The Gates of Hell...

[evilwill]

I just finished watching The Ninth Gate and was wondering if it was remotely based on any sort of scripture or evidence regarding the gates of hell, or how many there might be and such.

On another note, I've also heard of Hell being refered to in nine circles (i think), is that somehow related?

[RavenWhitefang]

The ninth gate as far as I know, isnt related to any scripture or ancient writing that I know of.
As for the rings of hell, there is a pre renaissance book by Dante, called Dante's Inferno, that speaks about the different levels, or spheres of Hell. Dante in the book descends the levls of Hell and finds that each level has its own punishments for lifes sins. At the very bottom of Hell, frozen in time and space is the fallen Lucifer. It is an interesting read, albeit a bit boring as it is such an old book but good none the less.

[jesterbr549]

I just finished watching The Ninth Gate and was wondering if it was remotely based on any sort of scripture or evidence regarding the gates of hell, or how many there might be and such. On another note, I've also heard of Hell being refered to in nine circles (i think), is that somehow related?

Lucifer, at one time, wore a breast plate with nine precious stones on it. The earthly counterpart is the high priests plate which had twelve stones on it. Twelve is the number for three dimensional measurements - our realm. Nine, therefore,is the number for two dimensional measurements - the spiritual realm.

I didn't see the movie but this url will tell you what the Bible says about the Gates of Hell :

http://www.geocities.com/jesterbr549/shadowdeath.html

What little I have read about it on the net, the whole point was to unlease satan - this occurs at the start of the tribulation as recorded in Revelation 12, which I just mentioned on another post.

http://forums.armageddononline.org/showthread.php?p=52944#post52944

[RavenWhitefang]

Giving you some pagan background on the gates.

Pre-Christian Norse

According to the old notion, those who were not Odin's guests went either to Thor's house, who had all the thralls, or to Freyja, who even claimed a third part of the slain on every battlefield with Odin, or to Hel, the cold comfortless goddess already mentioned, who was still no tormentor, though she ruled over nine worlds, and though her walls were high, p. cxxiii and her bolts and bars huge; traits which come out in "The Master-Smith," p. 105, when the Devil, who here assumes Hel's place, orders the watch to go back and lock up all the nine locks on the gates of Hell--a lock for each of the goddesses' nine worlds--and to put a padlock on besides.

Hel was the Goddess of well...Hell, notably one of her kingdoms is called Nefelhim. only in this version of the underworld, it was not the firey pit of flames and brimstone, but a cold place without heat. Christianity having taken much from other religions, converted this underworld giving it the name Hell and placing Lucifer there.

Chinese Hells

The Ten Courts of Chinese Hell
Court 1: Mirror of Retribution. Ruled by QIN-GUANG-WANG.
Court 2: The Pool of Filth and the Hell of Ice. Ruled by QU-JIANG-WANG.
Court 3: Black Rope Hell and the Upside-Down Prison. Ruled by SONG-DI-WANG. Court 4: The Lake of Blood and the terrible Bee Torture. Ruled by WU-GUAN-WANG. Court 5: Sixteen Departments of Heart Gouging. Ruled by YEN-LO-WANG.
Court 6: Screaming Torture and Administrative Errors. Ruled by BIAN-CHENG-WANG. Court 7: Torture by Mincing Machine. Ruled by TAI-SHAN-WANG.
Court 8: Hot Suffocation Hell. Ruled by DU-SHI-WANG.
Court 9: Iron Web and Office of Fair Trading. Ruled by PING-DENG-WANG.
Court 10: The Wheel of Rebirth. Ruled by ZHUANG-LUN-WANG.

Here there are 10 levels, the tenth being not a hell, but the reincarnation area, not really a level at all, but 9 places for suffering. You must begin at 1 and pass through all of the torments and tortures to reach the tenth, unlocking each gate, or realm by shedding the wrong done in your life and passing on to the next purification process.

There arent many references to the number 9 in terms of gates, some are the rings of hell, others are worlds. The number 9 is perfection in numerological terms. Depending on what version you read, there are 7 heavens, and 7 hells.

HERE (http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/) is a good flash that explains the rings of Dante's Inferno, also known as The Divine Comedy.

[repentantsinner]

In that movie the jhonny depp character has an angel helping him and at the end he recieves enlightenment.

[RavenWhitefang]

If you are talking about the woman, she was not an angel, she was the whore of babylon. you find that out as you see the plates from the book, the one depicting the whore riding the dragon gets a special close up and it is the face of the woman helping him. I believe it is the last page that you see in the movie.

[RebornXmetalhead]

The ninth gate as far as I know, isnt related to any scripture or ancient writing that I know of.
As for the rings of hell, there is a pre renaissance book by Dante, called Dante's Inferno, that speaks about the different levels, or spheres of Hell. Dante in the book descends the levls of Hell and finds that each level has its own punishments for lifes sins. At the very bottom of Hell, frozen in time and space is the fallen Lucifer. It is an interesting read, albeit a bit boring as it is such an old book but good none the less.

How could there be different levels of hell for different punishments if all sin is equal to God's eyes? And why call it a punishment? I've never thought of it as beeing a "oh bad boy, bad bad boy *slap*"...

[RavenWhitefang]

How could there be different levels of hell for different punishments if all sin is equal to God's eyes? And why call it a punishment? I've never thought of it as beeing a "oh bad boy, bad bad boy *slap*"...

The different levels and punishments in Hell as told by Dante, was just a story. In the story of Dantes Inferno, you find that each of the levels are there as a purge of the strongest sins in the biggest sinners. There is no permanant Hell for these souls as they must work their way up the levels purging these sins as they move up. Yet in the book, the sinners dont get told they are able to redeem themselves. Purgatory was for the Sinner Lite, you could call them. Even the most pious person has had some sins in their lives and Purgatory, according to the story was for them. A quicker purge of sins to reach Heaven.

As for it being a punishment, would you consider having your entrails gouged out every day, feeling each and every tug, nerve tear and flesh rending bite, only to have them reform the next day to have it done all over again a reward?

In Dantes Inferno, Hell is like "Time Out", so yeah punishment fits.

[RebornXmetalhead]

Yes I agree that in Dantes Inferno (based on what you have said because I've never read the book), it fits more under punishment. But I don't see Biblical hell as a punishment... because punishment is a way of disciplining a person, to teach them not to do whatever they did again. Hell is eternal. (based on the BIble and a few other religions)

Sounds like an interesting book though.

[RavenWhitefang]

Should you want to pick it up and read it, the book collection in one book is called "The Divine Comedy"


Written by Dante Alighieri in 1306 - 21. The time setting when the book begins is in 1300, so he uses his knowledge of the present to "predict" events. It is divided into 3 sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Each one of these sections is divided into 33 cantos (except Inferno, which has 34 cantos), which are written in tercets (groups of 3 lines). The number 3 in Dante's time was significant because it was considered holy--since the Father (God), Son (Jesus), and Holy Ghost comprise the Trinity.

Its a Renaissance Period book, so the language and metaphor is really thick, but it is a good read. HERE (http://tanaya.net/Books/dinfr09/) is a link to the book free online if you want to read it.

[repentantsinner]

I've never read Dante's inferno but i've read about it. The first level is for the unbaptised, the next for thieves etc. on untill ay the bottom of hell is lucifer frozen in time and space. I t does not fit with the biblical lake of fire. I thought ( and somettimes still think) im going to hell. Some bible scholars who speak better greek than we do english, say "burning in hell" is actually the fire of the valley of gehenna where criminals bodies were burned, and the wicked will be destroyed forever, not live in "hell" forever. Did you know that hell is an english word that actually means....hidden... The greek word 'HADES' i belive reaslly means the grave.

[repentantsinner]

Never thought that RWF, the whore of babylon, makes sense. I do brlive the book dealer recieves enlightenment at the end of the ninth gste as the srcreen at the end lights up as he enters the castle.

[RebornXmetalhead]

Some bible scholars who speak better greek than we do english, say "burning in hell" is actually the fire of the valley of gehenna where criminals bodies were burned, and the wicked will be destroyed forever, not live in "hell" forever. Did you know that hell is an english word that actually means....hidden... The greek word 'HADES' i belive reaslly means the grave.

According to the BIble, hell is not yet existent... it is not all flames and whatnot. Hell will be when the saved are resurrected (first) and then later on the second resurrection (those unsaved), then the judgment of the great white throne, then the lake of fire (hell?) is existent and people are thrown in it. Somewhere it says that Satan would be thrown into the lake of fire, along with death and hades. Which basicly means that after you die, beeing saved, death and the grave are no longer part of life.

If hell means hidden, what language is it from? I'd like it if you backed that up.

[Edge]

Did you know that hell is an english word that actually means....hidden... The greek word 'HADES' i belive reaslly means the grave.

Wrong on both accounts. Hell means hell in the christian sense, it can also be used as an adjetive but it does not mean "hidden". You are refering to Helan which is Saxon. In Old English it has the same meaning that it has today.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Hell

And Hades, the Greek god of the dead had a helmet that allowed him to turn invisible. The word itself is the name of that religious figure, not an actual word that was used to mean hidden or invisible etc.

[RebornXmetalhead]

thank you, made things clear.

[dcookcan]

Quote by RWF

talking about the woman, she was not an angel, she was the whore of babylon. you find that out as you see the plates from the book, the one depicting the whore riding the dragon gets a special close up and it is the face of the woman

Christians - pay special attention to what RWF noted. The story is obviously fictional, but it may have some 'prophetic' reality in it. That woman you are happily taking part in (the church) is not a spotless bride...and may be a little more 'whorish' than you are willing to accept (or are too brainwashed to see). Open your eyes before the 'final seal' is opened and you get a rood awakening.