Eh? The wager was Johnny either gets the fiddle or loses his soul, why would he go to hell anyway?
No human is without sin, after all.
Win or lose, taking the bet at all is a sin, and Johnny aknowleges this in the song. Plenty of protestants (the target audience) see this as reason enough to go to hell.
Now you could argue about forgiveness or confession or whatever the fuck but the stage has been set for Johnny to go to hell even though he won.
“Here’s your fiddle. See you in 80 years”.
I think its a cautionary tale about using evil even when you think you’re good and right. The devil doesnt play fair, and always wins.
It’s not a protestant belief that a single sin makes you irredeemable and sends you to hell.
Well, Daniels wrote a sequel in which the devil comes back to try again. That pretty much negates this theory.
Also, Daniels wrote it in the middle of a recording session for the sole reason that he realized they forgot to write a fiddle song for the album they were recording. So I wouldn’t ascribe too much intention to anything.
