Okay, so there are an in numerous amount of beautiful, surprising, or interesting things to talk about in Paridiso. However, the fact heaven has levels really bothers me. Maybe it bothers me more than it should... But I have always understood that all sins are equal and that when we go to heaven we praise God which is awesome and I'm super siked to spen all eternity doing so! And even if everyone is split into spheres, heaven is mind-boggingly awesome, and I am exceedingly grateful for the grace that allows me to even think about heaven let alone go up there! (It's going to be amazing!) but I thought we were all equal in God's sight. And if we are equal, why are we split up? If every sin is equal, and all our sins have been forgiven and forgotten (because we're saved by Christ) then why and how are we divided? I thought we were supposed to sit at God's banquet table. All nationalities, all tongues. Everyone who has been saved, together as one praising God, Our Father and Our Creator! Now, we can still praise God in our different spheres. Just the thought of being split up in heaven really surprised me and through me for a loop.
P. S. I commented on Abbie George
The division really bothered me too. It's quite different from our modern perception of the unity within Heaven. I kind of expected levels since the previous books were divisions, but I'd like to know why Dante's perception of Heaven could allow the levels and his reasoning behind how he divided them up.
ReplyDeleteI agree, It makes me uncomfortable to consider. It is as if it brings sin up to heaven. These people remember their shortcomings, yet they are perfectly content. I guess that is difficult for me to understand because it is so foreign to the humanity that I understand. Great blog by the way!
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