Literally? Hell no!
If everybody is saved...well, God must be a sadist. Why would He send His Son to redeem us by an excruciating death when, heck, sin is no big deal. Believing that universal salvation is reasonable is incredibly unreasonable to me.
I might be able to believe it if I saw our shepherds and large numbers of laity (including myself) making heroic sacrifices to save souls from eternal damnation. But what do I see? Millions and millions of people committed to demonic sinfulness who boast of their evil until the day they die and most of us yawning.
Just look around...ISIS and its mass murders including beheading women and little children, millions upon millions of murdered unborn babies, widespread use of birth control including methods that kill, mass pornography, human trafficking, exploitation of the poor, depraved sexual immorality, etc. ad nauseum. And only a tiny percentage go to hell? Well...Our Lady of Fatima must have been a sadist too showing those little shepherd children all those souls dropping into hell like snowflakes!
It's snowing in Woodstock today and even now when it's tapering off, there's no way I could count all those individual flakes. It has me thinking of the "so man poor sinners who go to hell" that made little Jacinta choose heroic sacrifices to save them. Blessed Jacinta, please help me nurture a heartfelt love for poor sinners that by my prayers and sacrifices many may be saved from the fires of eternal damnation.
Wouldn't the same reasoning apply to the Calvinist view of predestination?
ReplyDeleteSome Calvinists are working hard to pull two of my kids (19 & 21) away from the Church, and I'm looking for helpful arguments against Calvinism.
I've never understood the appeal of Calvinism. Does a loving God create souls where some are predestined to heaven and other to hell? Sounds like Daddy dearest.
ReplyDeleteI really sympathize with your situation. I have so many extended family members who have traded truth for the lie. I'll offer my rosary for your kids today. You know, when pro-lifer Joe Scheidler's son Eric was away from the Church, Joe spent years going to Mass twice on Sunday -- once for himself and once for Eric. Not only is Eric back in the Church but he is running Pro-Life Action Ministries in Chicago with his parents. Prayer and the truth have great appeal!
Re: Calvinism
ReplyDeleteYou'll find a wealth of information in http://www.calledtocommunion.com.
The discussions over there should show you what you may encounter if you approach this head-on.
Just to add a few notes to the earlier comments mentioning the CTC website:
ReplyDelete1) On the CTC website - Pay particular attention to the conversion stories (audio and written)
2) On the churchmilitant.tv website Michael Voris commented that apologetics is not about winning arguments, but about winning souls. This could be an opportunity to pull the Calvinists into the church instead.
well, God must be a sadist. Why would He send His Son to redeem us by an excruciating death when, heck, sin is no big deal
ReplyDeleteOr would that make Him a masochist? Kind of tricky - one substance, but three persons.