I listen a lot to Alan Watts (1915-1973) who, I think was an ex-Anglican priest. He says that Saint Thomas Acquinas “gives the game away” by saying that every now and then the Christian Saints in Heaven peer down from the Battlements of the New Jerusalem down into the fiery abyss of Hell so as to get a good look. He sees this as illustrative of his Buddhist Duality. Heaven would not appear so good if Hell were not so frightful. I think that the original Latin quote from Saint Thomas Aquinas is: ‘Sānctī dē poenīs impiōrum gaudēbunt.’ Rhythmically: ‘Sáánctii dee pœ́œ́niis impióórum ga͡ua͡udeebunt.’ Translated: ‘The Saints shall rejoice concerning the punishments of the undevout.’ I came across this Latin phrase in the Essay: ‘Hell: Christianity’s Most Damnable Doctrine’ (2011) by Dr. Keith Parsons published in John Loftus’s Anthology ‘The End of Christianity.’ (2011). Although a moderate cultural Catholic Christian myself, recent demographic analysis by Gallup prompted me to reread this anthology. Seth Andrews has a marvelous video on Hell comparing Hell to what we know, medically, and pathologically, about the degrees of human burning. It was so horrific, that I could not watch to the end. And this was a toned-down version of the original video that YouTube rejected. ____ #christianity #catholicism #hell #rethinkingHell #alanwatts #latin #translation #education #linguistics https://www.instagram.com/p/CRimsFyDveN/?utm_medium=tumblr
