The Inferno and The True Nature of God

Essay by lpwgp15High School, 12th gradeB, May 2008

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Abandon Hope All Ye Who Read Here“When the Devil goes ice-skating”, “When Hell freezes over”, and “Cold day in Hell” We usually say these idioms when talking about an unlikely event that will never happen because most imagery of Hell is depicted as fiery and hot. Ironically, in Dante Alighieri's The Inferno the ninth circle of Hell is composed entirely of ice and human bodies and with the ninth circle being ice, the nature of God becomes distorted in a way that must be looked at carefully because Dante's God has many flaws that go against the very beliefs of many Christians. Moreover, is the fact that Dante writes to prove the Christian beliefs and demonstrate a better description of the true nature of Hell and God. Unfortunately, all Dante really does is create a God who contradicts one of his three powers (Divine Justice, Omnipotence, and Love) no matter what the scenario is.

Thus, the true nature of God is constantly changing, depending on which power is neglected through Dante’s contradictory statements and Christian beliefs.

If we look at God from a traditional Christian view, He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. Thus, God knows all because He is everywhere and can do whatever He feels fit by being all-powerful. He is also viewed as caring, loving, and gives up Jesus Christ, His only Son, so that humanities sins would be cleansed and given a chance for salvation. The Devil however, is viewed as the root of temptation, whether it is from influencing Eve into taking a bite of the fruit or from trying to tempt Jesus by offering him absolute power. On the other hand, it is believed that God is unable to do evil or cause it, but is well capable of destroying it such as...