Life after death (page 4)

Judge Dread

My view is that this is all we get.
Fifth,
You have a right to view it any way you want.
JDW

transhuman68

LOL. Some scriptures, just to confuse the issue:

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

·18 I, even I, have said in my
heart with regard to the sons of
mankind that the true God is
going to select them, that they
may see that they themselves
are beasts. 19 For there is an
eventuality as respects the sons
of mankind and an eventuality
as respects the beast, and
they have the same eventuality.
As the one dies, so the other dies;
and they all have but
one spirit, so that there is no
superiority of the man over the
beast, for everything is vanity.
20 All are going to one place.
They have all come to be from
the dust, and they are all
returning to the dust. 21 Who
is there knowing the spirit of
the sons of mankind, whether
it is ascending upward; and
the spirit of the beast, whether
it is descending downward
to the earth? 22 And I have
seen that there is nothing better
than that the man should
rejoice in his works, for that
is his portion; because who will
bring him in to look on what
is going to be after him?

godrulz

Consider the genre of the proof text, who was saying it, and at what stage of his life he said it. Notice he also said that all is meaningless, a statement contrary to divine revelation.

Nickolas

5th Nov.: You have ostrich syndrome.

Sadly, godrulz, your words indicate it's actually you who is unable to see, and you are also unable to see that you are unable to see. You are in good company because it's a common condition in here. While one might admire your zeal and faith, being absolutely convinced that something is true does not make it real outside of your own perceptions. However, you seem to be happy in what you believe as much as you seem not to be happy with what others believe. To each his own.

You can deny God, life after death, etc., but it will not change the fact that you have a spirit-soul that will live beyond your body.

Something is not a "fact" unless it is supported by evidence. That the sun rises in the east is a fact because it can be observed. Your belief that you have a spirt-soul is your belief, one which many of us on this board shared at one point or another in our lives. We have been where you are but it is apparent that you have never been where we are. When we thought as you do we, too, were unable to discern the difference between what constitutes fact and what is opinion generated by the accidental circumstances of our births and upbringings.

Some do. (remember life before they were born)

With genuine respect, journeyon, memories of things that have not happened is a well documented psychological phenomenon catalysed by the power of suggestion, whether originating within the mind of those harbouring the false memory or originating from those with corroborating agendas.

All that said, I realise that this is an unwinnable argument. Faith is faith. It is what keeps people (an example apropos to this board would be Jehovah's Witnesses, but it reaches well beyond that particular group) completely captive. It is what renders people unable and unwilling to consider alternative views, no matter how much evidence there may be to support them.

godrulz

Christian faith is rooted in historical fact (life, death, resurrection of Jesus). It is not an existential, Kierkegaardian blind leap of presumption/'faith'. Spiritual reality, including the invisible God (who became visible in Christ) is known through general and special REVELATION, not raw reason (creation, Word of God, Christ, conscience). Applying 5 sense scientific method to God/spiritual reality is the wrong way to go. I cannot see wind or electrons, but I can see the effects of them.

Gen. 1:1 'He is there and He is not silent'- Francis Schaeffer

Nickolas

Christian faith is rooted in historical fact (life, death, resurrection of Jesus)

at least the third point of the above is not historical fact, the other two debatable. I will be pleased to be corrected.

sooner7nc

7 years ago my best friend's body died. He lives still in my heart and will until the day I draw my last breath. Maybe he'll die that day, maybe not. Does he live in some heaven somewhere? I don't know and to me today it doesn't matter because he's there in my peripheral vision, just out of sight, and he's still there for me. I miss him but take comfort from the part of him that's still with me.

still thinking

Nickolas

Christian faith is rooted in historical fact (life, death, resurrection of Jesus)

Can you prove that this isn't a fact?

I am no supporter of any one poster here. But I do believe that the above statement is a fact.

godrulz

If Christ has not risen from the dead, we are fools with no hope (read I Cor. 15). We should eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die instead. Thankfully, the Deity and resurrection of Christ is historical and makes Christianity unique, the only way to eternal life.

Nickolas

Does he live in some heaven somewhere?

He lives on only in your mind. Putting this into a different perspective, without your eight great-grandparents you would not exist but the fact that neither you nor anyone else remembers even the tiniest detail about them attests to their mortality.

Can you prove that this isn't a fact?

Yes, in much the same way I can prove the moon is not made out of cheese. The context of your question could easily have been whether or not I can prove that fairies exist in my garden.

If Christ has not risen from the dead, we are fools with no hope (read I Cor. 15). We should eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die instead. Thankfully, the Deity and resurrection of Christ is historical and makes Christianity unique, the only way to eternal life.

I think you're beginning to get it, godrulz. Christ has not risen from the dead for at least 2/3rds of the world's population, many of whom are not fools. Have you ever questioned why you believe what you do, if not for the accident of your birth? Yes it is true, we should all eat, drink and be merry because we die all too soon. But your last sentence above is true neither with respect to history nor with your conclusion that there is a way to eternal life. You could easily be a muslim or a hindu or a jain making an identical statement (save for the Christianity part).

Life after death

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