by Fernando 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Where do we go when we die?
We go back to where we came from
And where was that?
I don’t know, I can’t remember
Virginia Woolf, “The Hours”
I don’t remember much of this life, and like Virginia Woolf, nothing of the herebefore. How then, could I expect to know of the hereafter?
(From http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/Life-and-Death-Proposition.aspx )
I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. - Eccl 3:18-20
Our consciousness cannot function when we are under anaesthetic, how does anybody suppose it survives the destruction of our body?
I respect your answer about an anesthetic. I can only offer the experience of others in regard to near death experiences.
I have a Witness relative who had a NDE. She doesn't talk about it because it contradicts her Witness beliefs. I would like to read an apologist for NDE's who can straighten all this stuff out.
metatron
I would suggest looking for articles or books by Susan Blackmore. She is a mainstream psychologist who made it her mission to prove that NDE and other phenomena had a basis in reality.
After many years she concluded it was a fools errand and has since began to publish on other subjects like memes.
Despite wanting to find evidence she concluded that every instance was fraud, delusion or easily explained by non-supernatural means.
Several people I know from just being around have told me of near death experiences. They are very reassured personally. Yet in all cases there was not the emotion present that should be there if you have the answer to death. I recall a doctor the NYT interviewed as stating that the process of actually dying isn't horrific. A friend who is an MD said there is a tremendous rush of endorphins. He cited wild animals being eating alive by other animals. They don't seem to register the pain you would expect.
I kind of liked Paradise on Earth when I was young. Earth I know. Heaven sounds boring.
Hey Band on the Run!
If heaven is a higher dimension (above the space-time domain) that we enter when translating from one point in the vast physical multiverse (Michio Kaku) to another, I think that would be rather exhilarating (covering billions of kilometers in zero seconds).
Religionists being physical/natural/carnal/temporal can only appraise heaven as a physical location (1 Corinthians 2:14,15). They are unable to explain how the so called "earthly hope" and the so called "heavenly hope" can be the "one hope" spoken of in Ephesians 4:4.
Since those Paul wrote to were fallen (dysfunctional) humans on earth, his concurrently placing them in heaven, must have referred to the spiritual condition of those who have experienced a spiritual resurrection from spiritual death (Ephesians 2:4-6). This too seems rather exhilarating.
