Do you believe in heaven and hell?

D_Chaumbrelayne_Copprehead

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I consider myself a Christian. However, I don't hold with the traditional Christian view of heaven and hell. I don't know if I believe in reincarnation, either.

What I do believe is that we are immortal spirits that live temporarily in our human bodies to learn what we need to learn in this realm. Then, when our spirits are freed from this flesh prison, we rejoin other spirits in an energy realm of unity, which, in a way, could be considered heaven.

I believe that hell is something that we carry around with us if we are living at cross-purposes to what our mission in life is. What may people traditionally think of as the absence of God, which has been one definition of hell, is something that we can experience right now on earth! However, it's not a matter of not following this rule or that rule, like some religions seem to say. It's a matter of not getting in touch with our true selves and living, to our best ability, the life we're meant to leave.

And THAT process, getting in touch with our true self and spirit, is a process that takes a lifetime, but is totally worth pursuing!
 

rbkwp

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Always thought i would like to come back as a TREE'
So i could stand for ages and view what mankind does...till they cut me down-inevitably
Perhaps become a STAR in the sky .. but have a feeling Mankind will eventually clutter up space so much also you would end up being crowded out
Overall -i dont want to come back
Reincarnation
Do you believers feel you would have a choice-as to what you will return as?
(legitimate Question)
enz
 

B_bi_mmf

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I would say that heaven, hell, and reincarnation are all outrageously far-fetched human constructions. It seems pretty likely to me that beyond death there is only oblivion. Let's make the most of this precious life we have and treat one another well.
 

B_bi_mmf

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Phil said it all.

The jury is still out on this one.

No, it's not.

No more so than on leprechauns and mermaids.

Zero evidence is zero evidence.

When you die, you back to the same state you were in before you were born.

Which is... ???

:biggrin:

Precisely.

You know why you don't know? Because there is no knowing without being.

You were not here. Then for a while you are, and then you will, again, not be here.
 

finlandboi

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What I've wanted to know since I was a kid was that how can heaven really be so wonderful place as Christians say it to be to a modern day person. I doubt god will let you play GTA4 on PS3/Xbox360, surf porn in the internet (and jerk off for that matter :p) or watch TV. :rolleyes:
 

huntercreek

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It's a matter of faith. You have an authority that you lean to or use, or the philosophy of your own mind.

Psalms 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

God said there is a heaven and a hell. You either believe or don't. Jesus said that the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell........for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. SermonAudio.com - Saving An Untoward Generation
 

D_Chaumbrelayne_Copprehead

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What I've wanted to know since I was a kid was that how can heaven really be so wonderful place as Christians say it to be to a modern day person. I doubt god will let you play GTA4 on PS3/Xbox360, surf porn in the internet (and jerk off for that matter :p) or watch TV. :rolleyes:

For all we know, He might be setting his sights even higher for orgasmic pleasure once you're out of your body.
 

un1on man0s

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I don't believe either.
Say i've been a great person my whole life. Never got into any trouble, helped people when I could, gave back to my community, etc. and just because I don't believe in God I get eternal damnation? Gimmie a break.
 

Rocky14441

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I would say that heaven, hell, and reincarnation are all outrageously far-fetched human constructions. It seems pretty likely to me that beyond death there is only oblivion. Let's make the most of this precious life we have and treat one another well.

Perfectly stated...thanks
 

rbkwp

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Funny..??the more i see this thread pop up on the instant subs thingo
--the more i am feeling convinced there may well be
GOOD & EVIL?
basically thats what we are talking .huh?

un1on man0s
geuss its sort of like saying .. be a BAD Man all your life and on yr Death bed..DONT forget to Repent and ask for forgiveness--(shhhh dont tell too many people the trick of it all.)
enz
 

NineInchTool

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I'm a very strong atheist...I think that after you die there is no afterlife, it is going to be exactly like the way it was before you were born...

I mean heaven and hell are human creations and ideas, there is no proof that they exist and there is nothing that shows that they MIGHT exist except for the bible which was ENTIRELY WRITTEN BY MEN!!! And if those men were examined today by medical professionals people would diagnose them as insane because of their so called visions!
 

Phil Ayesho

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What I've wanted to know since I was a kid was that how can heaven really be so wonderful place as Christians say it to be to a modern day person. I doubt god will let you play GTA4 on PS3/Xbox360, surf porn in the internet (and jerk off for that matter :p) or watch TV. :rolleyes:

You want to shut a delusional religious nut up?

Ask him or her to DESCRIBE heaven.

Every description the religious have ever come up with for heaven is patently ridiculous.

I had a woman who believed in the bible literally tell me that in heaven you would eat milk and honey...
I asked her... " have you ever had, say, chicken, like 4 nights in a row?
Didn't you get sick of it and would rather just go hungry than eat another piece of chicken? And man, chicken is WAAAAYYYYY better than milk and honey...
 

Phil Ayesho

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It's a matter of faith. You have an authority that you lean to or use, or the philosophy of your own mind.

People quote scripture when they can not do their own thinking.

Scripture taken out of context can be applied to rationalize anything from infanticide, to rape of slaves. From incest to genocide... all actions commanded by God at one point or another in the bible.

Please, Don't preach about how those that do not believe in God "do no good" when we have ample evidence of the bankrupt moral relativism demanded by your God.

Religion stood aside during the holocaust... religion underwrote the bombings in Ireland, in Palestine, in Iraq... both those of the suicidal believer... AND those dropping their explosives from an 80 million dollar airplane.


10,000 years of praying and chanting never improved the human condition one bit.

But just a few thousand years of reason and science has extended both the quality and length of life, made the blind REALLY see and the Lame REALLY walk, alleviated untolled suffering, and fed untolled billions.

The machine you are reading this on was not the product of faith. it was the product of human intellect and the scientific method.

More good is done each day by a few thousand atheists than has been done by a hundred generations of believers.
 

lipollo

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Bravo Phil Ayesho!

You truly are an idiot.

"Religion stood aside"...."religion underwrote"..."10,000 years of praying and chanting never improved human condition"....

Firstly either you are unintelligent or simply cannot make the difference between the religious core itself and the people who follow the religion.

Religion underwrote the violence? I think your reliance on a religious cause for the conflict is very very shallow and if you look closer it is really a nationalistic pan-arab movement rather then a pan-islam movement. How else would you describe the Arabs talking of Blacks and Asians as scum - as evident in Sudan and Somalia.

And lastly you say human condition? That is a broad term and spirituality has been at the core of the greatest philosophical discoveries of the world. Where would Socrates, Plato Aristotle etc have been if they had not used philosophy to pursue the meaning of life and the earth??
 

Rocky14441

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Im not into fiction, :cool:

Even all-time bestsellers? :smile:

I beleive all of us have a right to our beliefs, but those of you who believe you can dictate to me what I should believe, then I pray on my knees to an almighty god that he has created a special hot corner of hell for you!

Then again, I look for any excuse to get on my knees. Oh, cum, all yee faithful....
 

lipollo

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ahh also another note.

It seems noone has actually picked up that Hell with fire and brimstone is actually a mistranslation of the original Koine (Greek) gospel into latin. Amazing how such a fundamental error is still invisible in catholic prayers and teachings.
 

Phil Ayesho

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Bravo Phil Ayesho!

You truly are an idiot.
Well, I am not the one who believes in fairy tales, am I?



"Religion stood aside"...."religion underwrote"..."10,000 years of praying and chanting never improved human condition"....

Firstly either you are unintelligent or simply cannot make the difference between the religious core itself and the people who follow the religion.

Religion underwrote the violence?
Catholic parishes in the US raised money for the IRA... so YES...
So tell me, what part of the Bible does NOT endorse violence?

The part about Abraham having to be willing to kill his own son cause he heard a voice in his head?
The part where Job's life is destroyed, his family killed, all as part of bet between Satan and God?
How about the part where God commands the extermination of other tribes, including the dashing of babies brains against rocks?
Or Jesus saying he brought the sword?
Or revelations and its lovely portrait of Armageddon and the necessary war and killing on behalf of God?

Mayhaps you ought to READ some of the actual literature on which your beliefs are predicated.

Where was Christian Charity when the Holocaust came? Hitler was not even excommunicated.
Where was it in 1492 when Jewish possession were siezed and all Jews expelled from Spain, or garroted on pain of conversion?

Please.. . regale me with all the myriad tales of how religion STOPPED the oppression of others and elevated man above such petty things as, say, burning other people to death for not having the right imaginary friend?


I think your reliance on a religious cause for the conflict is very very shallow and if you look closer it is really a nationalistic pan-arab movement rather then a pan-islam movement. How else would you describe the Arabs talking of Blacks and Asians as scum - as evident in Sudan and Somalia.
What? All relgious differences BEGAN as tribal differences.
ITs ALL part of the same Us versus them imbecility of delusional belief.



And lastly you say human condition? That is a broad term and spirituality has been at the core of the greatest philosophical discoveries of the world. Where would Socrates, Plato Aristotle etc have been if they had not used philosophy to pursue the meaning of life and the earth??
Socrates did not believe in the Gods.

In fact, Greek philosophy has disproven EVERY argument FOR god. and has been the foundation of logic and science ever since.

Yes, I agree that it was critical to the improvement of the human condition... but you are pointing to the very origin of atheism and scientific method as the cause of that improvement... NOT religion.

And the fact that you don't even REALIZE that greek philosophy undermines arguments for God makes it clear just who is the idiot.