How is that Heaven and Hell thing working?

[DC]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.

is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?

[The Fallen Serpent]

In recent years the way Catholics often describe Hell to me is as separation from God. No fire, no brimstone, no devils sticking forks up your rear.... just the absence of the divine. Some go further to say that God is everything, so this separation from God is essentially a formless of void of nothingness. I have even heard a few claim that it is nonexistence. Not a formless consiousness just ceasing to be.

I am unclear what the official dogma is at this time.

[biomorph]

In recent years the way Catholics often describe Hell to me is as separation from God. No fire, no brimstone, no devils sticking forks up your rear.... just the absence of the divine.
You mean its not like it sez on the brochure........damn me, (?) thats the only reason i booked....can i cancel and go to hades or somewhere?


Some go further to say that God is everything, so this separation from God is essentially a formless of void of nothingness. I have even heard a few claim that it is nonexistence. Not a formless consiousness just ceasing to be.

Ah, new age dogma invasion...........lol


I am unclear what the official dogma is at this time.

Don't worry, I expect most Cath's are too....:p

[Bikewer]

Ah, it was so much simpler when I was a kid... You had Heaven, and Hell, and purgatory (like Hell, but you knew you were gonna get paroled) and Limbo (for the little babies that died without being baptized....)
By saying little prayers all the time, and wearing little religious thingies, you could get some "time off for good behavior" on the Purgatory thing. We got the impression that almost everybody would serve some Purgatory time, as it was hard to get through life (or even 10 minutes...) without committing some kind of sin.

[Dave Rogers]

I have even heard a few claim that it is nonexistence. Not a formless consiousness just ceasing to be.

That's just so that we atheists can't point to our lack of continued existence and say, "Ha! Gotcha!"

Dave

[Lolly]

I thought you got to go straight to heaven if you were good.

[DC]

I thought you got to go straight to heaven if you were good.

i got told that this is not ture, all go first in the same pot, later you get sortet out :D

[The Gnomon]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.

is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?
Where are the Virgins? I wan my Virgins!w

[Lolly]

Well, our nuns must have been fibbing or maybe I wasn't listening....

[The Gnomon]

Where are the Virgins? I want my Virgins!!

[The Gnomon]

I thought you got to go straight to heaven if you were good.
I heard recently that the RC church had done away with Limbo. Dante would be quite disappointed. They didn't say what happened to the virtuous pagans and the unbaptized children - I guess they went straight to the Circle of the Unbelievers. Tough break, after all those years, just because some old political appointee (Pope) decided to abolish their home.

[poblob14]

Just reporting, for those who are actually interested in the dogma (please don't take this as me saying I believe any of it):

Hell exists, and there's fire, but that's not the bad part:

The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."615 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

For the unbaptized babies and such, well, it's kind of up in the air:

As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism.

Limbo is, and always has been, an optional belief, even though plenty of nuns have taught it differently through the years. Purgatory's still there, though not talked about quite as much.

[DC]

Where are the Virgins? I want my Virgins!!

Sorry dude, wrong heaven, the Virgins went over to Allah's heaven.

[Bishadi]

In recent years the way Catholics often describe Hell to me is as separation from God.

an evolution!


ie... when mankind 'left the garden' mankind became a self serving fool, using the knowledge to do more damage (to all; god itself) than good. (eating from the tree (of knowledge) in selfish intent; bad)


To be separate from 'reality' is a living hell.

following ignorance over truth is what is harming the majority. ie... too many 'false witness' fact and are not held responsible.


i will bet a simple global chemotherapy (if a doc says, they cant clean up the body, it is often the last resort), then i bet the return to the garden (survival) becomes a fact of life. (but this time, the knowledge (the last word) does exist, right now!!!!)


ie.... a return to the garden is coming. (from daniel, ezekial, tantric and revelation; the docs all render what i see as practically medical)


I am unclear what the official dogma is at this time.

so far, you just posted a claim that the catholic theology has evolved. That's a good start!!!!!!

[DC]

following ignorance over truth is what is harming the majority.

a return to the garden is coming.

:covereyes

[Cainkane1]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.

is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?
Sounds like the Zoroastrian concept of heaven and hell.

[DC]

Sounds like the Zoroastrian concept of heaven and hell.

no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory

[Marduk]

Well, our nuns must have been fibbing or maybe I wasn't listening....

maybe they just made up the "everyman heaven" specifically just for you because your evil nature was apparent from an early age and they didn't want to worry you into becoming a destructive classroom element

did you consider that ?
:p

[maddog]

Ah, it was so much simpler when I was a kid... You had Heaven, and Hell, and purgatory (like Hell, but you knew you were gonna get paroled) and Limbo (for the little babies that died without being baptized....)
By saying little prayers all the time, and wearing little religious thingies, you could get some "time off for good behavior" on the Purgatory thing. We got the impression that almost everybody would serve some Purgatory time, as it was hard to get through life (or even 10 minutes...) without committing some kind of sin.


This is how I learned it from the Nuns. Plus, buying indulgences was supposed to get you less time in Purgatory, too. "Purgatory" is like the room of purging - where all your sins get purged from your soul so that you can be clean and pure for heaven.

[Lolly]

did you consider that ?
Nope.

[Foolmewunz]

Ah, it was so much simpler when I was a kid... You had Heaven, and Hell, and purgatory (like Hell, but you knew you were gonna get paroled) and Limbo (for the little babies that died without being baptized....)
By saying little prayers all the time, and wearing little religious thingies, you could get some "time off for good behavior" on the Purgatory thing. We got the impression that almost everybody would serve some Purgatory time, as it was hard to get through life (or even 10 minutes...) without committing some kind of sin.

Apparently I was a cynic at a very young age. My best friend was Catholic and I flirted with becoming a Catholic because it seemed like his Catholic friends were cooler than my Jewish buddies. He'd tell me, matter of factly - not all preachy - about the stuff he learned in catechism, and I latched onto only one thing... Sister Mary Francine told them that the one sure method of going to heaven was if you died defending The Church. (In retrospect, I guess Sister was hoping for a new Crusade,... or sumfin')

And I distinctly recall, at about the age of eight, thinking that this was cool. I could live my evil life stealing change from mom's purse and breaking windows and lying about why I didn't do my homework, and then after eighty or so years of that, I'd just hang out in front of St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans) and wait for some evil-doer to come and try to do some evil to the Cathedral, and I'd fight him 'til the death. Everlasting and eternal bliss would ensue.

[Simon39759]

Apparently I was a cynic at a very young age. My best friend was Catholic and I flirted with becoming a Catholic because it seemed like his Catholic friends were cooler than my Jewish buddies. He'd tell me, matter of factly - not all preachy - about the stuff he learned in catechism, and I latched onto only one thing... Sister Mary Francine told them that the one sure method of going to heaven was if you died defending The Church. (In retrospect, I guess Sister was hoping for a new Crusade,... or sumfin')

And I distinctly recall, at about the age of eight, thinking that this was cool. I could live my evil life stealing change from mom's purse and breaking windows and lying about why I didn't do my homework, and then after eighty or so years of that, I'd just hang out in front of St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans) and wait for some evil-doer to come and try to do some evil to the Cathedral, and I'd fight him 'til the death. Everlasting and eternal bliss would ensue.



You should have gone born again. Not even need for a painful death.
When you feel you are too old and tired to sin, just say the magic words and VOILA!

[154]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.
is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?
It is not Biblical Christianity.
In recent years the way Catholics often describe Hell to me is as separation from God. No fire, no brimstone, no devils sticking forks up your rear.... just the absence of the divine. Some go further to say that God is everything, so this separation from God is essentially a formless of void of nothingness. I have even heard a few claim that it is nonexistence. Not a formless consiousness just ceasing to be.
I am unclear what the official dogma is at this time.
Catholics. Catholic traditions of men.
They didn't mention the Bible or Jesus Christ much, did they?
Ah, it was so much simpler when I was a kid... You had Heaven, and Hell, and purgatory (like Hell, but you knew you were gonna get paroled) and Limbo (for the little babies that died without being baptized....)
By saying little prayers all the time, and wearing little religious thingies, you could get some "time off for good behavior" on the Purgatory thing. We got the impression that almost everybody would serve some Purgatory time, as it was hard to get through life (or even 10 minutes...) without committing some kind of sin.Again, all Catholic stuff. Not in or from the Bible. No need or mention for Jesus Christ, huh?
I heard recently that the RC church had done away with Limbo. Dante would be quite disappointed. They didn't say what happened to the virtuous pagans and the unbaptized children - I guess they went straight to the Circle of the Unbelievers. Tough break, after all those years, just because some old political appointee (Pope) decided to abolish their home.A bunch of guys, Catholics, change their minds all the time amongst themselves according to themselves, ignoring the Bible and ignoring Christ,

while maintaining that they are The Christian Church.

This is how I learned it from the Nuns. Plus, buying indulgences was supposed to get you less time in Purgatory, too. "Purgatory" is like the room of purging - where all your sins get purged from your soul so that you can be clean and pure for heaven.
Again, absolutely nothing to do with any truth of Jesus Christ and that whole "dying for our sins" business, from the supposed church of Jesus Christ?
And a bunch of other stuff that amounts to "Don't worry what that book says, you just need to pay me." because it has absolutely no basis in The Bible or Jesus Christ.

Apparently I was a cynic at a very young age. My best friend was Catholic and I flirted with becoming a Catholic because it seemed like his Catholic friends were cooler than my Jewish buddies. He'd tell me, matter of factly - not all preachy - about the stuff he learned in catechism, and I latched onto only one thing... Sister Mary Francine told them that the one sure method of going to heaven was if you died defending The Church. (In retrospect, I guess Sister was hoping for a new Crusade,... or sumfin')Nothing about Jesus Christ, but die defending The Roman Catholic Church...

The Roman Catholic Church is not Christianity but the traditions of men in disregarding The Bible and Jesus Christ.

And then everybody blames Christians for the Catholics...

[Thunder]

I don't know about you, but I'm going to Heaven.

[154]

When you feel you are too old and tired to sin, just say the magic words and VOILA!Because, if there is a Creator God, that will surely fool Him..

I don't know about you, but I'm going to Heaven.What makes you so sure?

[Thunder]

What makes you so sure?

Because I am a good person and try my best to do the right thing. That's what counts.

You don't have to be perfect, you just have to try your best. Its the thought that counts.

:)

[154]

Because I am a good person and try my best to do the right thing. That's what counts.

You don't have to be perfect, you just have to try your best. Its the thought that counts.

:)

Says who?

[Marduk]

Says who?

everybody with a functioning brain
why can't you see that ?
oh wait.......
:D

[bokonon]

Where are the Virgins? I want my Virgins!!
Did you ever stop to think maybe there's a reason they're virgins?

[154]

everybody with a functioning brain
why can't you see that ?
oh wait.......
:D
Why would you aid and abet the escape of Thunder from his own inability just to snipe at me about something you didn't even address in your shot?

Why am I still that important to you, Mardukky?

[Thunder]

Says who?

my religion. and I have nothing to justify nor explain nor prove to you.

I know what my religion believes.

[Marduk]

Why would you aid and abet the escape of Thunder from his own inability just to snipe at me about something you didn't even address in your shot?

Why am I still that important to you, Mardukky?
youre an easy target because you know nothing about God or religion
;)
while maintaining that they are The Christian Church.

Which Church was it that started off the christian bandwagon ?
:p
Did you ever stop to think maybe there's a reason they're virgins?
think 154
:D

[Thunder]

Which Church was it that started off the christian bandwagon ?
:p

I believe the Orthodox Christians in Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia represent the oldest version of Christianity in existence today.

[Marduk]

I believe the Orthodox Christians in Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia represent the oldest version of Christianity in existence today.

I didn't say oldest
:p

[154]

my religion. and I have nothing to justify nor explain nor prove to you.

I know what my religion believes.What does "your religion" say about you going to heaven? I would like you to tell me. I don't think "your religion" says what you seem to think it says. Show me otherwise, unless you can't, in which case, just say so.

[Thunder]

What does "your religion" say about you going to heaven? I would like you to tell me. I don't think "your religion" says what you seem to think it says.

all you "know" about my religion, is what your religion very jealously and hatefully says about my religion.

[154]

all you "know" about my religion, is what your religion very jealously and hatefully says about my religion.

Do you know "your" own religion? Are you religious? Are you a Believer?

[Thunder]

Do you know "your" own religion?

I went to a religious school when I was younger. I attended Hebrew school from age 8 though 13. I was raised by a father who attended a Yeshiva till he was 18. I had a Bar-Mitzvah. I have many Orthodox relatives. I am fairly familiar with the Hebrew Bible.

I am confident I know a GREAT deal more about Judaism than you.

[154]

Are you religious? Are you a Believer?

[Thunder]

;)

[The Fallen Serpent]

Catholics. Catholic traditions of men.
They didn't mention the Bible or Jesus Christ much, did they?


Christians. Christian traditions of men. So what if they also belong to the subset of Catholics? It is all traditions of men as far as I have been able to tell. In actuality, they mentioned the Bible and Jesus Christ quite a bit. Apparently Catholics consider them foundational to the religion. Central to the faith even. Go figure, huh?

As to the various interpetations of Hell, considering half a dozen different words describing different elements of theology being mashed and separated by different readers at different times I am not confident there is a "correct" or "accurate" Biblical interpetation of a single conception of Hell.

[154]

Christians. Christian traditions of men. So what if they also belong to the subset of Catholics?No.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,

if you are willing to see.

Christianity says Jesus Christ.

Catholics say the Catholic Church, with some token Jesus stuff thrown in to impress the so-impressionable.

[The Fallen Serpent]

No.Yes.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.Catholicism is a subset of Christianity.

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,That there are huge disagreements between Christians on points of theology and not everyone is willing to listen to the offical Catholic dogma? No one is denying this. There are disagreements going back to the earliest attempts to interpet the first writings of Christianity.

if you are willing to see.Show me something new and I would be interested. I find this stuff fascinating.

Christianity says Jesus Christ.

Catholics say the Catholic Church, with some token Jesus stuff thrown in to impress the so-impressionable.

No, they mostly say that Jesus told Peter to build a Church and that the Holy Spirit descended upon this Church and continues to divinely inspire it. Basically, they say they have Jesus talking in the back of their heads. Not that it is not crazy, but at least represent the actual crazy the Church claims. Basically the big difference is that the Bible was not the final authority, though it is an important foundation and still an authority. To Catholicism the continuously divinely inspired Church is the final authority.

[Brattus]

No.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,

if you are willing to see.

Christianity says Jesus Christ.

Catholics say the Catholic Church, with some token Jesus stuff thrown in to impress the so-impressionable.

Yeah! I'm with 154 on this! We are not the so-impressionable! We know the truth!

The truth is that Jesus Christ our lord and Saviour will rip his bloody nailed hands from the cross and kick that Catholic ass!




People arguing over what made up stuff to believe always cracks me up.

[tkmikkelsen]

No.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,

if you are willing to see.

Christianity says Jesus Christ.

Catholics say the Catholic Church, with some token Jesus stuff thrown in to impress the so-impressionable.

*deep sigh before typing*

No, no and no. Christianity is the belief centered around Jesus from Nazareth. The main forms of Christianity is Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestantism. Protestantism is then further divided into a myriad of different churches and practices.

Read at least Wikipedia before you post again next time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity

[The Fallen Serpent]

People arguing over what made up stuff to believe always cracks me up.You think they could at least spice it up with aliens or robots and outer space or something!

Scientology

Well damn. Careful what you wish for!

[Thunder]

No.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.


Catholicism is one of the earliest forms of Christianity. Most of Europe was Catholic up until a few centuries ago.

[Bikewer]

Mind, I got my Catholocism back in the 50s.... There was never any mention of being "saved" in the Protestant sense. I never heard the words "born again" mentioned. The big thing with JC was guilt..."He DIED for you!"
And of course, being good Catholic youth, we needed not only faith but works for our eventual salvation... You had to be actively good.

The Catholics of that era were rather paranoid... We were told in considerable detail which churches we might attend should we be somewhere lacking a proper Catholic item.. Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox... They were OK. But no Baptists or other Protestants.... Naughty... We were not even supposed to use the "Y" (YMCA) as they had their underpinnings in one of the naughty sects.
Naturally, nearly everybody in the parish sent their kids to the Y anyway to learn to swim... It was the only facility around. I never heard any of the staff mention even a word about religion.
Possibly the worst group mentioned was the abominable Masons.... Whereas the equally-secretive Knights Of Columbus were something to be aspired to.

[kbm99]

To be separate from 'reality' is a living hell.


I for one suspect Bishadi speaks with authority on this particular point.

[maddog]

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,

Sure. Even the Catholic Church eventually agreed that the Protestant Reformation was done for some good reasons. They adopted many of the changes that Luther advocated. Since then, in some areas, the Catholic and "high church" protestants (like Lutherans, Anglican/Episcopals) have swapped back and forth on a number of policies.

So what?

No religion actually has any solid evidence for the existence of heaven or hell, nor anything else after death. You can choose to believe in any of it, if you wish - just admit that that is what it is: a belief, in faith, with no evidence upon which to base that belief. "The Bible said so", or anyone else said so, is not evidence - it's just an argument that others have believed the same thing.

[Marduk]

No.

Catholics teach Catholicism, not Christianity.

In this thread alone, only from the responders describing what the Catholic Church told them, the reasons for "the Protestant Reformation" should be most obvious,

if you are willing to see.

Christianity says Jesus Christ.

Catholics say the Catholic Church, with some token Jesus stuff thrown in to impress the so-impressionable.
wrong again, thats just your bigotry extended to other christian cults talking
what does the word "Jesuit" mean to you
:p

[yomero]

Where are the Virgins? I want my Virgins!!

Relax. You'll get your virgin: Mother Teresa. Enjoy eternity.

[rickps]

Relax. You'll get your virgin

Wooohooooo!

Mother Teresa..

Ohhhh!

Enjoy eternity.

Nooooooo!

[Ferguson]

A catholic girl once explained to me that people sent to Hell aren't tortured, just destroyed (into non-existence). This actually makes sense to me (as a possible original intent of the myth) since Jesus is said to be the only way to get "eternal life," and avoid "death." In the phrase "cast into eternal fire," the fire is eternal, but is there to burn up (destroy) the souls of the dead, i.e. you're thrown in, your soul burns to death (lol), then you're gone for good. I'm sure there's a few dozen passages that could be interpreted either way, though, I'm no bible scholar.

Of course why an actual fire is needed to burn souls into non-existence was left unexplained.

[Marduk]

A catholic girl once explained to me that people sent to Hell aren't tortured, just destroyed (into non-existence). This actually makes sense to me (as a possible original intent of the myth) since Jesus is said to be the only way to get "eternal life," and avoid "death." In the phrase "cast into eternal fire," the fire is eternal, but is there to burn up (destroy) the souls of the dead, i.e. you're thrown in, your soul burns to death (lol), then you're gone for good. I'm sure there's a few dozen passages that could be interpreted either way, though, I'm no bible scholar.

Of course why an actual fire is needed to burn souls into non-existence was left unexplained.

if thats what happend Biblical armageddon is going to be understaffed
:D

[Schrodinger's Cat]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.

is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?

I've never heard of that, but it's important to remember that there's a lot of different sects of Catholicism. They're not as centralized to the Vatican and the Catechism of the Catholic Church as they were just a few decades ago. A lot of Catholic sects have teachings which outright reject ideas in the Catechism, and the Catechism is seen as a dated book that isn't given much mind. Especially since the death of JP II and in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is losing ever more power and influence over individual congregations, especially amongst the younger generations, who have increasingly less regard for the Holy See as opposed to their individual parish. The Church is becoming less and less unified, so as the years go on, it's increasingly difficult to refer to Catholic "beliefs" because they are becoming ever more divergent.

I was raised a liberal Catholic, and we really just focused on the gospels more than anything else and on Christ's good works. They hardly ever talked about Hell or Revelations at all, just really focused on Christ's teachings about charity, love, tolerance, etc. They really focused on the importance of volunteerism and being a good person, and we were taught that you were judged on your deeds rather than your beliefs. We were taught that what was important was being "Christ like" - i.e. just being a good person, rather than needing to believe that Christ is the savior in order to get to Heaven. And when it came to Hell...well, as I sad, we didn't talk about it much, but when we did talk about it, it was definitely more of the "absence of the presence of God" rather than torture and fire and stuff. But we were told you would be really sad because you'd always be aware that you were separated from the glory of God - but again, it wasn't that nonbelievers went there, just really bad people.

Obviously this is very different from what some other sects of Christianity - or even some other sects of Catholicism (though the Vatican itself rejects Bible literalism) - believe, namely that others believe it doesn't matter how good a person you are, the ONLY thing that matters is that you think that Jesus Christ is the savior and that belief in Him is the only way to Heaven. Also the other big distinction is that liberal Catholics and some other Christian sects aren't Bible literalists. Now of course other Christians often have a problem with this because they ARE Bible literalists and think treating the Bible as a holy book - but one which is largely allegorical/mythological and not meant to be taken as literal truth - is blasphemy. But I never understood that because the Bible is only a very small collection of gospels and religious writings that were arbitrarily picked throughout the years from an enormous amount of other gospels and religious writings that were floating around at the time. It doesn't make sense to me to say you believe in the Bible, but not the gnostic gospels, which were from the same time period and have just as much legitimacy. They just didn't fill the political agenda of whoever was compiling scriptures at the time, so they were left out while what we have now was left in.

In any event, I was certainly never taught that Catholics are more "Christian" than any other sect. Christians are just those who follow and worship Christ and believe him to be the Son of God. There are many kinds of Christians who worship and believe in many kinds of ways.

[Lolly]

I was raised a liberal Catholic, and we really just focused on the gospels more than anything else and on Christ's good works. That sounds like what the nuns I had at school were like. The only thing I got out of it was "do unto others what you'd have them do to you" (or however the saying goes). There was nothing about armageddon or that sort of stuff. The most memorable bit of religious education was the priest's "don't marry a moron" talk. He told us not to marry a moron because as far as the catholics were concerned you were stuck with him for good.

[Ethnikos]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell until armageddon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternity.
is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?
That sounds like how it was explained to me by an Orthodox guy, so that interpretation may be accurate.
I personally have not been to either Heaven or Hell but I think I did go to that intermediary place, which is like a long term waiting room. That was from one of the two times I died or what seemed like it to me. The time when I think I was really technically dead was a sensation of my life draining from my body, then nothing. Obviously I am alive today and I think God raised me from the dead so I can talk about it. Not the only reason, and I don't normally ever talk about it. Mainly here, on this forum and not so much of that, really because some people get offended by the idea of there actually being a God.
I have not met God personally, or Jesus for that matter but I have met a few angels, as I brought up in another thread just the other day. All I can say for sure is that there are spirit beings about and some are good and some are bad and they can do real physical things in this world and best to have a thought about one kind of god or another (I prefer the Christian God) to help out so the good spirits help you, and the bad ones do not cause you harm. And when you find yourself in that place after you die, do not loose hope and call on your God to save you. It is never too late to ask.

[jakesteele]

By a Catholic i got expleined how the heaven thing works.
Everyone will burn in a sort of hell untill armagedon, only then the good ones will come to heaven. and the bad guys will go to the real hell for eternety.

is that really the Catholic idea of the Heaven and hell thingy?

I've always found it ironic that something that is professed to be the divine, unchanging, everlasting truth keeps getting a new paint job every so often. Example, compare the religious mindset from the Inquisition days to 1600s to 40s to 50s to nowadays. Vastly different. The best explanation I have ever heard is simple absence of God/presence of God. To get there one must undergo the journey of the Christhood. In other words, original sin is just being born with the potential for all things human, both good and bad. The journey of the Christhood is like mining a bunch of iron ore from the ground full of impurities that you then take to the foundry and put in a 'crucible of fire' and heat it white hot until the impurities burn off. The white hot temp. is the trials and tribulations you go through in life as you strive to make yourself more God like (no impurities)

[Ethnikos]

Looking at that OP again, I realise that it does not agree with that Orthodox view as I said. It would if you leave off the "burning" in the first part. I went back and looked at what he had written and to be correct, insert "darkness".
The burning is reserved for a final judgement, which comes later.

[Schrodinger's Cat]

People arguing over what made up stuff to believe always cracks me up.

It's true that the Catholics take more direction from authority figures (priests and nuns, bishops, etc) and that some other people take direction DIRECTLY from the Bible itself.

It's really just as silly. In one case, you believe something just because some guys said once "don't worry, we're getting this from God directly," and set up the Church with it's rules and dogma...which then have changed enormously over the centuries... but each time they changed the rules or dogma they said "don't worry, we got the okay from God to do this!"

In another case, you believe something just because it was written on papyrus scrolls by people who said "don't worry, we're getting this from God directly" ...and then other people generations later chose which scrolls to take for the Bible, and then that Bible was heavily edited and rewritten throughout the years... but each time they said, "don't worry, we got the okay from God to do this!"

In both cases, you're just taking it on blind faith that man made constructs (books vs Churches) are getting whatever information they're telling you directly from the big guy upstairs, while offering you absolutely no proof of this fact.