聽神談【神啟發了教宗說明「關於地獄」】
再也沒有比「地獄是存在的」說法更能完全抓住人類想像的東西了。那說法是：宇宙裡有這麼一個地方，是神罰那些不遵守他的律法的人去的地方，這地方就叫「地獄」。
有關這個陰森可怕地方的嚇人畫面出現在全世界教學的天花板和壁畫上。這些令人煩惱的影像，同樣令人心煩意亂的畫也在小朋友們的教義問答課本裡和主日學校的小冊子上——最好能嚇唬他們。
數世紀以來，雖然善良的、上教堂的人們都相信這些影像所送出的訊息，然而這些訊息卻是假的。這也是我為何啟發了教宗約翰保祿二世在（一九九九年七月二十八日）梵蒂岡的覲見教皇會上指出：「不適當地運用《聖經》上的畫面會產生精神病或焦慮症，必須制止(“improper use of biblical pictures must not create psychosis or anxiety”)。」《聖經》上對地獄的描述，只是象徵性和隱喻性的意思。
我啟發了教宗說出：《聖經》所謂「無法澆熄的火」和「炙熱的鍋爐」指的是一種「沒有神的生命之全然挫折與空虛」。他解釋道：「地獄是一種與神分離的狀態，一種並非被神懲罰所引起，而是自我引發的狀態」。(Hell is a state of separation from God, a state caused not by a punishing God but rather, self-induced.)
執行報復或處罰任何人都不是神的功能，教宗在他的覲見教皇會上中說得很清楚。
摘自《與神合一》第15章
Nothing has captured the imagination of humans more completely than the idea that hell exists, that there is a place in the Universe to which God condemns those who have not obeyed His law.
Frightening, gruesome pictures of this horrific place appear in frescoes on the ceilings and walls of churches all over the world. Equally upsetting images adorn the pages of catechism texts and Sunday-school booklets given to little children—the better to scare them with.
And while good, church-going people have for centuries believed the message that these images send, it happens that the message is false. That is why I inspired Pope John Paul II to indicate to a Papal Audience at the Vatican (July 28, 1999) that “improper use of biblical pictures must not create psychosis or anxiety.”
I inspired the Pope to say that the “inextinguishable fire” and “the burning oven” the Bible speaks of “indicate the complete frustration and vacuity of a life without God.” Hell is a state of separation from God, he explained, a state caused not by a punishing God but rather, self- induced.
It is not God’s function to administer retribution or to punish anyone, and the Pope made that clear in his Audience.
