Future Probation What is It?
This is a topic that I've been studying for quite a few years. You see I'm kinda old.
Getting close to the time that I'm starting to think about what happens after people die.
This might be depressing to some, but the alternative terrors and hopes that people have for the time after death is quite a large part of religious and philosophical belief.
I'm going to advocate a Christian position, true to the Bible as I have studied it.
A few starting premises.
1. I believe that Jews and Christians are both encompassed in the community of believers that God is dealing with in this present life. He has made provisions for both in the life to come. Just so it's clear, Jews don't have to become Christians in this life, or the next to be saved.
2. There is a future time of resurrection when believers will be brought back to life. At present all who die go into a death state of unconsciousness. It's known as soul-death, a stronger form of the soul sleep doctrine.
3. There is a future time of resurrection to judgment that will include everyone else. It will be a time for education, growth and opportunity. It will be a time of potential life.
4. There will be a final accounting that will eventually occur, everyone will have made their choices by then, many for life, some for death. That time of renewed life constitutes the hope of future probation.
The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, 17 and 22 contains the all encompassing promise of life to those of Abrahamic descent and those who are of the nations.
I will present some of my research findings here. There are and have been alot of Christian and Jewish people who I count as fellow believers in this position. There are many elements of this belief that have been incorporated into various theological schemes, some with great success. I count among those the famous name of F W Farrar, whose Eternal Hope in 1878 rocked the religious world. The systematic theological works of Herman Cremer and Isaac Dorner likewise upset more than a few theological applecarts. Others today talk of a wider hope, of post mortem evangelization, even of universal salvation. We have something in common.
A positive assesment of this question is not the "orthodox" position, I defer to those who claim some organized history behind that label. Orthodoxy generally rejects any hope for future life outside of Christian belief in the present time. All else go into eternal hell or loss. But that doesn't mean I recognize that position, or the authority and exclusive claims to truthfulness.
It's a stimulating topic.
Getting close to the time that I'm starting to think about what happens after people die.
This might be depressing to some, but the alternative terrors and hopes that people have for the time after death is quite a large part of religious and philosophical belief.
I'm going to advocate a Christian position, true to the Bible as I have studied it.
A few starting premises.
1. I believe that Jews and Christians are both encompassed in the community of believers that God is dealing with in this present life. He has made provisions for both in the life to come. Just so it's clear, Jews don't have to become Christians in this life, or the next to be saved.
2. There is a future time of resurrection when believers will be brought back to life. At present all who die go into a death state of unconsciousness. It's known as soul-death, a stronger form of the soul sleep doctrine.
3. There is a future time of resurrection to judgment that will include everyone else. It will be a time for education, growth and opportunity. It will be a time of potential life.
4. There will be a final accounting that will eventually occur, everyone will have made their choices by then, many for life, some for death. That time of renewed life constitutes the hope of future probation.
The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, 17 and 22 contains the all encompassing promise of life to those of Abrahamic descent and those who are of the nations.
I will present some of my research findings here. There are and have been alot of Christian and Jewish people who I count as fellow believers in this position. There are many elements of this belief that have been incorporated into various theological schemes, some with great success. I count among those the famous name of F W Farrar, whose Eternal Hope in 1878 rocked the religious world. The systematic theological works of Herman Cremer and Isaac Dorner likewise upset more than a few theological applecarts. Others today talk of a wider hope, of post mortem evangelization, even of universal salvation. We have something in common.
A positive assesment of this question is not the "orthodox" position, I defer to those who claim some organized history behind that label. Orthodoxy generally rejects any hope for future life outside of Christian belief in the present time. All else go into eternal hell or loss. But that doesn't mean I recognize that position, or the authority and exclusive claims to truthfulness.
It's a stimulating topic.
posted by J B | Wednesday, November 02, 2005
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