{"id":18201,"date":"2018-03-30T09:53:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T16:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/?p=18201"},"modified":"2019-02-18T21:02:25","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T05:02:25","slug":"pope-says-there-is-no-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/community\/third-party\/pope-says-there-is-no-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Huh? The Pope Says There is no hell!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opening Insights: Hells Bells<\/h2>\n

Four words have turned the world upside down. The controversy that has shook the world: \"THERE IS NO HELL!\"<\/p>\n

Controversy erupt around with reports that Pope Francis has denied the existence of hell. Sinners who die without achieving eternal salvation \u201care not punished,\u201d the pope said, according to an article by Mr. Scalfari in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. \u201cThere is no hell; there is the disappearance of sinful souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoted by an Italian journalist who is both a friend and frequent interviewer of the pontiff, Francis reportedly said that sinners who die without eternal salvation \u201care not punished\u201d but that instead of their souls simply disappear. \u201cThere is no hell,\u201d he unambiguously declared.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, in the uproar that followed, the Vatican tried to smooth over the rather stunning statement but nevertheless stopped short of expressly denying it, saying that the quote was a \u201creconstruction\u201d of the interview and not a transcript.1<\/span><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What has this done to the world? How has it impacted Catholicism and trust in the Pontiff, the religion and the Church itself?<\/p>\n

Let's explore the realities of the Pope's words...<\/p>\n

Informational Insights: Hell Outside or Inside<\/h2>\n

First let's get the facts:<\/p>\n

The Pope made the statement yesterday in the Vatican City.<\/p>\n

At this morning's mass at the basilica of St. John's, news of the Pope's statement caught most of the people completely by surprise. \"The Pope said what?\" asked one man. \"I'd have to see it before I believe it.\"<\/p>\n

For centuries the popular image of the wrath of God has been fire, brimstone, and every imaginable - and unimaginable - horror. The modern teaching of the Catholic church does not refer to hell as a place.<\/p>\n

So, for many practicing Catholics, like Frank O'Leary, the Pope has simply confirmed what they believe anyway. \"A lot of these things are metaphorical,\" he says. \"I never really thought of heaven as a physical place. It is not surprising to me that the Holy Father would point out that hell is not physical in the sense of this physical plane that we're on right now.\"<\/p>\n

The Pope isn't saying there's no hell at all. He's saying that hell is the state of eternal torment a soul ends up in when it cuts itself off from God.<\/p>\n

And so another piece of religious folklore gives way to the rational mood of our times. It was only last year that Catholics heard from their Pope about the need to build more bridges between faith and reason. And just last week he set the record straight about heaven. Not as a place in the clouds but as a state of eternal union with God.2<\/span><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The news report above is not from 2018, but rather from 1999, when\u00a0Pope John Paul II caused a commotion when he rejected the concept of a literal hell: <\/em>fire and brimstone.\u00a0 He stated that \u201crather than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God.\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Controversy erupt around with reports that Pope Francis has denied the existence of hell. Sinners who die without achieving eternal salvation \u201care not punished,\u201d the pope said, according to an article by Mr. Scalfari in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. \u201cThere is no hell; there is the disappearance of sinful souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoted by an Italian journalist who is both a friend and frequent interviewer of the pontiff, Francis reportedly said that sinners who die without eternal salvation \u201care not punished\u201d but that instead of their souls simply disappear. \u201cThere is no hell,\u201d he unambiguously declared.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, in the uproar that followed, the Vatican tried to smooth over the rather stunning statement but nevertheless stopped short of expressly denying it, saying that the quote was a \u201creconstruction\u201d of the interview and not a transcript.<\/p>\n

[...]<\/p>\n

Such revisionist thinking from religious leaders can be understood as an attempt to make theology comply with predominant perceptions and attitudes. Whereas in ancient and medieval times it was perhaps not so difficult to imagine a deity who would arbitrarily condemn individuals to eternal punishment even for relatively minor slights such as working on the Sabbath or disobeying one\u2019s parents (indeed, both are capital offenses in the Old Testament), such outcomes are inconsistent with our modern sense of justice. (And most believers would assume that God must be just, right?)<\/p>\n

Because our understandings of the world, and of morality, in particular, have evolved significantly in recent centuries, theology has often struggled to keep pace, sometimes doing so smoothly and sometimes not. Churches have split over disagreements over how\u2014or even whether\u2014to adapt. A prime example would be the schisms within various Christian churches over the issue of slavery in the Nineteenth Century.<\/p>\n

[...]<\/p>\n

[Steven] Pinker attributes today's softening of harsh theology to the influence of Enlightenment humanism. With the rise of reason and science as major forces in the world, unimaginable progress has ensued\u2014and not just technological progress, but moral as well. Enlightenment values have made the angry God of the Old Testament, and many other biblical concepts, seem more akin to mythology than revealed truth.<\/p>\n

To humanists, the idea of eternal hellfire has long been considered mythological. After all, most people historically have followed any particular religion for one main reason\u2014they were born into it\u2014and with that in mind, it is incomprehensible that a just God would condemn entire populations to eternal damnation merely for being born into the wrong family with the wrong religion. Indeed, as the late comic George Carlin famously pointed out, to suggest that a loving God could possibly sentence his own children to hellfire is not only inconsistent but comical.<\/p>\n

These are some of the reasons humanists have rejected traditional religion, and it would seem that these same factors might be reshaping the framework of traditional religion as it attempts to adapt to modern society.1<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

<\/a>1<\/sup>\u00a0https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/our-humanity-naturally\/201803\/smile-there-is-no-hell-even-the-pope-says-so
\n<\/a>2<\/sup> \/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/no-hell-pope-1.173448<\/p>\n

Possibilities for Consideration: Hell, Heaven and Earth<\/h2>\n

A tree has both straight and crooked branches;
\nthe symmetry of the tree, however, is perfect. Life is balanced like a tree.
\nWhen you consider the struggles, difficulties, and sorrows as a part of it,
\nthen you see it as beautiful and perfect.
\n<\/i>GEORGE LAMSA<\/p>\n

When we examine different versions of the Bible we have to carefully examine whether the Pope's new found revelation is more true to the original intention of the author. We have to remember that much meaning and intention gets lost in translation. For example:<\/p>\n

Luke 14:25<\/p>\n