Eschatophobia Vs Erickson

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Do you agree with Erickson that there are such things as "eschatomania" and "eschatophobia"? I find Erickson’s observations concerning “eschatomania” and “eschatophobia” to be extremely accurate. One the one hand eschatomania substitute eschatology for theology. They replace the importance of salvation with the greater importance of the signs and wonders of the end time events. While reading the Bible and listening to news reports, everything thing of spiritual meaning and revelation comes through the prism of eschatology. For these people, it has become an obsession. The other extreme is “eschatophobia”, they try to avoid the subject altogether. Many times they look at the current political and world events, and at the risk of sounding like a sensationalist Pastor, they avoid the subject completely. These issues are difficult to deal with and many people would rather spend their efforts on Salvation, Discipleship, and the daily drama of Christianity without throwing any more into the mix. These are two extremes and most people fall somewhere in the middle of these two fringes.

Evaluate the six approaches to eschatology presented by Erickson (modernized, DE modernized, and so forth). Modernized Eschatology: In liberal attempts to devalue Jesus and in the vein of the Jesus Seminar, people like Albercht Ritschl, want to make Jesus just …show more content…

The belief of purgatory is based on both tradition and scripture. Joseph Pohle defines purgatory as “a state of temporary punishment for those who, departing this life in the grace of God, are not entirely free from venial sins or have not yet fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions” (Erickson, 1081). There are three ways in which a soul in purgatory can continue on to heaven: the Mass, prayers, and good works. This is the basis for the belief that loved ones remaining on earth can pray souls into heaven from purgatory. This theory must be rejected

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