Posted by Adam on November 13, 1999, at 12:59:49
In reply to Re: Depression, Evolution..., posted by Noa on November 13, 1999, at 4:24:49
> That humans are problem solving animals does not mean to say they are ABLE to solve all problems, just that it is an instinct to try, that we like to engage in problem solving. I don't think there is anything anithetical to a religious poiont of view in this idea.
>
> My impression is that the early Judaic view of the afterlife, heaven style, is that the dead would be brought back to life.I think most early Judaic and Christian eschatology saw history culminating in a final battle where the dead would rise, Armageddon
would ensue, the evil would be cast out, and the good would would be readmitted into paradise, with a new Zion at its center, and
indeed, the center of the universe. Sometimes God Himself is there, seated in a new Temple. So, yes, I was exaggerating a bit, but
you see all the way through a concept of a heaven even before the eschaton. Paul clearly beleived that the End was imminent, but a
concept of a "realised eschatology" (which took shape in the Gospel of John in the form of the Paraclete), where an apolalyptic vision
was not essential, won out, as it became clear the "Parousia" was to be far in the future. This left Christians with the old ideas of
heaven and hell (or maybe purgatory) to tie them over, and the Bible provides no information about them. It seems many modern Jews
have dispensed with it all, aren't expecting a new and better David, and are happy to say the reward for being good is at best a good
life, but it is one's duty nonetheless to follow God's commandments.
poster:Adam
thread:14368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991108/msgs/15147.html