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Originally Posted by snapshot
Don't you think that's a little rash when your eternal salvation is at stake? Shouldn't preparing for the afterlife be the most important part of your life?
This is what I can't comprehend: religious moderates. How can you consider yourself Christian but be unconcerned with the way that you are following your religion? Shouldn't you constantly be checking and double-checking to see if your actions are going to send you to hell?
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As an educated Roman Catholic (one that knows what the Church actually teaches), I have a much better sense of heaven and hell than the average catholic.
Heaven isnt a place, its a state of being -- being able to accept God's love. God offers every single person His love unconditionally, there is nothing you can do that God wont forgive you for. Being able to feel His love is heaven, not being able to feel it is Hell.
According to this teaching, wheter you go to Heaven and Hell is based on how your soul or personality has conditioned itself thoughout you're life. If you constantly are doing things that are unloving, it is going to have a negative effect on you. An example would be somone who murders or lies or steals their entire life. These actions are going to have a perminant effect on their being. Rarely would you find someone like this who is a loving, happy person.
For me, it comes down to this. Is eating meat on Fridays in lent going to have a bad effect on my soul?
The Roman Catholic church is extremly misunderstood in this day and age. They teach that as long as you are a good person, eternal happiness (as is being able to accept Gods love once you die -- not living in some magical place with all your dead friends and family) is yours.