I Wouldn't Mind Living in Hell

Last week, we took notes on Dante's Inferno.  In this allegory, Dante describes his journey through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.  If I were to describe all of the notes we took about this book in one sentence, it would be that you most definitely want to go to Heaven, unless you really like hanging out with the great nonchristian people.  This book describes the nine rings of Hell, starting with the first one, which doesn't seem too bad.  The first rings is Limbo, which is where the unbaptised and virtuous pagans go after they die.  Apparently without baptism, people lack hope for something greater than their minds can conceive, so they can't go to Heaven.  However, Limbo includes green fields and a castle with seven gates to represent the seven virtues.  This castle is the home of many of the greatest humans to exist, such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Julias Caesar, Cicero, Hippocrates, and so on.  So, the first ring of Hell is actually a pretty cool place because it's basically a deficient form of Heaven.  However, the rest of Hell is a pretty awful place.  The next eight rings go in order of sin, with the second ring being the lightest sin and the ninth ring being the worst sin.  As you go down the rings, the punishment gets worse and worse, so you DO NOT want to end up in the ninth ring.  So, next time you tell somebody to go to Hell, make sure you let them know you mean rings 2-9 because the first ring is kinda cool.