What is 'temporal salvation?'

[ilovepsycho]

This passage is from Patric Henry's Patriotic Speech.

It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth―to know the worst and to provide for it.

Q. By "temporal salvation," the writer most likely means __________.

a. timely concern
b. spiritual deliverance
c. nationalistic aspirations
d. safety in their daily lives

I'm a bit confused. I went with 'd. safety in their daily lives," but OA says it's wrong. It says instead 'b. spiritual deliverance" is right. That question seems difficult. I've thought that 'temporal salvation' is paraphrased into 'safety in their daily lives,' because the word 'temporal' means 'secular, or relating to real physical worlds rather than religious or spiritual worlds.' Anyway, as in 'b. spiritual deliverance,' the word 'spiritual' contradicts the word 'temporal,' and thus it seems to me clearly wrong, although 'deliverance' means 'salvation.'
What do you think of that? I'd like to hear your opinion.

[sasen]

It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth―to know the worst and to provide for it.

Q. By "temporal salvation," the writer most likely means __________.

a. timely concern
b. spiritual deliverance
c. nationalistic aspirations
d. safety in their daily lives

I'm a bit confused. I went with 'd. safety in their daily lives," but OA says it's wrong. It says instead 'b. spiritual deliverance" is right. That question seems difficult. I've thought that 'temporal salvation' is paraphrased into 'safety in their daily lives,' because the word 'temporal' means 'secular, or relating to real physical worlds rather than religious or spiritual worlds.' Anyway, as in 'b. spiritual deliverance,' the word 'spiritual' contradicts the word 'temporal,' and thus it seems to me clearly wrong, although 'deliverance' means 'salvation.'
What do you think of that? I'd like to hear your opinion.[/quote]


I thought it was D too at first but if you notice the sentence

Question:Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, what????
Answer:the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation
Analysis: so Tempral salvation is somrthing which we would ignore or compromise if we see not,hear not etc
and hence it has to be something non-temporal..so SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE sounds correct

[ilovepsycho]

To sasen.

I understand your explanation a bit, but I don't think so. The above passage is an excerpt from Patric Henry's Patriotic Speech -- one that is famous and thus easy to get the whole text. -- in which Patric Henry's primary interest is liberty, or deliverance from the British. Therefore, I think that "D" is right, even though it doesn't seem perfectly correct. However, I still don't know the above exercise's accurate intention.

[sasen]

ilovepshyco,
it is difficult to understand the perspective of another person so easily especially when you read an "emotional-leaden writing of a person who has been browbeaten by colonial suppression" from a mere "examination candidate" point of view.He must have ethced his feelings on paper under
unimaginable social stress and infinite time which we have to decipher under limited time and conditioned behaviour.I might be wrong or might be right,but that would mean nothing....the author has left a passage written for people to understand the emotional tension he and his contemprories might have been in....empathy might lead us to the correct OA.....WHAT IS THE USE OF A LIFE WHERE WE INTENTIOANLLY IGNORE THE PAINS OF TRUTH..WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE LED US TO A TEMPORAL PAIN BUT A SPIRITUAL SALVATION.....or in other words....The fight for freedom might be full of physical hardships but also full of spiritual emancipation

[ilovepsycho]

I thought it was D too at first but if you notice the sentence

Question:Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, what????
Answer:the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation
Analysis: so Tempral salvation is somrthing which we would ignore or compromise if we see not,hear not etc
and hence it has to be something non-temporal..so SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE sounds correct

I think your reasoning is somewhat incorrect. Let me tell you. According to the phrase "Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?", the things go hand in hand with temporal salvation, which means literally salvation from physical pains; those are somebody who see not, and hear not ,even if they have eyes and ears, the things mentioned: Salvation from physical pains. Therefore, I think that using irony the author intends to mean that we have to accomplish our temporal salvation.

That gets to be clearer by the next sentence. "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth" says the author. Through the phrase Whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, the author shows that whatever pains of spirit, i.e. non-temporal pains he may experience, he will accomplish his temporal salvation.

WHAT IS THE USE OF A LIFE WHERE WE INTENTIOANLLY IGNORE THE PAINS OF TRUTH..WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE LED US TO A TEMPORAL PAIN BUT A SPIRITUAL SALVATION.....or in other words....The fight for freedom might be full of physical hardships but also full of spiritual emancipation

Therefore, your reasoning above is also somewhat incorrect in accordance with my explanation of the second phragraph. Rather, the fight for freedom might be full of spiritual hardships but also full of physical emancipation.