http://www.vampyra.com/demons/dantes_inferno.htm

^^brief overview of the book

for those not familiar some dude called Dante something wrote a book in which he invisions hell...he claims he went through it and saw it all

it is widely acknowledged that he perhaps wrote the most accurate description of it

according to Dante hell is shaped like a inverted cone...divided by 7 levels...each level being dedicated to a certain type of sinner....

Satan resides at the very bottom...where he dwells crying and chewing 3 people (Brutus and 2 other guys for betrayal) for ever and ever....

Dante at the end climbs out of Hell along with Virgil (his guide so to speak) after climbing the devils back and escaping back to earth


what are you thoughts ?

is it accurate ? why did he have this vision ?

how should a practising Christian approach it ?


he later wrote about Purgatory and Heaven....described it and all....but Hell seems to get the most attention


holla

"Stepping off the boat, they arrive in the first ring of Hell -- Limbo. Things here are not all that bad. There is a meadow, a stream, a seven-walled castle. This is the place where Virtuous, but Unbaptized" souls reside among the great pagans. Virgil himself hangs his hat here"

Shame, i'm going to hell for not being baptized no matter how good i was in life. Following that, this means if a child dies as an infant and is never baptised it goes to hell.

Personally i think it's a load of bullshit and if hell is real and god (the christian one) is real and he sends people to hell for minor sins like being unbaptized or being lustful then he must be one sadistic bastard.

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Originally posted by Spectrum:
for those not familiar some dude called Dante something

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Dante Alighieri

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is it accurate ? why did he have this vision ?

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Eh...well...he didn�t. He took the poet Virgil�s pagan description of Hell (from the Aeneid) and moulded it into a Christian version, as a part of his Divina Comedia. Wich is also inspired by Aristoteles� physical visions/theories about the Universe; Thomistic philosophy and so on...

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he later wrote about Purgatory and Heaven....described it and all....but Hell seems to get the most attention

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Yes, the Divina Comedia is about all of it, and Dante wrote it because he saw a need for moral and religious renewal. Probably rightly so, as this was in the "dark" middle ages. Dante spoke of four levels of meaning to this work: the literal, the metaphorical, the moral and the analogical.

He also created an outrage from the Roman Christian Church, as he wrote the Divina Comedia in Italian, and not in Latin as was the rule for religious tracts; not meant to be understood be common man, even if read out loud. Dante obviously wanted to reach the people...

Dante was perhaps one of the first who understood that:

Communication is only possible between equals.

He should probably be read that way too, also by Christians...

FoxLeonard

^^thanks dude...seems like you know a lot


now why is the Hell version the most popular ?

there are hundreds of sites about Hell and overviews of it....


yet any ones about heaven and and purgatory are much less popular

does anyone know any further information where one can gain insight from those texts ?

i have plenty of sites taht offer the complete text but its hard to understand


thanks

I believe that hell is embarrisment. You stand towards G-d, naked (not physicly, just revealing all your sins). Thats what I believe is hell but I don't think that christian phellow saw hell.