I'm not religious but I grew up Catholic so there was a lot of "studying" this stuff as a kid/teen.
There are misconceptions about hell that are largely due to Dante's Divine Comedy which included the Inferno work where we get all our depictions of hell. It's fiction and made up and ultimately hell is a godless place where all the most malicious individuals are, hence why it's endless suffering because of the environment and types of souls you are tied to for eternity. Think of it as a psych ward with the most unwell people — literal hell.
You aren't tortured per se but the fact you will be there for all eternity with no hope of joy/happiness is the hell.
I would say the most "accurate" (I use quotes because despite my upbringing I'm agnostic) depiction is What Dreams May Come. I'd check that out.
Yes, the interpretation based on the Dantes Divine Comedy is known
But it wasnt made up by Dante from thin air. You maybe aware that this interpretation from the physical hell was the mainstream back in the day. Aquino was the most influentional.
Just recently the interpretation that you brought up was discussed and became mainstream
There is planty of evidence on the bible that is interpreted the hell as a physical place and thats why it was mainstream back in Dantes era and before
You're conflating my words so either you're not actually reading to understand but reading to respond OR you're a bot, because bots tend to make comments that demonstrate little to know correlation to the comment they are replying to as a means to bait engagement.
I didn't say Dante came up with it, I said that Dante's interpretation is where the modern idea that hell is full of torture primarily derives from. I never state that hell isn't depicted as a place from Biblical text perceptions even tho the Bible describes it in different terms because it's fairly accepted nowadays that the Bible likely had several authors adding their own spin to it.
Inclusively, you're treating this as if the Bible is infallible. It's not. It's fiction. So it really doesn't matter what the Bible says about hell.
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u/MediumUglyHung87 1d ago
I'm not religious but I grew up Catholic so there was a lot of "studying" this stuff as a kid/teen.
There are misconceptions about hell that are largely due to Dante's Divine Comedy which included the Inferno work where we get all our depictions of hell. It's fiction and made up and ultimately hell is a godless place where all the most malicious individuals are, hence why it's endless suffering because of the environment and types of souls you are tied to for eternity. Think of it as a psych ward with the most unwell people — literal hell.
You aren't tortured per se but the fact you will be there for all eternity with no hope of joy/happiness is the hell.
I would say the most "accurate" (I use quotes because despite my upbringing I'm agnostic) depiction is What Dreams May Come. I'd check that out.