I am not sure if I believe we will be reunited with our love ones when we pass on??

Gaer said:
Gardenlover: Not my views. Angels have appeared to me.
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That probably doesn't happen too often. It would be a wonderful experience. There are many very devout people who would do anything for such a visit. Any idea why you were picked? Did you do something special to deserve it?

Don
 

I don't think that we die, only our bodies die, and then our consciousness emerges into the next world.
I don't have evidence and can't prove it but I'm not afraid of it. And I expect to meet someone on the other side.......whichever one of us checks out of the world first.
But I do wish to live meaningfully while I'm still here.
 
The Bible tells us that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will be in heaven.

Please refer to John 3:16 in the Bible.
 

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Lc jones said:
The Bible tells us that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will be in heaven.
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Sounds like a sort of exclusive club! Doesn't matter if you tick all the other boxes, if you don't tick the one marked "Jesus", then you don't get in.
Not the sort of club I want to belong to.

Now, here's a thought... if there was this mythical place, it's not just your loved ones that you would meet. What about all those you absolutely loathed? Maybe you wanted to meet someone, but they didn't want to meet you? No, it's all just fantasy because we don't like to accept that when we're dead, we're dead. We live on in our offspring and the memories that we have left. Perhaps there is even a case for inherited memory.

As BB King put it :

Come on everybody, let's have some fun
You only live once and when you're dead you're done
So let the good times roll.........
 
''Maybe you wanted to meet someone, but they didn't want to meet you?''


Yep, regardless of how much I try and convince myself and hope that there's a spiritual heaven where we all meet up again with our loved ones and our pets... that statement above of yours , is always the one that puts the kibosh on it...
 
Lc jones said:
The Bible tells us that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will be in heaven.
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The concept of “heaven” is a concept written about in the New Testament, it does not appear in the Old Testament as far as I know. The New Testament says, repeatedly, that belief in and forgiveness by JC, is the “ticket” to get into heaven.

Since heaven is a christian concept, if you are a non believer or a non Christian, heaven would not be available to you. Still you don’t die and go straight to heaven, your Spirit apparently has to wait for the Rapture.

Other religions would have their own concepts of a hereafter. Non believers, in any religion, just go back to the earth. As to what happens to their spirits, I have no ideal. It’s interesting, to me, that in these discussions we mainly consider only Christian views.
 
Pepper said:
Maybe when you're dead and IF you're aware then you're on a higher spiritual plane, are more sophisticated about such things and it no longer matters as there is no jealousy or pettiness.
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Unfortunately, people's personalities don't change. There are those who believe that everyone turns into some sort of angel after death. Not so!
 
Keesha said:
I absolutely have 100% faith that we are reunited with ALL our loved ones including pets when we die.

Not even a flicker of uncertainty.
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We are re-united with those we love and want to be with. After death, we have a choice about it, which often we don't have while here on this plane of existence.
 
Gaer said:
This is one of the questions I've answered in one of my books.( From the words of angels) but I can't write it here. It will be jeered and mocked. It's a question often asked in my monthly feature column in Emergence magazine. i SO want to tell you but don't dare. I'll say one thing. The heart of the soul will know the true love in the Heavens. The soul understands from a perspective that is different from what is viewed from this one life.
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Off topic a bit.

I suppose I am one of the people that Gear considers to have mocked her (because she said I mocked her) although I disagree. Many of us have been “jeered at and mocked“, although maybe these words just mean someone disagrees with us. I don’t mind it. Makes for a fun discussion.

All opinions should be welcome, not just the ones we agree with. I do find that constantly peddling books and now a column in a magazine, and then refusing to answer questions because you might be “jeered and mocked” unbelivable.

I find an answer, later in this thread, more believable. A contract prohibits responses, so why keep bringing it up? Maybe to sell books and have people read her column? Which is ok, I suppose. But frustrating, as people want their questions answered. She gives her name and books on another thread, btw, if anyone is interested.

As to angels, miracles, sightings of Mary the mother of JC, and other things associated with the Christian faith, yes, I believe such things happen. Sometimes prayers are answered, sometimes in association with the above. I am desperate to be reunited with members of my family who have died, my 3 infant sons in particular.

Not so much with my ex-husband. 🤣
 
Aneeda72 said:
Off topic a bit.

I suppose I am one of the people that Gear considers to have mocked her (because she said I mocked her) although I disagree. Many of us have been “jeered at and mocked“, although maybe these words just mean someone disagrees with us. I don’t mind it. Makes for a fun discussion.

All opinions should be welcome, not just the ones we agree with. I do find that constantly peddling books and now a column in a magazine, and then refusing to answer questions because you might be “jeered and mocked” unbelivable.

I find an answer, later in this thread, more believable. A contract prohibits responses, so why keep bringing it up? Maybe to sell books and have people read her column? Which is ok, I suppose. But frustrating, as people want their questions answered. She gives her name and books on another thread, btw, if anyone is interested.

As to angels, miracles, sightings of Mary the mother of JC, and other things associated with the Christian faith, yes, I believe such things happen. Sometimes prayers are answered, sometimes in association with the above. I am desperate to be reunited with members of my family who have died, my 3 infant sons in particular.

Not so much with my ex-husband. 🤣
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I haven't read the details but I think, very often, books on spiritual matters use flowery, sentimental language which, for me anyway, makes it all seem less believable.
I'm a very down to earth person, not given to sentiment. I tell it like it is!
 
I've never received an acceptable answer from a cleric as to "How can a person be happy even if s(he) enters 'Heaven' with the knowledge that a loved one has been condemned to 'eternal damnation.'

Examples: "Your state of happiness will be so great that you won't care. It will be perfect happiness." Another: "No one is condemned to hell except those who were truly evil like Hitler, but there are degrees or levels of happiness in heaven."

I won't tell you to which particular sects these clerics were associated. Besides even old Adolf probably had someone who loved him. And if one person has achieved a certain level in heaven but his/her relative or loved one is lower, how can s(he) be happy.
 
Before he crossed Rainbow Bridge, my little toy poodle Hoot was the smartest dog in the world. Really. And every year, when we changed the clocks for day light savings time, which in turn changed when he was getting fed, I tried and tried to explain DST to him. Twice a year, for many, many years. He just could not grasp the concept of time, or clocks, or changing clocks.

Expecting humans to understand God's plan is just like that. We can not grasp the concepts. But one thing seems clear - if you don't believe in an afterlife, you certainly won't have one.
 
Damaged Goods said:
I've never received an acceptable answer from a cleric as to "How can a person be happy even if s(he) enters 'Heaven' with the knowledge that a loved one has been condemned to 'eternal damnation.'

Examples: "Your state of happiness will be so great that you won't care. It will be perfect happiness." Another: "No one is condemned to hell except those who were truly evil like Hitler, but there are degrees or levels of happiness in heaven."

I won't tell you to which particular sects these clerics were associated. Besides even old Adolf probably had someone who loved him. And if one person has achieved a certain level in heaven but his/her relative or loved one is lower, how can s(he) be happy.
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Adolf did indeed have someone who loved him very much and he that a few million people who loved him as well. He killed himself. Obviously not making it into Catholic heaven. 🤣

Clerics are usually people who have studied the Bible, and in some cases, have a college degree. But, direct knowledge, of dying and going to heaven, nope. Doesn’t matter what sects or religion they were. The only one with direct knowledge of dying and going to heaven is JC. Everyone else is just giving an opinion.

Some clerics are just con artists and in it for the money.
 
To assume that we humans are the most intelligent and powerful beings that exist is, frankly, the epitome of hubris. Compared to God, we are at best like insects. All of our "science" and "rational thinking", for as valid as it may be from our limited perspective, is nothing but vanity.

By means far, far beyond our comprehension, Almighty God created and controls the universe and everything that's in it. To those who believe and give their lives to Him, He offers the opportunity to spend eternity with Him ... in love and on His level of comprehension. We call that "heaven". It will be absolutely glorious!

The journey begins when one searches his/her heart and decides to truly commit. Many, many will be unable to do this, which might seem sad in a way but we don't get to make the rules and He is sovereign. All who sincerely believe and ask will be accepted.

For myself, I am a sinner and wholly unworthy of anything from Him. Nothing I have done or could possibly do in this life can change that. Only by accepting His gift of salvation, as manifested through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and following Him can I be redeemed.

As to when we pass into His realm: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12)
 
All of you are so far advanced in your religious posts I probably shouldn't even be posting but I have so many questions. I wonder how many people decide to believe out of fear that if there is a God they want to make sure they go to heaven? Do they somehow get weeded out?
Aren't there some religions that say pets don't go to heaven?
People say God didn't create this horrible virus. Yet people say he rules the universe.
Why is it,that when someone is dying we pray for them. If they die we say God took the person and he or she is in a better place. If they don't die we say our prayers have been answered.
Sometimes it seems whatever happens God always gets a free pass.
I was raised a Christian. I was never allowed to question anything.
These days,to keep from going crazy trying to figure this all out I live by,What will be will be.
I hope know one is offended by my post. I respect everyone's views and generally stay clear of these threads.
The only glimmer of hope I have found is that several people who I loved and were near death, at the very end, seemed at peace and some said they saw their loved ones. That could have been delirium or they actually did see them. I sincerely hope so.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
All of you are so far advanced in your religious posts I probably shouldn't even be posting but I have so many questions. I wonder how many people decide to believe out of fear that if there is a God they want to make sure they go to heaven? Do they somehow get weeded out?
Aren't there some religions that say pets don't go to heaven?
People say God didn't create this horrible virus. Yet people say he rules the universe.
Why is it,that when someone is dying we pray for them. If they die we say God took the person and he or she is in a better place. If they don't die we say our prayers have been answered.
Sometimes it seems whatever happens God always gets a free pass.
I was raised a Christian. I was never allowed to question anything.
These days,to keep from going crazy trying to figure this all out I live by,What will be will be.
I hope know one is offended by my post. I respect everyone's views and generally stay clear of these threads.
The only glimmer of hope I have found is that several people who I loved and were near death, at the very end, seemed at peace and some said they saw their loved ones. That could have been delirium or they actually did see them. I sincerely hope so.
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It is true that many people use religion as a comfort,especially at difficult times. That is understandable. Many people don't want to know the truth about our existence, and prefer to stick to what their church tells them to believe.
It is often better to steer clear from subjects such as this. So far there hasn't been any ridicule but I don't doubt it will happen.
 
Lc jones said:
The Bible tells us that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will be in heaven.

Please refer to John 3:16 in the Bible.
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The Old Testament is basically a history book. The New Testament was edited by those who decided what they wanted us to believe. Organised religion is a way to keep people under control through threats and fear.
 


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