Dystopia

I haven’t found a good definition of dystopia, but it is the opposite of utopia. Ancient and modern writers have tried to describe a world that encompasses all our fears. Most modern dystopias have to do with the computers taking over the world, or political leaders that are puppets of technology.

We won’t spend much time here, but understanding dystopias will help us later understand our concept of hades or hell. Just as utopia is an earthly version of heaven, dystopia is an earthly version of hell.

Fiction and ancient religions are replete with these references. Have you heard of Styx? Not the American rock band, but the river in Greek mythology that separates the living from the dead. You may remember Mordor…from Tokiens’s writings, now made into films.

Amenti is the Egyptian version of hell. Nastrond, the Norse version. Students of the religions of Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism may have learned about Naraka…the Sanskrit word for hell.

If you have ever used the word pandemonium, you have named the capital city of hell in Dante’s Inferno. Think of Pandemonium as a place. Would you want to live there?

And it goes on. Terminus is the latin word for “end of the road”, and also for ancient Roman thought regarding death.

Dystopias are easily created in the writer’s mind, but also not too hard to create in real life. Many working people describe their working culture as a dystopia. Well, this is just a warm up for our discussion of heaven and hell. Hell is the ultimate dystopia and perhaps heaven is the ultimate utopia. As Christians, we need to be aware other cultures and thinkers have considered these things.

Soon to follow, some thoughts on heaven, hell and purgatory. Yes, purgatory. Did you know John Wesley was a believer in purgatory?