(November 29, 2008 at 5:59 pm)Tiberius Wrote:(November 29, 2008 at 5:28 pm)CoxRox Wrote:Let's put it this way. The majority of people believe because they gain something, namely eternal life, support, hope, etc. Your disbelief in both Heaven and Hell doesn't grant you any of these, and so I fail to see the point in believing. What exactly do you gain from your religion that you couldn't gain from not believing?(November 29, 2008 at 3:50 pm)Tiberius Wrote: No offense, but that now sounds like an ultimately pointless religion. You achieve nothing by believing...
I don't see why you arrive at this conclusion Adrian??
'Heaven' as well as meaning the sky (the heavens), is the 'abode' or place where God and other spirit beings (angels) 'live'. (I don't think it is a literal place which would suggest dimensions and therefore limits, but is probably to do with their metaphysical 'bodies',or they exist on a different level, perphaps in many dimensions??) Hell means the grave, or pit where you are placed when you die. The whole point of Jesus coming, the prophets prior to Him etc, etc, is to tell man about the hope of being brought back to life again, only this time, it will be forever - you won't die again, because you will have a body that is not prone to decay etc. So the 'carrot' or the 'prize' as the apostle Paul called it, is everlasting life with God. I have been looking into 'Universal Reconciliation', which is regarded by mainstream Christianity as 'apostate'. This makes much more sense to me: all men will be brought back to life and we will come to really know God etc. It makes no sense that 'God' would create man and have most of them annihalated (not sent to a fiery hell). (I would have trouble believing in any God who created a literal place where most of His children go to suffer for ever and ever. Jesus said: 'love your enemies'.) Anyway, I won't go too much into this as 'any version of Christianty' probably sounds like another 'fairy tale'. One last point, you'd think that 'believing' no one will be lost, would make you think 'great, I can do what I want because God will forgive me anyway', but actually I feel more respect and love towards Him, to think we are all precious to Him. You wouldn't have that attitude towards your earthly parents, because you know they will forgive you, so too with God- or it is for me anyway.

"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility"
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein