Death and the afterlife Flashcards
“The God of love would not elect a limited number of people to salvation” essay
A: Augustine, we are corrupted, gods grace. God’s foreknowledge - knows who is going to heaven and Hell. Pelagius - if we have unavoidable original sin not just of fair for God to punish.
CA: omnibenevolence = justice. not everyone is entitled to salvation. God sent down Jesus which is loving
E: Barth - since Jesus died on the cross all humans have the potential. We choose whether we have faith in Jesus
A: limited election undermines free will. Augustine, babies are born with original sin. God of love would give us free will. Sheep and the goats you can to heaven through good works
CA: Calvin, double predestination, cannot have full free will as this would undermine the control God has on us. God is the only being that is completely free. God’s grace = god’s free gift. God desires people to be saved but some people don’t accept his grace
E: no incentive to be a good person. Hick - God of love would not condemn anyone to eternal suffering in the first place. no one is excluded from God’s grace
Luke 23:39-43
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”
- Evidence for particular judgment
Dante
- Dante’s inferno: believed that Hell was a physical place. Lived during the renaissance era.
Scholars which believe Hell is symbolic
Gregory of Nyssa - Hell is a symbolic place: You have to confront your own guilt when you die. You will have to confront yourself in a spiritual way, which is enough of a punishment
Tilich - Heaven and Hell are metaphors which is a state of being alienated from God
Hick&Hume views against the existence of Hell
Hick: An omnibenevolent God would not would not send people to Hell.
Hume: God would not punish finite sins with infinite punishment
Aquinas’ view on Heaven
- Perhaps not a literal view of Heaven, but a metaphysical realm which transcends space and time. The beatific vision
Bernard Williams
Heaven would be boring. An idea of an eternal paradise does not sound interesting and you wouldn’t be entertained
Scholars that believe in literal interpretations of heaven&Hell:
Heaven:
- Fundamentalists / bible literalist: take the bible literally
- Dante: paradisio
- early and medieval Christians
Hell:
- Dante’s inferno
Scholars that believe in the symbolic view of Heaven&Hell
Heaven:
Bernard Williams: heaven would be boring
Hick: a spiritual place
Hell:
- Gregory of Nyssa: detachment of God
- Tillich
- Annihilationism: soul ceases to exist - only liberals
Protestant believes on death and the afterlife:
Heaven:
Calvin: double predestination, God chooses people who go to heaven and to Hell.
Hick: universalism - spiritual realm of happiness - soul making theodicy. Works faith is less important
Hell:
- Eternal fire, burning sulfur lake.
- Liberal: no Hell - Hick
Purgatory:
- Most do not believe in purgatory
- Hick believed this makes sense
Catholic views on death and the afterlife
Heaven:
- Aquinas: beatific vision
- can get to heaven through faith and works
Hell:
- Complete separation from God, despair, suffering and sadness.Spiritual state
Purgatory:
- Does exist
- Historically: selling of indulgences
- cleaning sin not previously abolished
- purged
Scholars that believed in Limited election
- Calvin: double predestination - God’s grace - God is the only being that is completely free
- Roman Catholic views: single predestination - God has elected those who go to heaven
- The narrow and wide gates - it is hard to get to heaven .The path to salvation is more difficult
Scholars that believe in unlimited election
Barth: all humans have the potential to be saved, they just need to. Jesus died for our sins.
Scholars that believe in universalism
“Discuss the view that the idea of purgatory makes more sense than hell” essay
A: An omnibenevolent God would not punish finite sins with infinite punishments. Purgatory was that people continued existing in a resurrection where they would have a chance to redeem themselves. Good argument as punishment is proportionate. For example does not make sense to imprison someone for life for a minor offense such as a parking ticket. Therefore Hell is incompatible with omnibenevolence. Explain a why this makes God omnibenevolent.
CA: less biblical evidence for purgatory. Sheep and the goats: “eternal hell”. If hell is replaced
by the idea of purgatory because we think it makes more sense than hell, then we are making our desires greater than an omniscient and just God
E: however words that were used to describe Hell before such as “harvesting” “burning” is better understood as “purging” “purifying”. Biblical evidence for universalism as well This is supported in the New Testament where Jesus teaches that eternal life is life in its ‘fullness’ this might be seen to support universalism
A: Augustine: also unjust that babies that die would go to hell just because of original sin. would imply an unjust God. More just for us to be cleansed proportionately for sins that we have committed
E: the idea of purgatory is not believed within most protestant communities. They may suggest that the Catholic church is corrupt. Luther claimed that purgatory was “fabricated by goblins”. Indulgences and money. Church is abusing it’s power. Made up by church. Hell makes more sense as more evidence.
CA: However, although the Catholic church may have been wrong to do this. The intermediate state and the idea of cleansing by fire can be found in the writings of Origen (3rd century) and Gregory of Nyssa (4th century).
