D&A: CHRISTIAN TEACHING ON AFTERLIFE Flashcards
What does Christianity teach about the soul?
People have souls which are capable of surviving the death of the body.
What teaching do Christians reject that other religions believe?
Reincarnation, the notion that a human soul can leave one physical body at death and be reborn into another.
Who’s ideas do Christians also reject?
Plato’s.
What does Plato believe?
The body and soul could part company with the body decomposing while the soul moves on by its - disembodied existence.
What alternative teaching do Christians take to Plato?
The teaching that life after death will take the form of the resurrection.
What is the teaching of the resurrection?
The person will be given a renewed spiritual body in which to continue their journey into the next life.
What are the two sources for the idea of the resurrection?
- Judaism.
- Ancients Greeks.
What is written in Genesis about Abraham’s death?
“He was gathered to his people.”
What is meant by the phrase in Genesis which accounts Abraham’s death?
The phrase “gathered to his people” is used for other prominent men of the old testament to e.g., Issac, Jacob and Moses.
What does the Bible tell us about the phrase used in Genesis to account Abraham’s death?
Not a lot, but it does hint that something of the original man was going to continue.
What are there also biblical passages about?
Future hope and ‘the last days’.
What is written in the Book of Daniel about the end of time?
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of earth will wake.”
What may life after death be seen as for Jews?
The obvious solution to the problem of God’s apparent injustice in this earthly life.
Which ancient Greek had considerable influence on Christian ideas?
Plato’s dualist ideas about the body and the soul, and the idea that after the death of the body, we return to contemplating the Form of Goodness.
What do Christians believe about Jesus’ resurrection?
That this is evidence to show that the same will happen to the rest of us.
