This workshop was presented during the Ignite Conference 2012 – Awaken. It is in part a response to the book written by Rob Bell, called ‘Love Wins’ which was published in 2011. This is the description of the workshop:
Rob Bell challenged the Church to rethink heaven and hell in his book Love Wins. This seminar will look at the teaching of the church on heaven, purgatory and hell in the context of the resurrection of Jesus and the belief in the new creation and look at the recent writings of Pope Benedict that help us to see that the truth is something very different from what we probably grew up with.
“Every single person – whether they believe in God or not – wonders at some point about what happens when and after they die? Ghost stories have always been popular: in part because they provide a hint of another (unknown) world. Further, our sense of justice makes us wonder about a life after death, because “far too many good people die without receiving in this life a sufficient reward for their goodness, and many wicked people die without being compelled in this life to pay for their wickedness. If God is just, it seems there has to be some state of being, some place in which these injustices are set right.” [Rob Barron, Catholicism]
Opening questions:
- What happens when we die?
- What do we hope for after death?
- What is the cause of our hope?
- What, indeed, is the ultimate Christian hope?
- What does it mean to be saved?
- What do we understand by heaven?
- What do we understand by hell?
- Where does purgatory fit in?
- Why did Jesus live?
http://prezi.com/lezqy4zdm9ui/heaven/ (helpful to follow along with this while you listen)
- Play MP3 (1 hr)