Tag Archives: hell

Is That All There Is?

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Is That All There Is?

Adolph Hitler died, as did Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; all of whom were dynamic figures during the first half of the 20th century. Other famous individuals and celebrities also died; people such as Sigmund Freud, Mortimer Adler, John Wayne, Buddy Holly, Michael Jackson, Nelson Rockefeller, and countless numbers of other people. Death is inescapable! Eventually, each one of us will experience death; the end to this human life on earth.  Considering that there is an end to each of our lives on earth, the issue that we all should consider is whether “Is that all there is”?

For those individuals who call themselves materialists or naturalists, the answer is simply, “Yes, that is all there is.” There is nothing after one’s life on earth. There is no judgment, no heaven or hell or some other type of existence. Death is indeed the end; there is nothing more. There is no God, no judgment, nothing. With this belief, the materialist’s worldview during life is likely to be very different from the worldview of those who do believe in God, judgment, and an afterlife of heaven or hell. Essentially the materialist places all hope and joy in his earthly life; stating that man is actually the determinist for all that occurs on earth. Man and his associate, Science, are the gods of the materialists. They determine right and wrong, changing right and wrong as they see fit rather than accepting a universal definition of right and wrong. Man as a god, changes all concepts of morality as he sees fit. It is “doing your thing’ to the extreme. Thus the determinist philosophy leads man to chaos rather than to freedom.

With man as the sole judge of morality, then the man who controls the levels of power will be the determiner of all morality. The most powerful will be the judges of what is moral and what is not. In Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia it can be seen where the powerful materialists have led mankind – almost to the abyss of annihilation and certainly to the depths of depravity, seldom seen in human history. The Nazis and the Stalinists, followers of the philosophies of Nietzsche and Marx, turned human history into the hell they did not believe in.

Those who believe in God and an afterlife existence certainly have a different worldview from that of the materialists. God is the objective reality of all existence; thus man’s earthly life consists in striving to know Him and to join Him in the life after death. Our earthly existence is a trial during which we seek out God’s will for us and then strive to fulfill that will….with the assurance that God will help us along the journey. However, God does not promise earthly prosperity or even happiness; He does promise salvation and eternal happiness in the next life. Fortunately, He also provides us with a road map and a set of instructions on how we should read the map and strive to do God’s will. God is our guide and helper…if we seek His advice.  God is very much the Father, caring for and providing for his human family. All we must do is honestly and continually seek Him and His will for us. This will require effort and, most importantly, the subordinating of our ego and pride to the will of Him. That is the challenge for man; taking the “I” out of the equation of life and inserting God in its place.

All too few people can relinquish their attachment to the “I” and thus they remain unreasonably attached to the false promises of man. The promise that death is indeed all that there is….the promise lacking in hope. All of us are given the opportunity to make that choice – hope in God and freedom or death and conformity.

Man is made for More!

Hospitals

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Hospitals

As soon as the door to the waiting room of the hospital emergency center opened, the sounds and sights of bedlam rushed to meet us. The waiting room was overcrowded with a confused and boisterous mixture of the ill, friends of the ill, screaming babies, noisy adolescents, and those who seemingly had no idea why they were there.  On one side of the room, the individuals waiting to be processed by the receptionist were fidgeting, with frustrated looks as they impatiently waited for their turn. All showed their disgust with looks of, “Why is this taking so long?” Others, having been processed by the receptionist, were sitting or standing, just waiting to be called into emergency room for treatment, hoping that their long waits would finally end. Intermittently their hopes of care would be raised as a nurse appeared at the door to shout the name of the next patient to receive treatment. Frequently their hopes were dashed as the name called out by the nurse was not the one they wanted to hear; their frustration continued with a hint of anger beginning to surface. The delay in being seen and treated by a doctor seemed endless.

Finally, the person’s name was called and he, along with a relative, moved towards the door where the nurse was standing. Now he could discuss his illness with a doctor and, hopefully, a remedy would be offered. There would be no certainty of a cure, but at least a course of action would be recommended; a stay in the hospital or a prescription for medication may result.  Hope, but no certainty would be the likely outcome of the visit.

Most hospitals have trained, professional personnel who analyze and evaluate the medical, physical needs of their patients. The question that they attempt to answer is “How do we help the patients at the hospital return to good physical health?”.  However, there exists another type of hospital with trained professionals; one that addresses the moral and spiritual failings of individuals who are seeking to return to good moral and spiritual health. It is the one that treats sin and sinners.

Sin occurs in the breaking of one’s relationship with God; fortunately the relationship can be restored. The Catholic Church is the hospital for sinners; the place where sin can be cured and moral and spiritual health restored. When asked the reasons for his conversion to Catholicism, the brilliant 20th century English writer and philosopher, G.K. Chesterton, commented, “Because it is true….and it offers the forgiveness of sin.” The Catholic Church was given the obligation to help sinners and forgive sins when Jesus Christ appeared to Apostles on the first Easter Sunday and said, “Whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven and whose sins you shall retain are retained.”  In the sacrament of Confession (Reconciliation), the Church through the successors to the apostles can offer a guaranteed return to a relationship with God. The sacrament of Confession offers an assurance, not just a hope, of one’s return to good moral and spiritual health.

It is interesting to note that medical hospitals are generally crowded and very busy, while Catholic churches are often empty at the times of Confession. Are there no sinners in need of forgiveness? Have humans lost the very sense of sin? We all sin and most of us rupture our relationship with God numerous times during our lives. Do we return to God through Confession or do we continue to be separate from God.  All humans need repentance for their sins and a renewal of their lives.

On many occasions, Jesus reminded people “to repent.” We are all anxious to cure our medical ills as quickly as possible. Why are we not as determined and anxious to repent and cure our moral and spiritual failings, which can result in the worst of conditions….hell? Without repentance and renewal, Hell is where we will place ourselves.

Suggested Reading

“Confession” by Adrienne von Speyr, published by Igantius Press  – von Speyr is a Swiss convert and mystic guided by the famed theologian Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar