Level 2 for lustful people...go figure



I'm tired of being told that saying "God damn" is taking the Lord's name in vain - that's a misinterpretation of the one commandment that is considered "unforgivable."

You'll be forgiven for foul language.

You won't be forgiven for killing, manipulating, molesting, etc in the name of God. Using God or the bible to justify a sin is the unforgivable offense of "taking the Lord's name in vain". Thats' what the commandment means.

I'm no longer a believer in any particular dogma, but as a former theology student, this one has always gotten on my nerves.

Aww, thank you.

watch out. she's gonna want your blood next.

I've had to explain that to people a lot too. The idea of Frailty is a good example of unforgivable.

7th level

Coincidence obviously, but whenever I use the term, I say ''I've slipped into the 7th circle of hell''.

Looks like I'm the only one down in 4... all by myself.

Oh, I definitely agree... The fact that Usurers and Sodomites (ahhh, yes, the "connection" between blasphemous Homosexuality and... Lending) are bound to the Seventh Level along with "The violent, the assasins, the tyrants, and the war-mongers," and, well, me and Posh and Austin, seems slightly... unbalanced.

But then again, we have to consider that the original text was written in 1308 and focuses purely on Christian Theology at the time...

What is more poignant is to consider what is considered blasphemous now... Of course, a lot of beliefs manifest from these writings (along with The Bible), and what is interpreted literally and what is not.

hahaha... She's catching on...

[QUOTE=ChronoGrl;653973]Oh, I definitely agree... The fact that Usurers and Sodomites (ahhh, yes, the "connection" between blasphemous Homosexuality and... Lending) are bound to the Seventh Level along with "The violent, the assasins, the tyrants, and the war-mongers," and, well, me and Posh and Austin, seems slightly... unbalanced.

But then again, we have to consider that the original text was written in 1308 and focuses purely on Christian Theology at the time...

What is more poignant is to consider what is considered blasphemous now... Of course, a lot of beliefs manifest from these writings (along with The Bible), and what is interpreted literally and what is not.]

Dante, however called into question a lot of the dogmas. For example, he has a lot of anger at the papacy and frequently ponders biblical justice. Look how he feels about Paolo and Francesca for example, and Brunetto Lattini...who is a homosexual. For the time, his understanding of religious hypocrisy and some of the inherent unfairness of things is absolutely sublime. Dante's talk about Ugolino, a man wronged by the state, is very forward thinking politically. For a man who served as a magistrate to stop and question dogmas and the papacy is amazing. More forward thinking than nowadays. What happens to a man driven to desperation by the state today?

Well, then maybe that's the point of the inferno. Not to applaud Christan Dogma, but to question it. Perhaps he is actually being ironic in his detailed, erudite, and elaborate descriptions of torture. By emphasizing the horrors inflicted upon the victims (or the "damned") Dante is calling into question the rationale between condemning certain groups of people to eternal suffering, also, the concept of eternal suffering in and of itself.

I believe that, while people (Christians, etc), may throw the word "Hell" around, they don't stop to sit back and actually consider what eternal, infinite suffering is. To contemplate the infinite is not something that people in general do, never mind contemplate infinite suffering. What Dante is attempting to do is to put into words what eternal suffering is or might be (and while some is exaggerated, some is generalized, so that the readers can put their own assumptions on his interpretation).

So, the descriptions in and of themselves are calling into question Christian dogma - forcing people to actual consider what this concept of "Hell" truly is. And what the consequences are in sentencing people to damnation.

Depends on what you mean. Some make statements. Some become ex-pats. Some make horror movies. :p

I think that "The State" has become such an abstract thing, especially in the US, split between Federal and State oppression (if that's what, indeed, you are referring to).

Level 4.......