Discussion 8
I believe that Dante’ learned that man alone was responsible for his own fate. He saw eventually all the choices a man made would have consequences that he had to accept. Man’s ultimate fate is his alone to decide.
Much of Dante’s sins and punishments seem to be directly related to the Bible. I found it a little hard to understand why people were being punished for sins they had committed before the Bible was even in existence. I had to take a step back from this and have come to realize that sometimes a person’s faith needs to be truly believed by them to have been in existence since time immortal. People will rationalize or simply ignore things which do not follow the dictates of their faith or religion. But in the end I think I have come to realize the same thing that Dante’ did and that is that we are all responsible for our own fate- here on earth and in the afterlife. While I do not necessarily think that the punishments he described are what awaits us I do believe that we will be held accountable in say way for our choices.
Ugh it is so irritating because how do people know before the Bible what was wrong and what right? I mean every culture has its’ right and wrongs, ethics etc. I just don’t see how one could be judged. I guess I am just coming from my standpoint as a Christian so it makes me guess about a lot of things. I know there had to be something. But in the end no matter what we are all responsible for what we do, but before that time who was to dictate, even the smallest sin, what was a sin and what was not? Like, cultures used to sacrifice humans to their gods , but since it was still murder did that count? I don’t know maybe I am diving too deep into this. 🙂
The reason I brought up the Bible is because Dante’s Inferno is so specifically tied to the Bible and Christianity beliefs. My question is how can the Bible be used to condemn or punish those who predated the Bible? I am sure there were established beliefs of what is right and wrong before the Bible so shouldn’t they be judged on those terms rather then on terms that came after they existed. In the end we all must use what we believe and what we know to be truth to us as the basis for out choices in life.
I found that for Dante it was tied to the Bible so strongly because that was his belief system. So to make sense of what he experienced he put it into that perspective. For a devout Christian there was no time before the bible. Genesis talks of how God made the world and populated it, but sinners could not find forgiveness till after Christ came and virtuous beings ended up in limbo because they did not know the Christian God. I strongly believe if it was written by a person of a different religion say with Druid or Islamic beliefs we would have read a totally different ‘comedy’. What many people forget is that your religion/political beliefs, or nationality do not make you a GOOD or BAD person. It is your actions that show your character not what you call yourself or others call you.
I completely agree with Mary’s comment, it seems to me that the story was judging the believers of other faiths merely because this story was written by some with this belief. I think that like in the story one’s actions determine in some form or another the quality of both life and afterlife no matter which belief system you follow.