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Salvation | November 17, 2004

Salvation may be understood as being safe from destructive forces and as an act of deliverance from destruction, pain, loss, death, sin, curse, punishment or suffering. The Latin salus and French salut, which mean whole or healthy, imply the notion of salvation as healing, a metaphor found in many religious traditions. The human predicament of sin, death, ignorance and impurity is an illness from which salvation brings "healing". This meaning is also evident in the German Heil (Healing or salvation) and heilig (Sacred or holy). Salvation implies such concepts as whole, healthy, strong vigorous, enjoying well-being and bliss. The concept of salvation, in this sense, points back to a period in which no distinction was drawn between bodily healing or deliverance from this worldly needs and the bliss hoped for ultimately in the heavenly realms. In fact, it was the worldly deliverances that were primary to human religiousness and provided the metaphors and imagery of absolute salvation that emerged in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Posted by admin at November 17, 2004 08:03 AM


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