"I just got back from a church retreat where we were learning to be more judgemental" - Homer Simpson
wil said:"I just got back from a church retreat where we were learning to be more judgemental" - Homer Simpson
China Cat Sunflower said:My only criticism of those Christians liberal enough to have relieved themselves of the notion of a divinely ordained everlasting torment is that they haven't applied the same logic to the notion of heaven. I mean, read Revelation's description of the heavenly city and tell me you don't think it's entirely symbolic and allegorical. Then tell me what else you base a literal concept of heaven on. (not you, I mean anyone)
Virtual_Cliff said:You're right. I'm an agnostic about the after-life, but I'm reckoning on there not being one. If there is I'll be pleasantly (I hope) surprised. I regard the Kingdom of God as a state of mind - or spirit, to be more precise. That's not to say you can get there by concentrating hard or by secret knowledge.It's more a case of knowing how loved you are and letting that love lead you where it will.
Dondi said:One thing's for sure, one way or we'll find out. There's no way around it.
RubySera_Martin said:Quote:
Originally Posted by wil
"I just got back from a church retreat where we were learning to be more judgemental" - Homer Simpson
As in self-critical???
Have you read the Apocalypse of Peter? In that it says Peter asked Jesus why God let's people suffer for an eternity, and Jesus says it's a secret but eventualy everybody gets let out. Besides an eternity can only exists within time, who's to say God will allow time to last forever? There will be an end anyway.Elvendon said:Something I have been thinking about for a long time is Apocatastasis - that is, universal salvation. Originally posited over a thousand years ago by Origen, a greek early church scholar, and later carried on by many thinkers from Saint Gregory of Nyssa to Julian of Norwich, it teaches that all moral agents will be ultimately saved - though evil individuals will be punished for an undefined length of time - even the sourest, most evil devil will return to God.
This teaching was declared anathema by the Synod of Constantinople in 543. My question is, what do other posters here think about this teaching? Do you think it should be more readily accepted by modern Christians or do you believe there is a better justification for eternal punishment?
Blessed be the Holy Three
Elvendon
Dondi said:What is your reckoning, VC?
I really cannot fathom just not existing. I suppose it would be like falling asleep, but not ever waking up.