(no subject)
Hmmmm...I am quite behind with everything due to visiting Cambridge. Trying to read through Aristotle's politics for tomorrow, which is annoyingly difficult since I'm feeling rather distracted. Think I shall, in fact, have to try to stay in Brighton until Easter, since there is just so much to do!
Anyway...
When I was a catholic, I always thought that the belief in purgatory was quite a good thing. If you commit a mortal sin, according to Catholic teaching, you go to hell. Mortal sins can include murder, suicide, sex outside marriage, not attending mass. However for it to count as a mortal sin one has to have full knowledge of the gravity of the matter and to give full consent. Thus, if someone commits suicide because they are depressed, it would not count as a mortal sin, because they cannot be said to have had full knowledge and to have given full consent. Therefore, they would go to purgatory for a while, not to hell. I like to think that since I don't agree with Catholic doctrine, anymore, if it does turn out to be true, I will just go to purgatory since full knowledge and full consent cannot really apply to someone who is not a catholic!
Anyway, I was talking to a Christian friend of mine the other day, and he doesn't believe in purgatory. Instead, he actually believes that there is just heaven and hell. This really does sound terribly strange.
Anyway...
When I was a catholic, I always thought that the belief in purgatory was quite a good thing. If you commit a mortal sin, according to Catholic teaching, you go to hell. Mortal sins can include murder, suicide, sex outside marriage, not attending mass. However for it to count as a mortal sin one has to have full knowledge of the gravity of the matter and to give full consent. Thus, if someone commits suicide because they are depressed, it would not count as a mortal sin, because they cannot be said to have had full knowledge and to have given full consent. Therefore, they would go to purgatory for a while, not to hell. I like to think that since I don't agree with Catholic doctrine, anymore, if it does turn out to be true, I will just go to purgatory since full knowledge and full consent cannot really apply to someone who is not a catholic!
Anyway, I was talking to a Christian friend of mine the other day, and he doesn't believe in purgatory. Instead, he actually believes that there is just heaven and hell. This really does sound terribly strange.