Andy Smith’s column, “How can all those people be destined for eternal damnation?” raises the fundamental questions of human salvation (Dec. 2, p.11): Who goes to heaven? Who goes to hell? Reading this column brought me back to a childhood play experience involving my siblings.
One of the willing participants would enter the closet while the others closed the door behind them. An announcement was made that this was the elevator to both heaven and hell and one’s destination relied solely on the compassion of one of your own. Frightening, yes! We learned quickly of the mercy of God.
Putting prior childhood experiences aside, I referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to re-investigate her official teachings on heaven and hell. The Catechism states that heaven’s gates open by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Quite different than the closet door.) It continues by saying, “He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ” (CCC, 1026).
On the other hand, “To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell'” (CCC, 1033).
The Catholic Church clearly defines the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ in order to achieve eternal salvation. But one might ask, “What about those who through no fault of their own never came to know Jesus?” “How will they be judged?” The church states, “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation” (CCC, 847).
Mr. Smith’s questions about who goes to heaven and who goes to hell are stimulating and challenging. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for asking questions such as these. I, for one, appreciate such a challenge and am grateful that it led me to further re-investigate my own Catholic faith. A faith that clarifies that those mentioned in the column are not all hopelessly heading to an everlasting life where they are separated from God.
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