Monday, October 19, 2009
Guest Blogger - Karissa B.
Simony, Sullenness, and Sorcery, Oh my! For each of these sins there is a just punishment in Hell, according to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. In hell, there is a punishment for every sin imaginable. Whether it’s something as sinful as graft, or something as damnable as treachery, each has its rightful place. Its common sense that Hell is where souls go to be punished after death for the sin(s) they’ve committed while living. However, I find the idea of “Hell” slightly contradictory to what is believed about God. If God forgives everyone, then why does Hell exist in the first place? Or better yet, does Hell exist at all? It’s also a common belief that God only forgives those who are truly sorry for their sins. In the Divine Comedy it’s mentioned that a few souls have tried to absolve themselves from sin before actually committing the sin. So, because they have tried to absolve themselves from sin before sinning, does that make them less sorry for committing the sin? I suppose it all boils down to moral standards. Even with calculating in moral standards, the argument can be made for the sinners and the repenters. It starts with defining what moral standards are exactly. Perhaps one person believes that committing simony isn’t actually a sin. They believe that taking whatever means necessary to secure a status or a title is fair and shows dedication and persistence. But say someone else believes exactly the opposite of that. They believe that simony is a sin and buying or selling to achieve status shows laziness since the status is being bought and not earned. Who’s right? Is it just for the person who believes simony is not a sin to go to Hell when in their mind they haven’t sinned at all? Because people have different beliefs and ideas, is Hell really a fair and just punishment?
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This totally changes the way I'm looking at everything now. I mean, if god does forgive for sins then there shouldn't be a hell. Especially if one doesn't think that they are sinning. Although, I'm not very religious, I'd like to believe that if god forgives yours sins if you are sorry, couldn't you continually say you are sorry, be regretfull and mean it, but just sin again? I mean people can be sorry and regret it, but that doesn't always stop them from doing it again. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteTaylor...Totally just made my brain explode with your insight into religion. Now, I don't want to start a religious battle or anything, but I think that God is all knowing and he (or she) will know what your true intent is, if the feeling is sincere or not. God says that he will forgive the truly sorry.
ReplyDeleteBut, on the flip side, he said to forgive the sinner not seven times, but seventy seven times. Which says that god is always forgiving those who apologize so, by default, that is everyone. And in response to the last part of your statement, people often repeat the same sins again and again, but God forgives them, if they apologize.
You make a very interesting point. But I was always taught you go to heaven only if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Dante doesn't necessarily follow the religious guide lines according to those, but then again it is just a story. I don't agree that asking for forgiveness before you do the action shouldn't be counted. You are still doing it so probably aren't sorry and therefore don't deserve to go to heaven.
ReplyDeleteThe point of hell in the spirtual belief system of the church and the book remained in my mind for about an hour. What my conclusion came to is this: sure you can believe that the holy trinity exists and try to repent for your sins. But the question is how far can repentance be repented by God. What my thought of this is that God decides if it has distirubed the flow of civilization in a certain area or caused a durration in humanities evolution a person would then be sent to hell. This is because that person is distirbing God's society and interupting his evolution on us. We can then get the quote of Don't fall in the realm of the Gods. This is why i think hell may exist in a sensable way without the religous text on how hell was created.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Karissa, that if we repent our sins we will be forgiven, however i also think that there is a hell because not everyone repents their sins before they die, and somepeople's sins are just too great for god to easily forgive, such as Hitler, or the devil.
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