Inferno

So, recently I have begun reading the Divine Comedy by Dante for a school project. What I had originally thought of as an interesting concept has turned into a painful, painful, experience. For those who do not know, the Divine Comedy follows the author through a literal journey into hell, purgatory, and paradise. The theology in this book is extremely painful, and will thus influence the next few posts, and possibly more in the future. (warning: there will be some spoilers.)

First of all, let's talk about Dante's concept of the nine circles of hell. He basically assigns each sin it's own torment to suffer for eternity. The lower you go, the worse the sin and therefore the worse the punishment. However, while this might sound interesting at first, it is poorly handled. Many of the punishments are not exactly all that bad...at all. Seriously, some of them are minor annoyances. And whats even worse, some of the upper sufferings are greater than the lower sufferings. Take for instance, a level where you are torn and flayed limb from limb if you dare to rise above boiling pitch, against the level beneath it: wearing a really heavy cloak for eternity. Adultery for instance, is only the second circle. Justified in this spot as being the sin “closest to love”. The punishment for breaking the seventh commandment? To be blown about in a harsh windstorm for all eternity. How exactly is that suffering? How does the soul feel the wrath of God in such a manner? Wherein lies the pain and the wailing and the anger and sorrow? Adultery is not a minor thing. It is not a sin that God feels little anger towards. Hell is a terrible, horrible place. The suffering endured there is beyond any mortal comprehension. It is not a place for such a minor inconvenience. Even worse, is the level above it, or Limbo.

Here, the light of human reason shines. This is supposedly where people who are unbaptized, alive before the time of Christ, or a... “virtuous” pagan.... will reside. Their punishment is that, as their only crime was not accepting salvation, they must live forever with the longing to be near God. Now firstly, baptism is neither a necessity nor a guarantee of acceptance to heaven. The death of the Lamb covers all sins. Baptism is a symbol of rebirth in Christ, but it does not make you righteous or holy or cleansed, only the blood of Christ can do that. The same principle goes for those alive before Christ's death on the cross. Some people look forward to the cross, and some people look back, but all those chosen are saved. There is nothing very special about someone who is baptized compared to someone who is not. The symbol is important yes, but it does not make you a better or more righteous Christian. ...Lastly... the third denizens of Limbo are offensive to the Christian beliefs. If someone is pagan. If they do not believe in God. If they do not believe in death and resurrection, then they have sinned grievously. This is not a minor thing, it is one of the worst sins that can be committed. Their presence is justified here as, thanks to human reason, they sought truth and goodness but simply lacked the means or knowledge to find God. They are depicted as shining with a great light of said human reason, though not as great a light as that of God. However, human reason does not have a light. It is clouded in sin and darkness. It is wrong. It is evil. It is not going to get you close to heaven. These men will suffer for all eternity. They are not going to be put up on a pedestal to glorify the might of human reason. Human reason is what leads man astray. It takes him away from the light of God into hell. It lies and rejects God and seeks to glorify itself. It can not seek goodness in the absence of God, all it can find is sin and death.

We can not even imagine the torments of hell, but we do know one thing, the sinners there are tormented. They suffer, they cry, they scream, they hate God with all their heart and curse his name. There is no longing to be with him. There is no repentance. There is no reprieve or end. There is no place of honor for a pagan who denounces God and blasphemes against him. In this case, our poet friend has grievously misrepresented the fires of hell.

-BlackFox

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