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Top TigerNet [32700]
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Everlasting life
Oct 20, 2022, 11:04 PM
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What does that mean? Is it a physical sense? Is it an awareness sense? I don't believe I will ever die. My body will fade from the Earth, but I believe I will live forever.
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Top TigerNet [32158]
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Re: Everlasting life
Oct 21, 2022, 12:56 AM
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This I believe ties into the concept of the soul, of which I have many questions, too.
I haven't read any concept where the soul, if one has one, dies, even in afterlife. But,
Is the soul created at conception, or does it exist before hand and is "clothed", temporarily, by the flesh?
If you'd like to dig into that particular concept even further, if it is created at conception, these are two further ideas. One, it is created independent of the parents? Or two, it is created by parts of both parents, like the physical body is - a merger of pre-existing souls? That is, is the new soul independent of the parents, or is it too a product of the parents?
Is the soul different than the "life force?" A tree is alive, just like us, so does it have a soul too? And if the soul is not the same as the "life force", what is it then?
What are the characteristics of the soul? That is, if a child dies is its soul "infantile" forever?
If a person dies in his 20's, is his soul in its 20's forever? Same for any age.
And if not, and the characteristics of the soul don't reflect the maturity, intellect, and demeanor of a person's physical body, then what characteristics does it have?
How can we distinguish all our other non-physical attributes from our soul? That is, can our soul be arrogant, if we are, or timid, if we are? And so on. If one is blind in life, is their soul "blind", or do they somehow "see" in the afterlife?
And if our soul doesn't have our physical attributes, then what attributes, if any, does the soul have? And the same for out mental attributes. Is a mentally handicapped person's soul also handicapped?
And if we drop all those attributes in death, then are all souls simply the same, and we sort of "live" as communal replicas of one another once the distinct characteristics of our physical bodies are gone? Are we all clones, in a spiritual sense?
Each and every answer, I think, opens up whole new branches of questions. Does a soul have memories? Or are memories confined to our brains and physical bodies. Soon enough you end up with a strange reverse "Thesus's Ship." How much of you can be stripped away from you before you are no longer you?
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Ultimate Clemson Legend [102348]
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Define death in context of afterlife.
Oct 21, 2022, 4:34 AM
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You might as well work on a definition of life in context of afterlife while you're at it.
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Top TigerNet [32158]
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Re: Define death in context of afterlife.
Oct 21, 2022, 11:42 AM
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Yes, definitions become pretty important here.
If we do have a soul that is eternally "alive", then the death of our physical life really is just a transition. Like a butterfly shedding its chrysalis.
When I speak of mystery, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about. Flabbergasting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK_iZZ4Bx2o
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Top TigerNet [32700]
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Re: Define death in context of afterlife.
Oct 22, 2022, 8:50 AM
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Talk about being born again. Nature is definitely a sanctuary.
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Ultimate Clemson Legend [102348]
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I believe...
Oct 21, 2022, 4:50 AM
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that since a spiritual universe/world/existence without this physical world. Also, that the spiritual existence was used as a pattern for this world such that we, being physical, might gain some slight understandings of the spiritual.
Since Jesus took things of this temporal world and used them as teaching tools to help us understand things of the eternal world that logic is most possibly the only view which is practical. Imo, the coincidences of relating so many obvious examples is not a coincidence at all. Does this make sense to you?
We can only see eternity or everlasting as a measure of time just as we see all things measured by time. Our practical concept, given by God, is that eternity is a collection of time which has no beginning and no end. My concept of eternity is that time is not involved with eternity for eternity to my understanding is that time does not exist in eternity. No, I do not understand that but neither does anyone understand infinity.
Eternity and infinity are terms we use to define that which is to us inconceivable.
Eternal life is positively and without doubt the existence in eternity in the presence of God Almighty. Therefore, eternal death is the same without the presence of God. Some here will scoff saying God doesn't exist. Perhaps He doesn't to them but they will enter eternity knowing that they were wrong and have 'Plenty of Time,' to contemplate their loss of God's presence.
Perhaps with consideration of that I might try a little more patients with, and consideration for the lost.
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Top TigerNet [32158]
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Re: I believe...
Oct 21, 2022, 11:20 AM
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>Since Jesus took things of this temporal world and used them as teaching tools to help us understand things of the eternal world
Yes, there are quite a few examples of the temporal world being patterned after the eternal world. "Streets of gold" in heaven, and "sitting on the throne, or at the right hand of the throne", etc., suggests a structure and a hierarchy in heaven, even if it's not exactly the same here on earth.
Perhaps those terms were the best way to help convey the experience in a way humans can understand. I like the term streets of gold because in my mind it conjures two ideas. First, order, rather than chaos, and second, even the most mundane, like a roadbed, is elevated in stature.
Thrones and seats imply a form other than an amorphous cloud for the soul, and a structure to the relationships in heaven.
Of course, this could all be more figurative than literal, but I always like to image what COULD have been said vs. what actually was said.
Heaven COULD have been described as "We all sit in a circle where all are equal" or "We all fly around with no need of seats" or "everything churns around in a big spiritual mess". But it isn't. It's described as seats, and hierarchies, and order.
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