Glorified Faith and Fear // Moriah Nelson
While we clearly cannot rely on Dante’s Inferno for a 100% theologically sound narrative, I believe we can relate many of Dante’s thoughts and stories to Scripture and what we hold to be true. For instance, when Beatrice is speaking with Virgil, she says,
“The only things that justly cause us fear
Are those that have the power to do us harm;
The others, not at all.” (Canto Two, Lines 88-90)
I am reminded of how Jesus comforted His disciples in Matthew 10:28 by telling them to not fear man (or even Satan) but rather, fear God for He alone governs eternity. Beatrice is so sure of the safety found in her faith in God that nothing can cause her to be afraid, not even hell itself. I think this is a beautiful example of how firm we should strive to be in our faith: that now even hell itself cannot cause us to fear. Please note: until we, those who are believers in Christ, are glorified in heaven, we will never be perfect and will thus still struggle in our faith. However, what would our lives here on earth look like if we aspired to fear God alone and follow Him wherever He led us? Would we leave our homes to go share the Gospel? Would we be willing to change majors if God called us to obey Him in that way? We should not fear what humanity could do to us, for we know that even death can't “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) We should not fear death, because Jesus has overcome death and promised that we will spend eternity with Him in heaven.
There is much to be learned from early writers such as Dante and I am thankful to have written works that can challenge us, even with just a few lines.
These lines caught my attention as well. How reassuring it is to know that, as believers, we do not have to fear for anything except the Lord alone. Beatrice is such a wonderful example to follow of how we should trust the Lord and have faith in Him!
ReplyDelete-Madison Flowers
A beautifully insightful blog post, as usual. I have to admit, reading some of these passages really freaked me out and put a decent bit of dread in my heart. The first seven Cantos have reminded me that I don't have a clue what to expect of the afterlife, and the unknown is my greatest fear. However, we can rest assured that as believers in Christ, we have nothing to fear. He has only the best in store for us. Thank you for this reminder, Moriah!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting things in the reading is Dante's reaction to meeting the people in Hell. Despite the fact that they deserve the punishments, they arouse pity in Dante to the point that he passes out. This is another interesting point that circles back to Boethius who elected that the wicked should be pitied rather than hated. Everything goes back Boethius!
ReplyDeleteBeatrice is the example for all. Like you said we should all strive for that confidence. Once we become a christian we have no reason to lose faith in our salvation. We will never lose our salvation once we accept Christ which means we are forever saved from hell, praise God!! Excellent blog post Moriah! - Anna Grace Gay
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