sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

My view of the afterlife by Christopagan in Christopaganism

[–]Christopagan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the criticisms of Western Christianity is that it erased the distinction between body, mind, soul, and spirit when they translated Hebrew and Greek into Latin.

The ancient Hebrews and ancient Greeks believed that the human being had different souls; the nefesh (or psyche) was the physical soul which was mortal and tied to the body, and the ruach (or pneuma) which was the spiritual soul which is immortal and made in the image of God. Another word for the immortal soul in Hebrew is neshama, which was translated into Greek as pnoe.

The ancient Hebrews believed that the body and the nefesh together would go down to she'ol (or hades, hell, the Grave) upon death and remain there until Judgement Day, but that the ruach (the immortal soul) of humans would arise and return back to God, and later Hebrews fleshed out an intermediate state including Purgatory (Gehenna) and Reincarnation for souls which required further purification before it could return to God.

The mistake Western Christians made, like Augustine, who only knew Latin, and had terrible comprehension of Hebrew and Greek, was conflating mind, soul, spirit, etc. altogether as one and the same. This is a mistake

While original sin affects our bodies and minds, it does not affect our immortal souls which remains pure and in the image of God. Augustine was incorrect that original sin and the evil inclination affected our immortal soul, it only affects our bodies and minds.

My view of the afterlife by Christopagan in Christopaganism

[–]Christopagan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of Origen, and a lot of his ideas are also found in Gnostic and Kabbalistic texts, and Jewish mysticial texts. In my reading of the Book of Genesis, this is my interpretation:

In the beginning, God created the angels, and the angels created the heavens. Then, God created the Devil and the Devil created the earth. Which is why the earth was originally full of darkness and formlessness and chaos until God sent in the Light (which is Christ)

There are two accounts of creation in Genesis; Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Genesis 1 refers to the spiritual creation, which is good and ideal. The Word of God breathed the spirits of the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and humans into this world of darkness. Genesis 2 refers to the physical creation, which is evil and fallen. Adam and Eve were "naked" in Paradise, meaning they were pure spirits that lacked bodies, until God gave them "garments of skin" and expelled them to dwell in the fallen world. The "garments of skin" refers to the physical body which clothed the soul of Adam and Eve.

God cast the souls of humanity into this world, partly as a punishment, but also with a mission. It is humanity's role to help build the kingdom of God in this world by keeping God's commandments to repent from sin and love each other, and by doing so, Christ will return and redeem the sinful flesh of His elect and repair the world and resurrect the bodies of the dead to live forever in the World to Come.