inclination to sin? yes, you, like almost every other human being, are a sinner. thus, by giving in to the power of sin, as we all do, you go back to the garden and eat the apple too, just as every time we sin we also go back and help to crucify our Lord. the truth of the matter is you have origninal sin because it is founded in your NATURE.

-- paul (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), June 13, 2003.

People are not personally guilty of the sin committed by Adam and Eve. No-one can be personally guilty of a sin freely committed by another. However, because of their unique position as parents of the human race, and because the sin they committed was indeed the original sin committed by human beings, thereby introducing sin into the human race, their descendents, while not personally guilty of their sin, are nevertheless subject to the effects that sin produced in the relationship between God and human beings. It is commonly stated that baptism "removes original sin". That is not quite accurate. That statement is sort of a shorthand way of expressing a more complicated reality, which is "baptism partially removes the effects of original sin in our lives, allowing us to receive grace and to become children of God and heirs of heaven". Only part of the effects of original sin are removed. By baptism we do not gain access to the level of intimacy with God which Adam and Eve enjoyed before they sinned, and we still experience spiritual weakness, especially regarding temptation, as a result of that sin. However, baptism does open the door to grace, partially re-establishing the interpersonal relationship with God that Adam and Eve lost, allowing us to become members of God's family, and to receive eternal salvation.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 13, 2003.