God and forgiveness: yes and no

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801828.htm

snip

ROME (CNS) -- God loves every human being, and there is nothing anyone can do that would destroy God's merciful desire to forgive, said Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria.Speaking April 4 at the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in Rome, Bishop Hilarion explored the teaching on divine mercy contained in the writings of the seventh-century hermit, St. Isaac the Syrian.

The saint, he said, taught that "divine loves lies at the foundation of the universe, it governs the world, and it will lead the world to that glorious outcome when the latter will be entirely 'consumed' by the godhead."

Bishop Hilarion said St. Isaac was opposed to the teaching, spread during his lifetime, that held that the majority of people would be punished in hell and only a few would make it to heaven.

The saint was "convinced that, quite the contrary, the majority of people will find themselves in the kingdom of heaven and that only a few sinners will go to Gehenna, and even then only for the period of time which is necessary for their repentance and remission of sins," the bishop said.

"Every created being is precious in God's eyes," Bishop Hilarion said. "If we turn away from God, he does not turn away from us."St. Isaac emphasized that God loves all people -- righteous and sinners -- equally. And the fact that a person may change -- may go from being cleansed in baptism to being a sinner -- will not change God, who is always merciful and loving, the bishop said.

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Do read this article, it is quite good and correct in theory.

HOWEVER, God can forgive anything except sins against the Holy Spirit. When one sins against the Holy Spirit and remains unrepentant one has sealed their own doom by removing themselves from access to God's mercy. Jesus Christ clearly stated this in the Gospels. This is why there are a huge number of people who are, sadly, going to hell.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was so concerned about the modern veering away from God and toward hell that she actually showed a glimpse of hell to the young children in Fatima and told them quite clearly that many are going to hell because of the moral decline and turning away from God. There is a difference between knowing that God wants to forgive and can forgive, and implying that even those who are unrepentant and continuing in sin will just stumble bum their way into heaven, which they assuredly will not. Many, many MANY more people are going to hell in these modern times than did so during the time of St. Isaac. Society has institutionalized the highway to hell and people are roaring along it to their eternal doom all the time. So while God can forgive, forgiveness requires that the person stop sinning and perform total and since penance and reconciliation in all aspects of their life.