[OnyxCougar]

Originally posted by lumberjim
Isn't there a lot of "praising the Lord" and Halleluahing and such going on up in the fluffy cloud, harps music, cherubs flyin around your head Heaven? Do you think that everyone up in heaven wants to do that all day? doesn;t sound like free will to me

The idea of "christian Heaven" as portrayed on tv, Sunday School, and in some really freaky little hands out flyers I've seen, with the pearly gates, and the meeting god and the angels is preposterous. I am genuinely surprised when I run into a grown adult who appears to believe that if you live a good life, you will be judged by "the maker" and rewarded with eternal bliss. how stupid do you have to be? how eager to believe?.

Maybe. The bible says that there are angels in heaven, and you get to hang out with god and jesus, but it doesn't get real specific, AFAIK. Those who would research, please post refs.

Why is it so hard to believe that if you are a good person, you get a reward at the end? Every major religion/belief system has a "goodie" if you follow the tenets. Nirvana, reincarnation to the next highest form, heaven, Valhalla, hanging out with Allah, whatever. That in mind, how can you say that the 98% of people on this earth that believe something good comes to those who follow the beliefs of their system are stupid? That's an awfully big brush to paint with, Jimbo.

First of all, bliss is a comparative state. If you were perpetually blissed, you wouldn;t be able to tell, would you? nothing bad to compare it to.

Of course there is. You compare it to what it was like before you reached this (evolved or reward) state. It is better. If you lived through suffering and pain, and now are pain free, that's better. It can be considered blissful.

Second, how egocentric of us to think that 1 God can know all individuals well enough to sentence them to eternal bliss or damnation. If there is a single sentient god ( a possibility that I find unlikey, but cannot rule out) what makes us think that he gives a rats ass about a aingle person? Do they invision a staff of angles that work for him/her? pah! really.

==back to Christian tenets now==

The bible tells us that God knows us from the moment we are conceived, that he DOES know each and every one of us, that he has a plan for each and every one of us, and that he wants to be a part of each and every one of our lives. Can you conceive of infinite numbers? Think of counting to infinity. God is infinite just in that way. He has always been and always will be. Why are you putting human limitations on God? He is above that. That is why he is God.

This longing for immortality in heaven is naught but a philosophical manifestation of a genetically installed drive. We are wired to perpetuate ourselves thru reproduction. The individuals that weren't have died out, are dying out, will die out. So our overacheiving brains decide that if our body is to reproduce and live on in our children, then our minds, which we somehow concieive of as being seperate from our bodies, must also live on, but in a really trippy far out kind of way. in heaven.....or in helll

horseshit!

Perhaps. We'll find out at the end! I say enjoy the ride while you're here, be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!!

Or...was that George Carlin and Abraham Lincoln?