Cdl. Sarah mentions "hope" in his book "God or Nothing." In the passage (P. 201/202) he also shows us what Kung Flu panic is really all about.
...We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were 'without hope and without God in the world.' (Eph. 2:12) Of course he knew that they had had gods, that they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were 'without God' and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. ......'How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing': so says an epitaph of that period. ......we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making.....In the same vein he says ......'You must not grieve as others do who have no hope' (1 Thess 4:13) Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of the Christians the fact that they have a future.....
Having hope always follows having faith.
There are those 'of little faith' who have gone into panic over Kung Flu. Do they have faith? Or have their 'gods proved questionable'?
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