Hell and The Elder Brother and the Prodigal Son

"He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.' "

The reason why many want to believe in hell, i.e. the popular concept of hell as being eternal damnation for deserving sinners, is that their thinking is the same as that of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son.

Like the elder brother they only see the evil deeds and not the image of God in the person.

Sinners as we are, we still have in us the imag of God for we are created in God's image and likeness.

These kind of Christians would also like convicted criminals of heinous crimes to be meted with death penalty.

A genuine heart of a true Christian is one like the forgiving father in the story of the prodigal son.

The Legend of Hell

Once there was a very wicked person. He was far worse than any worst country leaders combined. When this person died he went straight to heaven where he was welcomed by everyone with so much love specially those who were victimized by his evilness. Everywhere he went, he always found some of his victims and just like anywhere he was always lavished with love and affection by them. This made him feel guilty and very uncomfortable. He just felt that he did not deserve the love they were giving him until he came to the point that he could not take it any longer. And so he went to God and begged Him to put him anywhere else but heaven. God pitied him so much and decided to create hell exclusive for him. But to God surprise other souls begun coming to Him and begged Him to let them join in.

St. Paul said Heaven is not a matter of drinking or merry making but it is about peace, justice and the joy from the Holy Spirit. A sinner is loved by God and He respect the sinner's feelings, sentiments and choices. When a sinner does not like peace or justice or the joy from the Holy Spirit definitely he would not like heaven.

What is Hell

Hell is mentioned several in times in the Bible and Christian Churches recognised its existence. In other words there are those who would go to hell and those to heaven. Nonetheless, both groups are loved by God. Those who would go to heaven deserve heaven and those going to hell are better off in hell than in heaven. Or simply if you end up in hell it is because relative to your circumstance hell is better than heaven. The point being is that, hell is not eternal damnation as commonly believed. God is love and His love is UNCONDITIONAL. All His actions are motivated by this unconditional love, hence when God decides that a soul should go to hell it is because God loves him so much.

The pre-Vatican view of hell as eternal damnation into everlasting fire is the more common understanding of it. This kind of concept of hell made a very backward kind of Christian. A person who has such kind of belief would say to himself: 'I will do good because I don't want to rot in hell; I will attend mass because I don't want to go to hell; I will honour my parents because if I don't God will punish me into everlasting fire in hell'. Notice that the motivation is always fear of hell and the intention is purely personal salvation. Indeed a very shallow kind of faith.
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A mature Christian would say, I will do good because it is for the benefit of everyone, I will attend mass because I love to listen to the Word of God and I want to congregate with my fellow Christians, I will honour my parents because I love them and I want to let them feel how I appreciate the love they lavished to me specially when I was a baby. Note that the person motivation is purely love, hell does not even comes across his mind.

Following are two analogies that would prove that souls in hell are not being punished but rather loved.

1. Imagine yourself as very dirty, i.e. your smell is very bad and your appearance is that who haven't bathed for so long. Then you find yourself in the company of very clean people. Do you think you would be comfortable in their company? Of course you wouldn't. You would rather be in the company of others who smell and look like you.

2. Heaven is just like learning how to read. A person who devoted much time in learning how to read and having learned so would be very happy when someone would give him some very nice books as gifts. On the other hand a person who did not bother learning how to read would never appreciate gifts in form of books. In similar manner a very sinful person would never appreciate heaven.

Hell Exists Becausee God Is Love

Many people (in fact most of them are catholic or non-catholic christians) believe in hell because they wanted to see their enemies and the people they despised e.g. world leaders and dirty politicians to rot in hell.

An authentic Christian will always wish for the salvation of all. This has been clearly demosntrated by St. Maria Goritti when on her death bed was asked if what she would like for her murderer and (attempted) rapist, she answered, "I want him to be with me in paradise."

To believe that God punishes the sinners in hell denies the idea tht God is merciful, loving, kind and forgiving.

To believe that people who died in mortal sins go to hell denies the idea that God is just. What would happen then to non-catholics who do not go to confession. How about those who would normally repent but died before they were able to so.

To believe that people in hell suffers physical pain and torment denies the truth that the soul is purely spiritual i.e. physical feeling is not proper to it.

To believe that many people would go to hell because many of US are sinners is an insult to God's creating power. How can an all knowing and all powerful God who created people in His own image and likeness had actuallY created lots of craps.

IF HELL IS REAL AND GOD IS LOVE THEN THE ONLY REASON WHY HELL EXISTS AND WHY SOME SOULS ARE SENT THERE IS THAT BECAUSE GOD LOVES THOSE SOULS. MAYBE THEY ARE NOT HAPPY IN HEAVEN AND BECAUSE GOD WANTS US ALL TO BE HAPPY HE CREATED HELL SO THAT THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE HEAVEN HAS ANOTHER OPTION.

High in God

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 17,1-9. After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid." And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, "Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." There are points in life when we felt spiritually high. At these moments we feel so good, everything seems right, you felt as if you are ready to give half of your wealth to the poor. During these moments we are very much willing to forgive our enemies. How we wish that such feeling would last, but sadly they don't. Maybe these moments are fortaste of heaven, something that we can look back every now and then specially when we are feeling low. Something which can give us hope to carry on in this valley of tears. Yes we couldn't make a tent and stay there forever, maybe not yet but the real thing is actually much much better.

40 Days

One way of keeping from being a 'fundamentalist' i.e. taking the bible literally is being able to discern the themes used in a passage which had already been used in some other passages.

If you read closely you would find that some stories in the bible used similar themes, for example the link of marriage to a story about a man meeting a woman in a well, or the different elemets present in a story about calling, like the appearance of an angel, the element of fear, etc.

Another commonly used theme is bible stories is the number 40. This number appeared several times in the Bible, among which are the 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days and 40 nights of flood, etc.

Jesus faster for 40 days and 40 nights and during those times he overcame the temptation of the devil.

Whether he stayed in that dessert for 40 days or not, it does not really matter. What is important is that when we fast we become spiritually strong that we are able more to resist temptations. It's just like building spiritual muscles.

The Principle of Embararssment

At one point John and James (the sons of thunder) requested Jesus to call 'heavenly' reinforcement in order to conquer their 'enemies', isn't that sound embarassing to ask for being Jesus' apostles?

One criterion to know whether a particular event in the bible had actually happened is the principle of embarassment.

Thi principle takes into account that the mere fact that the event was embarrassing then it could have actually happened for no one would write something that would put Jesus and his followers in an awkward theme unless it actually happened.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Angelica, age 6.

She likes to sing and dance.