Purgatory and Hell -cont. & Anthropomorphism

In view of the three concurrently required conditions in order to commit a mortal sin, and considering the great amount of the lesser sort of sinning going on and, if we think of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory as actual places (which, of course, they are not!) then Purgatory is the one most crowded; few of us lead such exemplary lives that we would deserve to go immediately to Heaven, upon our death and, likewise, few of us are so profoundly wicked as to deserve a quick one-way ticket to Hell. Whew! Thank God for that. I, for one, am pretty damned sure that I, being a sort of penny-ante sinner, will almost certainly go to Purgatory. Hey. It's not the tops, but all things considered, I think myself pretty lucky and, for sure, I'll have plenty of company!
---------------
Anthropomorphism: In the above addendum and probably in most of my comments thus far, I have most likely played with the intellectually dangerous tendency to picture things and places that have no form to begin with. Heaven, hell and purgatory are not places, as I've already said, but we will not require any space to occupy any way, being pure spirit and body-less. This tendency to imagine the unimaginable is only human, of course, and I don't want to get carried away in a crusade against something that is, after all, so natural. I just want to point out how dangerous it is to put too much emphasis on such things. I have friends who do believe that heaven, and hell are places (one being way up above in the clouds, of course, and the other way, way deep down below!..where, of course, we'll recognize each other in our tired old body forms. I have not wanted to test their belief systems too much by asking how we will be dressed and will we have changes of attire, so as not to be wearing the same thing all the time!)

This tendency to think of the spiritual world in graphic terms, has brought about some great art throughout the ages and great literature. How could Dante have written his great works without using anthropomorphic terms of reference...and how could we have understood him, if he did? So...yes...it is natural and, as long as we don't fall victim to intellectual sloppiness and become literalists, it's perfectly okay. But I am staggered by the number of people who do precisely that, and get caught up in all kinds of intellectual snags as a result.

I was talking to a lady the other day who quite seriously referred to the fires of hell and I was frightened. Not by the fires described, but by the conviction she showed in such a thing. But, she's not alone. There are millions of people who believe in the tongues of fire ready to sear the limbs of those who don't straighten-up and "get right with the Lord." And if that's not frightening enough, what about the fact that there is a major non-Catholic Christian religion that teaches that God, the Father has a body and that the virgin birth came about by way of that Father's body having sexual relations with the virgin Jewish maiden, name of Mary!

It is not so surprising that there are a number of people who are completely turned off to religion and who call themselves atheists, when they see themselves surrounded by illogical believers. If the belief systems themselves, so replete with such nonsense were not bad enough, they have the spectacle of what people who hold to such systems do to one another. Witness the recent spectacle of Protestant and Catholic wars in Ireland. Witness all the war and mayhem practiced thoughout history in the name of one religion or another. How can anyone blame individuals who opt out and refuse to accept the existence of a God who is, apparently, the author of such insanity?

And, so far, I have had reference only to Christianity. What can I say about fundamentalist, jihadist, fratricidal Islamists, who could only be persuaded to stop killing their fellow Islamists, by directing their blood-lust to the "heathens," the Christians? Would that they could be a tiny bit more merciful amongst themselves and toward others in imitation of Allah, the Most Merciful?

Sometimes, it is hard to hold fast to being even a Contrarian Catholic and just throw the whole thing up in desparation. What keeps me moored, even though questioningly, is knowing something else besides the horrors listed above: That this religion has been the nurturing source for a considerable number of heroically holy people...the Saints, as well as the haters, killers, etc. The reference in the New Testament about good trees bearing good fruit...that keeps me steadfast in my faith, contrary at times, though it be!

I can continue to get great comfort from looking at the beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin in my garden and be inspired by gazing at the crucifix on my bedroom wall, but I know they are just representative of a spiritual substratum, bearing no likeness whatsoever to the essences they attempt to picture.