Where on the continuum between suicidal despair and resurrection hope are you? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 723).
A
critical difference between despair and hope is not one of feelings
but resides in the practical implications for action. Despair implies
that no action will be successful and that the only satisfying
actions in any sense pleasurable or psychologically rewarding will be
self-destructive ones. Whereas hope implies the opposite. Hope is the
engine from which positive, constructive action arises. I think many
of the faithful over the centuries initially have made a deliberate
and very practical bargain – even if Christ's resurrection is a
myth, practically speaking it is worthwhile and valuable as a working
hypothesis to assume its truth. Once this assumption is made, daily
reinforcement of its wisdom confirms and validates the decision to
believe. Thus we find that belief in life eternal arises from a
conviction that we should make the most of our present one. Through
the mysteries of perception, tentative belief is transformed into
confirmed faith. We discover that by aiming for a practically
productive life on earth, a full bore belief in heaven and life
eternal is thrown in.
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