X-Message-Number: 18385
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 05:27:47 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #18380 - #18384

About Christianity and deathism:

Fundamentally the THEOLOGY of Christianity says nothing about whether
we should die. I pointed that out when I described how Christ's ideas
could be seen as immortalist, and not with much trouble or distortion,
either.

But yes, many Christians take a deathist view. The question this asks
is whether they do so because they are Christians or for some other
reason. Given that many other theologies are also deathist, I'd
say that their viewpoint does not come from Christianity itself.
After all, we all probably know atheists and others who also hold to
deathism.

In those terms, the issue isn't just to talk about ideologies, but
to make clear to Christians that their theology, at its root, does
not say they should die at any special time. That is the sense in 
which Christianity is not deathist... even if many Christians are
so.

		Best wishes and long long life.

			Thomas Donaldson

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