Monday, July 16, 2012

There Is a Hell

One blog I check out regularly, because of its educational value, is Charleston Thug Life.  The owners of this blog started it as a way of exposing the criminal element in the Charleston, South Carolina area by means of their own Facebook postings.  For those who live in the Lowcountry, CTL is a rich source of information on the criminal records of persons who feature prominently in front-page crime stories; for those who don't, it is still a valuable primer on subjects such as gang life, street slang and the illegal drug trade.  CTL has recently expanded its mission to include covering the problem of contraband in prisons, and in particular, publicizing the Facebook pages of inmates with cell phones.

Charleston Thug Life also has value as a manual on how not to live.  There, on the Facebook pages of gangbangers, all seven of the deadly sins are on parade.  The bangers love to post pictures of their guns; gigantic wads of cash from slinging dope; the dope itself; themselves, lazing around, or with their babymamas, or posing in their bathroom mirrors, showing off their teeth bling or their tats, flipping the bird and throwing gang signs, and -- worst of all -- their little kids doing all of the above.  Contrary to the claims of race hustlers that gangbanging is a legitimate response of minorities to oppression by whites, the bangers of whatever race are motivated simply by greed for money (a common slogan: "M.O.E.", Money Over Everything), love of violence, lust for sex, power and pleasure, disdain for work and hatred of authority.  

The Christian faith tells us that all of the foregoing are paving stones on the broad, smooth path to perdition.  Yet, if their Facebook pages are any indication, the bangers are often imbued by a certitude of eternal bliss in the next life, both for themselves and for their brothers in thughood.  They prattle about praying, and spew greeting-card platitudes about overcoming adversity -- the adversity that they brought upon themselves by doing exactly as they please, no matter whom it hurts, but which they blame on the "crackers" that put them behind bars.  Even the ones who have been found guilty of rape, murder and kidnapping think they have God's approval.  And when their fellow bangers stop bullets in the pursuit of M.O.E., they are now "in a better place," "getting their rest."


Really?  This is an issue we have explored previously in this space, and it's worth going over again.  If you lead a life of dissipation, sling dope out of your taxpayer-subsidized Section 8 house, impregnate women you're not married to, cruise around town looking for trouble, smoke blunts and play video games all day, and teach your toddlers to throw gang signs, are you fulfilling God's will for your life?  And if your very last act on this earth is sticking up a gas station, or doing a home-invasion robbery, or gunning for rival gang members, or firing on police officers during a high-speed chase, is it really a better place you're headed for?  Would heaven really be heaven if you made it there as is?


Bulletin: every single one of us is going to die someday.  Every single one of us is going to appear before the highest tribunal of all, whose judgment is final and from which there is no appeal.  If we have been faithful to God and tried to serve Him and please Him in this life, and avoid the things that displease Him, we will go to heaven; if not, we will go to hell.  There is a hell, and damnation is forever and irremediable.  If you lead the thug lifestyle, you are on the one-way express train for hell.  The bling and the new car and the expensive athletic shoes will pass to new owners and do you no sort of good whatever.


So get off the train now, while you still can.  Go to confession, and turn your life around.  You will die as you have lived.

5 comments:

  1. I do not know how you can handle all that sin online. You are a better woman than I am. And, dear Fr. Barron does not help here, as he has stated on YouTube videos and in classes in the States where students have told me that he denies there is anyone in hell. Good grief.

    We have gone overboard on the mercy of God theme. We need to save souls, not overlook sin.

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  2. Oh no, I am not a better woman, just accustomed to looking at this sort of thing day in and day out because of my work. As much satisfaction as I often get from my work, I must confess that the world would be a better place if women did not have to do it. No doubt some will find that offensive. Too bad. It is not a question whether a woman CAN do it; clearly she can. The question is whether she should have to.

    Universal salvation, and its first cousin, once saved always saved, are dreadful and pernicious doctrines. Both encourage people to do exactly as they please. That is a shortcut to damnation.

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  3. A powerful post, Anita. It would be great if a similar type commentary would be posted at the USCCB blog... Alas, I am a dreamer.

    Supertradmum: Interesting comment about Fr. Barron. I just might check things out to corroborate.

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  4. TH2, thanks. You are indeed a dreamer. Maybe your own Canadian bishops will post it.

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