Minister Masket wrote:An interesting puzzler: How do we exactly know so much about hell?
We "know" there are a certain number of circles in Hell, what these areas are assigned to, what they look like and even who inhabits what area.
I believe I am right in thinking that this information is not given in the Bible (and rightly so), so where did it come from? It's not as if Satan gives family tours now is it?
And if we know so much about Hell, why do we know so little about Heaven?
We don't "know" any more about Hell than we do about heaven. The whole "circles of hell" thing was conceived entirely by Dante in his Divine Comedy (specifically the
Inferno), and if you had your facts straight you'd know that in the
Paradisio he goes into just as much detail about Heaven.
Nonetheless, the Divine Comedy is a work of literature, not a theological doctrine. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Hell is described as a choice, freely made, to reject God for eternity, and thus suffer eternal torment in his absence. Heaven is described as a place where all the human heart's deepest needs and wants are fulfilled.