Jesus Mortal |
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heaven Traditionally, heaven is the afterlife reward that Christ has prepared for his faithful. Those who die in right standing go to (or at least toward) heaven, while those not in good graces go to hell. For Roman catholics, only those with a positive balance on the merit scorecard get to heaven, so those who die in good graces but with black marks on their records suffer in purgatory before entering the pearly gates. For Jesus, heaven wasn’t an afterlife destination but the seat of the LORD’s authority and the realm of the divine beings. At Herod’s temple, heaven touched the earth and the LORD was miraculously present. For Jesus in particular, the LORD’s heavenly kingdom seems to have been secretly present, especially in his exorcisms. But heaven, to Jesus, was actually the sky (the “heavens”) above him. Educated pagans knew that the world was round, but Jesus may well have believed it to be flat, surrounded by water, with sheol (hades, the underworld) underneath, and the firmament and heavens above. For Jesus, when good people died they went to the underworld (sheol) like everyone else, but they were given a pleasant place to wait, the “bosom of Abraham.” There they waited until they were raised for their final judgment. Bad people went to sheol to. Everyone did. But the bad people suffered fiery torments while waiting for judgment day. The more tangible heaven is, the more is seems like a myth, like the pagan stories about the Elysian fields. Several Christian visions of a blissful afterlife made their way into church tradition, but the idyllic scenes of meadows, glowing clothes, crowns for virgins, and such eventually gave way to the abstract. In the middle ages, it was settled that those in heaven spend their time apprehending the beatific vision, that is, perceiving god as he perceives himself. See also earth, hell.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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