No harm learning about hell, since its also created by the all mighty. As long as you dont adore and worship hell and its inhabitant.

Very true Hades76 there's no harm. Conversely it can also be said if there no benefit why bother. Might as well focus on things which really matters for the little time that we have.

Because not everyone is motivated by the carrot. Some people need to be motivated by the cane...lol. Anyway, don't forget that in the New Testament, Our Lord spoke about Hell more frequently than any other topic.

This post has been edited by yeeck: Jul 18 2018, 10:44 AM

What to Tell a Priest in a Devotional Confession

How do you speak with a priest in Confession when you do a devotional confession and he says that you don't need to mention past sins as they are already forgiven?

I assume that you mean by “devotional confession” going to confession even if you have no mortal sins on your conscience. Many spiritual writers will refer to that as “frequent confession,” since it is still a sacramental encounter, not just a private act of devotional piety.

In general, if you explain to the priest the situation you are in, he will be able to adjust his guidance. If he doesn’t know that this is a “devotional” confession, he may be concerned that you are devotional confession being over-scrupulous by mentioning imperfections or not fully willed venial sins. In that case, he may try to comfort you by explaining the difference between sins of malice and sins of weakness, or other distinctions. But if you explain that you – for example – have a spiritual director and are following a spiritual program, he will understand that you are making a good confession and working intentionally on spiritual progress. In that case, he won’t think you are falling into being over-scrupulous.

On the other hand, if you mean by “devotional confession” a “general confession,” where you confess all the sins of your past life or even of an extended period (the last year, for example), then it’s important to mention that to the priest at the beginning of your confession. In a general confession like that, it is common to mention sins that we have already confessed, as a way of stirring up a sincere spirit of contrition. A general confession of this sort is often part of a spiritual retreat and aids the retreatant in entering more deeply into God’s mercy and love. Making that kind of examination of conscience can even help us identify behavior patterns that shed light on the roots of our common sins and faults. But if the priest you are confessing to doesn’t know you are doing a general confession, he may think you are just being over-scrupulous and advise you to focus only on the period since your last confession.

If, on the other hand, you feel moved to confess over and over again sins that you have already confessed, even outside the context of a general confession, this could be a good topic to discuss in spiritual direction. Even in confession, you could ask the priest about it. You could explain that you know it is not necessary to “re-confess” your sins, but even so you are feeling a desire and a need to confess them again. That could spark a beautiful dialogue – maybe the Lord is saying something to you through that desire, maybe there is something for you to discover there.

Source: https://www.spiritualdirection.com/2018/07/...onal-confession

Aaaahhhh the carrot 🥕 and the cane trick, totally forgotten about it.

Growing up with the cane and later enforcement, the cane is pretty effective or so I thought.

Then in the real world I've learnt the carrot 🥕 trick and it is way better than the cane for it's long term solutions.

I use the carrot trick exclusively now and it's extremely effective and efficient more than ever, be it for children or adults. Surely one will see the striking similarity with the following:-

"God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." ~ John the Baptist

As for hell, the furthest I will ever go and have ever gone is this, place of total absence of the presence of God. Period. Curiosity always kills the cat 🐱!

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jul 18 2018, 11:59 AM

• everlasting fire
• everlasting punishment
• eternal condemnation
• the fire that shall never be quenched
• their worm does not die
• unquenchable fire
• weeping and gnashing of teeth

This post has been edited by yeeck: Jul 18 2018, 02:23 PM

That's sure one long list and many examples to pick & choose from in teaching of the faith.

Why I chose the absence of God is this,

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell." ~ Jesus Christ

My understanding is this, once the soul is destroyed, there's nothing else, vanished completely without any trace whatsoever, something similar to like that of MH370. Not that MH370 went to hell.

A soul that's banished to hell, will experience sufferings as can be seen from Scriptures, but it cannot be denied that in hell, it will be an experience of the absence of God too.

Yes, it does cause a spine-chilling effect when fully dramatized but that's not my intentions when I am call to teach the faith. The focus is on understanding exclusively the Word of God, on the route to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thank you Yeeck, finally I've just realized what I should do with hell as a homework. "As for your homework, boys & girls, go and find out in the Bible what is hell like in the Gospel."

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jul 18 2018, 03:27 PM

And that is why I posted the video on St Thomas Aquinas' depiction of Hell

No worries Khool, I understand.

There are many roads that leads to Rome but I've choosen the road that's hard with the narrow gate directly to our Father's Home 🏡.

The good thing that came out of this, is now I know exactly what I am going to do with Hell. 😊

Found this. Thought it would be good to discuss about it with reference to the Holy Bible especially, possible, impossible or inadvisable on the questions by Epicurus ?

Added [A], [B], [C] & [D] just for ease of reference.

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jul 19 2018, 08:31 AM

You are not asking me right?

Aren't all who follow Christ exhorted to enter the narrow gate and walk the narrow path anyways?

Philippians 2:12 (NRSVCE)
Shining as Lights in the World

" ... Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ... "

GB in your journey!

God bless and protect our priests from any and all harm!!!




This post has been edited by khool: Jul 19 2018, 11:03 AM

Ooops how did you know ? 😊

It was meant to a discovery for answers to Epicurus question, among the Catholic brethren.

But if you want to answer the question with regard to the Holy Bible why not, I guess.

But I am the one who stated the Epicurus riddle here, the 2000+ year old riddle is still a riddle because the theists have't/couldn't answer it yet, we atheists maintain there is no evidence of the existence of god/there is no god and is thus no longer a riddle to us.

This post has been edited by zamorin: Jul 19 2018, 09:57 PM

Seriously it's 2000 year old riddle that nobody has cracked. Wow this ought to be real fun, I reckon, if permission is granted in the name for Catholic study.

No worries, I understand your position as an atheist, however for Scripture also says

"None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders." ~ Jesus Christ

I apologize then, for assuming that you could answer the riddle if you wanted to. 😊 That's the drawback writing online instead of an old fashion face-to-face conversation. 😉

Finally I have to ask you this question, why did you raise that Epicurus question to another who obviously does not believe in God ? Wouldn't the riddle continue to be unsolved ?

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jul 19 2018, 01:15 PM

More or less the same thing is stated in other religious scriptures including the Quran and the Gita but they also are in opposition to each other.

and we had the so called Christian/other miracles even after Jesus was crucified, like the miracles that happens at our Lady of Lourdes or Sai Baba (Hindu) miracles that has been exposed as frauds or statistically not a miracle at all.

It's best to consider if God exists before we get to which of the denominations is correct.

Here's the statistic:

There has been more than 500,000 religions in the world today (most of them extinct and all of them soon to be). All those 500,000 religions contradict each other. So just from the start the possibility of your religion (or any one religion) being correct is statistically less than 0.001%

This post has been edited by zamorin: Jul 19 2018, 01:22 PM

That is a big word to use "Statistic"....with that being said, Show us how you derived 0.001%

or is that your unqualified guesstimate?

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Jul 19 2018, 01:43 PM

Yes all who follow Christ ought to go through that narrow path alas, Scriptures also say

".... the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel on it." ~ Jesus Christ

This "Danger" sign-post is peppered throughout Scriptures and it's with great pity and sadness when I see the multitude of sheep 🐑 still searching for our Good Shepherd.

God must not only bless me and you and a few others, God must bless everyone on earth 🌏, so that His great mercy will be seen by all.