re: #618 Salamantis

Your position condemn Gandhi to Hell. And yet admits Adolph Hitler, who stated in 1941 to his chief of staff, General Gerhard Engel, that he would always remain a committed Catholic, to Heaven.

Suicide is a mortal sin. In that tiny fraction of a second between the time he pulled the trigger and the bullet destroyed brain function, Hitler had better have done some massive repenting. Let’s just say that seems more than a little unlikely. Former seminary student Stalin, on the other hand, apparently had some hours to contemplate his afterlife at the end. He may well have realized he’d messed up very badly for most of his life and despaired at the thought he’d offended God. I wouldn’t put much money on it though.

Theoretically, it’s possible for a person who has embraced evil for much of his life to honestly repent on his deathbed, but what’s the real odds of that happening? There’s more to repentance than simply saying it - one has to actually be repentant to the bottom of one’s soul. Being sorry for being caught isn’t the same as being sorry you done it. You can’t BS God. If you don’t mean it, He knows, and you’re toast.

As for Gandhi, I’m moderately comfortable with sending him to Hell, if for no reason than his odious belief that Jews should have gone peacefully into the ovens.