Can be Hell eternal state of mind?

[Sinisa]

Dear Mytress,

This is short FAQ about hell from one catholic mailing list and came
to one croatian newsgroup where we talking about evil right now.
Would you put your comments on words down in the light of your teachings.
My comment and question to that is:
How can something contrary to God/dess be eternal?

"...James Mack asks if God wants or needs people to be in hell. Before I
respond, let me get this out of my system. I believe it was G.B.Shaw
who said, "I don't need a God to condemn me to hell. I have friends who
provide that service for me every day." O. K. Now I feel better.

Hell is not a place. The expression, "to go to hell" does not denote
travel through space/time, but rather the removal from space/time into
the condition of not-space/not-time, or eternity/infinity. Hell is the
eternal condition that a person places him/herself in by making a fully
informed, freely chosen, total rejection of him/herself, God, all
others, earth and the universe. In sum it is one's total and ultimate
irreversible perversion and rejection of all reality. God does not put
us in this condition; we put ourselves in it. We make the choice and
God confirms it. Such is the awesome power of our human freedom and
dignity, and such is the awesome respect that God has for our freedom
and dignity.

Is this the way God wants it to be? Yes. God built the possibility
of hell directly into our human nature. Ontologically, we are love; we
are a love-relationship with God (and then, with ourselves, all others,
earth and the universe). Love is not just something we feel or do. It
is what we are. To be most fully what we are, we must choose to be the
deepest, widest and most effective love we possibly can be. Love by
definition requires freedom. If we were forced to love--if we were
forced to be what we are--we would be puppets dangling from divinely
manipulated strings, with no freedom or dignity.

Freedom is not the capability to do either right or wrong. (God is
perfectly free and cannot do wrong.) It is our capability to know what
is right, to do what is right and to get credit for it. To knowingly do
what is wrong is not an act of freedom; it is an abuse of our freedom.
We have the capability to abuse our freedom. Our ontological dignity
makes this capability necessary.

Does God want anyone to be in hell? In other words, does God want us
to abuse our freedom and choose to ontologically pervert ourselves even
into eternity? Obviously no. In fact, God "stacks the deck" in favor of
our fulfilling ourselves as the love-relationship that we are. My
Christian faith tells me that He creates us in his image, which is
absolute and triune love; he sent his Son to show us the height, depth
and width of love in human form; he offers everyone his Spirit so we can
live as creative, healing and loving expressions of his Son (with our
respect for other religions), he gives us all the strength we need to
overcome any negative spiritual situation; he forgives our sins 70 times
7 times (a Biblical symbol for "always", i.e., overtime we ask for
forgiveness). In all this, he still respect our freedom to refuse him
and our capability to abuse our freedom; yet all this shows his
overwhelming intention that we should freely choose to live eternally in
his luminous love.

Does God need anyone to be in hell?
Technically no. By theological definition, God doesn't need anything
or anyone. S/He is absolutely perfect within Him/Herself. God doesn't
need any bit of creation. This does not mean that he is indifferent to
the universe. His act of creating us is pure, outgoing paternal love.
Her act of birthing us forth from her womb is pure, outgoing maternal
love. God delights in being with us. Even if we had not fallen, Jesus
would have come to live with us--to experience, enjoy and share our
sunsets, our food, our arts and sciences, our loves and dreams, our
sorrows and hopes.

Some people say that God needs people to be in hell to show his power
and justice, and to "scare hell" out of those of us who are still alive
on earth. This strikes me as an overly anthropomorphic view of an
insecure, desperate, merciless God who is saying that his wondrous
creation, his Son's life, death and resurrection, his myriad of world
religions, and his grace are not good enough. I reject this view.

Finally, is anyone in hell? Given the requirements for choosing to
live in the condition of hell, we can ask who would knowingly and freely
make such a fateful, eternal choice?
Anthony..."

[Mystress]

: Dear Mytress,

: This is short FAQ about hell from one catholic mailing list and came
: to one croatian newsgroup where we talking about evil right now.
: Would you put your comments on words down in the light of your teachings.
: My comment and question to that is:
: How can something contrary to God/dess be eternal?

Sinisa, this whole conversation is moot, the author is out of date. About two years ago, the Pope announced that hell is a state of mind of separation from God's love, not someplace you go to after death. All those NDE reports of even sinful people heading through the tunnel of light, forced an update to Catholic beliefs.
 Do a websearch on Pope, Hell, Announcement and you will probably find the news story about it.
 Really makes me shake my head, thinking of all the burned witches, etc. who were supposedly "saved" from a "fate worse than death". Makes me want to sue the Pope for fraud! He sits on a pile of gold big enough to end world hunger, much of it stolen from those burned witches and tortured heretics.

 My thoughts on "evil" is that it does not exist. There is only fear, and people acting from fear. The devil does not exist, either. Daemon is latin for "inner self", and is best identified as the Jungian Shadow. In Hebrew texts, the Devil is named "the accuser", and his role is to debate with God and intervene on the behalf of humans.

 The best definition I have read of "evil" is that it is "live" backwards. So, that which is against life, is evil... and as you know, the fear blockages in your energy body -your karma- diminishes your capacity for life energy and creates a barrier to an intimate relationship with the Divine.
 You can quote me to your list, if you like.
  Blessings...