As I joined with Dante in his first stop of his journey in Canto 3, I was gripped by the portrayal of the lowest caste of eternity--hell, the begrudged and dreaded hell. "There sighs and moans and utter wailings swept resounding through the dark and starless air. I heard them for the first time and I wept. (22-24)" Connecting this portrayal to reality brought a weight even greater than the emotion that flooded me as I read. People. People go to hell. People I know will go to hell. How might I proclaim Jesus' name to prevent one more soul to feast in their ignorance here in this life?
One question I did have in the work came a few lines down as Virgil explains his reasoning as to why the condemned souls acted as they did: "This state of misery is clutched by those sad souls whose works in life merited neither praise nor infamy. Here they're thrown in among that petty choir of angels who were for themselves alone, not rebels, and not faithful to the Lord. (34-39)" This explanation makes me skeptical because it focuses on works rather than the intention of the heart. However, Virgil does detail the fallen angel intentions, he does not do so with the condemned humans in hell.
I can definitely understand your skepticism about 34-39. It certainly sounds like it means works and not faith, but perhaps he means those whom simply coasted through life, not denying God but also not becoming a child of God? Perhaps he means the "on the fence" type of people?
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your post. I even thought I was going to blog on this but guess not. I thought it was weird that Dante focused on deeds rather than intentions as well. The only consolation I got was when he further explained the angels (as you said), that neither went with Lucifer nor defended Heaven. In my book I literally wrote down "Switzerland" as my note beside it.
ReplyDeleteLines 34-39 reminded me of the warnings in the Bible against being "lukewarm". I do not think that it is necessarily saying that they would have been accepted into Heaven had they done more, but rather that they never fully repented and surrendered in the first place.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the humanity of any situation does add weight to human suffering. Going on to discussions of works, the entire taxonomy of Hell's levels are not necessarily canon, but I feel is intended as a reflection of the state of depravity.
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