The Pope is out of his mind. Vindictive justice is not compatible with the God of love and compassion revealed in the New Testament. An eternal Hell also contradicts the Christian assertion of the final victory of God over evil.
Never thought of it that way. I also find interesting, God is perfect yet creates imperfect man (chooses evil in Garden), whom he then condemns to eternity.
Next up, the Pope's going to issue an edict proclaiming that there's really no Purgatory - you poor Sinners are going straight to Hell!!
"Locked forever in a small room with two other people" â Jean-Paul Sartre, "Closed Doors" Me, Z and Bond. OMFG, hell ain't the word for it.:eek:
God - No afterlife for humans Jesus - Saved by works Paul - Saved by faith Pope - We're pretty much all going to burn in hell. ROCK!
By clicking on the link you read -- the new Catholic catechism, which holds that hell is a "state of eternal separation from God," to be understood "symbolically rather than physically." Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a Church historian, said that the Pope was "right to remind us that Hell is not something to be put on one side" as an inconvenient or embarrassing aspect of belief. It had been misused in the Middle Ages to scare the impressionable with "horrific visions" of damnation, as described in Danteâs "Inferno." In the link above the Pope also mentioned that Limbo is only a theory.
jesus and paul do not necessarily contradict each other. Acting on Gods promises is the work that grants you eternal life. Go through the Gospels see what Jesus says you must do to achieve eternal life and then act on it. The acting on it is your faith.