Saturday, October 29, 2016

Hell no!

Date's he'll is ridiculously unfair, at least by today's standards. I can understand that virtuous pagans belong in he'll, but the fact that people who died before Jesus was born are there is ridiculous. There is nothing they could have done in their lives to prevent going to he'll. It is ridiculous that none of these people are allowed into heaven.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree that it's unfair to punish these people because they were born before Jesus' coming which was out of their control. However, as we saw some people are allowed out of hell. We see this when the book alludes to Jesus' death in order to come down to hell an save those who belong in heaven such as Adam and many others who are prominent figures in the Bible. As we see, the pagans are treated unfairly, but there is a way to escape if God feels they are worthy enough to rescue from hell.

Unknown said...

Even though the pagans are able to eventually escape hell, they are still unfairly punished for something that is beyond their control. In my opinion, this would be an example of when god is not merciful. If he truly were merciful, then those who were virtuous in life before Christ should still have gone to heaven. Those who are virtuous even without the promise of reward are more virtuous than those who are well behaved in order to further personal gain.

Unknown said...

I think Dante's distinction between hells is complex. On the one hand, the pagans, to some extent, were treated unfairly. However, Christianity was strict in terms of the fact that pagans were condemned for not knowing God even though he was not alive. I think it's also significant that he distinguishes wrath, lust, and violence in different sectors although in Christian belief every sin in seen as the same.

Bailey Taylor said...

I agree that this is completely unfair in that they have to be in hell even though they Christianity wasn't discovered yet, but I do not think it is completely ridiculous that they aren't in heaven either because they did not believe in God. I think there should be some sort of other place where they are not punished

Unknown said...

I think Dante has many inconsistencies on where he places people in Hell. The pagans were not given a fair chance because they lived before Christ. I also think it is strange that he places neutrals in Hell. They didn't side with God, but they didn't go against him either. I think they should be in purgatory. It is also interesting that Dido and Cleopatra are in Hell for lust. It is true that they were lustful, but they also committed suicide. Shouldn't they been in the Wood of the Suicides?