SECTION 1 CHRISTIANITY- TOPIC 1.1.6 CHRISTIAN ESCHATOLOGYY

Question 1

Eschatology=

Answer 1

to religious beliefs about death, judgement and life after death.

Question 2

The different attitudes in Christianity about
the nature of life after death:

Answer 2

Resurrection of the body
Immortality of the soul
Catholic teachings about life after death
Heaven and hell
Purgatory
The final judgement

Question 3

Resurrection of the body-

Answer 3

Protestants believe
soul remains in the grave until the time when God will end the world
AKA Last Day, which will follow the Second Coming of Jesus where the belief
that Jesus will return to earth to declare the end of the world.

-At that time, the dead will be raised and both the living and the dead will be given resurrection bodies.

Everyone will then appear before God for the final judgement
Some Christians believe that those Christians
who have repented of their sins, will go to
heaven for eternity- Everyone else will go to hell for eternity because they have rejected God’s love.

Some Christians believe in the resurrection of the body because it was Jesus’ body which physically rose from the dead, and his resurrection body was different from his earthly body, so Christians’ bodies will rise
and become resurrection bodies. This is what is taught by St Paul.

Question 4

Immortality of the soul-

Answer 4

believe:
-we have body and a soul. They believe that the soul is non-material and immortal
-when the body dies, the soul leaves the body to live with God.
-that there is a spirit world where God can be
experienced in a much more immediate way than on earth.
-good Christians will go to heaven, but
everyone else will go to a spiritual form of hell.
-Others do not believe in any form of hell. They believe that all souls will have opportunities to learn from their mistakes on earth, and so move up in a variety of types of heaven until they reach the presence of God.

Question 5

What is Belief in the immortality of the soul is based upon?
+2 SOWAA

Answer 5

that after his ascension, Jesus became a spirit and went to the spirit world.

-Jesus told the robber crucified with him that he would go straight to paradise, and there are references in the Gospels to Abraham, Moses and Elijah being able to be communicated with in heaven, therefore they must be living on in a spiritual world. -seems to indicate immortality of the soul
rather than the resurrection of the body.

-Many Christians believe in a mixture of resurrection and immortality. They
think their souls will live on after death AND have a final judgement.
“Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…it is raised a spiritual body.”

Question 6

Catholic teachings about life after death

Answer 6

-a mixture of resurrection and immortality.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches in the Catechism that when people die, Christians
who are perfectly purified will go to heaven, Christians who have died with unforgiven sins will go to purgatory to be purified of their sins and evil people will go to hell.

-At the end of the world, God will judge everyone and make a new heaven and a new earth where the resurrected souls from
heaven and purgatory will live, but the souls from hell will return to hell.

Question 7

Heaven and hell-

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Answer 7

-Most Catholics believe that all Christians will eventually go to heaven and that good followers of any religion may go to heaven, but everyone else will go to hell.

-Some Christians believe that only good Christians will go to heaven, but bad Christians and all members of other religions will go to hell.

-Some believe that all good people will go to heaven whatever they believe, but bad people will go to hell.

-Other Christians believe that there is no hell, only levels of heaven, so everyone will eventually go to heaven.

Question 8

Purgatory-
2 beliefs from 2 denominations

Answer 8

-Catholic Christians believe that purgatory is the place where those Christians who have died with unforgiven sins go to be purified of their sins so that they can go to heaven.

-Protestant Christians believe that there is no such place as purgatory since it has no biblical foundation. Article by The Church Of England
“Purgatory…grounded upon no warranty of scripture”

Question 9

The final judgement-

Answer 9

-Catholics and Protestants who believe in resurrection believe that this will be a final judgement at the END OF THE WORLD when the living and the raised dead will be gathered before God. They will be judged on how they have lived and on what they have believed.

• Christians who believe in immortality of the soul believe that each soul will be judged when they die and the basis of the judgement will be focused on how they have lived.

Question 10

Christian beliefs about judgement are based on what?

Answer 10

Bible teachings such as the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. This parable says that the final judgement will be based on whether people have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed strangers, and visited the sick and those in prison: those who have done this will go to heaven,

those who have not will go to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:31–46).

Question 11

How are beliefs about life after death are shown in the Bible?

The belief in resurrection is based on…

Answer 11

on St Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15.

Question 12

How are beliefs about life after death are shown in the Bible?

Belief in the immortality of the soul comes from …

Answer 12

such verses as Jesus’ promise to the robber crucified with him.

Question 13

How are beliefs about life after death are shown in the Bible?

Heaven

Answer 13

Heaven is referred to as a place of paradise

where God dwells and hell is referred to
as a place of fire and punishment in many places in the Bible,

especially in
the parables of Jesus such as the Sheep and Goats.

Question 14

How are beliefs about life after death are shown in the Bible?

The final judgement

Answer 14

taught in many biblical passages, perhaps most clearly in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats.

Question 15

Reason why Protestants do not believe in purgatory?

Answer 15

It is not taught in the Bible.

Question 16

A major Bible teaching on life after death comes from…?
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Answer 16

St Paul says:

-Christians know that if their body is destroyed they will have a non-physical home in heaven.

-Christians long to be in heaven, which is their goal.

-Because they are aiming for heaven, Christians do all they can to please God while living on earth.

-Christians do this because they know that everyone will appear before God to be judged on the good and/or bad deeds they have done on earth.

Question 17

Why teachings about life after death are important to Christians today?

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Answer 17

-Christians believe that what happens to them after they die will be determined by how they have lived in this life. Many Christians believe
that they will be judged by God and that only if they have lived a good Christian life will they be allowed into heaven. So Christians will try to live a good Christian life following the teachings of the Bible and the Church so that they go to heaven and not hell when they die.

-Christians believe that sin can prevent people from going to heaven. Some Christians believe that those who die with unforgiven sins will go to hell. The Catholic Church teaches that those who die with unforgiven sins will go to purgatory to be purified before they can reach heaven. Clearly, these teachings mean that Christians will try to
avoid committing sins in their lives so that they will go to heaven.

-Beliefs about life after death give Christians’ lives meaning and purpose. They feel that for life to end at death does not make sense.
A life after death, in which people will be judged on how they live this life, with the good rewarded and the evil punished, makes sense of this life. If the purpose of life is for people to live their lives in such a way that they spend eternity in heaven, then that gives life a meaning. This may be why in surveys it is found that Christians suffer less from
depression and are less likely.