Faust is a years old Legend that goes back farther than I know. There have been many adaptions over the years, and for my Pre-modern World Literature class we had to read and analyze Goethe's version. For those who don't know, basically the Devil (known by Mephistopheles in this text) and God make a bet that the Devil can't capture the soul of one of God's followers. God suggests Faust, a homely scholar who is on a mission to find true satisfaction in the world. Faust signs his soul over to the Devil in hopes that he will find this true satisfaction. After many trials, Faust eventually dies and just as the Devil is about to damn his soul for all of eternity, God redeems him and takes his soul to heaven.
To me, it was complex and confusing how, despite Faust giving into Mephistopheles' temptations, God still takes his soul to heaven. Why would He do such a thing after man basically turned his back on Him? I feel like there is a big lesson to learn there.
After thinking about it for a while, I came to my own conclusion. I figured that this sort of related to original sin. That even though we can completely turn our backs on God, He still loves us and still wants us with Him in the afterlife. But Faust was also the victim of a bet between God and the Devil. God put him up to it. God must have taken his soul to heaven as a compensation for making him a victim of the bet. God maybe knew that he was merely a man and would give in to many of the temptations that Mephistopheles would place before him. In the end, God knows that man is a fallible being and we cannot be to blame for all the mistakes that we make. I think the ending that Goethe gave his rendition gives mankind hope that despite our mistakes, God still loves us.
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