I’m starting to think “dead is dead.” I could be wrong. I think what partly influenced me was the death of my parents. They were both believers,but still I couldn’t really truly believe that there was some part of them that was separate from their bodies that lived on. I can see how they live on in me.

I talk about them with my sister and my children. I quote them. I’m like them in many ways. They live on in many ways in us and other people who knew them.

But I honestly don’t believe they are rejoicing in heaven. Maybe they are.

Just this past Saturday I buried a ninety-one year old “Christ Follower.” As I told the crowd, “Some of you here today believe she is dead and now inhabits ‘Nothingness.’ Others of you here today know her body is buried in the dirt, but she inhabits heaven. You who believe she is nothingness have no hope for the future; we who know she is in heaven are here today for a completely different reason than you, hope.”

Those who do not believe were there to celebrate her life [past]. We who were there that are believers where there to celebrate her life past, and the real celebration was in her eternal life. One part of the crowd celebrated her past life, and that’s it, there ain’t no more. The other part of the crowd celebrated, not only her present state, but OUR future.
fishon

Funny Alex. Recently I attended the funeral of a believer. Half the people there were obviously scared of the day they were put in the ground. They kept reaffirming to themselves that there would be a “life after this”, because they couldn’t stand the fear of death. They base their entire beliefs off of what eases their fear of death the most.

The other half didn’t need to inject silly superstition into a celebration of this person’s life. We celebrated their life and it reminded us of the beauty of life, no matter how short it may be.

God has revealed himself, to some, in a way that leaves little question about the reality of the Holy Spirit and therefore, life after death, and leaves trying to ‘figure out where heaven or hell is’, as quite irrelevant. When you have felt His presence, His peace, heard Him speak to your heart, had supernatural experiences with no earthy explanation, you could not possibly think, “Perhaps this is all there is.”
Perhaps there are real experiences available to any who have a heart after Him. He says, “If you seek Me, you shall find Me, when you seek Me with all of your heart.” There are many, today, who have come to know this through experience. There is no doubt in their minds. I hope this for you, too.

Well, I think it’s all just too deep for me. And I say that to somewhat express irritation, but also to just honestly say it.

I find myself feeling a little bitter and jealous when I hear of the God experiences of others. I have not had any of them myself. I have truly tried. I have given up. Now I’m just me, for good or bad. I’m no longer waiting for these spiritual experiences where I “meet Jesus.”

If those experiences are truly what the people think they are, then more power to them. But please don’t tell me that if I haven’t had them, I must keep seeking, keep yearning, keep praying earnestly. I HAVE DONE THAT ALREADY. I realize their intentions are good, but it frustrates me further. It implies that I’m doing something wrong or it would have worked.

I don’t think I’m doing something wrong. I’m just a woman who grew up in Christianity and worried for years about why it wasn’t working or “am I IN or OUT?” I’m not torturing myself with that any longer. If there is a God, he’ll just have to have mercy on me, or not.

I also see that it’s hard for me to figure out what np is getting at with a cartoon sometimes. The mental challenge is sometimes fun. But then it sometimes gets explained, and I still don’t know what he’s saying exactly.

For example, obviously we all get put into the ground when we die. Then we can speculate what happens after that, if anything.

I did not grow up in a liberal church where it’s all fuzzy and vague. I grew up with heaven and hell. Many people are controlled by churches because they are terrified of going to hell to burn forever. They think hell is a very real place. I’m simply asking “Where is it?” The center of the earth? Some other planet? Where?

Also where is heaven? Up in the sky somewhere?

I’m sorry to seem to have an attitude today, but all the fuzziness drives me nuts sometimes. Half the time when people are trying to discuss, they are using the same word, but have different meanings. After awhile, your brain gets overloaded trying to figure it all out. I guess that’s where I am right now.

hi lynn – I just wanted to tell you that after 24 years of hanging out with Christ, that my faith is very much based in my decision to believe, as opposed to “spiritual experiences” or “God moments”. I have, with my free will, chosen to believe in the God of the Bible, Christ on the cross, all of it. I don’t know exactly where heaven or hell is, but I don’t know many things and I am OK with that – I guess I’ll find out when I need to know. When I was newer in my faith, I got caught up in chasing “experience” and it was really frustrating and it just wasn’t very real. One thing I know is that giving the care of my soul over to the master of the universe is a better place than where it had been – in my own hands, and I was destroying it. That’s a long story, and a personal one, but it is bare bones truth. So my best advice is – just give up. Tell God you are tired, scream at him, let it out if you feel like it. He will still be there for you if you want and you don’t have to measure up to anyone’s expectations of what Christianity has to look like. I don’t go to church because I am just not a churchy person – the people there seem pretty nice and stuff, but I don’t know, I just don’t fit. So I’m sending you some nice non-judgemental love your way and hoping that you can figure out a way to peace with God.