{"id":2412,"date":"2015-08-19T18:21:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T22:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=2412"},"modified":"2017-06-03T13:06:12","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T17:06:12","slug":"are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html","title":{"rendered":"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn&#8217;t Pray Enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p style=\"color: #141823; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2015\/08\/HellTurkmenistan.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2413\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2015\/08\/HellTurkmenistan-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"HellTurkmenistan\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #252525;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cThe Door to Hell\u201d in Turkmenistan, Darvaza<\/span> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:The_Door_to_Hell.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/<a class=\"extiw decorated-link\" style=\"color: #663366;\" title=\"w:en:Creative Commons\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/en:Creative_Commons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0<a class=\"external text decorated-link\" style=\"color: #663366;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic<\/a>\u00a0license]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">Someone wrote on my Facebook page:<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I don\u2019t like when Mary said to the children at Fatima that people are going there because they have no one to pray for them. It just really bothers me. The thought is awful. How shall Christ be all in all when so many of his members are eternally damned? Lord please have mercy on a soul destined to be damned tonight because of my failure to pray. Your mercy is boundless You say and you are willing if I but ask. I beg you in the name of your Son\u2019s death to have mercy on every human that will die tonight. Forgive them for they didn\u2019t know what they were doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">Everyone who goes to hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough to all for them to repent, but some (many, apparently) choose not to. It\u2019s their fault in the end. Prayer and penance and love assuredly help them along the road, but ultimately each individual decides and each stands before God, accountable for their actions and beliefs. God\u2019s grace is sufficient to save them. <em>They <\/em>choose not to avail themselves of it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Mary, however, does say that many go to hell because they have no one to pray for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">I think it\u2019s two truths that we must hold simultaneously (as so often in the Bible and Catholicism):<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823; padding-left: 30px;\">1. It\u2019s always better to be the recipient of more intercessory prayer (and\/or love or penance or God\u2019s grace, etc.) rather than less.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823; padding-left: 30px;\">2. Each individual is ultimately responsible for the fate of his or her own soul.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">It would be like a scenario in which a husband or wife abandoned their spouse. We could say, \u201cif only the one abandoned had been more loving or did more acts of kindness [or mutual friends had positively intervened more], maybe the other wouldn\u2019t have left.\u201d Well, maybe (that can always be said, can\u2019t it?), yet the person is still responsible for leaving, and bears the <em>primary<\/em> blame.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">The Blessed Virgin Mary wants to communicate to us (without doubt) that it\u2019s always good and crucial that we pray for souls. We have to love them and be compassionate and merciful; to evangelize and share! I\u2019ve devoted my life to sharing and defending the gospel and the message of the fullness of Christianity in the Catholic Church, so obviously I recognize its supreme importance. With more prayer and other spiritual aids, some of them could be turned to repentance and be saved, yes. God wants to include us in the whole process of redemption.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\"><em>But<\/em> each (ultimately damned) person <em>already<\/em>\u00a0has enough grace to be saved from the outset and has chosen not to receive it. They ultimately have only themselves to blame if they are condemned to [i.e., choose] hell in the end. If they want to point to others and say, \u201c<em>They<\/em> didn\u2019t do a, b, c, so I could be saved,\u201d that becomes mere blame-shifting on their part. God can always reply with, \u201c<em>But <\/em>that\u2019s no excuse for <em>you<\/em>. I sent you x, y, and z, and situations 1, 2, 3 where you had more than ample opportunity to receive My grace and repent, but you [using your free will that I gave you as a gift] steadfastly refused . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">Jesus notes in one parable that even if a person is raised from the dead as a witness, some folks won\u2019t believe anyway. Thus, if even the greatest miracles can\u2019t break through such profound unbelief and rebellion, our prayers won\u2019t be able to, either, in those cases. They\u2019ve hardened their hearts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\">The reprobate can always attempt to blame others, and God can always reply as above: that His grace was more than sufficient in each case, but was spurned and rejected. We will all stand accountable for <em>our<\/em>\u00a0actions and our lives, regardless of what others did or didn\u2019t do (this is solid biblical and Catholic teaching). We\u2019ve all fallen short and rebelled against God, and all must rely wholly on His free offer of grace, made possible by our Lord and Savior Jesus\u2019 death on the cross, to be saved in the end.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$text0:0\">Much of Catholic thought, I\u2019ve found, involves \u201cboth\/and\u201d thinking. Things exist together in complementarity, that are often wrongly thought to be opposed to each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text4:0\">I said, pray for folks. I didn\u2019t say not to. I emphasized its extreme importance. It\u2019s the distinction between sufficient and efficient grace. Every soul is provided sufficient grace by God. But the reprobate spurn it. Prayer can help make the sufficient grace become efficient, so that they actually repent. But not always; it\u2019s not automatic. Free will dictates that there are souls who will be lost no matter <em>what<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text5:0\"><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text7:0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text8:0\">After all, <em>Satan himself was <strong>with<\/strong> God<\/em>. He had everything any being could conceivably want: except that he wasn\u2019t God, and he couldn\u2019t handle that. He managed to rebel, right from heaven, with God. No being could have any more \u201cspiritual advantage\u201d than that. But it wasn\u2019t efficient, to prevent his fall.<\/span><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text9:0\"><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text11:0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339869:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text12:0\">Free will means that the grace can always be rejected, and also that it comes down to the individual in the end. That\u2019s why Calvinism, in order to bolster its double predestination, had to deny human free will and assert irresistible grace. The Catholic position is the contrary on both counts (though we do believe that God predestines the elect, while not superseding their free will).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #141823;\"><span data-ft='{\"tn\":\"K\"}' data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body\"><span class=\"UFICommentBody _1n4g\" data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$text0:0\">I can affirm that we ought to fervently pray for souls, while denying that it leads to a scenario where I\u00a0am responsible in some profound way for a soul going to hell because I didn\u2019t pray hard enough for him or her. We can always do more in any situation. That can beco<\/span><\/span><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text0:0\">me \u201coverscrupulous\u201d in a sense and drive us crazy if we ponder it too much.\u00a0<\/span><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text4:0\">That will become Satan\u2019s guilt trip and zap our spiritual energy. We have to take a larger view.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text16:0\">Each person ultimately is responsible for his or her own decision with regard to God and salvation. If <em>we<\/em>\u00a0don\u2019t do our \u201cduty\u201d towards them, God in His mercy will surely send someone else or some other situation, to give the person every chance to repent and make it to heaven. So we need not feel<em> guilty\u00a0<\/em>about them: to the extent that we are in a crisis or suffering greatly: because that affects our spiritual life for ill in the long run.<\/span><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text17:0\"><br data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text19:0\"><span data-reactid=\".3.1:5:1:$comment753559438012377_95339878:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$text20:0\">But we should absolutely pray and do penance for others and anything that will help them. I assert both things and hold them together; semi-paradoxically, but consistently. Nor does my assertion of one somehow reduce the other, like a zero-sum game. Both\/and . . . This is biblical and Catholic thinking, again and again: neither one extreme nor the other.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe Door to Hell\u201d in Turkmenistan, Darvaza [Wikimedia Commons \/Creative Commons\u00a0Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic\u00a0license] Someone wrote on my Facebook page: I don\u2019t like when Mary said to the children at Fatima that people are going there because they have no one to pray for them. It just really bothers me. The thought is awful. How [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":2413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,50],"tags":[201,197,149,198,200,195,155,196,199],"class_list":["post-2412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hell-satan","category-salvation-justification","tag-communion-of-saints","tag-damnation","tag-free-will","tag-intercession","tag-penance","tag-prayer","tag-predestination","tag-reprobation","tag-soul-winning"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn&#039;t Pray Enough?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It&#039;s their fault.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn&#039;t Pray Enough?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It&#039;s their fault.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-19T22:21:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-03T17:06:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2015\/08\/HellTurkmenistan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html\",\"name\":\"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn't Pray Enough?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-19T22:21:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-03T17:06:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It's their fault.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn&#8217;t Pray Enough?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn't Pray Enough?","description":"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It's their fault.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn't Pray Enough?","og_description":"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It's their fault.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2015-08-19T22:21:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-03T17:06:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2015\/08\/HellTurkmenistan.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html","name":"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn't Pray Enough?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-19T22:21:33+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-03T17:06:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"Everyone in hell has had every chance to repent. God gives grace enough for repentance, but many choose not to, however much we pray. It's their fault.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/are-folks-in-hell-because-we-didnt-pray-enough.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn&#8217;t Pray Enough?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}