Dante's Inferno Test. Options

[Wurlon]

Well I do agree with morals from religions, but much of it is such a shroud of mystery. Most of the time I like to think realistically, the only time I don't is when I write.

[bbqplatypus]

Purgatory - You have escaped damnation and made it to Purgatory, a place where the dew of repentance washes off the stain of sin and girds the spirit with humility. Through contrition, confession, and satisfaction by works of righteousness, you must make your way up the mountain. As the sins are cleansed from your soul, you will be illuminated by the Sun of Divine Grace, and you will join other souls, smiling and happy, upon the summit of this mountain. Before long you will know the joys of Paradise as you ascend to the ethereal realm of Heaven.


Hooray for Purgatory! Not sure if I believe in Purgatory, but...yay!

Seriously, though, I'm of the opinion that we don't have really much authority to talk about what Hell is actually like. The "Hell" that we typically think of was only mentioned in a couple of verses - in the very last book, no less. Pretty much all other Biblical references to the word refer to "the Grave" when translated into its original language. I mean, it could very well be that the suffering of Hell refers to the state of separation from God or some such thing. Virtually none of what we see in depictions of Hell actually appears in the Bible. There's a reference to fire and general horrible unpleasantness ("weeping and gnashing of teeth" and all that), but that's about it.

So for that reason (among other ones), I really, REALLY hate it when people play the whole "believe the same things I do or you'll burn in Hell" card. It's resorting to scare tactics, which simply makes me want to vomit. People like these are why religion is considered by so many to be a destructive force.

Wherever else Hell might exist, it exists in the human mind - here, on Earth, when we give into fear and our worst habits. The way I think about Satan is not as a red man with horns and a pitchfork (or even as Al Pacino), but as the personification of our worst impulses, and the BS excuses we give to justify the terrible things we do to other people. Perhaps he is a literal being, but does whether or not he has a corporeal body (or even that he is an entity capable of thought) really affect your life? I contend that it does not. What matters is avoiding the things he stands for as a symbolic figure - greed, avarice, hatred, dishonesty, lust for power, and all that crap.

Really, the whole notion of being "saved," to me refers to a constant, ongoing process. It's a path that needs to be walked down - recognizing one's own fallibility, confessing it before God, and doing whatever you can to live virtuously. Some a-holes talk about going to heaven as if they're there already. As if they're somehow special or superior to anyone else who's still alive just because some guy in pajamas poured water on their head. I think Christians should focus on THIS life and following Christ's teachings in it. (This is why Matthew 25:31-46 is one of my favorite passages - it pretty much states exactly this).

Sorry if I went on a tangent there. Theology is just a subject I've done a lot of independent thinking about. I was agnostic for a brief period of my life. I can certainly see why someone would doubt things like divine revelation or an afterlife. God, however, is something I view as an undeniable force of nature - the very essence of existence itself (I don't exactly harbor a pantheistic view, though - I'm more of a panentheist). Call it whatever you want - Allah, Brahma, Nature, Steve from Accounting, or nothing at all. It's only the exact nature of it that we're arguing - is it just Nature or is it more than that?

Anywho, that's what I have to say about it. Well, in a nutshell, anyway. I could go on for a lot longer.

This post has been edited by bbqplatypus: Sep 10 2008, 07:07 AM

[Agent Griff]

Monster Necro?

Well, I suppose it's better to post in an existing thread rather than create a new one. Anwyay, here's what I got.

The wretched King Minos has decided your fate. His tale wraps around his body 8 times.
The sweet light no longer strikes against your eyes. Your shade has been banished to... the Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge!

Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge

Many and varied sinners suffer eternally in the multi-leveled Malebolge, an ampitheatre-shapped pit of despair Wholly of stone and of an iron colour: Those guilty of fraudulence and malice; the seducers and pimps, who are whipped by horned demons; the hypocrites, who struggle to walk in lead-lined cloaks; the barraters, who are ducked in boiling pitch by demons known as the Malebranche. The simonists, wedged into stone holes, and whose feet are licked by flames, kick and writhe desperately. The magicians, diviners, fortune tellers, and panderers are all here, as are the thieves. Some wallow in human excrement. Serpents writhe and wrap around men, sometimes fusing into each other. Bodies are torn apart. When you arrive, you will want to put your hands over your ears because of the lamentations of the sinners here, who are afflicted with scabs like leprosy, and lay sick on the ground, furiously scratching their skin off with their nails. Indeed, justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.

Heh, it seems I got the short end of the stick. That sounds like a really unpleasant place to spend the rest of eternity in. Oh well, I might as well jostle my way between all those pimps, seducers and magicians.

I'll send you guys in Dis a postcard from the Inferno Amphitheatre.

[Colonel Mustard]

A, all I got to as level 5-all the cool people are in level six. Still, I'm enthusiastic if anything, so I'd better get cannibalizing and spilling blood.

Blood for the blood god!!

[Agent Griff]

A, all I got to as level 5-all the cool people are in level six. Still, I'm enthusiastic if anything, so I'd better get cannibalizing and spilling blood.

Blood for the blood god!!

No, the really cool people are where I am, the Malebolge. That's the worst place in hell you can be.

I think only one other member got to the Malebolge, but it's worse than Cocytus and Dis combined. Oddly enough, I got high scores for both the Malebolge and Cocytus, but I was relegated to the Malebolge. Too much of a pimp and fortune teller I guess.

[Colonel Mustard]

Looking at these questions, I have to say that thse questions do seem to penalise you for following your human nature-that's a reason I'm atheist. Religion can demand you to completely remove all negative parts of you, and become something that's not quite human. People can be petty and violent and cowardly, but if we accept it, if we allow ourselves to be truely human then we shouldn't feel guilty or worry about punishment for merely being who we truly are.

[Lord Revan]

I got limbo. Horray! I'd be worried if I got level 2 or above. I've got flaws, everybody does. The awesome thing about Christ is that no matter how flawed you are; you only have to turn to him (for real) in order to be purified.
I'm protestant, some of the stuff Catholics do seems a like a little too much flash and not much substance. But that doesn't matter too much in the end. I think my result seemed pretty true to myself if it weren't for Jesus. Anyway, that was an fun diversion. Thanks for posting it.

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Sep 14 2008, 07:45 PM

[Ceren Karnal]

Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis

You approach Satan's wretched city where you behold a wide plain surrounded by iron walls. Before you are fields full of distress and torment terrible. Burning tombs are littered about the landscape. Inside these flaming sepulchers suffer the heretics, failing to believe in God and the afterlife, who make themselves audible by doleful sighs. You will join the wicked that lie here, and will be offered no respite. The three infernal Furies stained with blood, with limbs of women and hair of serpents, dwell in this circle of Hell.

WOOT!!!

[bbqplatypus]

I got limbo. Horray! I'd be worried if I got level 2 or above. I've got flaws, everybody does. The awesome thing about Christ is that no matter how flawed you are; you only have to turn to him (for real) in order to be purified.
I'm protestant, some of the stuff Catholics do seems a like a little too much flash and not much substance. But that doesn't matter too much in the end. I think my result seemed pretty true to myself if it weren't for Jesus. Anyway, that was an fun diversion. Thanks for posting it.

True. That part of it is awesome. Personally, I view salvation is a constant, ongoing process - a road to walk. It's about repentance - recognizing one's flaws and adhering as close as one can to Christ's teachings. The path to heaven is one that we must walk on our own - on Earth. I think the recognition that ultimately we will stumble a bit, and that in the end, we're all are equal before God, is an important thing to understand. We can't think that we're superior or more righteous than anyone else - no human is purely righteous.

What I'm trying to say is that I think the way we treat others and view ourselves is a large part of accepting and repenting. I don't think that a total douche can get into heaven just by being all "Save me, Jeebus!" (unless he genuinely realizes his mistake, regrets it, and sincerely commits himself to change it before dying) It's a long road - a gradual process that involves not so much getting to heaven as going on a journey where heaven is the destination.

Virtue and humility have positive consequences in life as well, of course - another reason I endorse this view.



Geez, look at me, talking like this on THIS forum of all places. I probably sound like an evangelist (I'm not, by the way - I've been called wishy-washy and liberal in my theology, though to be fair, it was by an online fundy, so, hey). Oh, well. It's not like it's anything to be embarrassed about. As long as I'm not threatening everybody else with hellfire (which, as I said before, is the refuge of desperate charlatans who tend to be more superstitious than genuinely religious), it should be safe to post this.

This post has been edited by bbqplatypus: Sep 15 2008, 05:13 AM

[Agent Griff]

Meh, if you ask me most people will be relegated to lower levels of hell by this test because all you need to do is not live a boring life. For example that question which asks if you've had sex before marriage, or are entertaining thoughts of doing so. Um, HELL YEAH!

Just being honest can get you to a level like the City of Dis or the Malebolge like in my case.

[bbqplatypus]

Meh, if you ask me most people will be relegated to lower levels of hell by this test because all you need to do is not live a boring life. For example that question which asks if you've had sex before marriage, or are entertaining thoughts of doing so. Um, HELL YEAH!

Just being honest can get you to a level like the City of Dis or the Malebolge like in my case.

Hmm. I didn't seem to have a problem. I masturbate WAY too often for my own good, and I didn't end up in the lower levels. I don't think it's a matter of never "slipping up" or having fun as much as it is not doing so often and at the expense of yourself and others. It's possible for a hobby to become a habit.

In any case, Dante didn't think venial sins could get you to the lower levels of hell anyway. He usually reserved that for the stuff that ISN'T fun to do - note that the last level belongs to traitors and whatnot. I don't think that either - people don't go to hell for having fun, having sex, or leading interesting lives. If you got to the lower levels based solely on that, then I think it's just a flawed test.

[DoomedOne]

I took it again and tied between Cocytus, Malebolg and City of Din. I dunno, maybe I answer harshly because it's a test about sin so I embellish a little, or maybe I really am just the epitome of evil to the catholic church.

[Lord Revan]

One of the flaws I have is masturbating as well, but so far I haven't been with anyone else and don't intend to until I find someone I'd consider marrying. Jesus teaches that you only have to lust in order to commit adultery, but very few people can go without lusting a little bit. That's why the afterlife would be so dismal without Christ; by accepting your flaws and honestly going forward for forgiveness you can have them taken away.

Yeah, I sound like an evangelical, but that's what I intend to be sometime. At least no one here is going to burn me at the stake for it. Anyway, just felt like saying that. My mom will be taking this test later just for the fun of it, I might post her results too.

[Colonel Mustard]

At least no-one here is going to burn me at the stake for it

I wouldn't be so sure...

*Hefts flamethrower*

Say hello to my liddle friend!*

Revan, as a (mildy baffled) atheist to a Christian, may I ask why there is such a taboo on sex? I understand values such as not killing or stealing, and helping others, but such abhorrence and restriction on what is a perfectly natural process seems rather strange.

And yes, I know I have sick sense of humour.

[Lord Revan]

Okay, I've been taught that there is nothing more pure than sex. That's might not be the most common view on it in Christianity. But like anything else, the union can be warped into something it isn't. Sex is meant to be a special bond between a man and woman (as it's said in Genisis, they are incomplete on their own and the union of sex makes them whole through partnership).

It is a taboo to freely do so with multiple people or with someone you don't intend to remain with because then the bond becomes totally meaningless. So while it is a natural process, there's more to sex than the pleasure we experience.
I hope that helped. Now having a girl/boyfriend is not so much a taboo. You can have "fun" (go to parties, have a drink, and other things) so long as it's not in excess or in an irresponsible fashion. As someone who has yet to partake in most of these activities, I don't see these standards as hampering my ability to live my life (I'm weird that way).

[bbqplatypus]

I have a similar view to his. I don't so much care about the specific "man and a woman" part (I really don't care either way when it comes to what way people swing), but I do think that it has more meaning when it's part of a stable relationship.

Unfortunately, sex has become a huge issue among the gaggle of rednecks and nutcases who have hijacked the faith. Listening to them, you'd think sexual repression and a pathological fear of science were the two central pillars of Christianity. Pretty much every other Christian voice is drowned out by the Pat Robertsons of the world. It's like I always say, the biggest a-holes always fart the loudest.

[Lord Revan]

Ok, I don't have a very strong opinion of homosexuality. I understand that it's something that you can help if you have it, but just like sex in general, I don't sympathize with those who go overboard with it. Whether Jesus will help a gay (in a general sense) get to heaven isn't for me or any other Christian to judge.
Just like any other group of people, homosexuals can't be put into a single stereotype. It's the hedonists and super controversial gays that I have a problem with. Just being gay doesn't deserve being mistreated. Those just my thoughts.

As for the man/woman thing, that's how it's taught in the Bible. It's not really that hard to interpret (unlike revelation and other segments that everyone goes on and on about). I choose to believe that is how God intended it.

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Sep 17 2008, 08:15 PM

[bbqplatypus]

I always draw the line at the point where a hobby becomes an addiction. If you're obsessed or addicted to something like, say, casual sex, to the same extent to which people on this board are obsessed with Morrowind, there tend to be negative consequences in life. Like that lead singer from Three Dog Night whose panda bear exploded. (No, seriously, that actually happened). Granted, it's not usually that dramatic, but, still, you don't want it to take over your life.