Free will and the porblem of hell Flashcards
What do catholics believe about God?
- they believe that he is omnibenevolent and merciful - he has limitless compassion and forgiveness which is offered to all.
- Many people would think that if God has all these qualities, then it is hard to believe that Hell exists, or that God would allow people to go to Hell.
How would Catholics respond to Hell existing?
It is based on the idea of free will and humans spend their lives making free choices.
When they make choices that are based on love for otheres or fod God, they become close to Him.
When a person makes a selfish, hateful or arrogant choice either in the way they reat people or how they respond to God they remove themselves from Him.
When a person dies they have already made the choices that have either taken them close to God or remove them from God. A person is not sent to Hell by God rather they take themselves to Hell through their own actions.
arugments FOR
- Hell is not a punishment, but a consequence of choosing to go against again. We choose our eternal destination by our choices in life
- Christian universalism is the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God.
- God’s love is universal and unconditional but cannot be forced upon us.
- Purgatory is an opportunity to be cleansed of our sins in preparation for Heaven.
arguments against.
- Just because God is all loving, does not mean he loves everything - there are some things that God doesn’t love like murder or abuse. So God is loving yet he doesn’t love everything
- if this ‘loving god’ didn’t send anyone to Hell, then there wouldn’t be ant point in sins because everyone who believes in the afterlife would just go around doing whatever they want.
- “How can a holy,just, righteous God allow sin into His presence.” - Josh McDowell.
How
They would try to use the gift of free will from God to make good decisions, using the teachings of Jesus like “love thy neighbour” to help them inform their choices.
