(Third post in a series. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2)
The man took his son to the edge of the cliff, about 20 feet away from the front door of their home. From there, standing behind a wooden fence, they could see the beautiful vista stretching out before them, down past the beach and out into the ocean.
It was, by far, the most beautiful spot in the whole town. The man had bought this property and built his home in this very spot so that every morning, he could wake up to the sun rising up and over the water. Having just finished it a week before, he sent word to his family, who lived miles away, to come join him. Everything was finally done, and they could move in.
This was the first time his son saw the place his dad had made for him. The man beamed with pride. But looking at his son, he noticed, with some dismay, a settled frown on his face.
“What is wrong?” he asked the boy.
“You couldn’t find any place better than this?” replied the boy.
“What do you mean? Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Look at this cliff, dad! I could die here! One wrong move, and down I go!”
“But that’s why I put a fence….”
“Honestly, dad, you’re so selfish. What about my safety? What about me?!”
The boy turned around and stomped to the house. And the man stood there, dumbfounded and crestfallen.
The Catholic View
You might think this is not a fair story. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the cliff is Hell, and the home is Heaven. The boy is the self-pitying agnostic who thinks God is a horrible person for giving humanity every opportunity at a blissful eternity because, at the same time, he also gives them the option of eternal torment. What God would build a heavenly mansion on the side of an eternal cliff?
To an extent, I agree, it isn’t a fair story – depending on your conception of Hell and who goes there and why. If I am right in my assumptions, Abraham Piper, who originally inspired this series, came out of the same protestant, Calvinistic background I did. According to John Calvin, the famous Reformation preacher, God “elected” who would go to Heaven and who would go to Hell. That’s a crass way of putting it, but I think it’s accurate. Thrown in there is the idea that if someone didn’t have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and, therefore, had no opportunity to even become a Christian, they would be damned to Hell as well. That would be a bit like the father in my story building a home for his family and then pushing a few of his kids off the cliff.
This is not the Catholic conception of how we get to Hell. So in this post, I have to get a little technical and explain what my church believes.
First, according to Catholic teaching, not every sin is equally grave. Pre-meditated murder is very different from hitting your brother for making fart noises. Both are (arguably) wrong, but one is very serious (a mortal sin) and the other not so serious (a venial sin). God will not send us to Hell for venial sins.
Second, according to Catholic teaching, no one is condemned for what they don’t know. Masturbating, for example, is a mortal sin in the Catholic Church. This means that if a Catholic person knows that masturbating can break their relationship with God and condemn them to fiery torment, and yet they purposely decide to do it anyway, they could go to Hell.
But what about those who never knew this was wrong to begin with? They are not condemned because, well, they never knew it was wrong! It was not a freely-chosen sin in their minds. According to their conscience, it’s perfectly fine to masturbate (Acts 17:30).
But more than that, thirdly, Catholic teaching states that for a mortal sin to really be a mortal sin, the sinner has to freely consent to it. So let’s say this Catholic person has a bad habit of masturbating. They’ve gotten so addicted to the practice that it is incredibly difficult to stop. They try to show self-control, but at their best, they still do it every now and then. This would not be sinning with “deliberate consent.” The sin would be venial, at best (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Art. 1854-1860).
Lastly, though, and most importantly, let’s say this Catholic person – with full knowledge of masturbation being sinful and with full, deliberate consent and free will – decides to do it anyway. Even so, confession and reconciliation with God are always available. The priest can hear the young man’s confession, and in the power and promise of Christ, he can forgive him (John 20:21-23). He can be brought back into communion with God and the church.
So let’s bring this back to the story at the beginning of this post. God, the Father, grants us a heavenly mansion on the cliff. He has put a fence around this cliff. He has laid a net further down so that, even if we fall off, we can be safe and climb back up again. Oh, and if we don’t realize it’s a cliff, he won’t let us fall off of it to begin with.
You can spend all your time shaking your fist at God for the dangers of living at such a high elevation, or you can enjoy the view and comfort of a warm home where you are always welcome.
©2022 Jon Holowaty
Jonny Catholic 
Considering how Christians can’t even agree on what heaven and hell are, I’m not too worried about their sadistic fantasies.
LikeLike