Följande reflektion om det ”eviga livet” av Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) tyckte jag var mycket intressant. Barth var en 1900-talets mest framträdande protestantiska teologer, och aktiv i det kyrkliga och teologiska motståndet mot Hitler under andra världskriget. Barth var medgrundare till Bekännelsekyrkan där bland annat Dietrich Bonhoeffer ingick.
”Eternal life is not another and second life, beyond the present one. It is this life, but the reverse side which God sees although it is as yet hidden from us—this life in its relation to what He has done for the whole world, and therefore for us too, in Jesus Christ.
We thus wait and hope, even in view of our death, for our manifestation with Him, with Jesus Christ who was raised again from the dead, in the glory of not only the judgment but also the grace of God. The new thing will be that the cover of tears, death, suffering, crying, and pain that now lies over our present life will be lifted, that the decree of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ will stand before our eyes, and that it will be the subject not only of our deepest shame but also of our joyful thanks and praise.
I like to put it in the fine stanza of Gellert in which he speaks of knowing in the light what is now obscure on earth, of calling wonderful and glorious what took place inscrutably, of seeing with out spirit the context of our destiny with praise and thanksgiving.”
Hämtat från: Post-Barthian.