I still believe in God. Having said that, I believe it is my job to live my life in the best way I can. I believe you do your best and let the rest go. I don't know what the future holds, but whatever God decides for me, I believe it will be fair.
No Eternal Life---Now What Hope Do You Have?
by minimus 26 Replies latest jw friends
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LyinEyes
I always wanted the paradise here on earth, I still do, just not with JW's only. I am not judging them at all, I think there could be some that would be choosen to have that GIFT if God does give it. I just don't know for sure. I tend to now believe that we go to Heaven. I have trouble accepting that this life is all there is. I think most of us would choose to go on living , with a spiritual body , if that is God's will, than just to be satisfied with 70 yrs here on earth. If what the Bible says is even half way true, there is an after life. I for one, have so much more I want to do , and there is just not enough time to do it in the time we are given on earth.
I want to see my children grow up, see their children grow up ,and I know on this earth I will die, and I hope that there is a heavenly hope so I can watch them. I hope there is a heavenly hope so I can see my mother and grandmother again.
I thought of the other day, trying to open my mind to the possibility of going to heaven when we die. It seems that death would be so much easier, if in our last minutes we do see some kind of light or an angel coming to take us to Heaven. I know that I would like my children to think in my last moments of conscience earthly life, I got a peace come over me to make it easier to go and leave them. I would love for my mother to be the one to come and get me and take me where she is, I would enjoy knowing that we would have time to be together and catch up for all the years lost. I think it would mean alot to my kids knowing I was with her, and that when their time came to leave this earth,,,,,, I would come to them to take them with me to heaven.
It is just the most comforting thing I have ever thought of. It seems even better than the resurrection hope, because it would be sooner, we wouldnt have to wait to go to heaven.
But who knows???????? Maybe everyone doesnt go to heaven right away, maybe they have to wait for a resurrection . Maybe there will be an earthly paradise as well as a heavenly one. Maybe they will merge somehow , sometime.
But for now I will let that be my hope and try to study more .........but regardless , I will live my life the best I can, and pray to God that he does give that gift.
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Introspection
Ok.. This seems to be a very unusual concept for most, but I will try to explain..
Hope, just hope is very different than hoping in some THING. Maybe the best thing to point to is 1 Cor. 13 where it says love hopes all things. That's ALL things, not some things like living forever. I'm sure some people will rationalize that in some way, maybe saying it's all of a collection of things that make up their belief system, but I see no evidence that points to this kind of understanding. In any case, this seems to make the most sense.
I imagine most of us would agree that we don't know what the future holds, when you get right down to it. Even people who are very devout to their faith will mostly use the word "believe", which is simply the most accurate word to use, since it's simply a mental process. Given this simple fact, what is your hope (in the sense of hoping in some desired outcome in the future) but hanging on to something in your mind? I think hope by itself without any object is a very beautiful thing, just like love by itself is. But then you look at love, how people might be really stuck on loving one person - which is fine by the way, but if you are too fixated on that it just becomes limited, and it will eventually become distorted because people change, and if your love is only for the way that person is at a given time, that nice little snapshot, then you will want to reject what they've become, just as a person who has had a strong hope in some thing will want to reject any reality that doesn't match up with their hope.
Another way in which hope is similar to love is the aspect of giving vs. receiving. When someone says they love so and so, it may very well mean they crave the feeling the receive by being with this other person. The contrast of course is an actual giving which comes from an overflow rather than a lack. I see hope as similar in that it isn't like you're sitting around on the couch holding your hand out for something nice, but because you have this open hope of something beautiful developing in the future, this possibility, you actually are giving in that you have set an intention in your mind even though you don't have a picture of what it will be. (of course, there's no telling EXACTLY what the future will look like, so that is the most appropriate picture) Your hope is basically that something better is possible, so there is this sense of forward motion, carrying that good intention into the future. Just think: It's nice to be around someone who has this kind of optimistic (which is not exactly what it is, but for the purpose of setting a feeling tone I will use this word for simplicity sake) attitude than someone who doesn't, right? But at the same time, if this person thinks it's going to happen exactly in such and such a way, that feeling will just die. Not only are they most likely somewhat deluded, but also they have limited the infinite possibilities which is inherent in the moment. It's about what you can bring the future, you might say, rather than what the future can bring to you.
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Blueblades
Well,if and that is a big IF, Adam lost everlasting life and Jesus got it back for humanity then God will eventually give everlasting life to mankind.I have been doing a lot of thinking about this.
If all mankind ,no matter who they are,race etc.lost everlasting life because of Adam, not due to any fault of their own.Then shouldn't it stand to reason that all mankind would get everlasting life because of Jesus,no matter who we are,race,etc.
If all lost life because of Adam even if they don't believe it,then all get life because of Jesus,even if they don't believe it.It's a done deal because God took it away and God is giving it back.When ever He decides to do it.
No religion on this earth has to do anything to get everlasting life,,just as no religion on this earth could do anything to overturn what Adam lost.
So,eternal life was in the hands of these two men,one lost it and one got it back for us.We have nothing to do with it,no control over it.
As I was saying,its just a thought,and according to introspection it means nothing.
Minimus, I don't know anymore,one day at a time now for me. Blueblades
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Ravyn
revenge.
Ravyn
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minimus
Blue, I think you're onto something. Of course, the Society feels that Adam only lost perfection, not everlasting life, since he was not granted that yet. Thankyou for explaining what Introspection was saying.
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greven
I believe in life BEFORE death.
Afterlife? nah, I don't think so. But why worry? We are all going to find out someday, are we not?
Greven.