Judgement & Personal Identity Flashcards
Judgement
The Rich man and Lazarus parable outlined
+ Biblical reference
The rich man was too interested in material possessions and ignored the poor man (Lazarus) at his gate
Luke 16
“At the time when the bigger died and the Angels carried him to Abrahams side. The rich man has also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus at his side.”
The story continues how the Rich man asks Lazarus to dip his finger in the water to soothe his burning tongue - but Abraham rejects this, as the rich man did not aid Lazarus in life.
Parable of the sheep and the goats Quote
(Matthew 25)
“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a Shepard separates the sheep from the goats”
“Whatever you dud not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”
What does the parable of the sheep and the goat suggest?
- Jesus is judging them based on their deeds - not strictly by whether they are of the Christian faith or not.
- It’s binary: you are either a sheep or a goat, there is no middle ground
- Eternal punishment (goats): Not necessarily done something bad but failed to take opportunities they could have to help others. This is key.
- If you do not act as Jesus was have, then you are not good.
- The majority of people would be a goat?
What is Personal identity
Your essence - in Aristolean speak
What makes you the person you are. Your personhood, Your distinguishing features of a specific time in your life. If it is certain things that make you who you are, can these somehow be the same in the next life and if so is that person still the original you?
Questions surrounding personal identity concerning life after death
Who is the person before death and who is the person after death?
A.G. Flew question concerning personal identity
If Joe is witnessing his own funeral, who is the ‘Joe’ observing and who is the ‘Joe’ being buried?
- Because one is the body and one is the soul - are they both Joe?
- Do you need a physical body to have a personal identity?
What is the solution to A.G. Flews question?
Obvious solution is to say that the Joe observing is some sort of ‘spirit’
However the problem with this solution is that we have only proven experience of our ‘selves’ as in physical bodies.
So if the person is just ‘soul’ are they the same person?
