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Mustardseed
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« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2008, 16:31:33 » |
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Hi Alan, allow me to comment. It seems that you, and many others, have a very traditional understanding of Heaven, Eternity or whatever you call it. What we have all been taught, is very different to what seems to actually be imbedded in the Bible. I am not telling you to believe and become Christian, but if you are going to criticize Christianity, let us at least look at what it actually teaches. I took the liberty to cut and paste to make a few categories out of your statements, hope you do not mind
All the time in the existence and not a moment to call your own
Well first of all, is eternity eternal, I wonder, the Greek word often used in the translation of eternal or everlasting is actually “Aeon” which means an age. It seems that what the Bible actually teaches is, that the hereafter is not made up of moments, moments would indicate a measure of time, and since “time will be no more”, it appears that it is a “dimension” quite different from what we know now. It seems plausible that eternity is past present and future all rolled up in a ball, time travel should be possible, yet with personal choice the future could have a unlimited amount of possibilities……the mind boggles. Besides this observation, about time, if God is as close as it appears He wants to be, Jesus being our all and all, mother father brother sister lover mate etc, I do not think we will be languishing for time of “our own”, we would probably be so happy and exited to have the possibility of connecting with the eternal and partake of this Love that a separation from Him/Her/It would be the difficult part.
No pain and no gain
While it is true that there will be no more pain, I think you are again jumping to a conclusion. Is gain possible without pain? Well it seems so. It appears that the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross is in a way the end of “pain” for the believer. It seems that when we first arrive in the hereafter there will be at least some pain, as we see more clearly the mistakes we have made and the suffering our selfishness have caused, whole chain of events that have been started by us, but then it says that Jesus will “wipe away the tears from our eyes” and I think it will be sort of “up hill on a ski lift sort of idea” from there on. Gain without pain…yes mama super…..so different from earth!
No point to the day and nothing different tomorrow
An eternity of gratitude and nothing to live for
Ha…..yes I used to wonder about that as well. Sitting on a cloud playing a harp or just drifting about bored out of my brains, but I think I had it mixed up. That’s HELL, repeating the same useless futile things day after day with no change no vision no goal no nothing. It is said that the (here)after is just a continuation of what we do and are here…..that we create our own hell and our own heaven. So if your have “no point to the day and nothing different tomorrow” change it!!!!Get a vision here start doing what you want here and cheer up here………..not only will your present be better but you might shape your future, and your tomorrow will be different, and possibly…………your hereafter will as well!
Never having to say you’d rather be somewhere else
There was a movie when I was young called “love story” in it this young couple had a Romeo and Juliet kind of affair and coined an expression that the Hippie generation took on as their own. It went…………….”Love is never having to say you are sorry”. I never liked the expression. I always thought that Love was saying I’m sorry. Maybe if you would rather be somewhere else, you just go where ever you wanna be, maybe you never have to be under any obligation, and feel like “you have to” or even better yet……maybe you are just happy where you are……..this goes for this life and the one to follow.
All you will ever know again
Now this does not sound like Christianity, on the contrary this sounds life the futility of reincarnation, (and to all of you out there, I am fully aware that it seems possible that the early Christians believed in something like reincarnation) again I think you have succumbed to teachings that are not quite according to “doctrine”, I do not think the hereafter is repetitive, on the contrary, it appears that we will be doing a lot of new things, we will be “healing the nations” for one thing and most of all it will be ever learning new things new ways and having a new vision.
Pointless and endless
The endless futility at the end of your pointless life
The meaningless reason for your existence
An eternal karaoke in which you never choose the songs
Oh my………wonder what kind of life you live Alan it seems a bit on the dreary side. Actually this is one of the great mysteries of life……….death!.........why do we die and why did we live. My personal opinion is that we will have a lot of work to do when we leave this life. The end of this life is just the beginning, we have a whole universe to explore and who knows what cultures civilizations we will encounter. Maybe we will be the angels that help bring about the knowledge of God on other planets, and who knows what will be the end, again the mind boggles….one thing for sure it will be exiting.
It is never over no matter have had how many fat have ladies sung
An offer you can’t refuse
Obligatory, interminable and insufferable
Interesting question! Can one refuse God. Can we as human decide to ignore God and not take part in his plan?. I think you are right we cannot. I personally believe in Universal Reconciliation and it seems that it is quite supported by scripture. Eventually every living soul will be reconciled and gathered to be a part of God, every knee will bow and everything will return to its maker.
The playground of those devoid of imagination
The place the pious go
Full of all those people you were delighted to think you would never see again
Like the old traditional story goes of the old drunk that said to the Pastor, “yea heaven is all right, but there is no place like Hell to meet old friends” It is my personal opinion again, that most of the pious will be somewhere in the cellar, that goes for those devoid of imagination as well, as far as the ones you were so delighted never to see again, I think it would depend on what and who you are. For the most part I think that the ones we are not happy to be around actually vibrate at a vastly different frequency, and you will most likely not see them till you or they have changed. Like attracts like in that world, and you will be with those that think act and vibrate like you……….I don’t know where that would put you. Jesus never had too much good to say about religious people, never seemed they were his lot. He condemned the self-righteous pious scribes and Pharisees, the Church people of his day, and hung out with drunks and whores, the ones that wanted and needed his message. I guess what you are, would determine where you end up…..what are YOUR values…..what are your likes and dislikes etc what do you think
Of course there are the possible alternatives of hell or cessation of existence
Now this is the best question of all, or thought or whatever. What alternative do we have? It seems not much Alan. Life moves us all along at its own speed, and death comes to us all and the hereafter is waiting………I personally think that a cessation of existence is impossible. It seems that eternity is waiting for us all whatever it is and whatever we are. Where and what we will be doing there, appears to be, at least in part up to us. So what will it be for you?. A life lived in joy and love here is quite a good bet I would say. No one has come to the end of their life and regretted they lived their life as a true loving Christian, caring for strangers and giving to those in need, on the contrary. Those who regret their lives, and who will wonder about the hereafter, on deaths doorstep, will be those who have not lived up to their true potential, those who wasted it on pleasure and games, drugs and whatever. Those who amassed wealth, that they had no need for and those who used and abused their fellow man, killed the innocent, for power and glory, or bitterness and hate.
What will you be, where do YOU stand, and what will you be doing in eternity. An interesting question we should all ask ourselves.
Regards Mustardseed
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