Spiritual death

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The concept of spiritual death has varying meanings in various uses and contexts.

Buddhism[]

Buddhadasa called duḥkha spiritual death.[1] Sangharakshita uses the term "spiritual death" to describe one stage in a system of meditation, where insight is gained into delusions about our existence.[2]

Christianity[]

Main article: Spiritual death in Christianity

In Christian theology, spiritual death is separation from God caused by sin.[3]

Other views[]

Followers of Ascended Master movements such as the Theosophical Society, I AM Foundation, and Elizabeth Clare Prophet have a different definition of the second death, the final extinguishing of the identity of a soul deemed by God to be beyond redemption. In this theology, people are believed to continue to reincarnate for many lifetimes on Earth with one of two final outcomes: 1) Reunion with God in the ritual of the Ascension, like Jesus, or 2) Final judgment at the "court of the sacred fire," where the soul would be destroyed forever.[citation needed]

Secular usage[]

Social science[]

John B. Calhoun saw the social breakdown of a population of mice given ample resources as a second death. He saw this as a metaphor for the potential fate of man in an overcrowded but resource rich environment and made reference to the second death of the Book of Revelation.[4] Conservative Christian writers, such as Bill Perkins, have echoed this warning.[5]

Famous quotes[]

In his famous anti-war address "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," delivered 4 April 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City, Martin Luther King Jr. observed that "[a] nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, "Happiness and Hunger", 1986 Archived 6 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994): 810.
  4. ^ John B. Calhoun, "Death Squared: The Explosive Growth and Demise of a Mouse Population" Proc. roy. Soc. Med. Volume 66 January 1973, pp80-88
  5. ^ Bill Perkins, "Six Battles Every Man Must Win", Tyndale Press, 1993, p 10

External links[]

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