by Golf 71 Replies latest jw friends
Alright, so i get sliced and diced first. After i got put back together, i would devise a meat grinder big enough for your ass. It would take a really long time for you to grow from hamburger back into a human There would probably be some more chunks out of place, too. Those other activities sound exciting too. Parasailing off tall buildings, volcanoe surfing..
S
I'm afraid of growing old and dying. I wish the JW's were right when they talk about living forever. It just wouldn't be my paradise living by all of their stupid rules. But I really do wish we never had to die.
Dustin
Realising that I didn't really want to live forever was an important element in my breaking free from the JW system of thought.
True, we rarely welcome death, but we all know it is a part of what we are as individuals in a sexed biological species. And the thought of death plays an analogically essential part of the symbolical and imaginary world we humans have collectively built -- including language, writing, culture, art, even love. Our past as well as our future lie in the others -- through death.
I love the ancient story of the Sibyl of Cumae who, when asked "what do you want?" answered "I want to die" (apothanein thelô). I guess we all deeply want to die as much as we want to live, but it is a well-kept secret that we seldom admit even to ourselves.
And the Judaeo-Christian view of death as "the ultimate enemy," or its command to "choose life rather than death," only represses our necessary relationship with death, making us vulnerable to such shallow "hopes" as the WT "everlasting life" carrot.
My idea of living forever is discovering the secrets and mysteries of the universe. I think we have no idea what will happen to our minds and bodies when that comes to fruition. All I imagine is that it will be nothing like what we currently see or understand.
I think our association with the WT has limited our vision of living forever to living in a park petting lions, having picnics with ppl in traditional garb while white ppl are dressed in business casual khakis. As nice as that sounds, I do agree that even that can get boring after a while. That's all nice but, somehow i think there's A LOT more to it than that. Stuff we can't even comprehend right now.
It sounds pretty far out there but think about this...
Hey just because the WT teachings aren't all true doesn't mean that the hope of everlasting life is all BS too. I guess it all comes back down to the fundamental question...Is there a God? I choose to believe there is..
A compromise: I will live for 1000 years, then when Satan is let out of the abyss, I will tiptoe off the narrow path and join him on the wide and spacious one, then God will kill me. BUT I will have had 1000 years..so all is good.
Jez
Reminds me of a famous line in Godard's movie A bout de souffle:
"Your ambition?
-- To become immortal... and then to die."
Would I be happy living on an earth where billions of innocent children, babies and ordinary nice humans died to fertilise the soil of my apple farm? (every picture of the new world shows people staggering around with baskets of apples)
I'd rather be dead my way than alive in that God's way.
The universe is so vast that it would be good to live long enough to explore it, but realistically "memento mori". Ain't no way past that.
As to what happens after death I am content to wait and see (or otherwise)
This life is enough of a question without making up Watchtoweresque ones bout eternity.
HB
Would I be happy living on an earth where billions of innocent children, babies and ordinary nice humans died to fertilise the soil of my apple farm? (every picture of the new world shows people staggering around with baskets of apples)
Ah hA! There it is....that is another reason i have often thought about why I do not want to live forever. I refuse to benefit from the murder of billions.
Jez
I still say were gonna become perfect slobs.
This is the person who eagerly does everything possible to enjoy eternity:
Lets look at the ?reality?. Start the date at year 1, just after the big ?A?
We spend year 1000 PA, getting through the final Satan test.
Year 34004 PA, the earth is full so no more children, the urge to procreate has gone away any way
Year 121012 PA, Done all the fishing/sowing/visited EVERY place on the planet
Year 24500058 PA Not only visited every place on the planet, but had deep conversation with EVERY person on the planet.
Year 3000000 PA. What now. Twiddles thumbs. Twiddles some more thumbs. Ask spouse for suggestions but she can only come up with thing already done at least 40000 times already. So ?? Phew tough ?? Twiddles thumbs ?.. NOW What!!!
Bugger it I?m gonna sit here.
Alternatively:
This is year 20000 PA
Why bother the fishing/sowing/visited EVERY place on the planet, having deep conversations with EVERY person on the planet today when I CAN do it tomorrow. There?s no rush. Its not as if I?m gonna die.
It just seams to me that we're not designed to live forever. Call it what you like and give it an explaination, Evolution or Sin, we're still gonna die.
steve
P.s. Sorry if that sounds like a bit of a downer, look on the bright side, you could be living for millions of years reporting to the same bunch of cronnies and fools you do now.
P.p.s PA = post Armageddon
I really think that living forever on earth as a human being would be OK if you learned to live predominately in the present and not in the past or future,, mentally that is. In order to live forever and enjoy it, I think our mental processes would have to be rewired big time ffor us to endure it, let alone enjoy it.
If one would be able to be intensely occupied with the here and now,,predominately,, then perhaps maybe it wouldn't be boring. But if continue to live like we commonly do, always looking back at the past,, and thinking about the future and how we can make it better,, eventually it would become tediously boring especially if everthing was easy and carefree like it is pictured in the WT's rendition of paradise.
Joy and pleasure sensations seem to be the opposite of fear and pain. The way the human psyhe seem to work is every good feeling has it's opposite if we feel really really good it has been my experience that sooner or latter we will feel really really bad,,there seem to be something in the nature of human emotions that works that way,,some termed it the law of opposites,,and I thing its's true.
Sometimes when life gets boring and monotinous you say to yourself this stinks boy I'm sure glad life won't last forever. And then when everything is nice and pleasurable we never want it to end. Our minds are wired that way we have evolved in our intellect to live with the recognition of time in some ways it is good in other ways it is pure hell because we have this human recognition of time we look back at sad things or things that have caused us pain and we can relive them all over again a thousand times, not only that but now we have worry abouty the future,,and what type of house we are going to have,,will I get sick,,will I make enough money,,etc...
Sometimes I think an animal that does have the consciousness of time is far better off than we humans who do and feel the pain it brings acutely.
I read a quote somewhere where Woody Allen said : "I'm not afraid of dying I just don't want to be there when it happens." I think that even though that sounds funny there is a lot of truth in those words.
So in essence I guess My response to:"What's Your View of Living Forever"? is I have no idea.
