Does God forgive those in hell?

[Lorenzo]

Does God forgive those in hell?

[Lorenzo]

Answer:


Imagine someone rebels against their family and refuses to ever see them. The family calls them, invites them home, sends them messages telling them how much they are loved. Yet despite it all, the individual refuses to come home. Who is at fault?

God does not send anyone to hell. We choose hell when we reject God's offer of love and forgiveness. God always calls us back to Him but we have the free will to refuse. Those in hell were not refused God's forgiveness, they refused it.

To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell." (CCC 1033)

Those in hell have made an eternal choice through which they experience its eternal ramifications.


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