"Flandry stood over Dwyr, in a private Judgment Day." (p. 133)
See:
Hiding Place (the concluding two paragraphs)
What else can we say about Judgment?
See HG Wells' "A Vision of Judgment." (This story might have influenced the depiction of an ancient king proud of his sins in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Season Of Mists.)
James Blish wrote The Day After Judgment and a novel about the end of the universe that begins by quoting a Koranic account of the Day of Judgment.
My Opinion
We judge each other, then ourselves, and project a divine judge. Guilt is internalized shame as thought is internalized speech.
People who do not believe in a hereafter refer to it metaphorically. In CHAPTER FOURTEEN, Flandry says that Persis is "'...ticketed for heaven...'" (p. 146) whereas he will go the other way but she replies that he will not escape her that easily. This exchange does not express any serious belief in a hereafter but does highlight a contradiction in orthodox belief. Are we each judged and sentenced immediately after our individual death or all together on an ultimate Day of Judgment?
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The Catholic belief is that WE judge ourselves at the moment of death when we are given a final opportunity to accept or reject God. And before that God does His utmost, almost pleadingly, to have intelligent beings choose eternal life with Him, rather than eternal damnation. In the end, all that God DO is to ratify our choice.
And I would not put too much stress on that BANTERING exchange between Flandry and Persis. It strikes me more as a bit of gallows humor by two persons who were in deadly danger.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
So there is no final Day of Judgment?
Paul.
Sean,
And this choice is open to everyone, baptized or not, whether they have heard of Christianity or not?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, the Catholic Church believes there will be a final Day of Judgment. But we don't know when that will happen or how.
Christianity, and the sacraments of Christianity, remains the ordinary means desired by God for all seeking salvation. But, the Church also believes that those who, thru no fault of their own, had no knowledge of Christ, might still have the chance of gaining salvation, by means unknown to us.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But why a special Day of Judgment when everyone has already made their choice immediately after death?
Also, most people do not experience their lives as a dialogue with a deity.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Because it is orthodox Catholic teaching that someday, somehow, God will so transform or change the world/universe that all pain, suffering, agony, etc., will end. Perhaps at the next Big Bang?
Some people scorn it, but formal, organized, liturgical prayer and worship IS a means of having a dialogue with God. That is why the Catholic Church going to Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation (when possible, of course).
Ad astra! Sean
Dang! I meant to write: "That is why the Catholic Church insists ON THE FAITHFUL going to Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation (when possible, of course)."
Sean
Sean,
Yes, prayer is dialogue. But most people do not experience God asking them to choose as you said a few comments back.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But we believe this moment of having to make a choice for or against God happens to all of us at the moment of death. Only a few saints and mystics experience God so directly in their ordinary lives.
Ad astra! Sean
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