And, that discomfort with Hell and inability to wrap my brain around it is exactly why it's so important to share the Gospel with others!
I've never quite understood this particular argument for the great commission, unless the person it's coming from doesn't have the concept of invincible ignorance in their theology.
I don't think I explained myself very well in the other post. I was saying that the fact that I wish Hell weren't real because it's so horrible to try to comprehend means that it's of eternal importance to share with people the way to avoid it.
Do you think Anne Frank went to hell?
Who knows?
This is why the Roman Catholic Church has never taught that a particular individual is in hell. (And some notable theologians – Hans Urs von Balthasar to name only one – have expressed their hope that the hell may be empty in the end.) Nevertheless, the teaching of the Church regarding the existence of hell and its eternality is more than clear:
1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.
I mean condemning people to an eternity of awful seems counter to Jesus's message.
Absolutely not. Instead, interpreting the Christian message as "Do whatever you want, you will be saved anyway" is what runs counter to it. Jesus himself explains what will happen to those who reject him and his teachings:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
