Believer's Baptism - AnnaKate
Hey guys! Exciting news! I LOVE this book!
Seriously, this one has been my favorite so far, and I have big expectations for the rest of it.
Now let's talk about hell.
So far the most upsetting circle of hell for me has been the first one, simply because some people are there through no fault of their own. The first circle of hell holds believers who were never baptized. This includes men, women, children, and even infants. There was a line that made me a little emotional when reading Canto IV, which states, "There, in so far as I had power to hear, / Were lamentations none, but only sighs" (lines 25-26). I cannot imagine anything worse than this. To have served and loved God faithfully but to have to spend eternity apart from Him anyway would break my heart in such an unimaginable way that I quite honestly struggled to read the rest of this section just thinking about it. Thankfully, I will get to spend eternity with my Savior, since I have been baptized and also because my baptism isn't the determining factor on whether or not I go to hell.
My biggest problem with this is that it really has no Biblical basis. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you have to get baptized to get to heaven. Yes, baptism is important, but it isn't what saves you. As a Baptist, I believe that baptism is a public display of the salvation you have already received through Christ Jesus. I truly believe that it is against His nature to send people to hell simply for not being baptized, especially since Dante puts people like Abraham and Moses in this first circle of hell. These are people that God used for His purpose, set apart and sanctified. It makes no sense to me that He would put them in a section of hell after how faithfully they loved and served Him.
Maybe Dante included this first circle because of some theological belief or practice that was in place when he wrote this. I don't know - I'm no Hell Scientist. All I know is so far I found the first circle of hell to be the most genuinely upsetting of all of them, simply because of how bleak and empty it seems. At least something is happening in the other circles. The jousting in the fourth circle sounds moderately entertaining, to be quite honest. The first circle seems like it embodies the color gray. I'm thankful to know that I'll never end up there.
will & moriah
Seriously, this one has been my favorite so far, and I have big expectations for the rest of it.
Now let's talk about hell.
So far the most upsetting circle of hell for me has been the first one, simply because some people are there through no fault of their own. The first circle of hell holds believers who were never baptized. This includes men, women, children, and even infants. There was a line that made me a little emotional when reading Canto IV, which states, "There, in so far as I had power to hear, / Were lamentations none, but only sighs" (lines 25-26). I cannot imagine anything worse than this. To have served and loved God faithfully but to have to spend eternity apart from Him anyway would break my heart in such an unimaginable way that I quite honestly struggled to read the rest of this section just thinking about it. Thankfully, I will get to spend eternity with my Savior, since I have been baptized and also because my baptism isn't the determining factor on whether or not I go to hell.
My biggest problem with this is that it really has no Biblical basis. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you have to get baptized to get to heaven. Yes, baptism is important, but it isn't what saves you. As a Baptist, I believe that baptism is a public display of the salvation you have already received through Christ Jesus. I truly believe that it is against His nature to send people to hell simply for not being baptized, especially since Dante puts people like Abraham and Moses in this first circle of hell. These are people that God used for His purpose, set apart and sanctified. It makes no sense to me that He would put them in a section of hell after how faithfully they loved and served Him.
Maybe Dante included this first circle because of some theological belief or practice that was in place when he wrote this. I don't know - I'm no Hell Scientist. All I know is so far I found the first circle of hell to be the most genuinely upsetting of all of them, simply because of how bleak and empty it seems. At least something is happening in the other circles. The jousting in the fourth circle sounds moderately entertaining, to be quite honest. The first circle seems like it embodies the color gray. I'm thankful to know that I'll never end up there.
will & moriah
I was hoping someone would blog on this since I decided not to. While I haven't studied it in depth and so am nowhere near an expert on the subject, I definitely have some beliefs about this. Like you, I cannot believe that people like Abraham and Moses ever went to Hell. It makes no sense! Especially since these people were circumcised, the closest thing to baptism that people in the Old Testament had. I know that the idea that Jesus went to Hell to bring people like this to Heaven stems from a verse or two in the New Testament, but I feel like there are way more verses about the righteousness, faith, and belief of these people, both in the Old and New Testaments.
ReplyDeleteI agree it was very upsetting, it is as if the pure nothingness is worse than something slightly bad because then at least there is something happening or to focus on. I like Eliza am definitely not an expert, but in my personal opinion, I disagree with Dante about who / what makes someone sent to this first layer of hell. Although honestly, it isn't really hell exactly, it is just nothingness, which is a whole different type of hell on its own.
ReplyDeleteLike I mentioned in another comment, Abraham and Moses were not sent to hell. This is actual mentioned in the Bible. I am not going to try and find it because it is late, but just take my word for it or google it. He talks about them going to this place called Abraham's Bossum. This is not a hell, but it is also not heaven. It is hard to see, just from a spiritual standpoint, that God would send people as faithful as Moses to hell. However, salvation is what makes you enter the gates of heaven, and during this time, the savior had not been born. I believe this place was more of a paradise, rather than a hell. There is not much biblical standpoint behind that because the Bible is a little unclear. However, Jesus does say to Abraham, "we will be together in paradise". I guess that is not for our own understanding, but something we can ask the author one day.
ReplyDeleteI agree, reading of the first Circle confused to the point where I asked myself, “When did we get to heaven?! Why are we talking about heaven??”. This takes “you’ll never know who will or won’t be in heaven” to the extreme. Adam, I somewhat understand but not really, but Abraham, Moses, Rachel and Abel?? That’s not logical. Dante has to have some meaning in doing this, but until it’s explained (it there is something to explain) I’m just not seeing it.
ReplyDeletei agree that yoou are in fact no hell scientist. but i do also disagree with dante here. now i understand that baptism is mandated by christ himself but also baptism is not required, given the theif on the cross that jesus told 'today you will be with me in paradise.' however i am a strong proponent of the black/white salvation, you either are or arent; the end. but to however my own however i know rhat, after dying on the cross, Christ decended into hell (supposedly to redeme the lost but not forsaken). and then theres the whole idea of abrahams busom wich is basically purgatory but with hte hope of God coming back to get you. so all this to say i dont really know why these fathers are in hell, i dont get it.
ReplyDeletespencer wood