Do Catholics believe in Heaven and Hell?

Answer 1

Most certainly. The belief in Heaven and Hell are both doctrines of the Catholic Faith which means they are so fundamental to the Catholic belief that to deny them is to deny the Faith. Catholics believe that the soul only has two ultimate destinies, either to spend eternity in Heaven with God, or to spend eternity in Hell without Him. The Catholic concept of Heaven consists in the Beatific Vision, this means that the soul will be able to contemplate God, to "see" Him, to its full ability and hence, the soul will be rapt in the mysteries and love it will find there. The Catholic concept of Hell is a place of absence where the soul will ever be in torment since it can never be united to its Creator, God. Catholics believe as well in the resurrection of the body and thus Heaven and Hell are physical places as well to accommodate the physical form. To this end, the body will either be glorified in Heaven or twisted and tortured in Hell by fire and cold.

Catholics also believe in Limbo and Purgatory. Purgatory is an intermediate stage used to purify souls that will go to Heaven but which yet have some temporal restitution they must make in justice. Purgatory will cease to exist at the end of the world since all souls will then either be in Heaven or Hell.

Limbo is for those souls who die without reaching the age of reason and who have not received baptism. Since they have Original Sin on their souls they cannot enter heaven, but since they have no personal sin either, they are not to suffer Hell. Thus they are placed in Limbo, a state of natural happiness.

AnswerSince the doctrine of Hell is such a controversial subject, there are Catholics that will say they don't believe it exists. More liberal Catholics now say that the major religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) all go to heaven. Some other Catholics will try to argue that there is no proof that God has sent anyone to Hell. Roman Catholic AnswerYes, of course, heaven is perfect life eternally with the Most Holy Trinity:

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

1024 This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.

and hell is eternal pain and frustration: 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." (1 John3:14-15) 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 brethern. (Cf. Mt 25:31-46) 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."

Answer 2

A:

If heaven and hell really exist then all good Christians, both Catholic and non-Catholic are going to heaven.

If heaven and hell do not really exist then there is no afterlife. Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV): "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."

Another View:

No, not necessarily Catholics or anyone else for that matter. The Scripture clearly teaches that we all die - which is akin to a deep sleep - and await the call to Judgment before Jesus Christ (2 Peter 2:9 etals). The two main terms used in The Bible and translated as 'hell' in the English are 'sheol' in the Hebrew and 'hades' in the Greek. These basically mean the grave or pit where bodies are placed after death.

Today, many Christian denominations teach about a 'hell' that is more in line with Dante's Inferno. The Bible teaches that at the Great White Throne Judgment, all incorrigible, non-repentant sinners will be cast into the Lake of Fire (term used is 'gehenna') where they die the 2nd and final death (see Revelation 21:8). In the end, the spiritual being ha satan and his demons will also be cast into the Lake of Fire and spend eternity there.

Catholic AnswerWe cannot know where anybody ends up, not even ourselves - that would be presumption of the worse kind. We can only know that God wishes all people to be saved, and that He established the Catholic Church in order to do that. The infallible doctrine of the Church as always been that "Outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation." That being said, there are people outside the Church that have a possibility of salvation. Please see the book Salvation Outside the Church? by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas. On the other hand, just being Catholic is no guarantee for going to heaven (Matthew 7:13-14). Our Blessed Lord is very specific in saying that most people end up in hell. In His "Judgment of the Nations" (Matthew 25:31-46) notice that all the people who find themselves condemned are Catholics (and surprised!) and that all the people that are saved are also surprised. One lesson we can take away from this is it is a very bad thing to think that you are "saved".

Answer 3

A Catholic who hopes to be saved would have good reason for concern if they discovered within themselves a lack of faith in Jesus Christ who is God. The Catholic Church always holds out the hope of repentance and returning to the straight and narrow path that leads to salvation, and so rarely proclaims that someone will "go to hell" for once and for all if they do this or that. Rather, the Church would express grave concern for the eternal and present welfare of a member who willfully refuses to believe in the promises of Christ Jesus, and would urge such a member to have mercy on themselves, repent of their refusal, and believe. No. Because if you do not believe in God you may not know there is God so that is not a sin. Basically, what you go to hell for is sinning. Not knowing is not sinning. And it is a persons' belief.