...Heaven or Hell is a short story based on a true historical event. The story highlights the inward, the invisible and the intangible power struggles of mankind. The stark descriptions of the reality and horror of war are frightening and shocking to the reader, aimed to affect emotionally and cause them to consider. The story is structured to make the reader visualize pain and death in war – Hell, when everything appears lost and hopeless, and Heaven - heroic and victorious, when the obstacles are overcome and the “Draconic Empire” defeated. The story has a formal register to deliver suspense and the factual horrors of war. This has been achieved in a number of different ways, firstly, the complex sentence, “Sergeant Hugh Mott and his colleagues frantically worked away in the belly of the bridge whilst troops continued to traverse the spine.” This creates formality through its sophisticated structure coupled with a serious and impersonal tone. Standard English also creates formality with the active verb phrase, “With a resounding thud his body hit the cliff”. There is no slang or dialect which helps to develop the formal and complex tone intended. The use of lexis, with the polysyllabic words, also creates a formal tone. The verbs, “surging”, “paralysing”, “illuminated”, and the pre-modifying adjective, “terrifying” are all a formal use of lexis. The story also avoids abbreviations such as the pronoun and verb, “He had”, instead of “He’d” which is more informal. Heaven or Hell...
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...Heaven and Hell Popular, secular opinion seems to conclude either: 1) there is no after-life or 2) everyone and their pets go to heaven. There isn’t much talk about Hell, except to dismiss the possibility of anyone going there. But one historical figure spoke very forcefully about the reality of Hell and the very real possibility of human beings spending eternity there. That person is none other than Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who became man. God did not dismiss Hell as either non-existent or not a threat. We should follow His example and learn what He taught. Who will go to Heaven? So after the Judgment, one will go to Heaven or Hell. Who goes to Heaven? How can I get there? The simple answer is that the souls of the just who are free of guilt and punishment will go to Heaven. But, we need to break that down a bit. First, let’s be clear on one point: no one can earn their way into Heaven by their good works… no one. Salvation is a free gift from God. In Catholic terminology, the person who enters Heaven is said to have died in a state of sanctifying grace. Protestants sometimes refer to this as the grace of justification. And they are correct. The souls of the just are those who have been justified by grace through faith. So the question is, who has been justified? This is where Catholic and non-Catholic teaching parts ways. We receive the grace of justification, that is, Sanctifying Grace, at our baptism when we are born anew from above Two...
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...An Explication of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell William Blake’s trouble with orthodoxy within religion was never more apparent than in his poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. It becomes clear that his problems with the Church run deeper than just their organization, but with their views on good and evil, and there is still debate today about what Blake’s true feelings were and how they were conveyed through the poem. This paper will simply explain the nature of the poem and the events that come together within it. The beginning of Marriage sets up an image of a man walking through a “perilous path” that is described as “The vale of death” (Blake 1.4-5). Rintrah, a personification of wrath, watches the man be swayed from his path by the “sneaking serpent,” which can easily be interpreted as the Devil (Blake 1.17). The man is driven into the wild to fend for himself, where he will struggle and be tempted by the good and evil sides of himself and of the world. The next plate that Blake writes is not in a poetic form, but instead calls forth a challenge to the Swedenborgian view of religion. He humorously writes that “it is now thirty-three years since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb: his writings are the linen clothes folded up” (Blake 3). Blake’s jokes about Swedenborg’s relationship to Jesus Christ and his changes to the Christian church lead into his next point, which is how contradictory he believes these...
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...Belief in Heaven and Hell Christopher Shane Inlow CGD218: Visual Literacy in Business Professor Felicia Maxwell October 31, 2010 I. Introduction A. Thesis Statement II. Religion and History A. Definition Heaven and Hell B. Heaven and Hell in many religions. III. Heaven, Hell, and Culture Influence A. Cultures around the world B. C. IV. Conclusion Heaven and Hell, the belief in the existence of both realms has influenced human society throughout history and most likely before recorded history. “Many people follow a religion because it promises them happiness in life or in some kind of life after death, or they believe it will save them from eternal damnation. The prospect of an afterlife also offers hope to those who suffer in this life.” (World Book, 2010). After life is a thought process that helps eleminate the fear of nothingness that often accompanies the thought of death. This life is often seen as a precursor to eternity. Many view this life as a test. The score determines where the after life will be spent, Heaven or Hell. Religion and the concept of an afterlife has affected and been affected by both culture and history. The belief in Heaven and Hell has been held and is still held today by various cultures and religious sects. Therefore, the definition and name of the afterlife are influenced by the respective culture or religious affiliation it belongs too. The religious...
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...My Journey In Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven I had a dream. I dreamed that I was able to journey hell, purgatory, and heaven. My account is I was in the purgatory with four murderers named John, Romeo, Billy, and Raymond. Day 1. They were there before I came. They were speaking to God almighty with Jesus beside him. John and Raymond were asking for forgiveness from God for the sins they made while they are living. They also said that it’s okay if he doesn’t forgive them because their sins are unforgivable. Then, they were gone. Romeo and Billy were not asking for forgiveness from God but instead, they have confidence in themselves that they will go to heaven. Then, they were gone too. One of God’s followers asks me to rest. So I went to sleep. Day 2. I went to the judging palace where I saw the four murderers talking to God in day 1. Then, God asked me: “Do you think that your sins are forgivable young man? Do you think you will go to my heaven?” I remained silent. After a while, I said: “I know that some of my sins are unforgivable but I want to go to heaven so I want to ask you to forgive me Lord. Cleanse me Lord, remove all my sins”. “Do you want to take peek in hell and heaven?”, God asked. “Yes, I would like to see hell and heaven.” I said. Then, we travelled. Day 3. I saw hell. It was horrible. It was dark and so hot in there. And I saw Romeo and Billy suffering. “They were not sincere in themselves and they didn’t ask forgiveness.”, God said. I’m sad for them. I can’t...
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...a very distinct picture of both heaven and hell. He describes them both in such a way that makes the reader feel as if they are actually there. The Great Divorce is made up of a lot of metaphors that really make one think about how heaven and hell will be. While C.S. Lewis paints an interesting, thought-provoking image of heaven and hell, it is only an idea. We cannot know exactly what they will look like until we are there. The Great Divorce begins with the narrator standing at a bus stop. The bus stop is in the middle of a very bleak town. The town that he is in is hell. He says, "I had been wandering for hours in similar mean streets, always in the rain and always in evening twilight." He had wandered around for hours...
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...Physician-assisted suicide is; suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indications of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information (Merriam-Webster, n.d). For over ten years, there has been much controversy about the ethics and legality of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) not only in the United States but also worldwide. In 1997, the Supreme Court had a unanimous ruling that there was not a constitutional right or a constitutional ban to PAS. Since then almost every other state have opposed legalization of PAS. There are many terminally ill people that feel assisted suicide should be their choice, not something left to the government for debate. Assisted suicide should be legal in all states because those who suffer with a terminal illness that want to die should be able to end their life peacefully instead of living in agony. Almost everyone that lives in the United States has rights; the right to free speech, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but those that are dying from a terminal disease do not have many rights. They do not have a right to seek help to end their pain and suffering. They lose the right to be in charge of their own life. The pursuit of happiness seems to not exist for those that wish to end their life. For some having their pain and suffering ended would make them “happy” because they no longer have to live with pain...
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...November 2011 Gnosticism and Marcionism vs. Christianity What and where is heaven and hell? Many Christians today can answer these questions based on the beliefs they’ve obtained through the church. Most Christians would answer that heaven is a place in the sky where an obedient person’s soul goes after they die, and hell is a place in the ground where a misbehaved soul goes. These beliefs of afterlife are often taught in Christian churches; however, these beliefs weren’t always this way. This change was important because it answered the critical question in Christianity about the Last Judgment Day. This change took place after the church had to create specific writings of the beliefs of the Christian religion to refute the popular beliefs of Gnosticism and Marcionism. The ideas about heaven and hell came out of neo-platonic philosophy, which played the major role of influence in the Christian religious cults Gnosticism and Marcionism, who then prevailed with the same ideas that were adopted by the Christian orthodox. Another importance of this change in the history of the church is that the Christian orthodox today still practices these neo-platonic ideas that were first present in the Gnosticism and Marcionism. The Christian orthodox beliefs about heaven and hell would not be the same without the Gnostic and Marcionic influences on the church. Neo-platonic philosophy about heaven and hell show up in the beliefs of Gnostics and Marcionites and the Christian orthodox....
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...Analysis of Hell-Heaven Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian American writer who has developed a way of writing that reflects off of events in her life and certain incidents she has endured throughout her time. Although Lahiri was not born in the heart of India, her parents passed down the passion of their culture due to spending a part of their lives in Bengali. The Bengali culture that was maintained as she grew up allowed her to apply her knowledge and experiences into her short stories. In “Hell-Heaven”, the Bengali culture played a prominent role throughout the whole story. This story had been told through the eyes of a woman who had been recollecting on her life as a young, growing girl. Lahiri chose to use the daughter as the narrator because it was easiest for her to see the dynamics between her parents and the newcomer. The newcomer is Pranab Chakraborty, a Bengali from Calcutta studying engineering at an institute in America. He ironically came across a woman who lived in America, shared the same Bengali culture as him and was also raised in Calcutta. To come across such a familiar thing in an unfamiliar, foreign country, allowed Pranab to feel as if he wasn’t alone and had someone to share his experiences with. Now knowing that Lahiri had parents from Bengali and she spent her years growing up in America, it is evident that her family’s culture is strongly reflected in the story “Hell-Heaven”. Living in America and having to assimilate to the American culture is easier...
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...In Heaven or Hell, we have spent the first semester exploring various religions and philosophies, with the intentions of grasping a better idea of the soul. We have studied the works of neurosurgeons, famous philosophers, prominent poets, novelists, and the oral history of the ancient Israelites. Each one of these beautiful and intriguing works, whether biographical or philosophical, has given me a better idea of what the soul really is. At the beginning of the semester, I had a fairly strong idea of the soul, however I was sceptical of its existence. After reading Proof of Heaven, by Dr. Eben Alexander, I was confident that the soul was real. Now that it has come to the end of the semester, my idea of the soul has not dramatically changed, however it has greatly expanded. In the beginning of the school year, I thought that the soul is one’s true identity in its purest form and that when doing something one loves, you can get a glimpse at it. Today, I still believe the same, however my idea of the soul has developed into a larger understanding. After a semester in Heaven or Hell, I have a better understanding of the soul due to the insights I have gained from Socrates, Dr. Eben Alexander, and Dante Alighieri. After being exposed to these new theories I now believe in the...
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...Katrina Jabbari Professor Scott-Curtis English 46B 3 Feb. 2015 “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” by William Blake The poem, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” by William Blake, largely expresses Blake’s views and feelings regarding the social and political situation going on at the time the poem was written and engraved in the late eighteenth century. The poem is a satirical work and a bit of a mockery of the bible—a “bible” in which Hell is portrayed as being the place of interest, with the author being the Devil’s disciple. Themes in the poem strongly suggest Blake’s feelings of anti-conformity and anti-institutionalized religion. Blake feels as though institutionalized religion represses people and inhibits creativity and happiness. In the portion of the poem titled “The Proverbs of Hell,” almost all of the proverbs portray ideas of pro-indulgence and giving in to one’s desires. For instance, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom…” or, "The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction." Blake advocates for the arts and leading an uncensored life led by one’s desires, as opposed to following “instruction” and conforming to religious ideals of what is “good.” Blake is an intellect and believes in the power of art. He states that “Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of Genius.” He seems to have believed in the madness of art over the “advances” made with science and “good” which is guided by...
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...modeling and the use of light. The Last Judgment has a large image of Christ in Majesty in the center and by using a raking scale he is larger than the rest of the characters showing his importance. He has a golden yellow tone mandorla which symbolized the coming together of the heavens and earth. Above Him is the army of Angels waiting for Jesus’ judgment. The twelve apostles sit to His left and right. There are two levels divided into the heavens that are painted above Him, and souls that are plunged into the mouth of hell below Him. As you can see Jesus' right hand gestures towards heaven, the blessed are rising up into heaven, and Jesus’ left hand gestures downwards towards hell which the damned are being thrown into the pits of hell for an eternity of suffering, seeing this shows movement in the painting. The painters humor is shown in the tiny soul hiding behind the Cross trying to sneak from hell over to the heavenly side. These characters have more depth than in art of the past. The images of Jesus and of the devil are the most realistic in this piece. They are more rounded than the other individuals who help to instantly draw our eyes to the two most important aspects of the painting, heaven and hell. The painting best fits under the Representational...
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...Hamlet Act III, Scene 3 Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do it. And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge! He took my father grossly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven? But in our circumstance and course of thought, 'Tis heavy with him; and am I then reveng'd, To take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep; or in his rage; Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed; At gaming, swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in't- Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damn'd and black As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays. This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. I could do it easily now. He’s praying now. And now I’ll do it. (he draws out his sword) And there he goes, off to heaven. And that’s my revenge. I’d better think about this more carefully. A villain kills my father, and I, my father’s only son, send this same villain to heaven. Seems like I just did him a favor. He killed my father when my father was enjoying life, with all his sins in full bloom, before my father could repent for any of them. Only God knows how...
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...personal feelings towards this book. The Great Divorce is at its most basic level the quest of a single person through both heaven and hell. The reader could easily make a comparison between this theme and the works of Dante, but in Lewis’ book the reader sees more humor and more realistic occurrences. For example, the narrator enters into the gate to heaven and hell when he steps aboard an ordinary city bus. The book begins with a sad person – the narrator – who is walking in a very evil city. The narrator looks around and sees that everyone in this city is suffering in some way. He then gets on the bus and finds that all the passengers are ghosts. However, as the bus comes close to heaven, these ghosts once more become people and the land becomes less evil. When the narrator steps from the bus he finds that the landscape is very real and because of this he is physically hurt. Yet the ghosts are allowed to pass through this land in order to reach a city that is apparently Heaven. When the bus reaches the city of Heaven, the passengers are allowed to choose whether they want to stay as ghosts or become spirits. The implication is that the ghosts are in hell and that the spirits are in heaven, and that the choice to go to heaven is something that the human being must decide. Here, the role of the ghost is that of a human who willingly remains in hell. Sounds foolish? Not...
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...whether there is life after death is simply a question of faith for some individuals. Religions generally interpret death as the death of the body and not of the soul. To this day, there is no precise answer to this issue and over the centuries experts have tried to explore and unravel the mysteries of this complicated or rather confusing phenomenon but have failed to arrive at a concrete conclusion. It has long been established that the Western and Eastern society have very different views on death that have been developed over the centuries. In the Western society, death is viewed as something that is permanent and emphasized the notion of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is conceptualized as a place of eternal bliss or happiness after death and Hell is depicted as a place where souls are continuously tortured or punished by creatures of Hell called demons. The entrance to either of these places relies on the deed or sins that have been committed in one’s life. Christianity is one of the many religions that view death in this concept. The Eastern society, as an...
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