Do you think people would give God the time of day if there was no death?
There are many theories about death and what happens after, but no one knows.
Even those people who are pronounced clinically dead and resuscitated really do not know as they are not dead.
Only dead people who are still dead know for sure.
The biggest single reason religion works at all is the afterlife.
We have two choices they claim, and there used to be three.
There is an eternity in Heaven or Hell. The third place called Limbo is the Middle East which lost it’s other worldly status.
Me thinks people have a difficult time with the concept that maybe dead is dead and nothing happens. You are no more.
I can’t remember a damn thing before I was born and I don’t think anyone really does as our minds are totally blank when we get here.
The relevance of Jesus dying for sins, the original sin and so much other stuff that is taught to us during the course of life becomes meaningless if there is no awareness of life after death or place to send a soul or spirit.
That is the biggest question probably driving people insane on this planet.
Not why?
But is there something we can look forward to after we die or is there not?
Hello Ichabod,
As always, I appreciate your thoughts. I wrote a booklet titled “PEACE Within Reach” which discusses all that you talk about above. I would be honored to send to you a complimentary copy if you have a mailing address.
It’s short — only 80 pages on little pages, so if you’d read it and comment back, I’d be blessed.
By His grace,
Pasta Fred (www.peacewithinreach.com)
Hi Ichabod,
Interesting post you write here.
“But is there something we can look forward to after we die or is there not?”
It sounds like a gambling, and the results would be, win or lose, nothing happen or hereafter, there’s God or no god.
If we were win or lose in a gambling table, the result is only temporary either we’re getting rich or bankrupt because after all we die.
But in the hereafter matter, whatever our choice is, the result will be forever. If we chose to believe and there’s nothing, that’s fine, we got nothing to lose. Imagine if we chose not to believe and there’s… God !!! You know where to go next…
Would you be that ‘brave’ to risk your life/soul for something eternal ? (or maybe whether it’s eternal or not, still doubtful for you ?).
Good luck Ichabod !
Your friend
RS
Hi RS;
What you say is a valid consideration and worthy.
If you believe in God, surely that comes from strong faith and a 100% certainty in his existence. Also, I assume that God knows which people truly believe in him so even if you try and trick your way into a potential heaven, you can’t fool God.
This leaves us with a conundrum. If you’re not sure, you can’t very well opt for the ‘maybe it’s true so I’ll give my soul to Jesus’ default setting cos that’s a cop out, you’re fooling yourself and you’re attempting to fool the Almighty.
What about if you blindly go through life, claiming to be a believer, acting all devout and avoiding sins? You turn up at the pearly gates and they don’t let you in cos they know that you deep down always carried some niggling doubts about your faith.
So that would be a waste of time…
It’s not and can’t be about ‘playing your cards right’. If it were this simple I’d have signed up to religion years ago & resigned myself to a state of grace. Sure, i wouldn’t have been a ‘true’ Christian but at least I’d be backing a horse which couldnt lose.
I hope you see what i’m getting at here, I’m writing this in a simple way to try to make my thoughts clear.
Nobody wants to risk their soul, but either it dies when I die, it goes to heaven or it gos to hell.
Right here, right now and at this point in time I just believe that when I die, it’s over.
Yes I’m sorry it sounds so final, some memories might carry on in people’s heads, they might talk about me from time to time, perhaps even something I’ve written might survive and some photos will be preserved.
A final word – if God exists then fine, but he’s not done enough to convince me, it seems he’s convinced others though… but I keep an open mind and a fair heart… I just feel that if it were to be true then we would be left with absolutely no doubt about his existence.
To play this game of ‘cat & mouse’ with humans is frankly unfair… or maybe we’ve solely got a tendency to do it to ourselves..?
Hi tigercity;
Thanks for the new post.
Am I making headlines again?
Hi tigercity;
I can identify with your comment so well. I believe God exists, you don’t.
I can live with the fact that when we die there is nothing, just as you said.
I also believe in the honesty part of it. You can’t fool God is true.
As you know I am not here all the time, when I am I go poking around! Anyway I am late to this, but will leave this comment anyway.
God is as important to me in life as in death. I am not afraid of God, I am not afraid of death, although I am in no rush to go at the moment!
That said, I think you are so right. Sadly – through many years of bad theology and the excessive use of power and control, God turns out to be some kind of cruel master. You better be good or straight off to H-E-double hockey sticks for you.
My life here and my death and what happens next are connected to me, so I believe that I am headed somewhere, but who really knows where… or even if. That is why it is called faith.
Thank you Ichabod, very thoughtful and thought provoking.
Hi Fran;
For those of us who think about these things at any length, we all come to similar conclusions.
Peace