“Mistranslation is only part of the reason we think today that Jesus preached about an eternal hell. The rest comes from cultural traditions both before and after him.”
It is likely that Jesus saw it differently. It is also difficult to reconcile a notion of eternal damnation with the infinite love of God.
Refreshing to read this.
While most priest’s homilies these days fortunately emphasise God’s forgiving love, in the past it was not so. The threat of hell for mortal sin was a constant theme and there were many practices that were taught to be mortal sins, such as not attending Sunday Mass or eating meat on Friday. Even today, however, the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, originating in the eighties, states:
1034 Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.612 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,”613 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!”614
1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire.”615 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.
Leave a Reply