scisyhp

I know that the idea of hell was stolen from greek mythology, their was a godess known as hellous whose realm is so similar to the Christian's belief of hell, you'd swear it's more than mere coincodence.

thought shall not steal?
guess it doesn't apply to liturature or something.

parkdalian

How does God judge someone who died in infancy or in the womb? Either God systematically consigns them all to heaven or all to hell. They either have a riskless advantage or disadvantage over people who make it to adulthood, depending on what fate is prescribed. I think the church's lame position is that no one knows, but we are allowed to hope and pray that they go to heaven.

As complicated as they may be, these ultimately simplistic theologies are dreamt up without taking the diversity of human circumstances into account.

fromdownunder

Exactly! Spontaneous abortion outnumbers induced abortion by a huge ratio, and according to at least some religions the soul is created at the conception stage.

So where do these "souls" finish up, and for those who think that they finish up in Heaven, what exactly does that mean, and what finishes up in Heaven, as opposed to the memories of those of us who have had a concious life?

Norm

Spitfire

God is not a machine.

Avatar

Maybe, maybe not. There's no way to know for sure. Given the version of God that is popularized by the Religious Right, though, I'd say that if God isn't machine-like, it certainly expects us to be.

parkdalian

Your reply does not address the point of my comment.

Are you saying that since God has free will, that some of those souls end up in heaven and some don't? Or that God does not put them anywhere, fetuses somehow put themselves where they belong?

But, no matter.

To me, all fetuses are exactly the same, as far as their guilt or innocence is concerned. I can't see any fair way to grant them all even a mild hell or heaven lite.

You and the catholic church can't determine their afterlife fate because either way it contradicts very specific church teaching or any notion of fairness.

If they go to heaven unbaptized, then they circumvent the baptismal rite, and more importantly, they avoid the risk of living a full life and being in a state of mortal sin when they do happen to die.

If they go to hell without personal intention, it is absolutely unfair that they suffer because of circumstances beyond their control, and you have a very unjust God who not only allows this absurd state of affairs, but one that created it in the first place.

Queen of Swords

If the reason that pain, suffering, evil, etc. exist on earth is to make us appreciate goodness all the more, then the "souls" of aborted fetuses and embryos in heaven could very well be selfish brats who would take everything they had for granted. Heck, they might even be robots who completely lack free will, considering that they are not exposed to evil or even temptation - unless god runs each soul through a Kobayushi Maru-type Garden of Eden scenario to teach 'em a lesson.

DBT

I think it would also make it unjust for God to send those to hell who had to go through the trials of life but ultimately failed.