Heaven, Hell, and the Path to Eternity
Welcome, everybody. Today, I'm talking a little bit about heaven, hell, and who goes there based off of my essay that I published yesterday on the same topic. Well, that topic was heaven or hell, but it was really about where should our focus be. Heaven, hell, or something else. That was yesterday's essay.
Speaker 1:Anyway, let's get rolling. I'm not gonna give away the ending. No spoiler alerts here. You're just gonna have to read the essay because in the essay, I go through what hell is and what it isn't. I talk a little bit about mercy and justice because those subjects are really, really poorly represented, by the Catholic populace, including Catholic evangelizers.
Speaker 1:The point of the article is to tell you where you should be focused, where you should be focused. But I started from the foundation of what is hell? What is heaven? What is mercy and justice? What does that have to do with it?
Speaker 1:Where do Catholics' thoughts and ideas and thinking go a little bit astray from what the church teaches. There are some people who get it way wrong, but for the most part, people just go a little bit astray, and once you start drifting in the wrong direction, you start drifting entirely into another hemisphere. That's why it's important to keep it tight. Keep it tight. What does the church teach?
Speaker 1:That is where we start. A few days ago, I was doing the prayer with my kids, and I noticed my daughter was not blessing her. I hope she never watches this because even though I'm never naming her, she might be embarrassed. She wasn't doing the sign of the cross quite perfect. In fact, not perfectly at all.
Speaker 1:Not incorrectly, but it wasn't good enough for me. I told her, you have to be very mindful. Your forehead just and then down just beneath your sternum and then your shoulders, not not the left and right sides of your heart, your shoulders. You have to go all the way to the left and all way to the right. And I explained to her, it's not that you're sinning.
Speaker 1:I explained to her, you have to keep it tight because when we start doing things just kind of half hearted, when we're not engaging the mind to do things precisely, if we don't keep it tight, it's not just the sign of the cross that goes afoul. Now instead of kneeling before we go into the pews, instead of genuflecting to the tabernacle, now we're just curtsying a half kneel. And now we're just bowing our heads, and now we're just not referencing the tabernacle at all. You know where that starts? Because we stop keeping it tight at the minor things like how we do the sign of the cross.
Speaker 1:So it's very important that we keep it tight in the Catholic experience. So in the interest of keeping it tight, that essay, heaven, hell, and my prescription for what we should be focused on, that essay begins by keeping it tight. This is what the church teaches. And then it progresses to this is what I think about hell. It was some bulleted points where they're my words, but they are informed by Catholic teaching.
Speaker 1:They're informed by scripture, by Catholic thought. One or two things in there were pulled not word for word, but were pulled from Thomas Aquinas. So it progresses there to my thoughts on the matter of hell and who goes there, and then I give you my prescription. Where should we be focused and why? It's going to surprise many people who read that essay.
Speaker 1:What they find there is going to surprise many heaven and hell and who goes there. Who goes to heaven or who goes to hell? The easy answer to that and the one that most people go to and even the church says this, but the church does not say it simply. If you commit mortal sin, you go to hell. The church does say that, but the church doesn't end there.
Speaker 1:Really, the church's teaching is every sin warrants hell. Everyone. If you commit mortal sin, you are in grave danger of going to hell, but there is more to the picture. How many of us commit venial or mortal sins occasionally or somewhat frequently? Whatever.
Speaker 1:But, really, we're not that wretched enough to go to hell. We go to mass. We try hard to live virtuous lives. Do you really think god is gonna cast somebody into hell for one mortal sin? He could.
Speaker 1:He could. Maybe he does. The church's answer is well, the church's answer is basically what I said. He could. By the rule of law, he probably ought to, but the mercy of Jesus Christ on the cross does have a pushback effect on that judgment.
Speaker 1:That's the whole point. Okay? So who goes to hell? Anyone who commits mortal sin. None.
Speaker 1:Not necessarily. Maybe. Probably. By the rulebook, yes. But the rulebook also includes the effect of the mercy of God manifested in the cross of his son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Now let's ask the question again: who goes to hell? It's hard to say. It's hard to say, but I'm gonna give you some guidance. I'm gonna give you some guidance. Again, everything I say is informed by Catholic thought, so it's a theology.
Speaker 1:It's my opinion, but it it is informed by what the church teaches and has taught for two thousand years. Who goes to hell and who goes to heaven? Who goes to hell? My belief is it's pretty hard to get to hell, but it's easier than most people think. It's pretty hard to get to hell, but it's easier than most people think.
Speaker 1:There are people who believe you have to be a real scumbag to get to hell. I think it's easier than that. I think it's easier than that. I think if you are trying fervently to live a good life, not just to to be nice people, and I address the whole nice people thing in the in the essay, by the way. If you are trying fervently to live a good life, I think it's hard to get to it's hard to warrant hell.
Speaker 1:Let's let's put it that way. It's hard to warrant hell. If you aren't trying at least a little bit, it's hard to get to heaven. It's hard to get to heaven to heaven because here's the thing. Every sinner, and that's all of us, every sinner is already going to hell.
Speaker 1:That's already where we're going. That's where we're going. That's our trajectory. And it takes a force a force to change or alter that trajectory, that that direction. We are already going there, and it takes a force to change our trajectory toward heaven.
Speaker 1:That force, most substantially, is the cross of Jesus Christ that bumps us in the other direction. But now we have to take the reins. We have to follow through with how we live our lives. The cross of Christ gives us the opportunity to get to heaven. It doesn't necessarily carry us to the gates.
Speaker 1:It it can depending on the individual and their circumstances, but it doesn't necessarily carry us to the gates. We have to participate by changing our lives. Repent and be faithful to the gospel. Those are the words of Jesus. We have to change our lives and we have to convert our nature through good works.
Speaker 1:Why do we need to do good works? Because we have to become like God in order to be with him forever. The cross of Christ gives us that opportunity, but then we're left with a fallen nature. We're not getting into heaven with with our nature as it is right now. We have to become like God if we intend to to be with him forever.
Speaker 1:You can't fit a square block into a round hole, and only the holy enter heaven, holy by God's standard. No one is gonna be entirely like God by the time we die, but you have to get through the process. Right? You have to be in the process. We're bound for hell already.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ on the cross bumps us off of that trajectory, and then we have to take the reins to move closer to to heaven by a conversion of our nature through good works. Why through good works? As I said, we have to become like god in order to be with him forever, and god's nature is to love by action. That is what he's doing all the time, to love by action, action that proceeds from love. So we have to become like god, and that's what god does.
Speaker 1:He acts out of love, and love is not a feeling. It is an action. That's the basic gist of it. We're all bound for hell. Jesus Christ on the cross knocks us off that trajectory, but we can be sucked back into it.
Speaker 1:We can be sucked back into that trajectory. So he knocks us off that trajectory by the cross and resurrection, and then we have to pick pick it up where he not where he leaves off, but we have to participate in it by changing our lives. So who goes to hell? People who are so far away from god's mercy by their own choices that they have basically chosen to go to hell by how they live their lives. It doesn't mean only Hitler and Napoleon are in hell.
Speaker 1:That it does not mean only Hitler and Napoleon are in hell. The church teaches that we can't know who is in hell. We don't even know that Judas is in hell. We can reasonably suspect that Judas Iscariot is in hell, but we don't know for sure. Right?
Speaker 1:If we can't know that Judas is in hell, how can you know that your neighbor is in hell? Because he or she was such a dirtbag, you know, by the time he died. We don't know. We can reasonably suspect. We can guess, but we don't know, and we shouldn't care who else is in hell.
Speaker 1:We should only care about not going there ourselves. I'm not gonna rehash what I said in the essay, but good works important. Baptism essential. Jesus said so. Baptism is essential.
Speaker 1:Baptism by desire, nine times out of 10 that you hear that term, it doesn't it it's it's a fantasy. There's no such thing as baptism by desire the way it is used 90% of the time. I think baptism by desire is a real thing, but we but, folks, let's just pretend that it is not. Because nine times out of 10, when you hear that phrase used, it's used incorrectly. And what they are saying is baptism by desire is only wishful thinking.
Speaker 1:It's make believe it's a fantasy. You might as well believe in a unicorn. Would non baptized people again, we can't know. Jesus says baptism is essential. What about unborn babies who die in the womb who haven't had time to be baptized yet?
Speaker 1:Do they go to hell? People used to believe in cases like that, maybe the child goes to limbo. Where is that in the Bible? I have seen biblical I have seen the argument for limbo substantiated by some things in Scripture. It's not irrational, but it's not a strong argument.
Speaker 1:It's really not a strong argument. Maybe limbo is a real thing. For those who don't know, limbo is basically a place where in cases like, for instance, a child who dies before he's baptized, who hasn't had time to commit actual sin. Classical thinking in the church. This is not church doctrine, it really is theory.
Speaker 1:The classical thinking of Limbaugh is children, for instance, who die without having committed sins of their own and have not been baptized. They don't warrant hell, but they can't get into heaven because baptism is essential to get into heaven. So the classical thinking of this is there's probably a place where they're in perfect total peace. It's not the exaltation and glory of heaven, but it's it's not a place of suffering. They call that limbo.
Speaker 1:That is not Catholic teaching. It's Catholic hypothesis. It's Catholic theory that goes back pretty far in church history, but it has never been an official Catholic teaching. So baptism is essential. That does not mean that the non baptized absolutely will not get to heaven.
Speaker 1:It depends on the individual, their circumstances, the lives they lived. Were they exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Did they just fail to believe it, or were they rejecting it? Why didn't they believe in Jesus? Why weren't they baptized?
Speaker 1:It I mean, it involves a huge range of things that we can't possibly wrap our heads or arms around. All I'm telling you is what the teaching is. I'm telling you the components. I'm not telling you one plus two plus three is six. I'm not telling you that.
Speaker 1:I'm just telling you what the components are. Okay? Baptism essential. Sacraments are essential. Again, don't wanna rehash the article or the essay, but sacraments are essential.
Speaker 1:Saint Thomas Aquinas said that we can't get to heaven on our own by our own power, by our own merit. It's literally impossible. It's literally impossible. We need a power that comes from outside of ourselves to propel us to heaven, and only god has that power. That power is manifested and available to us through the sacramental life, through meritorious works, the mass, holy communion, and so on.
Speaker 1:This is how we are propelled by a power outside of ourselves and great enough to get us to heaven. We can't do that of our own power. Well, I'm a good person. I don't need I don't need god, or I'm a good person. I don't need to go to mass.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't be so sure about that. Wouldn't be so sure about that. You can't you can't drive from New York to California on fumes, and you can't go to heaven on your own power, on your own merits. Let me just cap off a point. I am not saying people who are not baptized are definitely going to hell.
Speaker 1:It's very important that I point that out. I am not saying that people who are not baptized are definitely going to hell. What I am saying is it's gonna be very, very, very, very hard for them to reach heaven. I mean, that's just the truth, and that is still what the church teaches. It is still what the church has taught even in the second Vatican Council.
Speaker 1:That's just the truth. That's one of the points I tried to make in the essay, catholicadventurer.substack.com. That's one of the points I tried to make is the theology is so complex and so nuanced that it doesn't benefit us at all to think too much about it. Is this one going to hell? Is that one going to hell?
Speaker 1:What about my loved one who just died? Are they going to hell? Are they in heaven? Who knows? Who knows?
Speaker 1:You can't know. You have no power over that. You have no control over that. You have no participation over that. Except this.
Speaker 1:You can pray for their soul so that if they were just close enough to god's standard that they went to purgatory, and maybe they'll be in purgatory for a very long time. Who knows? But you can at least pray for their soul so that if they are in purgatory, which I think most people probably go to purgatory. But if they are in purgatory, you can pray for their soul and shorten their stay. But the point is you can't know.
Speaker 1:You have no control over it. You have no participation in it except for praying for their soul in the hopes that they're in purgatory, and then you can help get them to heaven faster. But because you can't control, you can't even control your own judgment. What's Jesus gonna say? What's he gonna think about this sin?
Speaker 1:Is this sin as grave to him as I think it is? Is this sin not nearly as grave to him as I thought it was? It was this a more serious offense than than I realized? What about the good things that I did? What value do they will they have for Jesus in light of my sins?
Speaker 1:At judgment, what value will they have? And vice versa, what value will my sins have in light of the the the virtuous things that I've done, the good things that I've done? Only Jesus knows that. You have no idea what he's going to say. No matter what you've done in your life, good, bad, or in the middle, you have no idea what he's going to say at judgment.
Speaker 1:You cannot control judgment, so stop thinking about it. You cannot control the verdict, so stop thinking about it. Heaven, hell, you can't control the verdict, so stop thinking about it. What you can control is how you live right now, and that's all I'm gonna say about that. That's the only thing you can control is how you live right now because a time will come when you've run out of time to contribute to that basket of stuff, whether it's good stuff or virtuous stuff.
Speaker 1:Time will come where whatever you've built and put in that basket, that's all that's ever gonna go in there, and that's what you bring to judgment. A little bit scary when you when you think about it, but it's the truth. Okay. So who goes to heaven? I'm gonna skip the nuances and give you the the simple straightforward answers.
Speaker 1:Just understand that the theology is complicated and nuanced. Okay? Just understand that. So what do you have to do if you really don't wanna go to hell? Catholicadventurer.substack.com and subscribe.
Speaker 1:It's free. And if you really, really, really wanna reach a high level of glory in heaven, you can also become a paid subscriber for $5 a month. I have to make this clear. I'm kidding or am I about that? But I do hope that you check me out, catholicadventurer.substack.com.
Speaker 1:And don't just pay me a visit. Go ahead and subscribe, and you'll be notified of everything I publish. If you're already a subscriber, consider a paid subscription. You'll help me to support my family with that money. So who goes to heaven?
Speaker 1:Baptized? Believing in Jesus Christ as the son of god and our savior? Those are essential. Those are essential. Anyone outside of those two minimum bare essentials, anyone who falls outside of that, it's left to God's tremendous mercy, which is tremendous beyond our imagination, but it does not erase his justice.
Speaker 1:It does not erase his justice. Can people outside of the church go to heaven? They could. Again, Vatican two also says they could, but it's hard. In the past, the church has said and this is not doctrine, I would say it's an authoritative teaching, it is not doctrine.
Speaker 1:Those are different. The church has said outside of the Catholic church, there is no salvation. Well, that remains true. That remains true. But Vatican two attempted to build on that a little bit and which is what a council should do.
Speaker 1:Outside of the Catholic church, there is no salvation. That is true. In other words, there is no guarantee of salvation. We cannot say there is salvation outside of the Catholic church. We can say there could be salvation for those outside of the Catholic church depending on why they're outside of the Catholic church.
Speaker 1:There could be. My friends, god made everything from nothing. Do you really think he can't save a Buddhist? Come on. Will he?
Speaker 1:The church makes no guarantee at all. The church makes no guarantees at all. The church says it depends on the life they live because you can live the gospel and the 10 commandments without believing in the gospel or the 10 commandments. It's it's by grace, and sometimes it's by luck. I I have known atheists who were atheists their whole lives and lived pretty good lives.
Speaker 1:I would not call them saints, but damn good lives, good, honorable people, just people, charitable people. I have known some. So here's what I'm saying. God is not bound by those things which he binds. He is the chief and sole legislator of the law, of the covenant.
Speaker 1:He is faithful to his own rule because you can't be unfaithful to yourself. In fact, I think even scripture says that. Okay? But he is not bound by his own rule, or he is not bound by let's put it this way. God lives in a house on one acre of land.
Speaker 1:He will never destroy his land or burn his house down. That would be stupid. But he doesn't have to be confined to that one acre of land. He can go out of the house or off of his his land because, really, it's all his anyway, and he can bring somebody back, not just onto the onto the property, but into the house. He's not bound by that over which he has dominion.
Speaker 1:It's impossible because he has dominion over everything. It's impossible for him to be bound by that which he binds. Okay? He's faithful to himself, but he's not bound by by his his his own guidelines. The guidelines are for us, not for him.
Speaker 1:The guidelines are for us, not for him. Is anyone outside of the Catholic church saved? There is no guarantee, but it is a possibility, and that's what Vatican two teaches. Now I would caution against this idea that anyone who's nice probably goes to heaven. I would really not please do not think that.
Speaker 1:Please do not think that. If you know someone who is nice, you know, nice people, but they're away from the church, please do not say, well, he's such a nice person or she's so nice. I'm sure god will save them too. Please don't go there. Please don't go there.
Speaker 1:If you recognize that Jesus Christ is lord and savior and you recognize that person x or y or z are nice people, but they're away from the church, it is your duty to pray for them to come back to the church. Don't just leave it to God and say, oh, well, at least they're nice people. Don't do that. Because by recognizing the supremacy of Jesus Christ, the teaching of his church, by recognizing that and recognizing someone in need of salvation, you have a duty to pray for their salvation, to pray for their conversion, to pray for them to come to the church, or to come back to the church. Please do not rest on your laurels saying, well, at least they're nice.
Speaker 1:You're failing and falling short of your duty by doing that. Nice people don't go to heaven. Good people go to heaven, and it's very hard to be good according by the standard of god. Now how do you know if this, that, or the other person is capital g good in the eyes of God? You can't know that.
Speaker 1:I don't care how nice they are, how virtuous they seem. You can't know whether they truly are good, and forget about whether they're good enough even to warrant purgatory. You can't possibly know. Only god knows that. So don't guess.
Speaker 1:Don't make bets off of what you don't know and can't know, because you may lose your money, and that person may lose their soul. I've said this before. I know someone who was really, really close to god. They believed in everything we profess in the Nicene Creed. In fact, they still believe it.
Speaker 1:And this person has deep, deep belief in Jesus Christ, and this person is in hell. Who am I talking about? The devil. The devil has more faith, intellectual faith, than anyone who has ever lived short of Jesus Christ and the blessed virgin Mary. He has more intellectual faith credo intellectual belief, I should say.
Speaker 1:He has more intellectual belief than any of us, and he's in hell. Why? Because he had no fide. He was not moved to act and to be in accord with what he believed in his angelic mind. It's very easy to say I believe in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:My brothers and sisters, I'm not being judgmental as I say this. This is an exercise that I do, and I wanna leave you with this. I believe in Jesus Christ. Okay. Look at your life.
Speaker 1:Does your life say I believe in Jesus Christ or only your words? Not being judgmental. This is an exercise that I do. Does your life say I believe in Jesus Christ or do only your words? None of us is perfect.
Speaker 1:We all rack up the screw ups, so don't freak out. But when we look at our lives and ask ourselves, Does that life show belief in Jesus Christ? When we do that, we come to a better understanding of what we need to change in our lives and what we need to confess at the confessional. Does my life say I believe in Jesus Christ or do only my words? See, even saying it to you now, because this is an exercise that I do, even saying it to you now, I'm almost embarrassed saying it because I know God is listening and he knows what's in my heart and what's in my heart is no.
Speaker 1:Does my life demonstrate someone who believes in Jesus Christ? I'd have to say probably not. Does my heart? Do I have it in my heart? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But my life and a progression for all of us, folks. It's a progression for all of us. Don't freak out. My life still is not where I think it should be in order to be a life that demonstrates that I believe in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Last exercise I want to share with you: In the morning when you wake up, say to God something like this: Lord, help me to live this day as if it's the last day I will ever live. Help me to live this day as though I will be judged by you tonight. Help me to live this day as if none of the days past matter, None of the sins, none of the good works, nothing completely fresh slate clean slate. Help me to live today as if I will only only be judged on how I live today, this one very day. As if I'm going to be judged by you tonight.
Speaker 1:Give that a think because that could happen. Right? Any day could be our last day. We can get up in the morning, and it could be the day that we face Jesus that night. Scary.
Speaker 1:It's so scary that I would say don't do that exercise often. Don't contemplate that too often because on a natural level, you could drive yourself crazy. But every once in a while, put that out there. Put that out there. And every every once in a while, renew your intent, will, and desire to live this day as best as you can like a saint, as best as you can like a saint.
Speaker 1:Course correct where you know you're going wrong. Make up for things that you do wrong in that day. If you mouth off to someone or you insult someone, go back and say I'm sorry, and then reverse the damage by doing something good for them, that sort of thing. Course correct through the day. Mind what you do through that day.
Speaker 1:Talk to god. Talk to Jesus a couple of times through the day. Live your life. Intently live a day as though you're going to be judged by god that night. Again, if you're really contemplating that well, that can be very scary.
Speaker 1:So I would I would say don't do it every day. Might make yourself nuts, but, incorporate that into into your your habits, your regimen. We can't control we can't control the levers or the buttons that are being worked at judgment. We can't control that. All we can do is control what we bring to judgment.
Speaker 1:So just focus on that. Oh, I just gave away the ending of the essay. Listen. Go and read the essay anyway. Catholicadventurer.substack.com.
Speaker 1:So the essay is called heaven, hell, and my prescription for what we should be focused on instead. And that'll about do it. Thank you for checking me out today. God bless you. Oh, and if you're not subscribed, please subscribe to my Substack so that you're notified of every post and you're able to participate in the chat.
Speaker 1:Subscribe so that you can participate and be informed of everything that I post because I am the hardest working man in Catholic podcasting. God bless you. God be with you all, my friends. Signing out of here. Bye bye.
