pohto9

I choose to believe that there is a Heaven a better place where we will go to be with those we have lost and love. Weher right or wrong it is my belief, and I choose to think that way. I don't criticize anyone who chooses to think diferently, but that is my thought. Also I am sorry for you, because I would hate to know what it feels like to go through life think ing that when I die, there is nothing left. How depressing and scary that must be. Again I am not meaning to offend anyone, it is just my opinion.

Starlily

Kahlil Gibran resonates with me in regards to death...an example...

' you are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields. That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind. It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety...But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether...
This day has ended... a little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me. Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you...

You have sung to me in my aloneness and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.. But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn...The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song. And if our hands should meet in another dream we shall build another tower in the sky."

(You may have to read this in its entirety for it to make sense to you...but I do think it's beautiful...)

baileym1

I like Walt Whitman's, "If you want me again, look for me under your bootsoles."

Og

Sleep is a state of consciousness that a living brain experiences. Dead brain don't sleep. There's definitely specific neurological activities associated with sleep and dreaming.

My avatar is the sanskrit symbol for AUM (ohm or om) which is a FOUR syllable sound. "Ahhh" from deep down and the back of the throat. "Oooo" fills the mouth. "Mmm" ends on the lips. And the fourth syllable is silence. It's a beautiful word that describes the silence from which life arrises and the life it self and then it's return to silence.

Heaven and hell and nirvana and samsara are concepts that describe the here and now, not eternity.

taiarain

pohto, I don't criticize you for choosing to believe differently. But, I am sorry for you because I would hate to know what if feels like to go through life thinking that when I die, there is a fairytale waiting for me. How depressing and scary it must be to live for death. Again, I am not meaning to offend anyone, it is just my opinion.

That's not actually how I feel; I just felt like giving your words a little twist. Sometimes, people make blatant generalizations and toss out words like pity or empathy and throw in a mix of something intended to deflect responsibility for those words, like 'sorry if you choose to get offended...'

I saw a lot of that coming from your post and thought I'd do a little experiment. Your words were quoted almost verbatim in the above paragraph, with the generalizations changed. What did it feel like reading it? Were you offended? Do you feel the generalizations were accurate?

Stephanie2377

Actually, not depressing and scary at all!! I love my life here on earth, but I know that paradise awaits me once I die. How do I know? My faith.

I am sure this won't be a popular answer here. I am quite satisfied with my beliefs and they are strong.

I do believe that my actual body will remain in the earth. But, my soul will go to heaven. Or, at least, I am living my life in the best way possible so that my soul will go to heaven.

taiarain

Stephanie, please re-read my post.

mplltt

I find it in the words of A W Tozer "Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its environment, actually stands in sharp opposition to it." to be what Grant is trying to fight, however, jbost4 has captured it in the christian right.

I believe in the words of Aristotle from his work, Eudemian Ethics: "Wretched, ephemeral race, children of chance and tribulation, why do you force me to tell you the very thing which it would be most profitable for you not to hear? The very best thing is utterly beyond your reach: not to have been born, not to be, to be nothing. However, the second best thing for you is: to die soon."

__________________
Thank you, I am impressed that you are forgiving enough to approach this line of reasoning.

RoxyMoron

The only thing that I really worry about when I die is that I won't have the ability to think. Eternity will be boring if I cannot at least keep myself company, haha...I just believe my loss of thought is the scariest part of death.
Other than that, I am not really afraid. I want to be with my friends that I lost, I hope I have that to look forward to.

haunted

The difference I see between you and a non-believer is this: you spend your life trying to get into heaven and nothing more. Most of the good things you do are for that reason, which is selfish. Someone who doesn't believe in God, on the other hand, may decide to devote his life to studying evolutionism and actually make a difference in the future of our race, and will surely find an adept amount of personal happiness along the way. Christians seem to stereotype non-believers as immoral people, but the truth is the contrary.