Here is what could be an interesting topic. What do you believe happens to "us" after we die?

Laura88 said:

My Confusion
Hello -- great posts. I usually post only in lung cancer but I see my friend Joe here so -- I will add my two cents. I have no idea what happens. I will say this. I have been raised a catholic and have had many, many issues over the years. So many that I left the church. I felt a strong "God" or higher power presence always, but felt I did not need the church to worship correctly. Since my diagnosis I have gone back to church. Do I feel like that helps "God" be with me? Not really. I don't know why I go -- I just do. I am trying very, very hard to believe in something - at this point I really, really need to - but I feel I make no progress at all. I always thought the higher power simply wanted you to live without intentionally hurting others, helping others when you can, etc. I feel like I had definitely done that. I never hurt anyone and always tried to help as best I could. I raised two children alone and worked too much to enjoy them. Now I have grandbabies I can enjoy and I probably won't live long enough to do so. I always said you live a good life, you be as good as you can be, you get what you deserve in the end. I now wonder what I did to get this at just 53 years old. Then I get mad at myself for the self pity -- and it goes on and on. I hope there is an afterlife -- and I hope I'm not too mad when I get there!! I always say the Big Guy has a lot of explaining to me!!

I read such wonderful, hopeful, thankful posts here. You people amaze me. Do you really never get angry? Do you really never question why? Please -- how do you keep your faith through this awful disease and treatment? Some days are okay -- but as I layed there this morning getting my brain and pelvic radiation just two months after intense chest radiation -- I have to wonder what the heck I did that was so bad?

I hope this is not the absolute wrong place to post this. I hope I dont upset people -- it is more a question of how you all continue to believe - how you hold on to your faith. I admire you all a great deal.

faith
Faith in what we believe or faith in a Creater?

PhillieG said:

Hi Hondo
I'm not sure if we have a bible, I do have the internet so that was how I found the passage. They sure do have many interpretations of what was written back then. I did attend catholic school for 8 years and did retain some of it too.

Personally I think that Science and God can co-exist but not Science and Religion. I do not believe that the bible is the word of God, I think it was most likely man's attempt to understand and explain the world around him along with some wishful thinking thrown in regarding what happens after our physical death. I tend to be more of a science minded guy so I tend to go with the theory that matter or energy can not be created nor destroyed, it only changes form. Of course that does not mean that I may be totally wrong but that is what I believe and also what makes sense to me. The dust to dust passage makes sense to me but this does not. I mean I understand what they are saying but I do not believe in it. I have heard this before. I've retained a lot it seems...
The nuns had a knack with getting kids to learn things.
;-)
Revelation 20:6.
King James Bible
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
My question, what happens after a thousand years or is that not to be taken literally like everything being created in 6 days?

With your last comment, I am NOT surprised at all if many Christians have not heard of it. Many Christians do not act like Christians either. Same goes for the rest of mankind. We certainly are not always "kind".

Phil
I too did the 8 years of catholic School, if fact I was at one point in my life going to study to be Priest, but that never happened.

I agree with you on the fact that Science and God can co-exist, when I read the Bible it tells me of things that happened thousands of years ago and I can see the evident of that in the earth today, I have no problems there. As far as Religion it is not going to save anyone anyway so let it slip by. The Bible everyone has the right to believe it or not so again no problem there.

Matter or energy can not be created nor destroyed; Man today can take simple Hydrogen and split the atom and make an atomic H bomb, causing matter to be turned into Energy. I believe it then to be a simple process for someone like God to do just the opposite of Man and turn Energy back into matter and use it to create worlds.

On the question of what happens after the 1000 years. Many people want to explain what they think this means, I rather let the Bible explain it.

Rv:21:1: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. This old world will no longer exist; God will create a new one after we have finished destroying this one.

Rv:21:10: And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, The people who have put there Faith in God will be living with him. They will be living 1000 years with him before he comes back to re-create this world.

Like I said this is from what I believe will happen as I read it out of a book I believe in, and no wrong to you Phil if you don’t believe in it. I do like your tread's as they more then any make me think and study and that my friend I do appreciate

PhillieG said:

If...
there us something after this life, I don't think it is anything even remotely similar to anything we have experienced here in our lives on earth. I don't think time would exist like it does here. I think that it could get into different levels of consciousness perhaps or plains of being. I think many people think it's just like life was on earth but we are doing something that makes us happy. Maybe I'll be able to play any guitar I want and I would be a virtuoso at it too. Or maybe it's eating fried chicken for eternity? Or maybe that's Hell instead.
;-)

I'm afraid there'll only be
I'm afraid there'll only be a Hobson's Choice, Phil. You can choose to play any instrument of your choice, but they're all Harps.

soccerfreaks said:

wishful thinking
The Roman Catholic church in the last year or so announced some sort of thing (as they do) indicating that they embrace the notion of evolution and an expanding universe, to wit: the notion that science and the church can live together.

Those of us who are skeptical in nature would consider this an attempt to keep the money truck fueled. I am one of them.

Even so, it is a historical development.

That said, from a lay perspective it seems that science and religion would be incompatible, not because of the countering suppositions about creation and so forth, but because from a philosophical perspective they simply cannot be conjoined.

One demands faith and the other insists that faith is not just insufficient but anathema.

How do they resolve that?

Beyond that, and to Dennis' point, we are humanity striving to understand our world and our universe. The establishment of science and its rules, while seemingly logical to me, does not mean that science is right.

On the other hand, to refute science is to go back to the Dark Ages. As someone mentioned in another post on this board with respect to 'widgets', much of what we consider necessary to live, much of what allows us to live longer (and, for those of us on this board, perhaps, to live at all), comes as a direct result of science and its tenets.

Take away everything in your environment, Dennis, that is not a product of the wishful thinking of science, and tell me what is left?


Take care,

Joe

Unfortunately, Joe, not
Unfortunately, Joe, not everything that results from either Religion or Science is all for the good of mankind. Odd that you consider yourself to be such a pragmatist when it comes to Religion, yet appear to accept all things "Science" without further consideration with respect to the so called "breakthroughs" effects on the the environment and mankind in general.
Nuclear Energy may be a plus, but Nuclear Weaponry certainly leaves something to be desired..Crop Hybridization may appear to be a boon at face value, but is proving to be a double-edged sword as well in terms of soil depletion, diseases, need for excessive pestacides and fertilizers, and expensive patented seeds, all of which are controlling the prices, quality, and marketing, of the World's food supplies. Wind Farms are destroying a million birds a year now and we only have 1/5 of the number of turbines the administration is planning, what will it be like when they're all on line? Will the wind and solar energy costs still be viable when we stop subsidizing them, I doubt it.
Sure , Joe, I absolutely agree there are a lot of medical advancements being made...and there are a lot of Research Companies and Insurance Companies making fortunes selling them to the sick and hungry of the world. Doesn't seem all that long ago that a shot of Penicillin would cure darn near anything, now it won't cure anything at all.
I suspect that too much of a good thing is a Bad thing when it comes to either Religion...or Science, or medicine, for that matter.
Just sayin'

Tina Blondek said:

Hi Joe and Dennis,
This is
Hi Joe and Dennis,
This is the first time I have gone to this site. My eyes are tired from reading so many posts! Great messages you are all expressing. Hi to Phil too, who started this thread. As far as my belief, I believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I believe in heaven and hell. I believe that there is "something" after death. Not sure exactly what, but there is something, or somewhere we go. Growing up I was baptized Methodist. We hardly ever went to church. Sad, but true. Now that I am in my 40's with my own family, we go to a reformed english anglican church where our daughter goes to school. We learn both the old and new testament. I also agree in cremation. I believe in the resurrection. The one bible verse, I can not quote, but it goes something like from ashes we come, to ashes we return. I know that is not it, but you get my drift. I was never one for quoting bible verses. Anyway...that is my story. Glad to be here, and hope to meet and talk to all of you soon.
Tina

Hi Tina, I've always
Hi Tina, I've always separated the Spirit from the body, in my mind, and sort of look at it like my body, for better or worse, is just the case I'm spiritually enclosed in. In that sense, what happens to my old living quarters after my Spirit has moved on to some other existance, is of little concern to me
There is some Scientific evidence that the Human Spirit, or Soul, does indeed have an Atomic Weight and has been has been accurately measured and documented as leaving the body at the exact time of Deaths.

2bhealed said:

Aw shucks
Did I scare everyone away? Did everyone go home? Where is everyone? :-)

I didn't mean to sound preachy.

Emily, I couldn't have said it any better!
I place my faith in Jesus Christ alone.

See ya some day in Heaven sister!

Blessings and peace to everyone!!!

Sylvia

PhillieG said:

Interesting looking Book
I saw the author interviewed on night on a TV show. Lisa Miller:
Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife
I will wait for paperback or for my library to get it. It's interesting because my Aunt passed away the other week and the priest who said a few words at the wake (since the catholic church will not allow eulogies at the services anymore in NJ). The priests words focused on so many material things that I think many sees to believe are in heaven.

Church
Hey Phil,

This is one of the reasons I refuse to go to church: I would give what money I could afford that week, and not what they tell me I have to give,I have heard of different faiths wanting to see your tax return in order to get their percentage. If the Vatican was to sell all the art pieces they have, they could feed a few 3rd world countries for years to come!

Imo so many people are materialistic, but you don't get to take it with you when you go.....

Sorry to hear about your aunt.

Have a great day!

The sometimes cracked egg,

HUGS,

Sue