Theological Burblings

[loseirdo]

These thoughts are partially derived from and inspired by Perelandra, a novel by C.S. Lewis. It actually concerns something that I recently debated with my brother and since have been wondering on and off how to explain. I believe I have arrived at a (somewhat) satisfactory conclusion thanks in no small part to mister Lewis' genius. Anyway, here

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[loseirdo]

In The Divine Comedy, Hell is seen as being divided into nine levels: The first is Limbo, for the unbaptized-yet-virtuous; the second is for the lustful; the third is for the gluttonous; the fourth is for the greedy; the fifth is for the wrathful; the sixth is for the heretics; the seventh is for the violent (against fellow men, against themselves (suicides), and against God (blasphemers)); the eighth is for the fraudulent (seducers, flatterers, simonists, sorcerers and false prophets, corrupt politicians, hypocrites, thieves, fraudulent advisors, sowers of discord, and falsifiers, including alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers and impersonators); the ninth and final level is for traitors (you may recall the quote from Pirates of the Caribbean, "The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers"); Satan resides in the ninth level, and his wing-beats create a wind so cold that all around him is solid ice.

The idea is that each circle offers a punishment that is agonizing and often ironic, regarding the nature of the sin for which the person was condemned. You can check out the Wiki if you want to read about it in greater length.

An interesting thing to mention is that Satan himself is trapped in Hell. It is mentioned that he is encased in ice and furiously beats his wings to escape it, but the wind it creates merely makes the ice colder and therefore harder to break. This is interesting because in the Bible it mentions that Satan was confined to Hell after the coming of Christ, but will again be loosed upon the Earth in the times preceding the Second Coming. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it said. I had a discussion about this with my father once.

But like I said, I don't know if there's any merit to the idea that Hell is divided into sections. It makes sense to a certain degree, but if all of Hell is a total separation from God, every sufferer would undergo the same amount of agony, regardless of what drove him to Hell in the first place.

Hope that helps.