So we have now come to the second aspect mentioned in Ecclesiastes or the Preacher. Please excuse me if I say Preacher sometimes and Ecclesiastes other times, as it's not so easy to adjust to a new name. We are now called the Preacher 311. And here we are dealing with a dimension of creation that only concerns humans.
In the entire earthly creation, only humans have been given the eternity stitched into their hearts. This is something that exclusively applies to humans. As also expressed in Genesis 1, in the following way: Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,' and God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them,
male and female he created them. And let me emphasize in our days that being male and female is a fundamental dimension of humans as eternal beings. It is the only thing mentioned about humans in addition to being created in God's image. In other words, it is an eternal being.
Humans in their essence, and as they are created, are eternal beings, either male or female. And this will also be realized in eternity. It is completely certain. Regardless of what is said about it today. And one, the immanent dimension of this human synthesis, namely gender polarity,
is fully confirmed by science, while the other, the transcendent dimension of humans, namely the dimension of eternity, falls outside the realm of what science can say. This dimension belongs to the reality of faith. We must relate to it in faith, as long as we are here.
That means that behind the short and seemingly insignificant appearances, eternity has also been placed in their hearts. There lies such a comprehensive reality, such vast dimensions and collections of meaning, that NO human being is capable of grasping the significance, extent, and depth of it? Yes, to the point that even the great sage King Salmo,
He who was given a wise and understanding heart by God, like no one before you and no one after you, as God says to him in 1st Kings 3:12, must acknowledge that even though God has placed a part of His eternal dimension in human beings, and thus also in my heart, neither humans nor I, King Salmo, the greatest sage ever,
Can comprehend the work God does from beginning to end. So I must say that it expresses my great admiration and respect for Augustine as one of the greatest thinkers who has ever existed. But he obviously ranks after Salmo. I believe we must conclude that. But I think I can dare to say that much. All of God's words, from the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelation,
And everything in between, are somehow related to the dimension of eternity within human beings. And without this relationship to humans as eternal creatures, God's word in the Bible is inconceivable.
Every word in this book, from beginning to end, is God speaking to and about the creation that has had eternity placed in its heart by God. And since we are talking about creation here, the dimension of eternity, which we have mentioned, is something that every human being possesses. There is no human being who is not an eternal creation.
And thus, as an earthly creature, man or woman. These are the two primary qualities of human beings. And both of these qualities, the dimension of eternity and gender polarity, are denied and fought against within today's postmodern culture. That is to say, what we characterize as a modern paganism.
Before I proceed, I can assure you that I will not attempt to challenge the conclusion of the Psalm. In what we are now addressing. Nor am I able to understand the work God does from beginning to end in relation to him placing eternity in the hearts of men. But I will, with the help of Søren Kierkegaard,
attempt to shed light on certain aspects of this dimension of eternity that are relevant to what we are discussing in these seminars of ours. And let me mention initially that in this section, I will largely rely on Gregor Malandsjukh's book Freedom and Existence: Studies in Søren Kierkegaard's Thinking.
But first, I want to correct an error from a previous seminar, where I assumed that Nalantsjukk was Belarusian, which is not true, as he was born in Ukraine. But he eventually became a Danish citizen, that is, when he was almost 50 years old. We have touched on Søren Kierkegaard's view of man as a synthesis consisting of time,
the finite body with soul and necessity, on one side. That is one side of the synthesis. And of the eternal, the infinite, spirit and freedom on the other side. In relation to this, one writes "landsjuk". Man appears first and foremost as a temporal being,
And from the beginning, its entire endeavor is to act outwardly. From the start, we are humans, even as children. The goal of all its desires lies within the world, but the diversity of its desires is unlimited. There is no limit to the time for desire, and those who have been children know this. To desire both one thing and another is not a limitation there.
as the graveyard writes. One day, one wakes up due to external circumstances or through one's own reflection. Something happens outside when one is exposed to some influence from outside or simply begins to reflect on one's own existence. That is what he is thinking about. Another aspect, namely the eternal, has lain latent as a possibility in humans.
Here we shall read some verses, the first Corinthians, 15, which deals with this. First Corinthians, 15, 45-49. It is also written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
that gives life. And here you have, in a way, these two dimensions. I said earlier that the soul and the physical belong to the first synthesis, the earthly, the natural part of humans. But the spiritual is not the first. But the natural, that is the natural which is the first. And then the spiritual. The first man was of the earth.
Earthly. The second man is from heaven. The first man, as the earthly was, so are the earthly. And as the heavenly is, so shall the heavenly be. And just as we have an image of the earthly, we shall also bear an image of the heavenly.
Here we clearly see this synthesis depicted. The natural human being as a bodily entity. That is, as we read in Genesis 2:7. But this bodily being carries within it the possibility of the spiritual as an active reality in life, and through a relationship with the last Adam, as stated here in 45B.
But the spiritual is not the first. It is the natural human being that is. But the spiritual is not the first, but the natural. And then the spiritual. And this indicates the order, right? And then the synthesis is depicted again in verses 47-49. The first man was of the earth, earthly. The second man is from heaven.
This is what Søren Kierkegaard calls the first synthesis, right? The first human being. And then comes the second synthesis, when the spiritual enters as an active reality. As the earthly was, so are also the earthly ones. All earthly beings are like this. And as the heavenly one is, so shall the heavenly ones be.
These are the ones who have received their spirit through life, right? And just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. And this is the synthesis where the spiritual, or we can say the bodily-soulful on one side, and the spiritual, which is the new human being, the regenerated human being.
And in connection with Kierkegaard's concept of anxiety, we have previously mentioned several times that anxiety, according to Kierkegaard, is an essential element in human existence. And that it is only humans among all living creatures who can experience anxiety.
This is connected to the fact that only humans, through reflection, can rise above the moment and contemplate their future and their situation in existence as a whole. This is the basis for anxiety, and it is only possible because we are eternal beings. One could write extensively about this. Perhaps here, it should be pointed out that
What is founded from anxiety is the dimension of eternity in humans, which is also the foundation and prerequisite for Augustine's thoughts on the stretched present. As we have discussed earlier. Because precisely the fact that humans can rise above the moment and reflect on their situation in existence, is to ponder the future in light of the new and the past.
Consequently, our lives become a unity of memory, attention in the present, and expectation. And so it is that this expectation, the thought of the future, can fill a person with anxiety. Animals, which always live in the present, take note of this, animals that always live in the present, are not created in God's image, thus, in the situation of the moment, they can experience fear when frightened.
but they can never experience anxiety, because anxiety has its foundation in the human's stretched consciousness, which is a consequence of eternity being laid lightly in the human heart. The animal is therefore completely and fully a temporal creature with a consciousness tied to the moment,
It lives, as I said, in the present, that is, in the animal consciousness that the music and entertainment culture frenetically and by all means try to impose on us humans. Take note of what I'm saying. It is the consciousness that the entertainment culture and modern music try to impose on us.
To, among other things, free people from the possibility of anxiety by drowning their thoughts of the future in an inferno of violent and chaotic sensory impressions. In news that paralyze all reflection. That is precisely the sign of it. Do you think that people who sit at home watching these entertainment programs are also reflecting on life? No, then it's just a matter of living with this entertainment that they have in front of them.
That is why the Christianity which, as we have previously pointed out, lives in aimlessness. An aimlessness where it is precisely a matter of keeping anxiety outside the door. Yes, where it is an extremely crucial prerequisite. That is why this aimless Christianity has become so preoccupied and completely dependent on being able to fill the soul and mind with large doses of music and entertainment culture. And actually bring it into the woodshed.
But to imagine that modern pagan music and entertainment can protect against anxiety is a terrible deception. Since this paganism, this music and entertainment culture, is the core of the dissolution tendencies, and the godlessness that Kirkegård so strongly warned against.
Because Kirkegård not only analyzed the psychological, anthropological, that is, our composition of our synthetic structure. He not only analyzed the psychological and anthropological, that is, the natural human prerequisites for anxiety, but also the spiritual situation of his time. Where did he come to that conviction?
that the former world faced a crisis of hitherto unknown dimensions, where anxiety would become an acute problem for humanity, as Malandsjukk writes. There is no salvation or escape into modern paganism. I believe that it may be appropriate to delve a little deeper into the issue related to the concept of time and its relationship to eternity.
Kirkegård clarifies this in terms of concept and anxiety. Time is determined there as the infinite succession of individual moments in time. Time in itself, I emphasize time in itself, not time as we experience it, but time in itself, cannot be divided into a present, past, and future.
Future time, since such a division would require a fixed and immovable yardstick against which time can be measured. And I will illustrate that. If you imagine that you are standing down by the water here, and then we think of time as the river. Yes, then there is something higher up in the river, namely everything that is in front of me.
In the river itself, there is no above or below. For the river is just flowing there. But if I stand with the water, then there is something in front of me. Namely everything that is in front of me. I am the fixed point. And downstream. That is what is new to me. That's how it is with time too. So in Kirkegård's view. It is actually just a stream, like any river.
But you need a fixed point in order to divide time into past, future, and present. That's how it is. You and I, where is the present? It's like I am here and now. What is the past? It's my past. What is the future? It's my future. I become the fixed point in this. It's important to understand that.
Therefore, time is in itself just a process, a passing by, as Kirkegaard writes. But as we have illuminated above, humans are eternal beings by virtue of having eternity embedded in their hearts. And thus, a person can never relate to time in an abstract manner.
This is very important. We cannot relate to time in an abstract way. That is, to time itself. Because it is only in relation to the eternal, which is always present, add me. The eternal is always present. There is no past or future. Or in a way, we can see it as the future. But it is always present. That is where time gains its significance. And it can be divided into non-time. Which is constantly
passing by, and into the past and future. First, in light of the fact that we are eternal beings, where we relate to the eternal, can it be divided in that way. Animals do not do that, you see. They only live in the present. This is what Malanchukomda writes.
And now I will quote a bit from his book "Nøkkelebygge, Reprisøren kirke i års tenkning" where he writes about it. It is only in relation to the eternal, which is always present, that time gains its significance. And it can be divided into the present. As it constantly passes by in the past and future. Because that is actually how it is.
When we sit here, time keeps running past us. The present, we are in the present, but it is a time that keeps passing by. Eternity, on the other hand, is always there, while the essence of time is to pass by. And no matter how long time lasts, it never becomes eternal.
It must be added that the future and the eternal are closely connected. Take note of that. This will come back to. The future and the eternal are closely connected. As it is precisely the nature of the future to persist constantly and present itself as the eternal possibility. It is the future that presents itself as the eternal possibility. This will come back to. And actually, it is a very comforting statement.
So, according to Kirkegaard, the future and the eternal are closely connected. Since it is precisely typical of the future to constantly present itself as the possibility of the eternal. What does Kirkegaard mean by that? Doesn't eternity have to do with the whole world? And of course, it does.
I have been an eternal being since birth, as I was endowed with eternity laid down in my heart. But still, Kirkegaard emphasizes the future, that is, the aspects of expectation in the extended now, as the possibility of the eternal. I believe that Kirkegaard, in his own unique way, expresses the same thing that we previously pointed out in Augustine.
And that structures several of his books in light of human life as a pilgrimage from the low, the physical, the temporal, which the entertainment culture and modern entertainment music will try to hold us firmly in, to the high, the spiritual, the eternal. And remember that Augustine points out that it is music that binds us to the low.
I don't think there is any doubt about what resonated with both Augustine and the cemetery, and that is what Paul writes about from the beginning of chapter 3 in the letter to the Philippians. That is, the verses that immediately precede, and which are a prerequisite for the verses from the same letter that we have discussed in previous sessions. As I have said,
they have been extremely important as a biblical foundation for our series of seminars. And I will read these verses from the beginning of chapter 3, but perhaps I should point out initially that Paul here, in a very powerful way, also highlights the situation the Jews have ended up in because of the rejection of Jesus, as we have discussed in previous seminars. But that is not what we should focus our attention on in this context.
We can also take note of that. And we will actually read these 16 verses there in chapter 3 of the letter to the Philippians. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. And here comes exactly the same thing that he actually writes in Gentar in chapter 4. I am not tired of writing the same thing again. And for you, it is even safer.
Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. And there is no doubt who the mutilation refers to. It is those who are circumcised. For we are the circumcision. We who serve God in his Spirit. And boast in Christ Jesus. And do not rely on our flesh. Circumcision is performed on the flesh. Although, I have certainly had reason to rely on my flesh as well.
If anyone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Let us then, as many as are perfect, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. And let us not forget the bread that represents my followers, who have departed.
Let me point out how verses 12 to 16 are structured around, I completely agree with Augustine's stretched-out NOW. That is, remembrance, presence in the NOW, and expectation. Something that Paul here illuminates in immediate relation to the life as a pilgrimage. And I believe that we should take the time to look at this precisely. The passage starts with the present, that is, NOW,
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect, that is, now. And then verse 13. I do not count myself to have apprehended, that is, now. Let us all be like this, and it is present, that is, perfect. And then verse 16. It only applies to the extent that we have come, I say.
But how are the positions new for the one who says about himself that he has not yet attained, that he has not yet apprehended? Well, Paul writes in verse 7, and to 10 as we read it. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ's sake. Indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
and society with his sufferings, in which his death is equated with his suffering. This is the basis for Paul, who, as he says, has not yet attained it and is not perfect, to still refer to himself as perfect. And it is evident that the perfection he will attain in eternity, he has not yet reached, but when he still refers to himself as perfect, it is about the perfection he possesses in Christ.
Jesus. Here and now. And it is this pilgrim perspective that Augustine structures his books around. Then we have Fortia, and let me already say that this shows how right it is when the cemetery points to the future as eternal possibilities, as I said. Very important. Because when we look at Fortia,
There are no longer any possibilities attached to it. Fortia is not a time for possibilities. Not even for eternal possibilities. Yes, in many ways, Fortia may be the time of wasted opportunities. When we wasted many opportunities. That's how it is with our Fortia. Not even the eternal can do anything about our Fortia.
And that is probably what Paul, who, among other things, has followed Christ diligently in the church, as he mentions in verse 6, has in mind when he writes in verse 14. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. What Paul actually wants us to understand here is this. Even a person who has been so low that he has persecuted the church, been involved in the murder of Stephen, and has followed Jesus. As he hears from Jesus' own mouth. Silver, silver.
Why are you following me? Yes, the claim of circumcision is new. Even such a person, and we don't know what Paul was involved in during the time he sought out Christians in their homes and persecuted them. A lot of strange things could have happened. Such a person can forget everything that lies behind. How is that possible?
Let me answer with the malangtsjukhsk-life based on the graveyard. The future and the eternal are closely connected, as it is precisely the nature of the future to constantly present itself as the most eternal possibility. The most eternal possibility in my life lies within the future. That's where it is. Quickly, yes, I will forget it, says Paul.
And it is precisely this future that Paul writes about in this passage in verse 12. But I press on to take hold of it, because I myself have been taken hold of by Christ. And in verse 14. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It only matters that we, as far as we have come, here and now, continue in the same path. That's how it is.
The future is eternal possibilities. Life is an extended pilgrimage, and I have no doubt that this is where Augustine drew his inspiration from and what the churchyard continues. Here we see a concrete example of how Paul presents himself as an example, starting with his own journey, a journey that the Philippian churches undoubtedly were familiar with, and then he shows how far he has come based on this starting point in his personal walk.
as a believer had come when he was with them. That is to say, what the church in Philippi had observed as consequences of faith in his life, and which Paul holds up to them as an example to follow. Brothers, be my followers, as he says.
in verse 16. This does not mean that Paul thinks of himself as having attained it, that he has reached or become perfect, but he forgets what is behind, stretches forward to what is ahead, and pursues the goals. And this happens by him, as far as he has come, continuing in the same path. And he gives a clear instruction about what this path is, which he has followed thus far, and which will lead him to the goals,
namely what he writes about in the first nine verses of chapter 4, which we went through last time, right? To live as a Christian is not to reach a point in life and live there. It is rather a continual journey forward. Each new day is such a journey. And the crucial thing is whether we walk as Paul instructs.
among other things in Philippians 4, 1-9. And thus walk in the footsteps of Paul, and after the example we have in him, that is, rejoice in the Lord, live in prayer, and pay attention to truth, what is worth loving, what is pure, and what is righteous. That is what it is about. But let us take a step back in light of the churchyard, and in light of the churchyard, take a closer look at the relationship,
and the struggle between the spiritual, the physical, and the eternal. The spiritual self, which the churchyard calls the first self, or as Paul called it, the first man, the one from the earth, which the churchyard characterizes as the eternal, and the deeper self, which the churchyard characterizes as the eternal in the spiritual. He calls it the deeper self. It is what is called the second man here in the Corinthians letter.
In other words, this is about the struggle between the one-sided concentration of childhood and adulthood on the earthly realm and the eternal between immanence and transcendence. And we return to Balansjuks' interpretation of the churchyard. And I will write, read a little about this here. And I will now assure myself that I can take it calmly so that I can explain along the way if there is anything difficult.
The struggle between the first cell and the deeper cell, that is, between the two shells in the human chest, is as Faust speaks of. When a person turns to themselves to understand themselves, they step into that first cell.
The first cell. It gets in the way of the first cell. The earthly part in us that only wants to bind us completely to the earthly. But then people begin to reflect. And then they get in the way of this first cell. They stop it. It is venturing outwardly in curiosity and longing for the external world. There is a pause. Calling it back from the external. To move the first cell towards this recall.
Later the deeper the outer world becomes. What it is, becomes doubtful. So, here a person lives fully immersed in the earthly, and then another self comes in and points out that there is something very uncertain about relating to this earthly everything. Calls it back and becomes doubtful. Thus, it is also true that the world around us is instability.
And any moment can change to the opposite, and we know that in life. One thing can happen, and suddenly life is completely turned upside down. It is instability, as they say. And there is no human being who, by their power or by their wishful thinking, can force this change. We cannot do anything about it. We just have to live in this reality.
The deeper self now forms the flexibility of the outer world, that is, the uncertainty of the outer world, it forms the other self, and forms the flexibility, that it changes, so that it is no longer the first self that is trustworthy. I learn that I cannot base my life on this constant fluctuation in the world that concerns this outer world.
Either the first self must then see to kill the deeper self. So, the natural human must step aside, yes, yes, you just have to rely on this. It must go, try to kill the deeper self that comes with these questions. To make it forget that everything has been given up. Or it must admit that the deeper self is right. To want to proclaim permanence about what constantly changes.
Trying to convince humans that yes, it is safe to enter this world. No, it doesn't work. Because we know from experience that it's not true. It's a contradiction. And as soon as one admits that it fluctuates, it can indeed fluctuate. In the same moment. Where one's own single self shrinks as a result, there has never been found anyone so skilled in words, or so cunning in false thoughts.
that he can refute the eternal claim of the deeper self. The deeper self in me, the first self I know, actually says something right, by letting the noise of uncertainty drown it out. There is only one way out, to bring the deeper self to silence by letting the noise of uncertainty drown it out.
I feel that this is the kind of world I live in. When the deeper self has convinced me of it. Afterwards, it is due to my own poetic how humans constantly try to remain in the childish stage. And I have already said that. If there is something that characterizes our time, it is childishness, the childish stage. From time to time, you cannot avoid seeing how they present the entertainment program on TV now. You can't avoid it. Of course, I have to see if it's good to avoid the program.
And what is it about? It's about adults playing childish pranks that we used to do when we were 10-12 years old. I don't understand how it can be entertaining at all. Yes, it's completely absurd. It's almost laughable at times. Grown adults up to that. It's the childish stage that today is heavily involved in wanting to keep people there through entertainment and granting that people are childish. Where it succumbs to the temptation of timeliness to fulfill its wishful thinking.
But being a child is so delightful, lying at the bosom of timeliness in the cradle of eternity. And probability sits by the cradle and sings to the child. So, it may happen. It may happen that you win a million in some lottery, right?
So you comfort this person who wants to be in the lap of childlike innocence there and there. If the wish doesn't come true and the child becomes restless, probabilities whisper again and say, Just lie still and sleep, I'll go out and buy something for you, and next time it will be your turn. Then the child falls back asleep, and the pain is forgotten, and the child blushes again with new streams of wishes.
But the deeper self awakens in humans and doesn't give up because they want it to carry out the movement of infinity that can bring them in touch with the eternal. Through the various movements of infinity, the movement of humans towards a higher form of freedom is depicted, where new starting points are constantly formed for a deeper understanding
of this in eternity, and all the questions related to it. So, for me, this is so fitting because I see it so clearly, that a lot of entertainment culture will keep us at this level of childishness and comfort us. No, but there's a new entertainment program tomorrow, so just relax, don't worry about all this. It is so prevalent today, it's incredible to see how this is happening.
Psychologically, the same law applies quite simply: the same force that, when turned outward, is capable of achieving this and that. The same force requires an even greater force to prevent it from reaching out for it. Kirkegaard argues that it takes greater force to refrain from seeking to attain what presents itself in the world.
Even when faced with external resistance, when reaching out for something, it also spurs the individual to exert additional efforts to overcome this resistance. Ultimately, a person cannot truly overcome themselves. It can only be done in certain relative circumstances. That's just the way it is.
As human beings, we are so bound to the temporal, and it requires great strength. The entire entertainment culture does everything it can to dull the power within us that could lead us to actually break free from this temporal existence.
And we have money and all sorts of other things piled on, piled on, right? And I become completely exhausted when I see a lot of this nonsense that is served on TV to make people forget about the great age of eternity. It is only possible for a person, let's see, to achieve as an individual,
And this only through their utmost effort, that they can withstand themselves, which is not to conquer themselves. If a person, therefore, puts all their efforts into carrying out the movement of infinity, that is, breaking free from finitude in order to reach infinity, then they exhaust all their strength.
That's how much it costs today. And the youth are caught up in this to a tremendous extent. This is eternity trying to call humanity out of being bound to temporality. And this is not something that only happens within each individual. It is also something that happens in the course of history. And we shall read it.
at the end of this hour. In the first stage of human spiritual development, humans did not yet have the idea of the eternal as something constantly present. Because I said it. The eternal is constantly near. We are faced with eternity daily, every moment.
People imagined eternity precisely as the infinitely long time, with which it became an infinitely empty presence. This is the parody of the eternal, says Søren Kierkegaard. The idea of the eternal, as something always present, appears in two places in the history of human spiritual development. Thus, Socrates arrives at the idea of the eternal, as something constantly present, by assuming the existence of a world of ideas.
that has a fixed unchanging being in contrast to the constantly changing sensory world. Here we have this thing where external conditions are constantly changing. And time flows. But the eternity that Socrates pointed to was merely an abstraction, where neither time nor eternity came into their true right, says Sjønskirkort.
He had a notion of the eternal, of the same and the good as eternal values, but in a way, it doesn't come into its own, Socrates says. We find a new understanding of the eternal among the Jewish people when they are addressed by an eternal transcendent power, where time also takes on a new meaning.
Thus, the sense of the historical and steadfast people is awakened. Take note of that. Think in historical terms. Where one reflects on the past, becomes aware of the present, and thinks ahead. It depends on awakening this unity mission. And the Jewish people see it, and to put it bluntly, the Jewish people are the first people in history to think in historical categories. Just like we have become so accustomed to thinking here in Europe.
According to Søren Kierkegaard, it is only in Christianity that the true concept of the eternal, and thus also of time, emerges. That is where we find it. Here, the meeting between time and eternity takes place in its absolute expression in the moment that is brought about by the eternal touching the temporal.
It is only through Christ's incarnation that it emerges in its complete form. Then, in Christ, time and eternity meet. In this one person, we become aware of what eternity is. Now, human beings' relationship to time is characterized by the fact that the more human beings become concretely aware of the eternal, the greater significance this has for the decisions they make in time. Especially
the edifying part of the authorship aims to draw attention to this. The most important decision is posed to individuals when they encounter Christ as the eternal, revealed in unity. Here, it concerns human beings' salvation or damnation. Søren Kierkegaard characterizes this decision from the human perspective with the following words. An eternal decision in time.
it is the most intense intensity, the most intense leap, first imitate for human possibility to realize the task they have in temporality, and which is formulated as follows by Sørenkirkegård, to satisfy eternity, that was the task. With that, humans were sent out into the world, and later the words were unconditionally enclosed to Christian about.
We are sent out into the world to satisfy the demands of the eternal. That is what we are sent out into the world for. That was the task we received. Here we see how the movement goes from even primitive perceptions of believing in the eternal.
as infinitely extended time to encounter with the eternal in a birth. We can say that here we are led into the different levels of belief in the eternal, from the lowest, angelic, and groping belief to the fully wise belief in and with salvation. And the one who has met Christ, he knows what eternity is. Now I relate to eternity.