Salvation

It was astonishing (in a good way) that, when we discussed the concept of "salvation," no one said, "You go to heaven after you die!" Your responses were abundant:
--eternal life with Jesus Christ
--healing
--forgiveness
--love
--comfort
--community
--mercy
--grace
--awareness
--assuredness
--know it in your heart
--our faith-------------God's "faith" in us
--patience
--constant possibility of return
--new way of seeing, restored way of seeing the world, others, ourselves*

One of the beauties of this list is that each of the responses offers commentary and texture on the first response ("eternal life with Jesus Christ"). When we understand "eternal" as a reference to unbreakable communion with God, it enhances our perceptions. A sharing of life with Christ which has no boundaries.
The NT Greek verb sozo, translated "to save," can mean:
--to deliver
--to rescue
--to keep from perishing
--to make well, to heal, to restore

We considered three texts:
--Matthew 1:21 "for he (Jesus) will save his people from their sins." If sin is a manifestation of distance--from God, from one another, from the image of God within each of us--then Jesus comes to deliver us from these debilitating distances.
--Matthew 9:21 "If only I touch his garment, I will be made well (a translation of sozo)
--Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24 "for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save (find) it."
Letting go in order to receive or realize.
--John 3:17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Referring to community, it was noted that in the Hebrew scriptures salvation is primarily understood as communal deliverance (deliverance of a people).
The definition of salvation as "a new way of seeing the world, each other, and ourselves" is testimony that the Apostle Paul (aka Saul of Tarsus) gives vividly!
Relative to concepts of heaven and life after death, we do well to understand them as fulfillments of God's will and deepest expressions of God's self-giving love and realm, rather than as destinations.
Feel free to add further thoughts and reflections!