News....

[joffridus]

Friends,

I have good news and I have really good news.

First, although many gave me suggestions of what to purchase with my Amazon.com gift certificate, I ended up making a choice that was not offered by anyone else. I purchased two books that I had long thought would be good reading:

* Pope Benedict XVI's Truth and Tolerance: Christian

Comments

[wc_helmets]

What's your opinion on Apocatastasis? It seems to reconsile a lot of what I generally reject in mainstream Christianity, and it also rings true to me most. I also like the Eastern Orthodox stance denying Exclusivism. There, the idea of Eternal Hell can still exist for those who have faith in this, but ultimately, we as human being cannot know God's plan on salvation, and we must never believe we know. Leaves a lot more room open than others....

[joffridus]

Thanks for the link. I had previously never heard the term, but have heard something to that effect explained to me.

Honestly? I don't know what to make of it. Certainly it's very attractive and it makes sense of a lot of the Scriptural record. On the other hand, a lot of the Scriptural record seems to indicate eternality of punishment. I'm not sure how those particular fathers got from "eternal" to "a really really long time" but I'd be interested to see their argumentation.

At any rate - I like what St. Gregory Nazianzus did which was ending up suspending judgment on whether it was exclusivism or universal salvation. This, it seems to me, is (a) the humblest position - not assuming what we really don't know and (b) the most hopeful position.

[wc_helmets]

I like what St. Gregory Nazianzus did which was ending up suspending judgment on whether it was exclusivism or universal salvation. This, it seems to me, is (a) the humblest position - not assuming what we really don't know and (b) the most hopeful position.

truly.

I'm not sure how those particular fathers got from "eternal" to "a really really long time"

A lot of it as to do with aionoi, and how that word is translated to mean either eternal or simply plural ages. Tentmaker.org has a lot of good articles on the subject from a Universalist perspective; one is here.

[gernboken]

hey man, when JC showed up and made the new covenant, did he erase all this goat burning business in leviticus? are the 10 commandments still in effect? what about all the other rules in there? if christians don't burn goats anymore because of JC then why don't jews still burn goats and spread the blood on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the lord yadda, yadda? and don't you think it was a bit heavy handed of YHWH to burn up aarons's sons because they made their offering wrong? is it just me or does the old testament imply pretty strongly that there are in fact more gods than the god of abraham?

[gernboken]

ps. is it ok if i ask you random bible questions like this in your journal?

[gernboken]

uh... hate to keep bugging you but i did find this: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/qorbanot.htm

also, congrats on the news. and also sorry to keep bugging you with the multiple questions and replies etc.

[joffridus]

I'm not ignoring you about these questions. I just want to give them more attention than I've had lately.

[rengal]

rock on :)