Where do you think WE came from?

[AnnetteMarie]

But Annette, what does God/Jesus have to do with an afterlife?

Nothing.

you know, the whole resurrection thing, and come into the presence of God all ye who lived a righteous life, that sort of thing.

 

[status4]

Annette to be honest, I do believe that there was a Jesus, I have had this discussion many times with my two oldest brothers, they are twins, both are Doctors of Divinity and have been practicing pastors at one time or the other, and one is currently. I do indeed believe that Jesus was a real person, however, I don't believe he was any sort of supreme being. I believe he was as it is written in the bible, a carpenter from the Sea of Kinneret.

Although my brothers are pastors, I think they both with some pressing will admit that they don't actually believe in "God" in the traditional sense, but instead they believe in the idea of what "God" stood for, in so much as they would like to promote an ideal world where everyone loves each other equally and forgiveness is a given no matter how horrible a person's crimes may be.

I think that this is where Christianity has gone so horribly wrong over the centuries, in that it's gone from something that I believe was intended to be taken as an ideal, to something that people interpret as being literal. The Bible was written by men, that's not in dispute, but the intent of those who penned it is. Was Jesus a prophet? Sure, no doubt, and his followers were clearly believers in the ideals which he spoke off and obviously had good intentions, but it's been bastardized badly through the years.

People associate a belief in the ideals with a belief in a supreme being and I think that's a problem, but if people want to believe in such a being because it somehow makes them feel better then more power to them. I however make no apologies for the fact that I will openly ridicule the idea as being ludicrous. It's not personal, it is what it is. I still love my brothers even if we might disagree on some things.

 

[AnnetteMarie]

No fighting here either.

But why does that feeling have to point toward this god?? I have no problem accepting that there may be something else, but it is entirely based on unknown parameters. I don't have any idea of what it might be.

But lots of people are like, its either Jesus or atheism. As if those were the only choices or possibilities. IMO its neither.

I think it is because some of us are afraid. If it is the biblical God, then we are in deep muck for being heretics, blasphemers, non-believers; take your pick.

That fear is what has been ingrained, in me, anyway.

I believe in God, but ask me for a definition, and as I get older, that definition gets more and more blurry around the edges.

I am not sure of anything anymore.

 

[AnnetteMarie]

I think that this is where Christianity has gone so horribly wrong over the centuries, in that it's gone from something that I believe was intended to be taken as an ideal, to something that people interpret as being literal. The Bible was written by men, that's not in dispute, but the intent of those who penned it is. Was Jesus a prophet? Sure, no doubt, and his followers were clearly believers in the ideals which he spoke off and obviously had good intentions, but it's been bastardized badly through the years.

.

Christianity has gone wrong by becoming a religion. So has Islam. Not sure about Judaism, or Buddhism, but when you start putting faith into religion and not the ideals of your god, whomever that is, then you are in trouble.

Had we all stuck to the ideals preached by the man, Jesus, I think we would have done all right. Instead, we went out and started disagreeing with each other about things like confession, penance, the Holy Trinity, and on and on. Then we had another prophet, good old Mohammed come into the mix, preaching it was okay to "off" the unbelievers if they would not convert.

Such a dichotomy when we refer back to the vengeful god of the Old Testament, and all of a sudden he is sweetness and light somewhere in the New Testament.

Sorry, random thoughts, barely connected to my original.

I do think there is an omnipotence out there somewhere, how we have interpreted it is very much in question.

 

[Drew UK]

We have classed all life into a series of rudimentary sentiments - Movement,Respiration,Sensitivity,Nutrition,Energy,Growth and Reproduction.

Based on that and what we know and given that all these functions are the products and synthesises of complex interations of to mention a few DNA,base blocks of Adenine,Thymine,Guanine and Cytosine base pairing and protein-enzyme complexes - then truly this "life" as we come to perceive is owned not by the living entity itself but is enslaved to it under the command of the interactions of these complex molecules.

So, the real elixir of life possibly exists in these compounds and in the base elements themselves - and do we know there alive? have we asked them?.

Are we alive because we independently want sucess, entertainment, sex and a healthy life or are we merely collectively "non entities" an empty shell in which the real life is staged at the molecular/atomic level controlled by hormones, proteins, genetic material and neurons firing electrical signals into the brain pulling the strings to get more of it?

Since we so closely relate, the rest of the species on this earth and have consistencies with the natural earth elements themselves - I would say materialogically that we are products from the evolution of earth - I do not rule out the possibility that the function of our masters(biological compounds) cannot be manipulated - and it is an indeed clever and unique way of controlling the masses.

 

[bobheck]

Such a dichotomy when we refer back to the vengeful god of the Old Testament, and all of a sudden he is sweetness and light somewhere in the New Testament.

You know, that is so true. The God of the Bible is either almost schizophrenic, or our interpretation (as you said also) is really screwed up.

 

[Schuyler]

You know, that is so true. The God of the Bible is either almost schizophrenic, or our interpretation (as you said also) is really screwed up.

Well it's two dfferent bibles from two different cultures that just happen to have been merged together. The Old Testament is about some bad-ass nomadic Jewish warrior tribes not really any different than any other warrior tribes who had a creation myth and some flood memories and worshiped a God made in their image. It tells the story of those tribes' rise from nomadic hunters to a city-centered civilization. Some of their myths, such as the Flood, probably were handed down over 12,000 years.

The New Testament rose out of the Roman Empire and is centered on a charismatic priest with a vision for the future that was totally opposite the warrior tribe mentality and appealed to the Plebian class of the Roman Empire. The four canonical gosepls were written anywhere from 50 to 150 years after the death of Jesus when the Romans were putting down Jewish revolts by killing everyone on site. The first revolt was in 66 AD and the second in 132 AD. The first revolt brought Vespasian to power after which he built the Colloseum with the spoils from Jerusalem. Naturally, this evoked visions of apocalypse.

If hadn't been for Constantine screwing up big time, there probably would not have been a Christian religion in the numbers we see today. And, in my opinion, the Roman Empire might still b standing, because he screwed that up, too. A lot of stuff can be laid at the feet of Constantine.

 

[AnnetteMarie]

I watched the posted video on how to imagine the 10th dimension. Around the end of it, I had a thought about our consciousness and death. What if the afterlife is our conscousness being released back into the 10th dimension at the time of our death?

Watch the vid, and note the way the lines between the points fold toward each other, and note how it clearly explains how a lower dimension dweller cannot really see anything in the higher dimensions. So, I wondered if our consciousness is here, stuck in these bodies, and when we die, we release them to a different perspective, which is maybe what could be termed the afterlife.

Just a thought.

Also, having seen that video I understand a bit more of the discussions on whether or not UFOs could be from another dimension.

That's what my father thought, and he was a darned bright man. I wish he could have been able to do some research through here, he would have had some very interesting comments, I am sure.

 

[Zandroid]

I think we are a soul spirt inside a container.

Our body generates heat, heat is energy, it has to have some source, I believe its electricity in nature.

I believe our soul is like the battery for our containers, it doesnt go dead, but when our bodies die it floats up.

 

[Schuyler]

You may very well be right, but the heat generated by our bodies comes from the food we eat. There's no mystery there. It's a well-understood chemical process.