Dillon Precious Death and the Afterlife
The Doctrine of Election:
Predestination / Election: The Christian belief that God chooses and guides some people
(the Elect) to eternal salvation (originally a Calvinist belief).
Alister E. McGrath: one of the most respected living theologians, who has stated that the
issue of election is “often regarded as one of the most enigmatic and puzzling aspects of
Christian theology.”
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats:
Jesus writes about the time where the “Son of Man” comes and separates people according
to their deeds. You are either a sheep or a goat.
Eternal Life (sheep): those who have taken care of other people in need. Surprisingly,
nothing in this is about belief – no mention of them needing to be Christians or even
believing in God.
Eternal Punishment (goats): not necessarily done something bad but failed to take
opportunities to help others. Sins of omission are still sins (according to the parable).
Eschatology:
Eschatology – “discussion of the last things” (study of the end times).
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – figures in Christian faith, who appeared in the final
book of the New Testament, Revelations, as punishments from God.
o 1. Conquest: the first horseman, riding a white horse, carrying a bow, and wearing a
crown. He symbolises plague, pestilence or perhaps the antichrist.
o 2. War: the second horseman, who carries a sword and rides a red horse.
o 3. Famine: the third horseman, riding a black horse, is a food merchant (who
symbolizes famine).
o 4. Death: the fourth horseman who rides a pale green horse, accompanied by
Hades.
Revelation 21 – Jesus’ parable describes the restored world using metaphors of weddings,
feast, and harvest time, but the fullest description are found in the Book of Revelation where
the author depict s the age to come as a time where there would be no more suffering and a
new heavenly Jerusalem would descend to Earth as a symbol of the renewed world.
o It is the most in-depth description of the end times.
o Jesus’ own teachings are also ambiguous about when / how the Kingdom of God will
be established as recorded in the New Testament.
“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near.” – Mark 1:14.
“Truly I tell you, there are some standing who will not taste death until they
see that the Kingdom of God has come with power.” – Mark 9:1.
“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the Kingdom
of God has come to you.” – Luke 11:20.
Daniel was an Old Testament prophet who wrote to Jews undergoing persecution. The
visions of chapters 7-12 predict the end of the earthly kingdom, its replacement by the
eternal kingdom of God, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment.
o There will be a physical resurrection called “The Awakening” where the righteous
will be “like stars” (angels). The gates of Heaven will only open to them (Book of
Enoch - apocryphal).
o This will not be a universal resurrection (i.e., limited election), like in Isaiah, where
only the “righteous” will rise.
, Dillon Precious Death and the Afterlife
Eschatological Verification:
Eschatological Verification describes a process whereby a proposition can be verified after
death.
o A proposition such as “there is an afterlife” is verifiable if true but not falsifiable if
false.
o John Hick has expressed the premise as an allegory of a quest to a Celestial City. In
this parable, a theist and an atheist are both walking down the same road, with the
theist believing that there is a destination, while the other does not. If they reach
the destination, the theist will have been proven right, but the atheist cannot be
proven right at all.
o He argues that the potential verifiability of religious statements makes them
meaningful. Many religious statements rest on the claim that there is an afterlife
and that means they can be verified in an afterlife.
Hell:
The early Christian Church believed that Hell was a place of fire and torture where people
would go if they did not believe in Christ.
This has been replaced by the idea that Hell is an eternity without God – a state of mind
rather than a place.
“By a miracle of their most omnipotent Creator, they can burn without being consumed, and
suffer without dying” – St Augustine, City of God.
“I thy guide will lead thee hence through an eternal space, where thou shalt hear despairing
shrieks, and see spirits of old tormented, who invoke a second death.” – Dante’s Inferno.
Origen: (184-253 AD) A theologian and prolific writer who had considerable influence across
a wide range of topics including biblical interpretation, doctrine, and spirituality. His
theology was indebted to the ideas of Plato. He was punished because of his controversial
teaching. His most important book was De Principiis.
o Spiritual State – Origen regarded Hell as a spiritual state where “each sinner kindles
his own fire… and our own vices from is fuel.” Punishment is not inflicted by God
through Satan but is rather each person’s own “interior anguish” at being separated
from God. He did not think of Hell as a permanent state; it too will pass away when
the world is finally redeemed.
Gregory of Nyssa: (335-395 AD) Bishop of Nyssa and a popular and influential teacher /
preacher. Plato and Origen influenced his theology.
o Conscience – He argued that judgement and torture of Hell are the result of a guilty
conscience when a person is placed in front of Christ.
o “One goal… some straightaway even in this life purified from evil, others healed
hereafter through fire for the appropriate length of time.”
Paul Tillich: Tillich believes that being separated from God is the ultimate punishment
because you lose purpose in life – you find no joy in music, art, nature, and so on. Hell is not
a place, but a state of being.
o “Heaven and Hell must be taken seriously as metaphors for the polar ultimates in the
experience of the divine.”
Jean-Paul Sartre: A dramatic example of existential Hell is given in Sartre’s play Huis Clos (No
Exit), where Hell is occupied by three people who have just died and believe that they are in
the waiting room for the traditional idea of Hell, but it turns out to be that Hell is each other,
as they psychologically torment each other.
