Thursday, February 09, 2012
Who Is Saved and Why - 7
Then we have the unique early Greek view of "The River of Fire" which is related to an ancient Zoroastrian view that God is love, that love is fire, and that fire warms and comforts the righteous because of their nature which they have wrought by their freewill actions and choices but that same fire torments the wicked because of the different nature which they have wrought by their choices. In short, heaven and hell are the same place, perceived differently by the righteous and the wicked who see things differently.
This following from Lionel Trilling is important to some of these considerations:
Rabbi Akiba’s meditation on fate and free will: “All is foreseen yet freewill is given; and the world is judged by grace, and yet all is according to work.” – From Lionel Trilling’s essay on Wordsworth.
