Heaven: Are All Welcome?

A recent article caught my attention about a new book being published which has some of the religious community riled up. Pastor Rob Bell's new book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived takes a universalist view of the afterlife, that God's love is absolute and everybody virtuous (non-Christians included,) are entitled to divine salvation. Naturally this goes against the doctrines of many Christian churches which hold that Hell is not only very real, but that anybody who has not accepted Christ is doomed to eternal damnation.

The relevance, which will be apparent starting in the fourth Canto of Inferno, is that this is how Dante's world is also established - with few exceptions, those virtuous pagan poets whom existed before the time of Christ are forever doomed to languish in the First Circle of Hell, regardless of their merits or legacy. While it might seem rather harsh to the rest of us, Dante is laying bare the framework for the multitude of metaphysical rules and logics that will go on to influence much of our modern civilization, politics, and philosophical thinking.

Regardless of your leanings, the article was an interesting read. Check it out for yourself and make up your own mind.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/01/what-is-a-heretic-exactly-in-the-evangelical-church/