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My idea of heaven

JJ50

Well-Known Member
When I wrote this some years ago I meant it to be amusing as well as give one pause for thought.

St Peter was showing a bunch of new recruits the delights of heaven. There were things to suit all tastes, even a gay bar. Most popular were the wine tasting sessions, which Jesus had set up, he was particularly proud of his Chateau Heaven vintage, being of course an expert in viticulture.


A carriage, pulled by eight white horses, stopped beside the group, and out got the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. St Peter bowed low and introduced her, "This is God"! The recruits gasped, "Don't worry, you will soon get used to the idea", she grinned!


At the end of the tour the recruits were shown a tin shack from which emanated the sound of hoarse discordant singing. St Peter explained, " That is reserved for 'born again' Christians who think they are the only inhabitants of heaven, we don't like to disappoint them so they can sing God's praises for all eternity. One puzzled new arrival queried how they reacted to God being a woman. "Ah" said St Peter, "Now that is our very cunning plan. Not everyone can enter into the delights of heaven immediately if they have been very bad whilst on earth. They must serve a term playing God for the 'born agains’, the length of which depends on the wickedness of their crimes. As the actor is always hidden in a blaze of light, they are none the wiser when a change over takes place. However heinous the crime, the perpetrator is deemed to have served their sentence after a few Millennia of listening to that lot singing God's praises!"

RJG
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
At the end of the tour the recruits were shown a tin shack from which emanated the sound of hoarse discordant singing. St Peter explained, " That is reserved for 'born again' Christians who think they are the only inhabitants of heaven, we don't like to disappoint them so they can sing God's praises for all eternity.

Well, I don't know about the gay Jesus or what happens to the born-agains. I think everyone experiences the same thing after we die. My way of thinking is based on Apophatic theology and evidence from people who have had near-death experiences.

This is what happens after you die. First, we need a theist definition for God. God is both transcendence and immanence. God is whole, complete, perfect, having no desires or needs. Because God does not have any desires or needs, God is perfectly good. All evil comes from having desires or needs.

God created the Universe not out of any need or desire. God created the Universe out of an outpouring of excess energy. God still is God in spite of all the energy in the Universe. That is, God is still perfect, whole, complete, having no desires or needs.

The Universe however is NOT whole, perfect, or complete. Because the Universe is not whole, complete, or perfect we have imperfections in Nature and in human character. It is these imperfections in nature and human character that are the source of all that is evil in the World.

So why are we here. We are here to experience great beauty and great performance in nature, ourselves, and in other people. Counter to our imperfections as human beings, we can have near perfect experiences. It is in these moments of near perfect experiences we become closer to God and God's perfection as we experience slivers of God's greatness. As incomplete and imperfect beings we are drawn to the total complete perfection that is God.

These experiences bring us closer to God throughout our lives until we die. When we die we go into the light, look directly into the face of God, and experience God's infinite beauty and absolute perfection. We then experience a state of Heavenly bliss for all eternity. Experiencing God's infinite beauty is the greatest and most profound experience a consciousness can have. At this moment, we have no remaining desires or needs just like God.

Even though our final moments of life may only be a few seconds of real time, for our minds time slows down because of how deeply profound the going into the light experience is felt. So for all practical purposes it pretty much feels like all eternity as the last few volts of electricity fade from our neurons. We return to the nothingness that is the essence of God's transcendence. Essentially we return back to God perfect, whole, and complete without any needs or desires.
 

JJ50

Well-Known Member
Well, I don't know about the gay Jesus or what happens to the born-agains. I think everyone experiences the same thing after we die. My way of thinking is based on Apophatic theology and evidence from people who have had near-death experiences.

This is what happens after you die. First, we need a theist definition for God. God is both transcendence and immanence. God is whole, complete, perfect, having no desires or needs. Because God does not have any desires or needs, God is perfectly good. All evil comes from having desires or needs.

God created the Universe not out of any need or desire. God created the Universe out of an outpouring of excess energy. God still is God in spite of all the energy in the Universe. That is, God is still perfect, whole, complete, having no desires or needs.

The Universe however is NOT whole, perfect, or complete. Because the Universe is not whole, complete, or perfect we have imperfections in Nature and in human character. It is these imperfections in nature and human character that are the source of all that is evil in the World.

So why are we here. We are here to experience great beauty and great performance in nature, ourselves, and in other people. Counter to our imperfections as human beings, we can have near perfect experiences. It is in these moments of near perfect experiences we become closer to God and God's perfection as we experience slivers of God's greatness. As incomplete and imperfect beings we are drawn to the total complete perfection that is God.

These experiences bring us closer to God throughout our lives until we die. When we die we go into the light, look directly into the face of God, and experience God's infinite beauty and absolute perfection. We then experience a state of Heavenly bliss for all eternity. Experiencing God's infinite beauty is the greatest and most profound experience a consciousness can have. At this moment, we have no remaining desires or needs just like God.

Even though our final moments of life may only be a few seconds of real time, for our minds time slows down because of how deeply profound the going into the light experience is felt. So for all practical purposes it pretty much feels like all eternity as the last few volts of electricity fade from our neurons. We return to the nothingness that is the essence of God's transcendence. Essentially we return back to God perfect, whole, and complete without any needs or desires.

That is your take on it, not mine. If there is a god and it was responsible for creation it screwed up very badly especially when creating the human species.
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
That is your take on it, not mine. If there is a god and it was responsible for creation it screwed up very badly especially when creating the human species.

I never said I was giving your take on it. Of course it's my take. How is anything I said different than your comment. Being "screwed up very badly" means we have been created with imperfections. Getting past the idea of hating "god" is a major basis of most religions. Unless you stop judging God, you will not be able to appreciate all of God's blessing flowing to you and all around you. Although the Bible is screwed up because it was written by men, in my mind, the purpose of having spirituality is so we are not judgmental of other people's imperfections.
 

JJ50

Well-Known Member
I never said I was giving your take on it. Of course it's my take. How is anything I said different than your comment. Being "screwed up very badly" means we have been created with imperfections. Getting past the idea of hating "god" is a major basis of most religions. Unless you stop judging God, you will not be able to appreciate all of God's blessing flowing to you and all around you. Although the Bible is screwed up because it was written by men, in my mind, the purpose of having spirituality is so we are not judgmental of other people's imperfections.
The Biblical god if it exists, is an evil psycho if what is attributed to it has any credibility.
 

susanblange

Active Member
The Biblical god if it exists, is an evil psycho if what is attributed to it has any credibility.
Isaiah 53:9. "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth". The sin of the world will be laid upon the shoulders of the Messiah. Isaiah 53:6. "...and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all".
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
Someone who spent their entire life struggling as a share cropper might find heaven to be a rocking chair on the front porch.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
That would be like looking for the good side of an evil person like Hitler. We should be looking for a way of exterminating it.

Well, if this here god is the one and only immortal
and immutable then your plan is not going to work.
 
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