"Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
I don't think much about hell. Perhaps I should. If Dante's conception of sins and sinners are any guide, then I am surely doomed to dwell in hell forever after. Dante's list of offenses is long. He often put his enemies in one of his nine circles. It's been awhile since I read The Inferno, but from what I remember, Dante sent a lot of folks to eternal damnation for some fairly small missteps. Ah well.
Even Jesus went to Purgatory. How can I have any chance of robes and harps and a cute little cherubic bottom when Jesus had to go to this waiting room before He got entrance into heaven?
Nonetheless, maybe I got a chance. Virgil, who didn't go to hell (nor heaven), didn't have Jesus to believe in. Virgil is Dante's tour guide in Hell. At least he's not buried up to his neck in molten rock. ("On your left is the resting place of the soul of Barry Manilow.")
Now, according to some folks, heaven is not allowing Jews, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, nor even those nice Buddhists people. I know for a fact that Hari Krishnas are absolutely banned from heaven due to their years of double-talk at airports.
Dumping important people in hell is an established practice in art and literature. Michelangelo dumped a certain cardinal who annoyed him in hell in his painting at the Sistine Chapel. Some of the characters he painted on the ceiling at the Sistine face away from God and Jesus because, although they were Muses and Prophets, they were born before the time of Jesus, and therefore, banned not only from His beneficence but from heaven as well. They did not believe even if it wasn't their fault.
Know why most of Michelangelo's women at the Sistine Chapel have the bodies of men? Because he used men as models instead of women. Michelangelo was gay. DaVinci too. That leaves them out of heaven according to a lot of people. And if an artist used unclad women as models, well they're lusting, so they're SOL as far as heaven goes too. So much for all those beautiful Madonna's giving a poor sinner a leg up.
Jeez, if you want to go to heaven you got to live like a priest--oh, never mind.
Muslims ban non-believers from heaven. Christians ban Muslims from heaven. You really can't hedge your bets. Pick a side.
Hell is a more recent concept in religion than heaven. Biblical scholars say so. Now Satan was a fallen angel, and Jesus faced demons, as did other people in the Bible. But hell is not exactly spelled out. Where did the demons and Satan come from or go to? If it is such an important place, maybe it should be a little clearer about how one ends up there. Don't tell me about bodies and souls being cast into the burning pits. Diseased bodies were regularly cast into the fires in those times. Thus the references to being cast into the pit.
Look, I worry about a lot of different things, like: what's wrong with me; why do I often disappoint the people I love; do I have enough money; am I too fat; what should I read next; or what's up with that.
I suffer from insomnia. I lie awake for hours, worrying about not sleeping. I worry about my sloth. I worry about lack of ambition. I wonder about dying. But I don't really worry about hell.
Whether there is a hell or not, I know some folks who should definitely worry about damnation. Perhaps I'm the one being self-righteous, but I never took some old person's last dime to invest in some inappropriate investment. I never condemned a child from the pulpit, or the street corner. I never left my children alone so I could drink at the bar. I never condemned a fig tree for failing to bear fruit--Jesus condemned the fig tree.
I'm not a saint, but I've got other concerns than my salvation. I know, this is such an awful statement for some people, but this is the life we live now. I don't really think a last minute confession, a tithe, an indulgence or a mea culpa gets me off the hook. I'm struggling with this life. I can't worry about everything. If I'm saved, I'm saved. No magic words will get me to heaven. My contribution to Salvation Army or the Red Cross won't smooth the road. Nine hundred years ago, I would have been promised salvation if I fought in the Crusades. A lot of crusaders never made it to the Middle East--they were too busy slaughtering their Jewish neighbors and stealing their possessions to kill Muslims. Oh well, as long as they were killing someone.Think I'll avoid the neighborhood of paradise where those guys are.
"Do you believe in the Hereafter?"
"Sure."
"Then now you know what I'm here after."
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