If I did not have the possibility of a better life in Heaven to look forward to, getting through this earthly life might be unbearable for me, at least at times.  IF eternal life with God is the truth, as I hope it is, then our 80-90 years here must be like the first letter of the first word in a 1,000 page book.

I agree with putting as much into this life as one can.  But to paraphrase Chesterton, if this life is ALL there is, then why shouldn't I stop off at a brothel tonight on my way home from the tavern?

[QUOTE=PMG;943033] to paraphrase Chesterton, if this life is ALL there is, then why shouldn't I stop off at a brothel tonight on my way home from the tavern?[/QUOTE]

OK.  I give up.

Did he or didn't he?:D

Hmm.  60% Amillenialist   50% Moltmannian   Now I know.

I think the question of Eschatology is basically unanswerable, as are most questions of faith.  Too much time debating the issue seems a waste.  Whatever happens, I don't think we'll have the consciousness we now know so it won't be a problem after it happens.  It will be a moot point.

Now if I could only make peace with that.  My daughter has many of the same concerns, and I try to tetl her that what is unique in her will continue, as in whatever vibrational energy/auric substance/soul.  You can't really pluck her existence out of the universe and not expect it to implode.  The universe/knowable substance/part of God that s/he shares with us wouldn't exist without her.  It's not much comfort, is it?

We are so limited by our language and senses, wonderful though they are.  But we sure to like to use them.  And I believe they are a gift from God and so should be used.

Cheers

Jenandew7 wrote:

"You reap what you sow."  The good you do comes back to you.

Do you mean in this life or in the next?

I know so many people who espouse no faith or spirituality, and do not belong to any religion, but they often say things like "what goes around comes around".  Essentially, they mean to say that if you do good things, then you increase the likelihood that good things will happen to you.   

I think this is sometimes, perhaps coincidentally, true.  And I wish it were true all the time.  But my experience of this world is that this just does not happen.  I see so much injustice going unaddressed.  So many people ill-treated without any reward or improvement in their life.

Two quick points from me...

1 -- if there is no afterlife where we survive our death and live on in some real way - not just as energy or reformed matter, but as our own personalities, I mean really continuing on - forget it.  If this does not happen then all our theologies, church, everything, is 100% pointless.

and

2 -- we need to be careful about this whole theism vs athiesm thing.  We tend to now use these words in a labeling way.  We label so-called ultra liberals as non-theists, and we see the fundamentalists and bible thumpers as theists.  But this may not be the case.  Many people unerstand God in very differeny ways, but still would say they have a "personal" relationship with Jesus which is the underpinning of all their faith.  And having such a personal relationship does not mean that they view God in "theistic" terms only.  We're just making the whole discussion too simple when we limit ourselves to these two polarizing terms