Dehler, Bernie wrote:
> Hi Pastor Murray-
>
> I have a hunch that if you throw-out Revelation, then there's no problem with thinking that people die then go to heaven (or hell). I think the problem only comes when theology is taken from the Book of Revelation. Correct?
>
Of course, there is always the little matter of what Jesus says
according to the gospels: ...better to pluck out your eye than be cast
into hell... ...better to fear him who can destroy both body and
soul in hell than those who can destroy only the body...
...tormeneted rich man may plead for mercy but an impassable gulf
separates him from Lazarus in Abraham's bosom... All from the
heart of Scripture --multiple gospels -- none of them in Revelation.
On a possibly related note: Could somebody explain to me why so many
scholars (Christian ones, no less!) so glibly accept the claim that the
body and soul duality was of Greek origin (Plato) and was later mixed
into Christianity? They speak of this passingly almost as if it were
virtually self-evident. Meanwhile, I'm frantically pointing at the
elephant in the room --that Jesus gave us unmercifully explicit
teachings on this, only some of which I've alluded to above. Greeks may
have had this well, enough --I can accept that. But even so, Jesus
seems to have solidly thought so in all his teachings. Isn't that
definitive enough for Christians? The only way around this that I see
is if scholars take it for granted that all the gospels later inserted
all these teachings into Jesus' mouth because of the later Greek
influence. They may be free to assume that, but I can't imagine too
many Christians going there. Why do we insist on thinking this was only
a Greek thing?
--Merv
Sorry --couldn't resist butting in here.
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Received on Wed Nov 19 21:06:52 2008
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