Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

NP here. This a million times over. The Christian God seems like a narcissist, and the relationship with God that Christians promote sounds to me like an abusive, highly dysfunctional one. I also think paradise is a subjective concept.

In a way, even the meaning of eternity is debatable. Christians seem to assume it means an unending continuation of time. That's one meaning, for sure. But another meaning is being outside of time. Some religions have a different vision of eternal life after death, and it means that you experience eternity by escaping being-hood altogether. That vision appeals to me more than the Christian version of sitting around in some sort of brightly lit paradise with a bearded old man who pretty much gets people to follow him by gaslighting and torture and then the ultimate guilt trip of "I sacrificed my son for you," when, you know, I never asked him to do that.

The Christian God owes you or me zero explanations. Relationship with Christian God is clearly defined in the Bible and is older than me or you. Paradise is clearly documented place as witnessed in many Bible passages.
We don't assume things about eternity. Eternity is documented in the Genesis and all throughout New Testament.
It doesn't matter what appeals to you. What matters is if you will appeal to God. In Christianity, it's God's will first over human will.

There are scriptures from other religions that are OLDER than the bible. The fact that the bible is old doesn't mean it's documented fact.

And in the bible, it seems to me that god loves the prodigal son more. Won't that be a kicker? If god takes you for granted and even despises you for your failure to question anything and failure to use the brain and capacity for reason he supposedly gave you and then rewards the prodigal son, the one who questioned, the one who doubted? Won't that just be hilarious!

Any god worth worshiping isn't a god who would want his children to be lemmings who blindly follow because they read something in a really old book.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My pastor calls things like OP’s post “Christianese,” or stuff Christians say to other Christians to make themselves feel good. No one who isn’t Christian is going to find the idea of Jesus paying your “sin-debt” compelling. People feel like they have more pressing issues, like how to feel peace, be a good person, etc. And sadly, they are so turned off by people like OP that they never see that the love of Jesus can do amazing things in your life, the one you are living right now.

You should do both as a Christian.

How does acknowledging Jesus died for us turn you off as a Christian?

Honestly, as a Christian, I find OP’s post to be weird and unnecessary. What is her point? Yes, Jesus died for us but he also lives for us and in us. That is where I try to focus. How can I be Jesus for the people around me?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

NP here. This a million times over. The Christian God seems like a narcissist, and the relationship with God that Christians promote sounds to me like an abusive, highly dysfunctional one. I also think paradise is a subjective concept.

In a way, even the meaning of eternity is debatable. Christians seem to assume it means an unending continuation of time. That's one meaning, for sure. But another meaning is being outside of time. Some religions have a different vision of eternal life after death, and it means that you experience eternity by escaping being-hood altogether. That vision appeals to me more than the Christian version of sitting around in some sort of brightly lit paradise with a bearded old man who pretty much gets people to follow him by gaslighting and torture and then the ultimate guilt trip of "I sacrificed my son for you," when, you know, I never asked him to do that.

The Christian God owes you or me zero explanations. Relationship with Christian God is clearly defined in the Bible and is older than me or you. Paradise is clearly documented place as witnessed in many Bible passages.
We don't assume things about eternity. Eternity is documented in the Genesis and all throughout New Testament.
It doesn't matter what appeals to you. What matters is if you will appeal to God. In Christianity, it's God's will first over human will.

The human arrogance that prompted Eve to bite the apple is on full display in this thread.

God planted a beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden. It had beautiful trees with delicious fruit - everything a person would need to eat. Right in the middle of the garden were the "tree of life" and the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Then,

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."


Of all the animals God created, the serpent was the most tricky and deceitful. He came to Eve and asked, "Really? None of the fruit in the garden? God says you must not eat any of it?" "Of course we can eat it," Eve replied. "It's only the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that we cannot eat. God says we mustn't eat it or even touch it, or we will die."
"That's a lie!" said the serpent. "You won't die! God knows very well that when you eat it you will become like Him - you will know good from evil!"


Knowledge won’t save you, and judging from posts, few want to be saved.

That’s your decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay here's where I confess that the thought of eternity scares the sh!t out of me.

I mean when does it ever end?

It doesn't. That's the difficult part. God sent his Son to us to deliver us from our sins precisely because eternity burdened by the debt of sin is worse than anything you can possibly imagine in this life. We are spirit beings. Today we see massive onslaught against spirit. It will get worse in the end times. There will be only a handful of Christians left due to sheer hatred and prosecution against us. Yet, God's might is so indescribable. In one move He will smash all evil that ever existed. He will create new Earth and Heaven because he is not interested in correcting anything that is rotten. Corruption is irreversible. God is not interested in correcting and saving anything that has been corrupted. He is interested in a completely new. And His will be done.

You contradict yourself. If God isn't interested in saving things that have been corrupted, then he wouldn't have sent his son to deliver people from their sins, as you proclaim.

Christians like to talk in circles and then wave away the contradictions and hypocrisy in their words and actions. It also never ceases to amaze me how much Christians pretend to care about other people then take joy in the notion of the end times and the idea of people suffering.

If pinnacle of your day is to bash Christians than you have not found internal peace in your own religion or lack of thereof.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Universalist. I believe that whatever happens when we die happens to all of us. I also believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person and I believe in the Golden Rule. I believe in kindness and love. I believe in trying harder each day to be kinder and more loving.

So the serial killer, the murderer, the 3 year old who died from cancer, and the young mother killed by a drunk driver on her way home from the grocery store all have the same fate after death?

Not being rude, at all. Just trying to understand.

All people are of the same worth- each soul is priceless.

I think the idea is that the ultimate fate is death, and we all meet that end. I think people have a tough time with the notion that there are no rewards or punishments after death because I think one of the ills of human nature is this perverse need to feel superior. I get the impression that Christians want to believe that they will be rewarded because they are righteous and other people aren't as good as they are. And Christians make it up as they go: if good things happen to them, they say it's because God loves them; if bad things happen, it's because God's testing them and they'll be rewarded after death.

More than anything, humans can't deal with uncertainty or ambiguity or, perhaps the worse of all, the possibility that a lot of what happens is kind of random.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Universalist. I believe that whatever happens when we die happens to all of us. I also believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person and I believe in the Golden Rule. I believe in kindness and love. I believe in trying harder each day to be kinder and more loving.

So the serial killer, the murderer, the 3 year old who died from cancer, and the young mother killed by a drunk driver on her way home from the grocery store all have the same fate after death?yes

Not being rude, at all. Just trying to understand.

All people are of the same worth- each soul is priceless.

I don't think of it quite in that quantitative way, just that each person has worth and dignity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay here's where I confess that the thought of eternity scares the sh!t out of me.

I mean when does it ever end?

It doesn't. That's the difficult part. God sent his Son to us to deliver us from our sins precisely because eternity burdened by the debt of sin is worse than anything you can possibly imagine in this life. We are spirit beings. Today we see massive onslaught against spirit. It will get worse in the end times. There will be only a handful of Christians left due to sheer hatred and prosecution against us. Yet, God's might is so indescribable. In one move He will smash all evil that ever existed. He will create new Earth and Heaven because he is not interested in correcting anything that is rotten. Corruption is irreversible. God is not interested in correcting and saving anything that has been corrupted. He is interested in a completely new. And His will be done.

You contradict yourself. If God isn't interested in saving things that have been corrupted, then he wouldn't have sent his son to deliver people from their sins, as you proclaim.

Christians like to talk in circles and then wave away the contradictions and hypocrisy in their words and actions. It also never ceases to amaze me how much Christians pretend to care about other people then take joy in the notion of the end times and the idea of people suffering.

He will make new. A new Kingdom. Of peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

NP here. This a million times over. The Christian God seems like a narcissist, and the relationship with God that Christians promote sounds to me like an abusive, highly dysfunctional one. I also think paradise is a subjective concept.

In a way, even the meaning of eternity is debatable. Christians seem to assume it means an unending continuation of time. That's one meaning, for sure. But another meaning is being outside of time. Some religions have a different vision of eternal life after death, and it means that you experience eternity by escaping being-hood altogether. That vision appeals to me more than the Christian version of sitting around in some sort of brightly lit paradise with a bearded old man who pretty much gets people to follow him by gaslighting and torture and then the ultimate guilt trip of "I sacrificed my son for you," when, you know, I never asked him to do that.

The Christian God owes you or me zero explanations. Relationship with Christian God is clearly defined in the Bible and is older than me or you. Paradise is clearly documented place as witnessed in many Bible passages.
We don't assume things about eternity. Eternity is documented in the Genesis and all throughout New Testament.
It doesn't matter what appeals to you. What matters is if you will appeal to God. In Christianity, it's God's will first over human will.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay here's where I confess that the thought of eternity scares the sh!t out of me.

I mean when does it ever end?

It doesn't. That's the difficult part. God sent his Son to us to deliver us from our sins precisely because eternity burdened by the debt of sin is worse than anything you can possibly imagine in this life. We are spirit beings. Today we see massive onslaught against spirit. It will get worse in the end times. There will be only a handful of Christians left due to sheer hatred and prosecution against us. Yet, God's might is so indescribable. In one move He will smash all evil that ever existed. He will create new Earth and Heaven because he is not interested in correcting anything that is rotten. Corruption is irreversible. God is not interested in correcting and saving anything that has been corrupted. He is interested in a completely new. And His will be done.

You contradict yourself. If God isn't interested in saving things that have been corrupted, then he wouldn't have sent his son to deliver people from their sins, as you proclaim.

Christians like to talk in circles and then wave away the contradictions and hypocrisy in their words and actions. It also never ceases to amaze me how much Christians pretend to care about other people then take joy in the notion of the end times and the idea of people suffering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

NP here. This a million times over. The Christian God seems like a narcissist, and the relationship with God that Christians promote sounds to me like an abusive, highly dysfunctional one. I also think paradise is a subjective concept.

In a way, even the meaning of eternity is debatable. Christians seem to assume it means an unending continuation of time. That's one meaning, for sure. But another meaning is being outside of time. Some religions have a different vision of eternal life after death, and it means that you experience eternity by escaping being-hood altogether. That vision appeals to me more than the Christian version of sitting around in some sort of brightly lit paradise with a bearded old man who pretty much gets people to follow him by gaslighting and torture and then the ultimate guilt trip of "I sacrificed my son for you," when, you know, I never asked him to do that.

God didn’t create suffering. He created humans with free will who chose it because they were tempted by Satan, another created creature who had free will.

Anonymous wrote:I am a Universalist. I believe that whatever happens when we die happens to all of us. I also believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person and I believe in the Golden Rule. I believe in kindness and love. I believe in trying harder each day to be kinder and more loving.

So the serial killer, the murderer, the 3 year old who died from cancer, and the young mother killed by a drunk driver on her way home from the grocery store all have the same fate after death?

Not being rude, at all. Just trying to understand.

All people are of the same worth- each soul is priceless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

NP here. This a million times over. The Christian God seems like a narcissist, and the relationship with God that Christians promote sounds to me like an abusive, highly dysfunctional one. I also think paradise is a subjective concept.

In a way, even the meaning of eternity is debatable. Christians seem to assume it means an unending continuation of time. That's one meaning, for sure. But another meaning is being outside of time. Some religions have a different vision of eternal life after death, and it means that you experience eternity by escaping being-hood altogether. That vision appeals to me more than the Christian version of sitting around in some sort of brightly lit paradise with a bearded old man who pretty much gets people to follow him by gaslighting and torture and then the ultimate guilt trip of "I sacrificed my son for you," when, you know, I never asked him to do that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay here's where I confess that the thought of eternity scares the sh!t out of me.

I mean when does it ever end?

It doesn't. That's the difficult part. God sent his Son to us to deliver us from our sins precisely because eternity burdened by the debt of sin is worse than anything you can possibly imagine in this life. We are spirit beings. Today we see massive onslaught against spirit. It will get worse in the end times. There will be only a handful of Christians left due to sheer hatred and prosecution against us. Yet, God's might is so indescribable. In one move He will smash all evil that ever existed. He will create new Earth and Heaven because he is not interested in correcting anything that is rotten. Corruption is irreversible. God is not interested in correcting and saving anything that has been corrupted. He is interested in a completely new. And His will be done.

His Will be done amen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the point in eternal life. I'd rather have finite, but healthy & happy life, rather than "eternal." Quality not quantity, essentially.

So the thought of spending eternity in paradise with our Creator in perfect peace is unappealing to you?

We have different perspectives. A "creator" of peace, is also the creator of suffering, if all roads truly lead back to them as a creator of everything. And I'm not really interested in spending time with that kind of being. Ultimately this is simply not a worldview I could make myself believe in, if I tried.

But honestly, the concept of eternity sounds incredibly boring. And I'm not exactly a thrill seeker.

So you aren’t religious? Or your religion is just feeling good and being a good person.

The link and info was for Christians and those curious about eternal life.

Just remember, God will always be there for you. He is patient and kind.

On the flip side, I don’t think heaven will be riding jet skis tandem with roaring tigers through holy flames.

It’s the paradise and peace and wholeness God intended for us in the beginning.

Anonymous wrote:Okay here's where I confess that the thought of eternity scares the sh!t out of me.

I mean when does it ever end?

It doesn't. That's the difficult part. God sent his Son to us to deliver us from our sins precisely because eternity burdened by the debt of sin is worse than anything you can possibly imagine in this life. We are spirit beings. Today we see massive onslaught against spirit. It will get worse in the end times. There will be only a handful of Christians left due to sheer hatred and prosecution against us. Yet, God's might is so indescribable. In one move He will smash all evil that ever existed. He will create new Earth and Heaven because he is not interested in correcting anything that is rotten. Corruption is irreversible. God is not interested in correcting and saving anything that has been corrupted. He is interested in a completely new. And His will be done.