Self, Death And The Afterlife And Justification Flashcards
Prepare for judgement
- aligns w Christian beliefs of the afterlife and the ultimate fulfillment of gods purpose
Parable of the sheep’s and goats to support prepare for judgement
Depicts Jesus as a shepherd, dividing mankind by their actions, separating the sheep’s and the goats based on their works, symbolising bleak reality of the last judgment
“The things you did for my brothers and sisters…you have done for me” - cautionary tale, if one fails to fulfil this criteria of altruism -cascading levels of eternal damnation
Forces one to introspect and assess
Criticism of preparing for judgement
Overemphasis on the afterlife can lead to Christian’s to do the right thing primarily out of the desire to avoid hell, undervaluing gods love which leads to an outward display of selfishness with no heartfelt connection to god
Contrdicts “love the lord, your god with heart,mind, soul”
Overall= causes one to deviate from a pious and righteous life and adopt a self focused persona
Glorify god
Leads to the highest form of personal fulfilment
To Christian’s, by living a god centred life, they r aligning w their intended purpose to glorify him through reflecting his angus and commands
How does imago dei help Christian’s glorify god
Made in gods image, so as a species we must imitate god’s attributes and persona which he made ‘good’, as image bearers of god we musty spread god-like qualities as an entire species mirroring his goodness
How does command ‘be fruitful and multiply’ help Christina’s glorify god
God wants the faithful to populate his earth to create more god honoring communities
With each new life, comes an opportunity to glorify him and spread the good news
Criticism of glorifying god
Not only does glorifying god can lead to extreme styles of worship and the creation of extreme radical Christian groups like the Army of God who often misinterpret god’s commands and use that as an excuse to inflict violence, but also glorifying god could suggest a deficit within god as way would an omnipotent god need the submission of humans, contrasting his intended image of perfection.
How does process theology (objective immortality)give Christian’s more hope than traditional beliefs
Provides Christian’s a sense of comfort as they can live a meaningful life without the impeding fear of being sent to hell
Process theology critiques the disprotionate nature of eternal hell for finite sins
Points to how objective immortality emphasises gods remembrance rather than eternal torment
Humans don’t live forever in a literal sense, denying an afterlife, but are instead preserved in gods memory which is the universe
This continuation of memeorises, experiences living on in gods mind gives human life significance which coheres w omnibenevolence as even those in the sub human realm have intrinsic worth to which god recognises are preserved and valued forever in his mind even after physical demise
Critics of Objective immortality
Deviates from Christian scripture on the afterlife which emphasies an afterlife; heaven-a place of eternal communion w god, hell- place of torture which undervalues the importance of preparing for judgement
Overall, whilst OI offers a more inclusive understanding of the afterlife, they face critics for its lack of scriptural grounding which risks diluting the doctrine of salvation and justification
How does free will and predestination contradict traditional beliefs about the afterlife
Predestination= god is omniscient = knows the choices every indivual will make even before they make it as he is outside of time.
Calvin’s double predestination= ‘some people are predestined to eternal life, others to eternal hell’- god has already determined which eernal destination each human will enter based on his own omniscience, rather than the individuals merits and good works, juxtaposes free will as no matter how hard an individual ‘works’ towards salvation, they can never change their outcome
Contradicts afterlife, where an individual is judged based on their free will-parable of sheep and goat
Moreover, predestination rejects omnibenevolence as why would god create beings in his image just to send them to hell
If he’s all loving, he would certainly have the desire to send all to heaven
Therefore, free will and predestination are not compatible
Criticism of free will and predestination not being compatible/ how are they compatible
God predestined salvation and offers everyone to accept it, but individuals have the choice to accept or deny it, preserving his all loving, powerful nature
But that still doesn’t answer why an omnipotent and omniscient god continue to create people to mirror his goodness, knowing that many would reject his goodness and gift of salvation. If anything, the creation of indivual He knows will reject Him suggests that either their free will isn’t true as their rejection was always going to happen or that gods plan includes the inevitability of rejection
Why is preservation of the soul the only viable option
Our earthly bodies are perishable and susceptible to decay,illness and sin.
Corinthians : “ how could a body be resurrected into the kingdom of god”given that our earthly bodies are corruptible, mortal and prone to decay”.
St. Paul argues that our resurrected bodies are different from our resurrected bodies, “what is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable.”
The physical body operates as temporary vessels that will not accompany us on our journey to heaven as they have fallen shot of god’s glory, but also the resurrected body will be imperishable, eternal, spiritual and suited for an eternal life w god.
Supports spiritual resurrection as it suggests that the new celestial body will not be subject to the limitations of our earthly bodies.
Criticism of spiritual resurrection
Resurrection is only possible after Jesus’s sacrifice deny gods omnibenevolence as not all souls had the opportunity to experience resurrection into heaven
Overall, spiritual resurrection seems more likely as it align with empirical evidence that supports our idea of decaying bodies yet according to St. Paul, not all souls had the chance to resurrect into heaven
Catechism of the Catholic Church for bodily resurrection
Teams that the soul remains in union w the body, awaiting the resurrection of the flesh.
Reflects the catholic understanding of salvation which involves the entire person, aligns w god’s plan to restore humanity entirely, indicating that the body has intrinsic worth akin to the soul and therefore, would be glorified and valued for eternity by god
Jesus rose physcally- all humans follow him as he is the paragon
Moreover the fact that god has already performed the miracle of attaching a ‘incorporeal substance’ to a ‘corporeal bond’, attaching the spiritual realm to a physical entity, suggests that it wouldn’t be impossible for god to perform the same miracle and attach the soul to the body after physical demise
Criticism of bodily resurrection
God repairing a body that was a product of sin would be futile, why would an omnipotent god want sin to enter his perfect kingdom in the 1st place, seems too longwinded for god to rebuild a sinful body back into perfection. Plus, the idea of humans keeping their earthly body could be a disappointment for some who hate their appearance, they would certainly want an improved, perfected version of themselves in heaven where life is eternal.
Why did St. Paul teach that faith is more important than action
Faith is the primary determinant that unlocks salvation and determines whether a Christian progresses to heaven not works
Through Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, god offers forgiveness to human entirely based on his grace, not human work or efforts.
A Christian can’t work their way to salvation but rather salvation is offered freely by god as a result of Jesus sacrifice
Therefore, salvation is a result of gods grace, which can only be achieved through the belief in Christ’s sacrifice
Criticism for faith not works
James; “even Th devil believes”- belief in gods existence is not enough for salvation. Despite fully acknowledging gods power and existence, the devil remains opposed to Him and do not emulate righteousness or agape love therefore, faith requires more than just beleif= “faith without action is dead” sheep’s and goat (Matthew)
Incompatible w free will, if justification is entirely based on faith, then how can individuals exercise their free will if their salvation is already secured by faith. The Bible places emphasis on preparing for judgement
Luther on faith being important than works
Salvation is a gift from god that can only be received through faith in Jesus alone, not by human efforts and works
Luther was influence by St. Paul’s teaching of “The righteous will live by faith (Romans)”
Humans could never do enough to merit salvation through works. To him, faith is the trust that god will forgive sins and offer salvation through the belief in Jesus
