Hell and Demons

Continuing my posts inspired by the Divine Comedy (more specifically the Inferno at present.) I will once again give the warning of a spoiler.


Another thing Dante has set up for hell, is the concept of demons ruling over it. This idea is actually pretty popular. Often seen as Satan and his minions controlling the suffering of the lost souls of the dammed. However, this is actually not so. Hell is not a place where demons reign. They are sinful and evil and just as guilty of punishment as men are. They will not be ruling hell, they will be suffering in hell. God has no interest in rewarding their wickedness with power and entertainment. Demons have one goal, they wish to turn men away from God. In the Bible, such action is specifically condemned, saying one who causes another to stumble is worse than he who falls. When the time of judgment comes, they will be cast into the lake of fire to burn for eternity. Also, demons have no connection to God. At one point in the Inferno, a soul suffering in hell curses and insults the name of the Lord, and is immediately set upon by a demon watching over that level of hell, demanding to know the location of the “insolent blasphemer”. Demons do not condemn or punish such a thing, in fact they actively try to cause it. There is an instance in the Bible, where Christ confronts a group of demons. They ask him, “What have you to do with us? Have you come to punish us before our time?” Here we see they are sinful and oppositional to God. They do not support him, and even allude to the fact they too will suffer. And probably most important, Satan is a bitter enemy of God. There is absolutely no reason why God would not pronounce judgment on the prince of darkness, and no way for Satan to prevent that judgment from falling upon himself. He is powerless before the might of the Lord, and so will suffer like the rest.


Another implication of this system is that either demons are outside of God's power, or that they are his agents. A demon seat of power in hell allows for no alternative. Because a demon is an evil creature of sin, they are subject to the righteous fury of God, and no salvation is allowed -or from the demons perspective even wanted- for them. This means that if they do not suffer in hell, something must prevent God from exacting retribution. The first option is that demons are beyond the reach of God to punish, that he has no power over hell and merely casts down sinners into it. The reason the demons are allowed free reign is simply that God has not the power to punish them. This is obviously ludicrous. God created everything, heaven, hell, and demons alike. Nothing is beyond his power. A creator may do with his creation as he pleases. Now, the other options is that the demons escape punishment because they were created by God for the purpose of tormenting souls in hell, that they were created to be sinful and evil and corrupt for this purpose. This also is not viable. God cannot endure sin, hence the need to inflict justice upon it. He will not allow it to roam unimpeded for all eternity. In any case, He has no need of their services. God does not need a helper to punish sin, he is quite capable of doing this himself. He certainly does not require the enlistment of sinful, evil beings for the task. Ergo, there is no reason for a demon to be spared the fires of hell.


-BlackFox

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