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Tue 19 Feb, 2008 12:16 am
I have come to the conclusion that heaven, as described by the Bible and modern-day Abrahamic religions, would royally suck. Why? Well, heaven is often described as some sort of eternal paradise where suffering doesn't exist. This would suck. First of all, I have a problem with the whole "eternal" thing. Do you really want ANYTHING to last an eternity? Even if it is just like present life, or doing your favorite thing in the world, eventually boredom will kick in. And after that, it can only be pure agony, waiting for the end of what you are experiencing so you can start something new.
But since Heaven is described as a place without suffering, this means that God must have sort of restriction placed upon us; some sort of factor that makes us eternally happy. This would essentially turn us into unthinking, mindless pleasure robots. If we can't think about our current situation, we can't be sad, amirite? So I'm thinking that heaven is either horribly agonizing or a place for God's pleasure-robots. Either way, that blows. So what kind of heaven WOULD be good?
I've come to the conclusion that the single greatest afterlife would be to be reborn on Earth on the same day you died, with no memories or knowledge of any prior life. Nothing would be noticeably different from what is current life. Reliving my earliest memories and all the amazing experiences I've had in my life up until this point for the first time would be amazing. My first breath, my first laughter, my first friends, my first time....err......"milking the snake".......etc. It would all be (and has been) amazing.
The second-best thing? Being reborn as a different animal. Karma sounds like a decent system, and I've always wanted to be able to breathe underwater.
But sadly, there likely is no afterlife, and we will cease to exist, with only memories of us and our effect on the universe living on. We won't have consciousness, so we won't really be able to be pissed off anyway. But hey, maybe my idea is correct. Who the fug knows what deja vu is? It could be a vision into a past life.....or something....... (ATTN: If anyone actually knows a scientific explanation for deja vu, then please post it. It confuses the hell outta me.)
Eh. screw it. The Scientologists are probably right anyway.
What are you going on about?
Does it really matter?
In contrast to believing in the Bible, i believe:
1. That God is that Creative/Causative Force that exists before the beginning of the universe/time and continues to exist outside of the universe and time.
2. That "Force" created/caused the spiritual/soul entities to come into being.
3. The spiritual/soul entities continued the "Creation" with the "Big Bang". And, through evolution and possibly subtle manipulations, have caused the current state of affairs.
4. The spirits/souls choose to inhabit the various physical bodies that they have created in order to experience physical reality.
5. When bodies die the spirit/soul continues to exist and often times reincarnates into another body in order to continue its growth.
6. The purpose of it all is for the spirits/souls (entities) to gain knowledge and experience and to ultimately rejoin or evolve back into the Oneness of God.
God and Reincarnation
i believe that God is a Creative Entity, Energy or Force that is found in a state of awareness outside of the universe and time.
i believe that God chose to morph part of Itself into minute particles of Itself described as entities or spirits and gave them the purpose to go forth and experience, gain knowledge and eventually return into the Oneness of God.
i believe that those collective entities created the universe and, utilizing evolution as a tool, created that that is life so that they could inhabit various bodies in order to gain experience and knowledge.
Prior to incarnating into a physical body the entity chooses what it wants to accomplish and what the probable circumstances involving that body and its environment will be. When the situation is right the entity then begins to dwell within the physical body, probably around the time of its birth.
When the body dies the entity dwells in a state of awareness where it can see whether it met its goals and what gains and losses it may have attached to its being. It then, again, decides what future goals it wants to achieve and reincarnates when the conditions are appropriate.
Ultimately, after incarnating as many times as necessary to attain its goals, the entity gravitates back into the Oneness of God adding to the fulfillment thereof.
i choose
i chose to be born, to live or die,
Even the sex, that would be i;
i chose the race, from which to appear,
Also my wealth, my health and my fear.
i chose my trials and stumbling blocks,
And the legs i would use, in all of those walks;
i chose my sadness, my joy and my love,
i chose to serve and not be above.
i chose this life with all of its dues,
And with each dawn, again i choose;
The experiences for me that wait ahead,
To be alive, or be claimed dead.
And of the future lives i've yet,
It is my choice that i begat;
All the things, however pleasin',
That shall befall me in those seasons.
The above is my opinion which is expounded upon in my treatise A Search For Truth:
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Ted
The conundrum lies in your flawed premise the the soul can survive death.