Fascinating, very well reasoned and very articulate.
If there is a hell or heaven, BtVs and AtS seem to say, we make it ourselves... metaphorically speaking. Religion is no sanctuary - nuns are vampire candy, monks cower and cringe. Goodness untested by evil proves nothing. It's only through trying to make the world better for others, not ourselves, that we earn our souls' final reward. And one's own conscience is the real final judge. And just as Angel loses his soul through a moment of "perfect happiness," we must never really believe we deserve a reward.
I think this passage, especially, puts the often confusing theology of BtVS and Ats into a workable persepctive.
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Date: 2005-01-01 05:44 pm (UTC)If there is a hell or heaven, BtVs and AtS seem to say, we make it ourselves... metaphorically speaking. Religion is no sanctuary - nuns are vampire candy, monks cower and cringe. Goodness untested by evil proves nothing. It's only through trying to make the world better for others, not ourselves, that we earn our souls' final reward. And one's own conscience is the real final judge. And just as Angel loses his soul through a moment of "perfect happiness," we must never really believe we deserve a reward.
I think this passage, especially, puts the often confusing theology of BtVS and Ats into a workable persepctive.