God's Real Intent For Hell

                                   Dante and Virgil at the Gates Of Hell
                                                By: William Blake


When I first read the inscription on the gates of Hell,  it seemed obvious that Satan had written it. God really didn't enter my mind until I began to grasp the word choice of the inscription. Words like, "Justice, Primordial Love, and Free Will" (18) are not the words Satan would use. Using critical reading skills, it became clear that God's intent (according to Dante) was to punish the sinners that used their free will in a negative way by punishing them for life. God implies that your choice of what you do in life is fine, as long as you make the right choices. Everyone made their choices so, now they will have to live with them for eternity. 

God loves us all in very different ways, even by showing his love in Hell. He believes that if you make the wrong choices in life, then he is respecting your choices and giving you want you deserve in Hell of in Heaven. The sinned shall be sinned ; the followers rewarded. The gates of Hell, for example say, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here(18)” meaning that in Hell, all hope is lost. The only hope there is is in heaven, where they will never be.  It's also true that wanting to sin is in human nature. That feeling of doing something wrong, like cheating on a test, is so easy to do. God's challenge is testing us how we will handle this craving by either following it or denying. If your life is full of these atrocious choices, then God will make sure you pay in Hell. 

In Canto III, Dante and Virgil receive a ride from Charon. Virgil explains to Dante that all who die not following God congregate in Hell from everywhere in the world, with anyone. He also states that, “... for here Divine Justice transforms and spurns them so their dread turns wish: they yearn what they fear (22).” This quote explains that people wan to come here because Divine Justice is different then it is on Earth. God takes each and every sin a punishment that “fits the crime”. this then impels them to think of these awful punishments as something amazing. In reality, they yearn for the thing they are to fear. 
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                              










Charon and Souls at the Bank of Acheron