[CCC1033-1041] 天主教教理: 地獄 HELL & 最後審判 THE LAST JUDGMENT

地獄 HELL & 最後審判 THE LAST JUDGMENT


CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
天主教教理
http://catholic.org.tw/goodshepherd/CCC/index.htm


CCC 1033-1041

四、地獄

除非我們自由地選擇愛天主，就不能與祂契合。假如我們犯嚴重的罪過反對祂，反對近人，反對自已，我們就不能愛祂：「那不愛的，就存在死亡內。凡惱恨自己弟兄的，便是殺人的；你們也知道：凡殺人的，便沒有永遠的生命存在他內」(若一3:15)。我們的主早已說過，假如我們不對貧窮者、弱小者在其急需中施予援手，我們就會與祂分離。 若人在大罪中過世時沒有悔意，沒有接受天主的慈愛，這表示他藉著自由的抉擇永遠與主分離。換言之，就是將自己排除與天主和真福者的共融之外，這種決定性的、自我排除的境況就稱為「地獄」。

耶穌屢次談到「地獄」，「不滅的火」， 這火是為那些至死不肯相信、不肯悔改的人而保留的，在火裡他們的靈魂和肉身都會一起喪亡。耶穌嚴厲地宣布，祂「要差遣祂的天使，將一切作惡的人收集起來，……扔到火窯裡」(瑪13:41-42)，並宣判：「可咒罵的，離開我，到永火裡去吧！」(瑪25:41)

教會訓導聲明地獄的存在和永久性。那些在死罪中過世的靈魂會立刻下地獄，受地獄的苦痛，就是「永火」。 地獄主要的痛苦是與天主永遠的分離，因為人只可從天主那裡得到生命和福樂，人是為此被創造，並不斷地渴求這生命和福樂。

聖經和教會訓導對地獄的聲明是為喚起人的責任，人以永遠的歸宿為目標，該負責地運用他的自由。同時這些聲明成為請人皈依的迫切呼籲：「你們要從窄門進去，因為寬門和大路導入喪亡；但有許多的人從那裡進去。那導入生命的門是多麼窄，路是多麼狹！找到它的人的確不多」(瑪7:13-14)。

我們不知道何時何日，我們必須遵從主的勸告，時常警惕，期望在結束了我們現世生命的唯一旅程之後，能與主同赴天宴，並加入受祝福者的行列，不要像懶惰的惡僕，被貶入永火及外面的黑暗中，那裡將有「哀號切齒」。

天主並沒有預定任何人下地獄。 因為下地獄是故意離棄天主的行為，亦即大罪，在大罪中罪人至死不悔改。在感恩祭和信友每日的祈禱中，教會懇求天主的仁慈，祂並不願意「任何人喪亡，只願眾人回心轉意」(伯後3:9)：

主，所以我們懇求禰，惠然收納，禰的僕人和禰全家所奉獻的這項禮品，使我們一生平安度日，脫免永罰，並得列入禰簡選的人群中。

五、最後審判

所有亡者復活之後，不論「義人或惡人」(宗24:15)都該經歷最後的審判。「那時候凡在墳墓裡的都要聽見他(人子)的聲音而出來：行過善的，復活進入生命；作過惡的，復活而受審判」(若5:28-29)。那時基督「將在自己的光榮中，與眾天使……一切民族，都要聚在祂面前，祂要把他們彼此分開，如同牧人分開綿羊和山羊一樣：把綿羊放在自己的右邊，山羊在左邊……這些人要進入永罰，而義人卻要進入永生」(瑪25:31,32,46)。

面對作為真理的基督，每個人與天主的真實關係將決定性地披露無遺。最後審判將啟示每個人在現世所行的善或未盡的本分，及其最終後果：

壞人的一切惡行都記錄下來，他們卻不知道。末日，「天主將不會保持緘默」(詠50:3)……祂轉向惡人，向他們說：「我曾將我可愛的窮人為你們放在世上。我就是他們的首領，在天上坐在我父的右邊，可是在地上我的肢體卻捱飢受餓。假如你們曾施捨過給我的肢體，你們的施捨本該到達他們的首領處。當我將可愛的窮人放在世上，我是要他們成為你們的運輸者，將你們的善行搬到我的寶庫裡，你們卻沒有將任何東西交到他們手上，為此你們從我身上也得不到甚麼」。

當基督榮耀地再來時，就有最後的審判。只有天父知道那日子和時辰，只有祂決定基督何時再來。通過祂的聖子耶穌，祂將對歷史作出決定性的發言。我們將知悉整個創世工程和救恩計畫的終極意義，同時將明白天主的眷顧，怎樣通過奇妙的途徑，引導萬有邁向最後的目標。最後審判要啟示天主的正義，勝於任何受造物所行的不義，因為祂的愛比死亡更強烈。

當天主還賜給人「悅納的時候和救恩的日子」(格後6:2)時，最後審判的訊息呼喚人皈依。它啟發對天主聖善的敬畏，使人為天國正義而獻身，宣告「所希望的真福」(鐸2:13)、主的再來，「因為祂要來，在祂的聖徒身上受光榮，在一切信眾身上受讚美」(得後1:10)。

IV. HELL

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."612 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.613 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.614 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"615 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"616

1035 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."617 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.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."618

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."619

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;620 for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":621

Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.622

V. THE LAST JUDGMENT

1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust,"623 will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."624 Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."625

1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare.626 The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life:

All that the wicked do is recorded, and they do not know. When "our God comes, he does not keep silence.". . . he will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . "I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would reach their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence."627

1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death.628

1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation."629 It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the "blessed hope" of the Lord's return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed."630