by Sandy » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:47 am
Well, I don't really think Dante is considered that much of an authority on hell by evangelicals, but his perspective provided a good example of how that imagery is communicated and spread. Divine Comedy is still widely read and studied in school, and I imagine it does contribute to the view people have of hell, if not literally, at least in the way it is imagined to be.
I think this is really an area where people struggle with faith. It's hard to come to grips with the idea that a soul is tormented and punished for eternity for having not made an acknowledgement of Jesus as savior, and that humans are, by default, automatically on the depraved side until they are summoned by the Holy Spirit to experience conviction, repent, and receive sanctification and justification through the sacrifice that Jesus endured. Is that the kind of justice that is represented by God? It takes time to understand this, and I don't really think we ever have an absolutely clear picture of what our redemption actually looks like. But in our rush to get kids into the baptistry, which frankly, represents the vast majority of what passes for evangelistic ministry, at least in our culture, evangelical or mainline, we press for a decision before people are ready, and we use the threat of a looming, burning hell, to hasten it along. And yet, we claim to believe in a God who knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart (a.k.a. soul, inner being, personhood). If salvation is really dependent on grace, and if God is perfectly just, then the connection between a person and God is faith, and it happens in the twinkling of an eye, and it can neither be earned nor maintained by works.
That also puts the scriptures into a context that is probably different than most of us use when interpreting them. Otherwise, it would be very easy to make a legalistic system out of either Old Testament law separate from grace, or New Testament illustrations separate from grace, and create a faith from the Bible that would rival Sharia law for its lack of justice and its cruelty.