Thanks, Henry. Mein Deutsche ist nicht gut. No hablo espanol either, senor. :-) Oh, by the by, the German-gender mistake was all mine. The OED had nothing to do with it. <... must... protect... OED... at any... cost...>
On a more serious note, I am excited about all the questions about hell and what it is and why it exists if God is such a benevolent being.
On the issue of Satan's fall into hell, I think I like best the story told by Joseph Campbell (from the Upanishad or something like that). I'll try to do the story justice: When God created man, he gathered all the angels together to honour or bow down to man. Satan loved God too much to bow down to man - Satan could/would only bow down to God. In his fury, God sent Satan away, "Get out of here!", "Get out of my sight!" And that is hell: the place away or the state of separation from the one you love the most.
Greg |
