The Afterlife

You're thinking along the 'Guilty until proven innocent' line. I'm going with 'Innocent until proven guilty'.

 

Yeah, I have no idea what's right but I'm sticking with what I've been brought up with. No point quitting now. Any of us couldbe right though, even Pastafarians and Jedis.

 

I dunno, I couldn't really see worshiping something that I can eat.

Well, except muffins. I'd join the church of Muffins as long as Derpy were the leader.

 

Well, I don't know if you want, or care, about the opinion of a 15 year old girl, but I figure shoot, why not. But I am a Christian and I do agree with you. I don't think God is some evil tyrant boss like many other Christians do. I know some that say if you screw up once, you're going to Hell. But that doesn't seem right for a loving God. The way I see it, if you live a good life, God will welcome you into heaven. Everyone is welcome to the table of The Lord. I mean, if someone's Christian and they're a serial killer, just because they're Christian doesn't mean God's going to be all "Nah, you're cool. Welcome to heaven!"

God wants us all to love your neighbor as yourself. If an Islamic follows that rule, Agnostic, Atheist, Jedi, whoever, I don't see why He would just automatically send them to Hell. If they bettered the Earth in some way for His children, I'd say that He would let them into heaven.

But that's just my opinion. It goes against some stuff said in the Bible, but the Bible also says that if you plant different crops in the same filed or wear clothing made of two different materials you're sinning. Soo... That'd be a bit awkward if that sill applied today.

 

^Everypony's opinion is valuable here.

I like to think there is an afterlife of sorts but I feel more inclined to believe in the 'void of nothingness' and it's one of my biggest fears.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

 

My mom believed that we simply became nothing. I wholly reject that view myself, but it became the catalyst for making me wonder. Courtesy of Berserk and Tarot, I believe in the idea of the tarot card Death. As correctly noted, Death does not mean actual death or dying at all. It represents change.

Real death: Does it not represent change either? A death has substantial effect on the real world and the souls bound to it. Who's to say it doesn't mean a change for the soul that departs the mortal coil? I leave the idea in mystery and follow the idea of simplistic "change." One of my weirder beliefs for sure.

 

I was raised Methodist and we never talked about the whole hell thing. It was simply stated that people, even if they aren't Christian, but have lived a good and honorable life could still go to heaven. More along the lines of God will make an exception for the good. Hell was more of a metaphor for self torment than an actual place. That those things that were called sin were simply things that could lead you down a path to a miserable life and that in order to live a balanced and happy life you needed to follow Gods guidelines, however, he still knew we'd rebel from time to time since we have free will. The devil was considered a metaphor as well. My Pastor was the one who actually lead me to follow my heart and become an atheist. He was one of the best men I've ever known. He told me that God would know if I was lying in my heart and that was far worst than simply denying his existence.
The bible I was raised on was merely a book written by primitive people that fit according to their time but was the interpretation of Gods word (not to be taken literally) in a way that humans could understand. Homosexuality, Abortion and other "HOT" topics were usually left to us to ask God what he would want and to weigh the decision carefully and how it will affect our life. Homosexuality was never taught to me to be a sin, rather I was taught that homosexuality was ok if it was a long term committed relationship. Abortion wasn't really considered outwardly wrong as it was simply believed that God would simply put that soul into a knew body.

The hardcore, literal translation of the bible disturbs me to no end and it's sad to think that many of my favorite cartoon characters and fiction characters would be rotting in hell according to fundamentalist teachings of the bible. The God I was raised on wasn't a tyrant. Even if I found out I was wrong and God existed- I would not give him my worship if he was as hateful and wrathful as fundamentalist teachings proclaim.

 

This topic stumps me sometimes too but I will answer as best I can according to what I have been taught.


God is omnipotent. However there is a "Anti God as you called it" His name is Satan and like I said he was cast down from Heaven
Or if there is another being with omnipotence, an Anti-God if you may. Who wishes nothing but the suffering and eradication of the world. Satan comes to lie to cheat and to steal.
I don't mean to offend anybody but he is the one that created all these alternate religions in my opinion as he want's to get people as far away from God as possible. He wants these people to burn in hell. God doesn't. Now here comes the part where not many people can comprehend. When Jesus said that I am the way the truth and the life and no one can get to the father except though me. He mean't that if you do not believe in him you cannot join him in heaven.


When you die you will have to face him and he will be able to explain all this much better but by then it will be too late. I'm trying to get a good example... Okay. Jesus loves us all...be us serial killers, drug addicts, drug dealers, murderers, burglars or just ordinary people. He wants us all to be with him in heaven but he will not let us in if we didn't follow him. Here's why. We were all sinners and therefore we cannot be let into the kingdom of heaven. God had to do something about this...So he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. He died and stayed in hell to be tortured for our sins for three whole days...He was then raised from the dead and when he came to life all our sins are forgiven. Now we could enter the kingdom of heaven, all God was asking from us was that we took Jesus as our saviour and that we follow him. If we didn't however, as good a person as we may be, to God it is like throwing all that he did for us and gave to us straight back in his face.


Would you like a person if you went to a huge amount of trouble to get them a gift and when you give it to them they say "This gift sucks!" They throw it back in your face and march off. Would you like them? Of course not! Would you love and tolerate? Yes most good people will. So this is what I'm trying to say. God can save us all and bring us into heaven...every one of us. But then wouldn't heaven be just like our earth? Because there are the same people that made earth like it is. You will then say "Why not just remove all the bad people?"


Although they are good people they still rejected the gift God gave them by not believing in him or taking him as their saviour. If you ask me God isn't asking for much in return for saving our lives.


As for whether your beliefs would get you into heaven I am sorry to say that they will not. Allthough you are very close. You need to accept and follow him as a God and not as just a mere man. Although he did take the form of a man he did that so he could die for us and save our souls.

I hope that cleared up your query

SR20DETDOG. God has shown heaven to only those who then entered it afterwards but from what I read about it in the Bible it is going to be like another Earth only this time it will be perfect. It will be so wonderful that the people who are there won't be able to stop thanking God. My Bible says that the streets will be paved with gold and there will be no way to get hungry or thirsty. There will also be no pain of suffering. It is going to be like God wanted the original earth to be but because Satan came and caused sin the first earth didn't turn out so well. Instead of killing us all God gave us a choice to see who was loyal to him and who was not. That is why we are still here. Feel free to ask any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them ^_^

EDIT: I did read about people who have seen heaven and they basically described heaven the same way I did only in more detail.

 

Though I don't believe in Heaven myself, many that I've known have described it only with the most positive of qualities. I believe that Heaven may be different for everyone, or cause such a great enlightening that its image becomes perfection and a kind of Eden for all. If you believe in it and lead a good life, then you should never fear what it may be. I don't think it will disappoint you.

I, personally, doubt that Heaven is the stereotypical clouds, golden gates, and angels that media has portrayed it as. To me, it's something so much more.

 

You do not get it do you? I give up...ok, not yet.

The only way this would work is if Satan would be as powerful as God. God created Satan, he is omnicient so he would know Satan would rebel. Same with the tree of knowledge, God created it, knowing it would bring the fall of man, why in earth was that tree neccesary anyway? The only way this makes any sense is if Satan would be of equal power to God and therefore God could not forsee his actions.

Sorry but I feel a religion that claims to be the only way and non-believers are punished is nothing but a power tool. Are you really that sure it is the truth, humility is a virtue you know, a virtue most christians seem to have forgotten.

Islam is very similiar you know, it is also claiming non-believers go to hell. What if you were wrong? What if you would go to hell because of that mistake. Sorry about this, but I have to get you to see this from the outside perspecive, is this in any way fair?


Despite, the Bible nor the Koran is perfect you know, they are both written by man and therefore flawed. Don't tell me you believe this is just?

Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"

I mean no offense to your faith, but how are you so sure your religion is the right one?

 

I'm terribly sorry, and I mean you no offence, but that is INCREDIBLY prejudiced and discriminatory. Claiming that your antigod, Satan, made all those religions is downright disrespectful. If I were to wander up to a Muslim right now and say "You took the path of the devil," I'm not sure they'd be terribly happy.

As for your second statement, that really sounds like an advertisement for joining Christianity.

 

I agree. I don't get offended by pretty much anything but I still think that was wrong of you to say that. I think that all religions are just different paths to one God, assuming that God exists.

 

Well really. Like I said if you don't like something you read then you can ignore it you ask me how I know that my religion is the right on and I will tell you. Faith.

Testy I can understand your but do you really think that I would do something like that? I was simply stating my opinion. I'm truly sorry if I seemed disrespectful but I had to include that as I am trying to answer Darkmoon's questions. Darkmoon you asked about the tree. Let me tell you.

Let's say you are a God and have just created a race of beings...would you force them to love you or would you give them a choice to follow you or not? If you forced them to love you how do you know that they truly love you? Would you get any satisfaction? God made that tree to give us a choice of whether to follow him or not. Satan was there to try to get them to sin. God knew this. He let Satan temp them to see if they would hold true to God and not be tempted. But because we are humans and are not perfect, even though God made the first humans perfect he gave them a choice and because he gave them a choice he would truly find out if these beings were loyal. It turns out that they were not and as a result this is how the earth came to be how it is.

We all have different views here. I don't want this whole thing to turn into a fight. Your statement about my religion is your belief. You are not going to understand fully if you aren't actually a believer because a lot of the Christian religion is based on faith. As fr Testyal's comment. What is so bad about making an attempt to get people to join your religion? If they really don't want to listen then they don't have to listen. You make it out as though it is a crime. Yes it is an advertisement. You get advertisements on TV all the time. Does that mean you have to listen? Is it forcing you to listen? Of course not. But there are some people who really want to listen and get what is being advertised. So if I am telling people about my God you don't have to listen but there are people out there who would like to listen.

I am also not going to question my God's way of ruling. he has a reason for everything and I respect those reasons. Just like I respect your opinions. I may sound angry here but I can assure I am not. I just got really involved there XD

 

......And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all .../2 Timothy 2:24

Just throwin' that in there

 

Antiadaphobia (or however you spell your name, it was really hard), I think that the church you mentioned sounds like a very good and open minded church. One I would give a try if I weren't so busy with my business. There is a pretty good church called Universalist Unitarian that is very close to me. They are very open minded even within their own church. They view God (or goddess or both or many) as being bigger than can be confined in one man made religion and view him (or her) as being powerful enough to reach people of all faiths. Unfortunatly I found the services to be very dull and too much like the Presbyrterian church that I grew up in, so I only attended twice.

51monn. I want you to know again that you are my friend and i say this with nothing but love for you. The more I have heard about your beliefs, the more skeptical I am of them. Much has been said already about how wrong your church seems. It really is sounding an awful lot like the cult I was once a member of. I fear it is making your far too close minded and prejudiced against other faiths. Think about this, if God gave you a brain and the ability to learn and reason, would he really say that this religion that makes no logical sense and constantly contradicts itself is the only true religion, even when there is absolutely no evidence or signs that it is. Then on the other hand all the other beliefs, if you just happen to pick the wrong one, your going to be punished for it? You state all these things that God wants and says and that Jesus did as if they were fact, but there is no indication that any of the things you insist are fact are so. Also who are you to say that you are the only one that knows what God wants in eveyones life? If someone else feels that God has a different path in mind for them than you have picked for them, then you have no right whatsoever to speak in place of God and tell them that they are wrong and you are right. The person in charge of your church, rather you call him Reverned or Pastor or Father, is also just a man who is trying to push his beliefs over others. He also has no right to claim that only he knows the will of God and nobody else does. I'm going to tell you right now that NOBODY not one person in the entire world knows the will of God, and any that do is a liar. I want to encourage you once again to open up your mind and consider that you may in fact be wrong and that perhaps this god of yours is bigger than your religion says and that you don't understand him as well as you think you do. Remember that I was once in a church, and a minister in a church, much similar to yours. Getting out of it and opening my mind was a major benificial point in my life. I am very much glad that I left the Christian path. I'm not saying that you need to leave the Christian path, but it sounds to me that you probably need to leave the church your in and find a better, more open minded one, that will log God do God's work.

Also I want to note that I use the terms "God" and "him" purely for your benefit, since I know that is what you believe in. Perhaps your views will not change, but at least, please, accept the fact that you may be wrong and that other peoples beliefs have just as much a right to exist as yours do.

 

If I were a God I would want my creations to live a full, rich and happy life reguardless of whether they worshipped me or even believed in me. Someday when they died, I would understand that they tried there hardest at life, made mistakes and then I would forgive them. I would remember that they were not as intelligent and wise as me. Course being God I'd also be able to foresee there betrayal ahead of time and since I'm the creatior of all I probably planned that betrayal since I control everything.

Because it makes people feel like crap to put it bluntly and frankly it gets tiring getting religion shoved down your throat every day as well as people who use it as justification to do horrible things. Also, I get tired with people being proud of there ignorance- like people who know nothing about science *squee!*ing at me for reading a book about evolution. <--happened yesterday in a waiting room
For instance, I was riding the bus home from school in Junior high and some kids I didn't know started harassing me because they knew I was an atheist. They followed me for three hours cursing at me, getting violent, flashing knives at me and threatening to kill me-because they said it didn't matter if they did kill because I was going to hell anyway and god wouldn't care if they killed me. I ended up being trapped in a business at the mall for another 3hrs, missed my bus transfer and had to call my mother at work for her to come pick me up. The reason I didn't get a police officer to help me is because the business I happened to get trapped in was a Christian bookstore and they refused to let me use the phone and told me I deserved whatever treatment I got.

"Thou shalt follow the 11th commandment and Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself" George Carlin

 

D: It's people like that who give Christians a bad name... I hope you know not all Christians are like that :L Sorry that happened to you. I hope you're alright!

 

Yes Flutterbee I am wiling to admit I may be wrong but I think the same should go for everyone else. I'm not telling them that they are wrong but their beliefs have just as many contradictions and I quite frankly don't think that they can prove theirs either. Just sayin that you can't exactly just go out and prove the supernatural.

btw i agree with Elizabeth. Those people whatever religion were obviously not holding true to their religion. I know for a fact that if anyone were to follow their religions commandments they would not have done something like that. I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through that. They had no right to do that.

Oh yes! Jesus is one of the three forms God takes right? What did Jesus do while on earth besides die to save us? Well he preached. He also sent tons of preachers out to preach. Many were even martyred. Was that because they were "Shoving religion down peoples throats"? Maybe but that is how I see the statement "Doing God's work" Please specify if you meant another thing.

 

You say it's God's work, the rest of us say it's shoving religion down our throats.
I wonder, how many people Christians ask have actually turned into Christians.