The Baha'i Studies Listserv >No one believes in a literal fluffy cloud heaven or literal underworld.
I don't know if I would go so far as to say nobody. I just have to change the channel to the 700 club or take a stroll around the hotspots at my university, which ironically is liberal, to find all kinds of people who really do believe in a literalist depiction of heaven and hell. And those are of course just representative of a much larger demographic who probably go to Bible camps or other venues where they could potentially be indoctrinated with literalist interpretations of scripture. >I would say dimensions, planes of existence, etc. are ways to describe what people believe in No argument there, since I don't think believing in a literal interpretation of heaven or hell and considering them to be dimensions or planes of existence are mutually exclusive beliefs. I don't think you'll find a Christian or Muslim who doesn't believe that heaven and hell are planes of existence in one way or another. >What exactly defines the difference between literalism and symbolisism. I think it lies in the original text and what is then done with that text. If there's a statement in a religious scripture that depicts heaven as a fluffy paradise with streams of milk and honey, taking that description at face value and believing it, to the letter, to be the reality of that place, constitutes a literalist interpretation. If, however, allegorical hermeneutics (the kind the Baha'i Faith uses) is applied to that original text so that its definition is meant to be viewed through a symbolic lens, that constitutes symbolism. Best, Adib On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 4:03 PM, Stephen Gray <skg_z...@yahoo.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory > > > The Bahá'í Faith <http://wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith> regards the > conventional description of heaven (and hell) as a specific place as > symbolic. The Bahá'í writings > <http://wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_literature>describe heaven as a "spiritual > condition" where closeness to God is defined > as heaven; conversely hell <http://wiki/Hell> is seen as a state of > remoteness from God. Bahá'u'lláh <http://wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>, > the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, has stated that the nature of the life of > the soul in the afterlife is beyond comprehension in the physical plane, but > has stated that the soul will retain its consciousness and individuality and > remember its physical life; the soul will be able to recognize other souls > and communicate with them.[9] <#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-8> > > For Bahá'ís, entry into the next life has the potential to bring great joy. > [9] <#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-8> Bahá'u'lláh likened death to the > process of birth. He explains: "The world beyond is as different from this > world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the > womb <http://wiki/Womb> of its > mother."[10]<#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-gwb-9>The analogy to the womb in > many ways summarizes the Bahá'í view of earthly > existence: just as the womb constitutes an important place for a person's > initial physical development, the physical world provides for the > development of the individual soul <http://wiki/Soul>. Accordingly, > Bahá'ís view life as a preparatory stage, where one can develop and perfect > those qualities which will be needed in the next > life.[9]<#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-8>The key to spiritual progress is > to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestations > of God <http://wiki/Manifestations_of_God>, which Bahá'ís believe is > currently Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "Know thou, of a truth, that if > the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return > and be gathered to the glory of the > Beloved."[11]<#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-gwb2-10> > > The Bahá'í teachings state that there exists a hierarchy of souls in the > afterlife <http://wiki/Afterlife>, where the merits of each soul > determines their place in the hierarchy, and that souls lower in the > hierarchy cannot completely understand the station of those above. Each soul > can continue to progress in the afterlife, but the soul's development is not > entirely dependent on its own conscious efforts, the nature of which we are > not aware, but also augmented by the grace of God, the > prayers<http://wiki/Prayer>of others, and good deeds performed by others on > Earth in the name of that > person.[9] <#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-8> > > > > The Bahá'í Faith <http://wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith> regards the > conventional description of Hell (and heaven) as a specific place as > symbolic.[34] <#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-33> Instead the Bahá'í > writings <http://wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_literature> describe Hell as a > "spiritual condition" where remoteness from God is defined as Hell; > conversely heaven <http://wiki/Heaven> is seen as a state of closeness to > God.[34] <#12c138e3029c9563_cite_note-lafd-33> > > > > The afterlife is seen as a central part of various relgions. Christianity > and Islam are the foremost examples of religions where this is of central > importance. What does symoblic mean anyways? No one believes in a literal > fluffy cloud heaven or literal underworld. I would say dimensions, planes of > existence, etc. are ways to describe what people believe in. What exactly > defines the difference between literalism and symbolisism. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:adibmasum...@gmail.com > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to > mailto:leave-537343-1580342.0cbc3d0f5e686b78fcb37c32a3ff1...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-537351-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
