What is afterlife in Christianity?

The Christian belief that God gives you the gift of eternal life.

You do not die and live forever.

You are reincarnated after death.

A time when the world will end and every soul will be judged God and rewarded or punished.

What is judgement day according to Christian belief?

A time when the world will end and every soul will be judged God and rewarded or punished.

When there is a trial in heaven where God decides whether the Angel is guilty or not.

What Christians believe follows life on earth.

The Christian belief that God gives you the gift of eternal life.

Life after death and judgement

refreshment (n): (small amounts of food and drink ( Refreshments will be available during the interval.) stimulant (n): a substance which temporarily arouses physiological or organic activity ( Caffeine is a natural stimulant .) reinforcement (n): the act of making sth stronger / (plural) soldiers sent to join an army to make it stronger ( Constructors have been hired to add reinforcement to the foundations of the old bridge.) initiative (n): the ability to make decisions without waiting to be told what to do (Being a successful entrepreneur requires one to have great initiative.) inhibition (n): a shy or nervous feeling that stops you from expressing your real feelings (She drinks alcohol at parties to get over her inhibitions.) initiation (n): a ceremony, ritual, test, or period of instruction with which a new member is admitted to an organization or office (The initiation period for new employees lasts approximately six weeks.) initial (n): the first letter of a name, esp. when used to represent a name (Do you know what Ms Rowling's initials, J and K, stand for?) concise (adj): short and clear, expressing what needs to be said without unnecessary words (She gave a concise overview of the points she was about to make in her speech. ) direct (adj): happening or done without involving other people, actions, etc. in between ( You will only be hired if you have direct experience in this field.) devious (adj): not straightforward, sincere and honest about your intentions or motives; shifty (They came up with a devious plan to overthrow the chairman of the company.) circuitous (adj): not straight or direct (The professor gave a circuitous explanation confusing his students.) diluted (adj): (of a liquid) made weaker or less pure by being mixed with sth else( Orange squash should be diluted with water before it is served.) delicate (adj): easily hurt or destroyed.( This silk shirt is too delicate to put in the washing machine.) desolate (adj): extremely sad and feeling lonely. (After the death of his wife he led a desolate life.) diffused (adj): widely spread or scattered; not concentrated/ wordy ( He spoke in such a diffused manner that it was impossible to take notes on his lecture.) might (n): the power, force, or influence held by a person or group (The captive struggled with all of his might and managed to free himself of the chains.) plot (n): a secret plan made by several people to do sth that is wrong, harmful or not legal, esp. to do damage to a person or a government / a storyline ( The plot of the forthcoming Harry Potter book has yet to be revealed.) glaze (n): a thin clear liquid put on objects before they are finished, to give them a shiny surface ( She mixed sugar and lemon to make the glaze of the cake.) plight (n): an unpleasant condition, esp. serious, sad or difficult one ( Last night's documentary dealt with the plight of political asylum seekers.) comprise (v): to consist of be composed of( The final exam is comprised of three parts.)

When this lady died I descended like real estate in fee simple to her son Benjamin Stiles, Esq[uire]. About four years after her death, her two sons, Benjamin and David, were drafted to fight in the revolution. I also entered the banners of freedom. Alas! Poor African Slave, to liberate freemen, my tyrants. I had contemplated going to Barbados to avenge myself and my country… I went into Capt. [Samuel] Granger’s company, from hence I was drafted into Capt. [Samuel] Barker’s company of light infantry… ...I suddenly discovered a man riding up to me not more than eight rods distant on full speed with a pistol in his hand and ordered me to lay down my arms [weapons]... He said I must surrender to him who demanded me in the name of the King his majesty of Great Britain. I then plainly told him that neither him or his King’s majesty would get my arms unless he took them by force. He immediately cocked his pistol and fired. I fell flat upon the ground in order to dodge his ball… ...Finally, I was in the battles at Cambridge, White Plains, Monmouth, Princeton, Newark, Frog’s Point, Horseneck where I had a ball pass through my knapsack. All which battles the reader can obtain a more perfect account of in history than I can give. At last we returned to West Point and were discharged [1783], as the war was over. Thus was I, a slave for five years fighting for liberty. ...After we were disbanded, I returned to my old master at Woodbury [Connecticut], with whom I lived one year, my services in the American war having emancipated me from further slavery and from being bartered or sold. My master consented that I might go where I pleased and seek my fortune. Hearing flattering accounts of the new state of Vermont, I left Woodbury and travelled as far as the town of Lenox in Massachusetts, where for the first time I made a bargain as a freeman for labor. I let [hired] myself to a Mr. Elisha Orsborn for one month at the price of five dollars. When I had fulfilled this contract, I travelled to the town of Poltney in Vermont. There again I let myself to a Mr. Abiel Parker for the sum of thirteen pounds ten shillings, for six months. Here I enjoyed the pleasures of a freeman; my food was sweet, my labor pleasure: and one bright gleam of life seemed to shine upon me.

One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame1, and, indeed, any animal endued with2 life. Whence3, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how 5 many things are we upon the brink of4 becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. I revolved5 these circumstances in my mind, and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study 10 would have been irksome, and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy: but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. 15 I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition, or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay, and forced to spend 20 days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses6. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae 25 of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me – a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, 30 that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret. Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens, than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in 35 discovering the cause of generation and life; nay7, more I became myself capable of bestowing8 animation upon lifeless matter. The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying 40 consummation of my toils9. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming10 that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a 45 nature rather to direct my endeavours11 so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search, than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead, and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering, and seemingly ineffectual12, light.

For centuries, God's people waited for the prophecies of the expected Messiah to be fulfilled. They waited with hope and expectation for generations. The Savior's first coming was as a baby born in a humble stable. After Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and before His ascension, He told His disciples that He would come again. At His second coming, Jesus will come in the clouds as the victorious Lord of all. Everyone will see Him. God's plan of salvation is eternal because God is eternal. He has always planned to take believers to heaven to live with Him forever. Transform means to change into something new. Christ, in His omnipotence, will transform believers' earthly bodies into glorified bodies. Anticipate means to look forward to. Christians anticipate Christ's return. Christians should always be ready to meet the Lord. They can get ready for Christ's return by faithfully living holy and godly lives as they put Jesus first in their life and wait hopefully and expectantly for Him. When Christ returns, a trumpet will sound. People will hear a shout and the voice of the archangel. Those who have died believing in Jesus will rise first; then any believers who are still alive will meet the Lord in the air. Jesus' parable of the 10 virgins reminds Christians to be prepared for the Lord's return. Christians understand that the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise. His time differs from earthly time. God desires that all people come to know Him. When the gospel has been preached to every nation, the Lord will indeed come back.

If we look at the United States on a map today, it is very difficult to imagine that where we see borders, cities, and states, there once existed nothing but open land, uncharted mountain ranges, and miles of untouched wilderness. North America was a highly desired destination for exploration and settlement for Europeans. In the early 1500s, expeditions from Europe to North America were funded by Europe's kings and queens in hopes of expanding their territories across the world. The voyages were treacherous with unknown dangers and many attempts to settle in this new land were faced with failure. In the early 1600’s however, the settlers of Jamestown and Plymouth survived the harsh conditions and established the first two permanent English settlements in North America. Jamestown Colony in Virginia Jamestown was founded in 1607. Of course, its colonists did not know it would go on to become the the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The settlement was located along the James River off Chesapeake Bay in modern-day Virginia. Life in Jamestown was very hard, and nearly 80% of the first settlers died in the first year due to disease and starvation. The region was warm and had fertile soil, making it a perfect place for growing crops, specifically tobacco. Sponsored by a joint stock company known as the Virginia Company of London, Jamestown was originally established as a profit-making enterprise. The first settlers looked for gold and other natural resources that could bring a profit to the company's investors. After several very difficult years, the colonists were eventually able to grow tobacco that was popular in England and it became a valuable cash crop. Jamestown's colonists were primarily all supporters of the Church of England and felt a strong connection to their homeland. Many, like John Smith, returned to England, or would move back and forth between the two locations. Being that Jamestown was founded by a corporation looking to make a profit, it began using enslaved labor in 1619. Indentured servants and enslaved Africans made up much of the workforce on the growing tobacco and cotton plantations. The system of using enslaved Africans for the profit of American plantations has been described as America's "original sin". About 400 miles to the north of Jamestown, a group of Pilgrims seeking religious freedom established Plymouth in 1620 as the second English colony in North America. Located in modern day Massachusetts, the colder climate and rocky soil made farming and agriculture more difficult. Instead of growing cash crops, settlers turned to lumber, shipbuilding, and fishing for trade. Unlike the settlers of Jamestown, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were dissenters from the Church of England. They came to the New World so that they could freely practice their religion without fear of persecution. Although their reasons for settling were different, the settlements had many similar experiences. Jamestown and Plymouth both faced harsh and demanding climates and struggled with hunger, disease, and death. In their first years they had much difficulty establishing housing and finding a sustainable source of food. Plymouth Colony in New England While the settlers in Jamestown used the House of Burgesses as a legislative body for laws and decisions, the Pilgrims in Plymouth wrote and agreed to the Mayflower Compact as a set of rules for self-government. Both helped maintain the rule of law in new places far from the courts and tradition of England. Settlers of both colonies experienced complicated and, at times, violent relationships with local Native Americans that owned the land. While some American Indian groups offered help to the new settlers, oftentimes both sides needed to defend themselves from attacks. Nevertheless, the settlers of Jamestown and Plymouth persevered through these difficulties and maintained their establishments, providing inspiration for future colonies and settlers in search of a new life in the New World.

1.1945-1949: The immediate years after the Second World War ● At the end of 1945, Mao Zedong had come to see the USA as the greatest threat to his aspirations. a. He understood that East Asians were looking to the USA as the true liberator from Japanese imperialism. b. The USA’s support for the Kuomintang(KMT) and the restoration of U.S. authority in formerly Japanese Manchuria clashed with the CCP’s plans to use the region for its own needs in the impending civil war between the CCP and the GMD. ■ To compound matters, while the KMT was recognised internationally as the official government in China, Mao and the CCP saw the party as a puppet of U.S. imperialism. ● While Mao saw the USA as the greater threat to the CCP’s plans, Soviet actions also frustrated him. a. The USSR provided minimal and incoherent support for the Chinese Communists in Yan’an and Manchuria. b. Stalin also attempted to extract territorial and economic concessions from the Guomindang government in the Friendship and Alliance Treaty China signed in August 1945 under American and Soviet pressure in exchange for Soviet entry into the Second World War against Japan. ● The emerging superpower conflict over Europe and over American intervention in the impending civil war in China led to Mao’s ideological perception of the 8838/01 H1 History Paper 1 Theme II: The Cold War and East Asia (1945-1991) \ Page | 8 USA as an aggressive imperialist power that was hostile towards other countries, especially the USSR and China. ● In 1946, Mao promoted the theory of the intermediate zone, which envisioned a global united front against American imperialism. a. Mao saw the emerging superpower conflict as an American-Soviet contest for the intermediate zones, the capitalist, colonial and semi- colonial countries of West Europe, Africa, and Asia. b. Mao believed that the USSR was the defender of world peace. c. The intermediate zone, which included China, would not be part of the socialist camp. d. Despite the tremendous potential that U.S. aid held for China’s reconstruction, Mao’s ideological worldview and the impending civil war against the Guomindang prevented him from seeking normalised relations with the USA. In 1949, Mao decided to lean towards the side of the USSR despite two decades of unreliable support from them. e. Mao saw the anti-bourgeois campaigns in East Europe as evidence that China should isolate capitalist-bourgeois forces within it.2 f. Stalin had expelled Yugoslavia from the socialist camp as its leader, Tito was seen to have directly challenged Stalin’s authority. ■ Mao thus saw it as imperative to stress close unity to the USSR lest he was seen as a second Josip Broz Tito. At the same time, Mao sought a loose partnership with the USSR because Mao believed that China should preserve a high measure of self- reliance and zili gengsheng (自力更生) (regeneration through one’s own efforts). ● When the People’s Republic of China was formed on 1 October, 1949, relations between China’s and the USSR’s communists had improved substantially. a. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was also aware that the USSR never treated Chinese interests as a priority. What the CCP failed to fully understand was that Stalin ruled East Europe much like it was his empire and how this would have implications for China. b. In Mao’s first visit to the USSR in December 1949, Stalin was non- committal regarding the interests raised by the Chinese, and treated Mao as an underling as he feared that closer relations with the PRC would cause the USSR to lose privileges gained from the KMT. _________________________ 2 What Mao did not realise at that point was that the anti-bourgeois campaigns in East European countries were part of Stalin’s intentional design to consolidate the power of communists in them. 8838/01 H1 History Paper 1 Theme II: The Cold War and East Asia (1945-1991) \ Page | 9 A note on Sino-American relations 2. Early 1950: The USA’s hands-off policy towards Taiwan begins to change ● By early 1950, the Truman administration had written off Taiwan and believed it was only a matter of time before the island fell to the PLA. ● Two events in early 1950 changed the USA’s position on East Asia. ○ The formation of the USSR-PRC alliance in February 1950 ○ The North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950 3. 1950: The Sino-Soviet Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance Treaty ● Signed on 14 February, 1950. 3.1Implications for Sino-Soviet relations ● Stalin saw it as a means to get concessions that he had failed to get from the Kuomintang (KMT) government in 1945. ● For Mao and the newly founded People’s Republic of China (PRC), the alliance would provide security against U.S. imperialism and allow the PRC to get economic aid for reconstruction from the USSR. ● The Chinese realised soon after the 1950 treaty had been signed that the Soviet Union was intent on exploiting the agreement in its own favour. 8838/01 H1 History Paper 1 Theme II: The Cold War and East Asia (1945-1991) \ Page | 10 ● The Sino-Soviet alliance was officially directed against Japanese militarism and its allies, especially the USA. ● The Sino-Soviet alliance comprised three elements: party, military and economic relations. ○ Party: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was included in the customs of communist party internationalism, such as regular exchange of party delegations to congresses of the fraternal parties in Stalin’s socialist camp. ■ This move was meant to bring the PRC’s ideological beliefs about communism into greater alignment with the USSR’s. ○ Military: The alliance was supposed to provide the newly formed and weak PRC with a strategic deterrent and military aid against the USA on three fronts: Guomindang-held Taiwan, divided Korea, and Vietnam where France attempted to reestablish its colonial control. ■ Convinced that the USA would aggressively seek ways to undermine the CCP-led PRC through Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, Mao sought an active defence. ● While in Moscow, Mao unsuccessfully asked Stalin to provide military assistance for the liberation of Taiwan. ● At the beginning of 1950, the PRC delivered large-scale military aid to Hanoi. The PRC was the first country to grant the communist-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam diplomatic recognition on 18 January 1950; Mao persuaded Stalin to do so on 30 January 1950. ● The PRC committed itself to North Korea, where Mao saw the commitment to North Korea both as a defence against U.S. imperialism and as support for a fellow communist country. ○ Economic: During Mao’s first stay in Moscow, Stalin had personally promised the delivery of fifty projects for primary industrialisation. ■ The agreement also led to a series of supplementary ones, such as a US$ 300 million loan that the PRC would repay with a mixture of strategic materials, rubber, agricultural products, goods for daily use and hard currency. ■ Significantly, Stalin used Soviet military and economic aid to extract concessions similar to those he failed to get from the Guomindang government in 1945. ■ The USSR and PRC would disagree on the pace and extent of the PRC’s planned development. ● In the last five weeks of Stalin’s life in early 1953, he attempted to pressure the PRC to reduce the planned 8838/01 H1 History Paper 1 Theme II: The Cold War and East Asia (1945-1991) \ Page | 11 development speed to a mere annual growth of 13-14 percent, and to plan individual projects in detail beforehand. These moves would potentially result in the PRC’s economy growing at a slower rate than initially projected. ● However, after Stalin’s death on 5 March 1953, the PRC’s Zhou Enlai decided to use his visit of condolence to the USSR to press forward negotiations. ○ When talks resumed in 1 April 1953, Beijing pressed for 150 Soviet industrial projects, but Moscow reduced them to 91 on the basis of insufficient data provided by the Chinese. ■ The economic disarray after China’s civil war and the economic pressures that came with the Korean War influenced recovery and reconstruction in the early years of the PRC. ● Despite the PRC being unable to tap into Soviet economic assistance immediately, mutual trade between China and the USSR nevertheless increased 6.5 times from 1950 to 1956. ● Together with the 50 projects promised by Stalin in 1950, the final version of the First FYP for the PRC included 141 Soviet and 68 East European projects in a total of 649 planned. Three thousand Soviet advisers sent to China in subsequent years were directly linked to the First FYP. ● By 1955, over 60 percent of China’s goods exchange was with the USSR. ● Soviet economic assistance to China added up to the largest foreign development venture in the socialist camp ever. ○ The total number of planned projects amounted to between 300 and 360 projects. ○ However, the number of total finished projects ranged between 134 and 150. ● Transfers of knowledge and expertise were important to China’s economic development. ○ A study on Soviet experts counts 1,445 political advisers and 9,313 technical specialists sent to China until their sudden withdrawal in mid-1960. ■ For political reasons, the gradual withdrawal of advisers began after late 1956.

Related quizzes

Related quizzes