Thursday, September 17, 2009

I'm holding out hope...

that everyone makes it to heaven in the life to come.

Now I'm not a universalist. I know people choose to be away from God and in the life to come God grants them their request. That's hell, it's real, and the thought of it is harsh, worse than the whole red devils and pitchfork thing of medieval paintings. Yet I still hope.

The Church keeps a list of the Saints, those we know by virtue of their faith, holiness, and intercessions are in the presence of God. The Church, however, does not keep a list of the damned, those we know are outside of God's presence and until it does neither will I.
at Thursday, September 17, 2009

6 comments:

  1. Fr Joseph HuneycuttSeptember 17, 2009

    Elder Porphyrios said, and I paraphrase: "We should not wish to go to a heaven where everyone is not welcome."

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  2. George PatsourakosSeptember 17, 2009

    If people choose to be away from God, they should not be welcome to heaven.

    The Church does not keep a list of the damned -- those we know are outside of God's presence -- but I believe that these people have a pretty good idea of who they are.

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  3. The TravelerSeptember 17, 2009

    Thanks, Fr Joseph, for dropping in to this hamlet of the blogosphere.

    Fr John

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  4. Fr Joseph HuneycuttSeptember 18, 2009

    Elder Porphyrios was, I believe, referring to our judgement, not God's. In other words (mine - poor at best & hypocritical in practice): We are not to do the damning.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve RobinsonSeptember 18, 2009

    "The Church does not keep a list of the damned"...I like that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The TravelerSeptember 18, 2009

    I have no way of knowing the destiny of any one person's soul and so I choose to error on the side of hope trusting that God will be both merciful and just.

    ReplyDelete

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