Salvation and Redemption

1
Salvation and Redemption

• How Near is the End?

2
Terms for Ultimate Destiny

• Heaven
• reconciliation between humans and God
• enlightenment
• wholeness

• self-actualization
• absorption into the ultimate
• Nirvana
• concord

3
What is Salvation

• It is a move from one state or being to another.
• It is a move from a bad, deficient, imperfect
  state to a good, perfect state.

4
Religious Salvation

• For Christians salvation means being saved form
  a destructive self-centeredness through
  repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
• A person is made whole.
• It is noted by the fact that God acts on behalf
  of the individual.
• In the Christian tradition this is known as grace
  (Gods unmerited favor).

5
The Two Parts of Grace

• Objective
• Gods goodwill toward Gods creation.

• Subjective
• acceptance of the fact that God accepts a person.
• Grace has been internalized.

6
More Grace

• Even in polytheistic religions, there is
  frequently a concept of grace as the special
  unbidden, unmerited state bestowed on some
  individual or group by a god or goddess.

7
Salvation in non-Christian Faiths

• e.g. Hinduism
• For Hindus salvation is release from the cycle of
  birth and death.
• Individuals have Krishna consciousness
• This consciousness has been adulterated by
  material atmosphere.
• This atmosphere is called maya or illusion.

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Goal of Hinduism

• The goal is be released from this maya.
• By chanting Hare Krishna . . . , a transcendental
  vibration, one can cleanse away all misgivings
  within ones heart.
• The basic principle of all such misgivings is the
  false consciousness that I am the lord of all I
  survey.

9
Eschatology

• When is it over?

10
Eschatology

• Eschatology means the study of last things.
• This includes the individual and, in many cases,
  all of humanity as well.

11
New Societies

• Communitarians
• Communists
• Protests
• Transformation of Consciousness
• Jewish Prophecy
• Islamic Vision
• Early Christian Eschatology

12
Visions of a New Society
13
Communitarians

• These are individuals who live in groups and who
  believe that Jesus will return to rule the earth.
• They share belongings, responsibilities, property
  and other material items.
• Decisions are made on the basis of the best
  interest of the group consistent with their
  religious belief.

14
Communists

• Communists have the idea that the workers of
  the world will rise up and overthrow the
  capitalists and a society will be established.

15
Protest

• People who protest the present circumstances of
  society and desire to see a change make their
  wishes known.
• The Civil Rights movement is a great example.
• The idea is that a new, better day is
  approaching. Its coming is immanent. This is
  captured well by MLKs I Have A Dream Speech.

16
Transformation of Consciousness

• In the 60s in the United States and other parts
  of the world people believed that society was
  dominated by oppressive political forces and
  economic power.
• The Vietnam war was raging, poverty was evident,
  women rights were denied, pollution was rampant,
  racial discrimination was confronted nationally,
  etc.

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A Change

• There came those who preached love, justice,
  peace, etc.
• They wanted to break out of the establishment.
• The song Aquarius captured this mood.
• Were in for a change of consciousness--where
  dreams are realized and everyone is living
  together in harmony which each other and nature.
  It is the natural order of things. It is in the
  stars.

18
Jewish Prophecy

• God will separate the unfaithful from the
  faithful.
• God will establish Gods righteousness and the
  enemies of Gods people will be judged.
• The Jewish people will become want God hand
  intended for them all along.
• God will resolve all of the problems that have
  infected humanity and nature.

19
Islamic Vision

• Allah will come and judge everyone and all of
  creation will know it.
• Allah will judge the deeds of everyone rewards
  and punishments will follow.
• This life is a test and people must choose to
  submit to Allah or to follow Satan.
• The struggle between good and bad will end with
  the assertion of Allahs sovereignty and power.

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Christians

• It talks about such concepts as second coming of
  Christ, resurrection of the dead, immortality of
  the soul, final judgment, and Heaven and Hell.
• Christians believe that there will be a struggle
  between good and evil. This will culminate in a
  final battle called Armageddon in which good
  will finally triumph over evil.
• Gods people will be vindicated and the
  adversaries will be punished.
• There will be a transition from old to new.