Transcript Life After Death

Woody Allen
HOW I WANT TO LIVE MY LIFE
“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and
get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people's home
feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go
collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch
and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you're young
enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are
generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to
primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities,
you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9
months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and
room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish
off as an orgasm!”
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Lesson 10: Religious Views on Life after
Death
Do you have to be religious to believe in heaven and hell?
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Bible searching…in pairs and then
feedback
Look up: Mark 13: 24 – 27
Luke 16: 19 – 31
Luke 20: 9-19
Luke 20: 27 – 40
Luke 23: 39 – 43
Revelation 7:1-17
Draw a table and outline what do each of these passages tell you about
Christianity & Resurrection?
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Resurrection: what it is
• From the Latin resurrectus (‘raised up again’).
• The promise of post-death existence in a re-created (i.e. perfect)
human body (not disembodied soul). It is a monist theory, in that a
physical body is required for redemption.
• Traditional ‘eschatological’ teaching of Christianity, Judaism and
Islam: concerned with the end of time.
The idea of resurrection can be
derived from the Bible:
- Ezekiel 37: God shows Ezekiel a
valley of dry bones and states that he
is able to “make these live again”.
- Gospels: the resurrection of Jesus is
attested in all four Gospels.
- 1 Corinthians 15: St Paul argues in
favour of the body being “raised
imperishable”.
Resurrection: arguments in favour
• Saint Paul argued in favour of resurrection on two
grounds. Firstly, since Jesus was resurrected, so too should
Christians hope to be resurrected. Secondly, since God has
created many types of bodies in nature, we should believe
that he is able to make human bodies perfect (1 Corinthians
15). If we accept that God is creator, then resurrection
seems a coherent idea.
• Thomas Aquinas adopted Aristotle’s idea that the person
has no truly independent soul, arguing that: “The natural
condition of the human soul is to be united with a body.”
We cannot make sense of ourselves without reference to our
bodies. This avoids the weaknesses of mind/body dualism.
Based on Aristotle, AQUINAS : “The
natural condition of a human soul is
to be united with a body”
No body = No self
Thus: resurrection of the body.
SAINT PAUL: “If Christ is proclaimed
as raised from the dead, how can
some of you say there is no
resurrection of the dead?”
If Jesus was raised, Christians will be
raised.
God made everything, so he can
make us renewed.
Peter van Inwagen (1942 - )
Whilst still believing
that resurrection is
possible, Peter van
Inwagen came up
with lots of different
reasons why the
aristotlean idea of
bodily resurrection is
incoherent.
Read the article on ‘The Possibility of Resurrection’ and summarise his
3 main arguments in less than 50 words
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Jews and Christians today have
mixed feelings about resurrection.
It is a traditional teaching,
supported by the Bible. However,
many
find
the
idea
of
a
disembodied
soul
immediately
ascending to heaven to be more
comforting. Some also wonder
whether such a distinctive teaching
can be supported in the modern
world.
ROWAN WILLIAMS: resurrection
lies “ on the frontier of any
possible language”. It is a difficult,
mystical idea, but a part of
Christian faith.
Williams may be right, but is it
acceptable to maintain a belief in
something
which
cannot
adequately be described?
Considering
Resurrection
Resurrection: arguments against
• Christian arguments about creation or the
resurrection of Jesus will not be persuasive to nonbelievers; they are based on Scripture alone.
• The idea of the physical body being re-made may
seem strange or mythological. Is this really plausible
in the 21st century?
• The body could be seen as the source of flaws and
limitations: desire, disease, suffering, etc. We might
be better off as non-material souls or spirits.
• There is no empirical evidence for resurrection.
On that basis, supporters of the verification principle,
such as A.J. Ayer, would reject it.
Resurrection: arguments for and
against
Which philosophers would support life after
death? Which would refute it and why?
Immortality of the soul: what it is
• The belief that the soul is a distinct and immortal entity
within the body (= dualism) which can survive the death
of the body and ascend to the afterlife.
• Although it is not the traditional view of Christianity
(which maintains the necessity of the body for ultimate
redemption), it has been popular with philosophers in the
west.
• The first major argument in favour of an immortal soul
was given by the philosopher Plato. In his dialogue
Phaedo Plato sets the scene just before the death of his
philosophical mentor Socrates, who decides to talk with
his friends about death and the immortality of the soul…
Immortality of the soul: arguments in favour
SOCRATES: Life cannot emerge from a dead
thing. Something living must have given life
to the body: “the soul is that which renders
the body living”. The immortal soul enters
the body at birth and leaves it at death.
DESCARTES: A French mathematician and
philosopher, I added my own arguments in
favour of an immortal soul. I can prove that
my thinking self exists (“I think therefore I
am”), so what I am primarily is a “thinking
thing” (res cogitans). Thus, basic knowledge
of the self is independent of the body; the
immortal soul is the source of conscious life.
Lets add in a few more:
Disembodied Existence - Richard
Swinburne
Disembodied existence is the belief that
we can survive without a body. Swinburne
says that surviving outside the body is a
logical concept - because we can imagine
it, it is possible (I know, I know). He also
says that our use of language points to
body and soul being separate; we say 'I
have a body', not 'I am a body’.
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Yep – others have criticised him too!
• Brian Davies criticises Swinburne's view that
just because we imagine something it is
therefore possible. He calls disembodied
existence an illogical concept
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Others agree with Swinburne
Swinburne draws a line between thoughts and
actions, suggesting that consciousness can exist
independently of the body.
H. H. Price agrees with Swinburne, stating that
the afterlife is like having a dream; it feels real
to us and we have experiences, but we are not
bound by time or space. Price suggests that the
mental images of the afterlife are so strong that
we don't even know we are dead.
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This can be criticised…
• But dreams come from the brain - without the brain we have
no mental processes or identity to fall back on
• This view is inconsistent with the some biblical references to
resurrection
• What about those who do not - or cannot - dream? Is there
no afterlife for them?
• Dreams are made up of experiences - so what if someone's
life is made up of suffering? Does this mean that they will be
haunted by their experiences even in the afterlife?
• Price kindly says that he never stated that the afterlife would
be pleasant for everyone
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Heaven
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Hell
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