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Nirvana |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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“Tsunami Death Toll Tops 52,000” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142692,00.html and counting . . . So where do all those men, women and children Non-Christians go? In Dante Alighieri wouldn’t it be the first circle of Hell? |
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| © Copyright 2004 John Pawlik - All Rights Reserved | |||
Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg |
Don't you love it when thousands of people die? It's such a great opportunity to rip on Christianity. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
“The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, -- the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods -- rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,-- Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man.” http://www.msu.edu/~cloudsar/thanatop.htm |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg |
You can't really account for all of them in term of Dante's hell. The children would go to the first circle, for sure, but it's anyone's guess where the others would go. Really upstanding non-Christians must be very happy with their lives, and I imagine they'd continue to be happy with an eternity in Limbo, if all they need is time and self-consciousness without the grace of God in order to practice their religion. Ain't nothing wrong with the first circle. |
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Stephanos
since 2000-07-31
Posts 3618Statesboro, GA, USA |
It ain't so certain that unknowing children (or even adults) will go to Hell. The biography of the Character of God would seem to make that absurd. (hey, bad grammar is catching ... Brian started it. It ain't my fault) Attempts to dogmatize to that level are inappropriate in my opinion. (Coming from one who has no aversion to definite doctrine either). Stephen. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
Stephen, In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle one of his characters relates how Dante created the first circle in Hell to accommodate those virtuous individuals whose lives pre-dated the birth of Christianity. This would seem a ignorance is innocence stance. I don’t see how this wouldn’t apply currently to those equally uninformed, and further how it wouldn’t afford them a pass into better. |
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Juju Member Elite
since 2003-12-29
Posts 3429In your dreams |
Playing off of misconseptions... how cruel. -Juju |
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Stephanos
since 2000-07-31
Posts 3618Statesboro, GA, USA |
John, It sounds like you are describing the Jewish concept of "Sheol", rather than the Christian concept of "Hell" or "Gehenna". My point is that death without the specific and immediate knowledge of God doesn't always seem to be the determining factor of salvation, even from a scriptural point of view. There has always been the question of what happens to those unable to hear or understand, and I think "Hell" is simply not applicable in such cases. Stephen. |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg |
quote: Keep in mind that Dante also believed in the harrowing of hell, so people like Adam and Noah didn't remain there. So those who were before Christianity but still had the right God in mind made it out okay. People like Virgil and Homer were still in Limbo but they shook hands with Dante and happily chatted with him, so it doesn't seem like they had it all so bad. Stephen, Limbo is basically like living on earth forever, according to Dante, so it doesn't involve any punishment. Though it's underground, everyone's naked, and I'm sure nobody enjoys all the noise and smells coming from adjacent circles of Hell (the "vestibule" above and the tempest of fornicators in the circle below). |
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Stephanos
since 2000-07-31
Posts 3618Statesboro, GA, USA |
Again, both of you guys should consider a study of the difference between the Jewish concept of death (Sheol- actually very similar to the Greek Hades), and the Christian doctrine of hell, or "Gehenna" as the final place prepared for the punishment of the wicked. If this distinction is made, then the Old Testament saints never were in "Hell", though they had died and perhaps even existed in "Sheol". The same can perhaps be said for those whose eternal fates and the means of deciding them, are simply unknown to us,. We find our consolation in the Character of God as savior, not in what we think we know of this matter. Stephen. |
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Juju Member Elite
since 2003-12-29
Posts 3429In your dreams |
This reminds me of when my greek orthedox cathlic unkle had a fight with my romen cathic mother over who goes to hell. Two people who cared deeply over there stance, yet all I could think was... wwjd Even among christians there is different beliefs. Theologians argue this stuff. -Juju |
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