Tag Archives: hell

posticon The Roman Catholic Church

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Roman Catholic Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan recently said “…there is only one true religion, which is the Catholic Church founded by God himself.”

Berna and I grew up in Roman Catholic families, although we are no longer Catholic. So we’re keenly aware of the Roman church’s sometimes–controversial opinions.

Did God really start Catholicism, as Bishop Schneider says? Did God prohibit folks going to heaven if they were not Catholic? Would you go to hell if you even walked into a Protestant church?Read more

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posticon The Myth of Heaven and Hell

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I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell. You see, I have friends in both places. ~ Mark Twain

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Folks often ask us, in emails and private readings, what life is like “beyond the veil,” in the realms of spirit. In what you might call heaven (or hell). It’s a good question. So today we’re going to give you Spirit’s perspective on it.

Spirit

First, there is no “veil,” no separation between you and us. That’s a story humans have invented.Read more

posticon One Hell of a Deal by John Cali

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Pope Francis

Our title today is taken from an article recently appearing in The Independent, an online British newspaper.

It seems Pope Francis has promised shorter sentences in purgatory for those Roman Catholics who commit minor sins (“venial” sins, as the church calls them). The shorter sentences are known as “indulgences.”

According to Catholic teaching, if people die without confessing their sins to a priest, they will go to either purgatory (for minor or “venial” sins) or hell (for major or “mortal” sins).Read more

posticon What Is God? by John Cali

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Have you ever asked yourself that question? I have, many times.

I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. We were taught God was a loving father, and also a harsh judge. We had this confusing notion of a divine being whose love or wrath would engulf us, depending on whether we did his “will” or not.

Heaven was our reward and hell our punishment—not a pleasant way to live your life, never knowing where you were ultimately going to end up for all eternity.Read more

posticon Where Do Dead People Go? Part 2 by John Cali

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Last week we talked about life after death, and we had a pretty good response to it. We’re going to talk about it a bit more this week. Actually, we’re going to talk about life before death, a subject we’ve rarely discussed.

Over the years I’ve been honored to be at the “death beds” of some of my close family, though not recently. Although I wasn’t uncomfortable with it, I did not always know what to say to them, or to the other family members who don’t see death in the same positive way I do.Read more