The Community Of Eternal Life

The Community of Eternal Life is a work which employs a peculiar exegetical methodology of a four-level reading of the text to demonstrate the fact that the vision of eternal life played a key role in holding together the disparate groups that lie behind the Fourth Gospel and the three Johannine epistles. To demonstrate this claim, David A. Ihenacho embarks on an in depth consideration of the thematic nature of the Johannine idea of eternal life, an examination of the integrative power of the Johannine concept of eternal life and the implication of its exegetical and theological contents. Ihenacho then advances from a historical consideration of the eternal life texts, to sociological and literary considerations, and finally to a theological consideration.

The author calls the present-day church to once again be the "contrast society," which attracts non-believers by living what it preaches and by being different without being narrowly sectarian.

ETERNAL LIFE provides spiritual and inspirational insights on why God provided humans, the fi nal destiny with Him. From the present world situation, man does not seem to know who he really is, where he came from and where he is going after his time here on earth ends. Man is called to be part of the People of God, but he has to say, “Yes!” to this call. “In the end, forever, you and I will go to heaven or hell, period!”, says a preacher. The decision is yours. Heaven! Or Hell!. To go to heaven, however, one has to listen and obey our LORD Jesus Christ, the ETERNAL WORD.

The Newtonian concept of time has been changed by Einsteinian insight. Yet the Einsteinian world view might make it difficult to appreciate traditional concepts of eschatology, like heaven and hell, death and immortality, life after death and resurrection, last day and final judgments, because these expressions presuppose a pre-Einsteinian view of the universe. Since theology cannot remain unaffected by the new research in concepts of time, Eternity and Eternal Life tries to express the eschatological faith of the Church by using the time language of our age. To achieve this it provides an overview on the research in the nature of time done in geology, cosmology, physics, biology, psychology, sociology, history and philosophy and proposes a notion of time for “timely” Christology and for “timely” eschatology. By using the singularity event as literary form, Horvath scrutinizes how Christ’s time can lead to the times of all existing realities, through death to “eternity.” This is a pioneering work, one that needs to be tested in the community of interested readers. It is a communal search for an understanding of life, death and eternal life, not only in the light of abstract ideas and cultural linguistic doctrines in the world of religions, but also in the light of science and especially of a person as the horizon of understanding for both time and eternity. Christ as the eschatological union of time and eternity becomes the work’s unifying focus and its paradigm, which solves recognized problems and opens our minds to new ones.

Something in us is waiting—for what, we don’t know. Something different? Something better? For Christians, perhaps the deepest expression of what we’re waiting for is found in the phrase “eternal life.” But what is eternal life? Why do we want it? And how do we know if we have it? In Eternity Is Now in Session, bestselling author John Ortberg dispels the myth that eternal life is something way out in outer space that we can only hope to experience after we die—and that being saved is merely about meeting the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven. Instead, John unpacks the reality that the moment we trust Christ, we are initiated into “eternal living” with God as a here and now reality, one that will continue beyond our life on this earth. Jesus defined eternal life just once, in John 17:3: “. . . that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The kind of “knowing God” that is eternal life is an interactive relationship, not just an affirmation of certain facts about God. Once we begin the transformative journey of truly knowing God, we can start to experience His presence, favor, and resurrection power right here on this earth—in the details, tasks, and challenges of daily, ordinary life. And as we begin to know God this way, we’ll realize each moment of our lives is a vehicle to the eternity we’ve been longing for all along.

In the Prologue of his Rule, St. Benedict maps out the road that leads to heaven; he lays the foundation for life in a community that seeks God. The themes that are present throughout the Rule - obedience, humility, prayer, fear of the Lord, eternal life - are grounded in the Prologue. By reflecting on the Prologue one verse at a time, Michael Casey, OCSO, delves into the richness of meaning that can be found in Benedict's words. These reflections, first given as talks and made available on his community's web site, build a bridge between the sixth-century text and twenty-first-century Christians. In The Road to Eternal Life, Casey invites readers to reflect on the Prologue in light of their own experiences, to seek the road that leads to salvation.

Everyone needs help from time to time, especially in the midst of painful circumstances and difficult trials. In this short book, a highly respected biblical counselor and successful author offers practical guidance for all Christians—pastors and laypeople alike—who want to develop their “helping skills” when it comes to walking alongside hurting people. Written out of the conviction that friends are the best helpers, this accessible introduction to biblical counseling will equip believers to share their burdens with one another through gentle words of wisdom and kind acts of love. This book is written for those eager to see God use ordinary relationships and conversations between ordinary Christians to work extraordinary miracles in the lives of his people.

Are you in a community? Not a sub-division or an apartment complex; a sorority or fraternal society, but a gsopel community. Eternal Life Together is a brief treatise on the nature of a gospel community and how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people and impacts the community of believers we call the church. When God saves us we are adopted into his family, a family both now and for eternity. We are together forever! To some it sounds crazy. But to those who have been changed by the gospel and understand its implications for how we relate to one another, it is sweet. Read their stories, and by God's grace may you find yourself longing for a community that pursues Eternal Life Together.