ESCHATOLOGY

Eschatology: The Doctrine Of Last Things

 Death
Judgment Heaven Hell Purgatory

Second Coming of Christ

Resurrection of the body Millennial kingdom

Eschatology is not a projection

into the distant future; it bursts forth into our present existence, and structures life today in light of the last days. -G. C. Berkouwer

 Is not only inevitable but also essential because all

life, all creation points to this reality, and it is where it derives its meaning and fulfillment. God is both the beginning and end, the source and glorification of all our hope, in his forgiving, liberating and uniting love. His commitment to love goes beyond borders and seeks out to embrace and enrich those who are forgotten, rejected and unloved following the example of Jesus. His trials and miseries in this mortal life amount to nothing when compared to the etenal reward that awaits him.

 It is not to be removed from our daily

concerns of existence. It is the source of reason, the wellspring of hope for us to strive our best in every way that we can, to become signs, and witnesses of the divine promise TO LIVE LIFE WORTHY OF THE CALLING as St. Paul puts it.

Four Beliefs About Last Things

All die (unless Raptured)
Bodies will decay

Souls are eternal

Two final destinations

DEATH AND RESURRECTION

Man views death with dread because it has a sting - sin.The power of sin, both moral and penal lies in the law, for the law for the sinner becomes the law of sin and death.

 Death is the threshold to eternity

with God.
Resurrection naturally relates to

Death.

Hell
Sheol

Hell
Sheol Hades

Hell
Sheol Hades Gehenna
place of darkness to which all the dead go, both the righteous and the unrighteous, regardless of the moral choices made in life, a place of stillness and darkness cut off from God.

HELL IS THE ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD

It is a place, contemporary Catholic theology stresses Hell as the quality of our relationship with God which is damaged, and broken by our decision to reject him in our life of sinfulness and disobedience.

God offered his salvation to us for free, but He also respects our human freedom whether to accept or reject him.

Matt 18:12-14; Lk 15:3-7

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP

He told them this parable. "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldnt leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance."

1John 3:9,10
"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.