--- "Howard J. Van Till" <hvantill@novagate.com>
wrote:
(SNIP)
> The first response that comes to mind is, God's
> loving relationship to the
> world.
>
> (I will try to get back to your earlier set of
> comments and questions, but
> make no promises re when.)
Thanks. If I could also follow up on eschatological
hope, I have the following questions.
Many panentheists describe the hope in objective
rather than subjective immortality. That either the
effect we have on God is preserved in God's consequent
nature or we are preserved in the mind of God.
I first wonder why this severe diminution of
eschatological hope is necessary for panentheism (to
me it does not seem necessary), but it seems in vogue
with panentheist and process theologians or advocates
(who often overlap, Birch, Cobb, Hartshorne, etc.). I
have not read much Griffin and what I have read of
Haught is fuzzy on eschatalogical hope.
While our hope always rests on the love of God and the
example of Christ's resurrection, it seems
panentheists diminish this hope.
First, the being preserved in consequent nature is no
more than the fact that say my pets or friends have
effects on me and how I think. I do not know how
hopeful being remembered is when it provides no ground
for additional experience on my part.
Second, if we assume we are more concretely preserved
in the mind of God. How is this practically different
than conceiving of the universe as a block universe
where there exists some finite points in time where we
"always exist"?
In either of these scenarios, aside from the ability
to work out redemption in this life there does not
seem to be hope for individual redemption, or a
redemption of creation generally. Merely the
enriching of God's experience which at best is a
vaguely warm fuzzy feeling about being meaningful to
God at worst can be portrayed as a God concerned
primarily with his own experience and secondarily with
us not as ourselves but how we contribute to that
experience.
Whenever you have a chance, your thoughts would be
appreciated.
Regards,
Blake
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