You can go to hell

Hell is a doctrine revealed by Jesus. Neither the doctrine of Heaven nor Hell is as clear in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. Through Jesus' teaching and through His death and resurrection, the inchoate materials in the Old Testament became clear.

Someone noted that there are two kinds of people in the world: Those who say to God, "Your will be done," and those who say, "My will be done." God says to each one of us, "What do you want? Be it done unto you according to your will." If we want Heaven, on Heaven's terms, God will grant us Heaven; if we want to be left alone, God will leave us alone.

No one is in Heaven against their will.

No one is in Hell against their will.

A state of being

The difference between Heaven and Hell is spiritual, not spatial. The great, unbridgeable chasm between the two (Luke 16:26) is constructed by the decision of the damned not to accept the love that God offers them.

CCC #1033

We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."612 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.613 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

John Henry Newman

"The sinner would not enjoy heaven if he went there; not till he has turned from his sin and is once more looking towards God" (Malcolm Muggeridge, Conversion, 32).

The Fall of the Angels is Certain

This is a dogma.

There are angels who have turned against God.

There is a devil, and there are demons.

This means that Hell is not "empty" (be careful of thinking spatially about the state of permanent alienation from God, self, and others!).

"Your will be done."

"Hell: Oppression or Justice?"

[Some say:] “I refuse to believe that a just and loving God would condemn anyone to eternal suffering.”

[Defenders of the orthodox view say:] “People choose hell by utterly and irrevocably rejecting God. Given the willingness of people to choose evil in this life, even when it makes them unhappy, I don’t see why it’s hard to believe that some people would reject God permanently.”

Those who believe in hell (a belief we might term “conservative” theologically) see hell as a matter of justice and free will: Some people will reject God, and if they choose to do so, then justice and free will demand that God allow them their condemnation. Thus, the “conservative” belief is based, like many other conservative beliefs, on a conviction that we can be pretty sure that some people will do evil, and that the application of justice will necessitate those people being punished.

Will Many Be Saved?

"Comments by Dr. Ralph Martin on Fr. Robert Barron’s Review of Will Many Be Saved?"

• I am not speculating or offering any opinion in the book about the relative numbers of the saved and lost.
• I am not claiming to know that there are more people in hell than heaven, or vice versa.
• I am not claiming hell is “densely populated,” although it very well may be.
• I think Fr. Barron’s column gives the impression by the way comments are juxtaposed that I am arguing for a position on how many are or will be in hell. I’m not.
• All I am claiming, with Vatican II, is that “very often” people find themselves in a perilous situation regarding salvation and we can’t presume they will be saved without coming to explicit faith, repentance and baptism.
• I also want to indicate that the teaching of LG 16 specifically locates itself in continuity with the scripture and doctrinal tradition of the Church and needs to be interpreted within the hermeneutic of continuity.
• I also want to point out that people don’t live in a neutral environment but are acted upon by the powerful effects of original and actual sin, the work of the devil who continually assaults us with “fiery darts” and is going about like a “roaring lion seeking to devour souls,” and the “world” characterized by a post-Christian, often aggressively hostile culture to Christ and the Church, which immensely influences people to take paths away from Christ and the Church and to “love the darkness rather than the light.”

No middle ground

Our imaginations innocently trick us into thinking that there is some neutral ground between Heaven and Hell, but there are only two final states for all human beings, Heaven or Hell. There is no middle ground between them where we can remain poised and indecisive.

The Gates of Hell stand at the Gates of Heaven. To leave one kingdom is to enter the other immediately. After death, there is no "middle earth" between them.

Links

• Monsignor Charles Pope, "Does God Love the Souls in Hell? Then Why Do They Suffer?"
• Jesus' Descent into Hell.
• Avery Dulles, "The Population of Hell."