{"id":28400,"date":"2015-02-05T06:52:39","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=28400"},"modified":"2015-02-05T06:52:39","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:52:39","slug":"i-love-heresy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/02\/i-love-heresy.html","title":{"rendered":"I Love Heresy"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>The title of this post refers to the\u00a0<em>class<\/em> called \u201cHeresy,\u201d which I am teaching this semester.<\/p>\n<p>We had a wonderful and interesting conversation in a recent class,\u00a0on the subject of ideas about an\u00a0afterlife, based on one of the readings for that class period, which was the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlychristianwritings.com\/apocalypsepeter.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Apocalypse of Peter<\/a>. We discussed notions of retribution and the reasons why ideas of an afterlife had developed in the first place. We discussed the possibility for an afterlife to\u00a0<em>add<\/em> meaning to this life we experience, but also to <em>detract from or undermine<\/em> that meaning, since it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/godlessindixie\/2015\/01\/27\/groundhog-day-finding-purpose-even-if-theres-no-tomorrow\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">diminishes the significance of this life<\/a> if its only point is to make it into another.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, we discussed the\u00a0issue which appeared on a PostSecret card that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/friendlyatheist\/2015\/01\/25\/the-problem-with-heaven-is\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Hemant Mehta recently shared<\/a>, as well as being discussed in <a href=\"http:\/\/valerietarico.com\/2015\/01\/29\/10-reasons-popular-versions-of-christian-heaven-would-be-hell\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">a recent post by Valerie Tarico<\/a>. Is there any way that a\u00a0<em>static<\/em> kind of endless existence could avoid becoming tedious and boring?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-28401\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/files\/2015\/01\/boring-heaven.jpg\" alt=\"boring heaven\" width=\"550\" height=\"396\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The title of this post refers to the\u00a0class called \u201cHeresy,\u201d which I am teaching this semester. We had a wonderful and interesting conversation in a recent class,\u00a0on the subject of ideas about an\u00a0afterlife, based on one of the readings for that class period, which was the Apocalypse of Peter. We discussed notions of retribution and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":28401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[418,703,4552],"class_list":["post-28400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afterlife-theology","tag-afterlife-theology","tag-apocalypse-of-peter","tag-heresy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I Love Heresy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The title of this post refers to the\u00a0class called &quot;Heresy,&quot; which I am teaching this semester. 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