ESCHATOLOGY
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22. How do we know whether we believe In eternal life? To believe in eternal life cannot be equated with acknowledging the doctrine about the world to come. For it is possible not to affirm belief in the world to come. and yet be carried by a confident faith that whatever we are. whatever the crisis we have to face, whatever destruction threatens us, God's victorous grace will accompany us and will forever create new life out of our shattered ruins. It is this hope-which ever remains a free and unsolicited gift-that is the sign of personal faith in the kingdom that is to come.