In the book ‘Heaven’, Paula Gooder considers the ways in which the Bible sees heaven and earth connecting, and explores all the major strands of belief about life after death, including the role of paradise, and what happens between death and resurrection. She shows how the biblical writers see heaven and earth as closely connected, so that what happens in heaven affects events on earth and vice versa. This is session five of five.
In this session you will aim to understand better about the complexity of Biblical ideas about life beyond death. Through the discussion you will land on an understanding of the bodily resurrection and its importance for Christian hope and witness.
Start the session relaxing as a group. You may want to encourage participants to get a hot drink and chat about the events of the week. When its time to move towards the topic you might want to ask the below question for the group to discuss:
Watch the below video discussing what’s at stake when we talk about life after death and outlining the spiritual verses bodily ideas of resurrection.
Read this passage aloud. Hearing it spoken aloud rather than just reading to oneself can give a new perspective of a passage especially considering what has just been taught on the video.
Now you have heard the ideas and read the scripture it is time to reflect on what has been said and pull out the group’s initial thoughts and feelings about the topic. In a group, such as this one, there are no wrong or right answers. This is a time for participants to share what the ideas mean to them and how they might change or reinforce a personal conviction.
Some points to discuss are:
