Trailblazer
Veteran Member
This morning after I woke up from a night of frustration dreams where I was in a bad situation I could not do anything about, I was happy to wake up and realize they were just dreams… That gave be the idea to post this thread, because I was thinking that is exactly what it will be like when we die and realize that we are dead and we no longer have free will to do what we could have done I this life.
According to my religion, we will have no free will in the afterlife so it is not as if we can say “Oops. I blew it, I believe in God and religion after all.” I believe that as soon as we die the doors shut, and we will realize what we have lost or what we have gained by living in this world, as we will be the sum total of what we have accomplished and believed in THIS world. Only by the prayers of others and the mercy of God will we be able to advance and improve our condition. Mind you, these are just my beliefs and I do not expect anyone to believe me.
According to my religion, nearness to God is heaven and distance for God is hell, and the way we get near to God is through the Messengers of God. This explains why Jesus and Baha’u’llah both said that we need to believe in them in order to attain eternal life. We not only have to believe in them, we have to follow their teachings to the best of our ability.
If people want to spend their time living for the material world that is their choice, but I felt it my duty to convey what I was thinking when I woke up this morning. I think people need to know so they will have a chance to change their life before it is too late, because I believe there are no second chances. Logically speaking, if there were second chances, why would we have been given so many warnings in scriptures; not only in the Bible, but also in the Qur’an and the Writings of Baha’u’llah?
In my religion it says we can continue to progress in the spiritual world for all of eternity, but we can only progress from where we started when we died, and we can only progress by the mercy of God and the prayers of others. So what if God does not have mercy on our souls and what if nobody prays for us? Even then, we will be much better off if we had entered the spiritual world with what we will need to have eternal happiness, because there is no guarantee that God will have mercy on our souls. Moreover, we will be handicapped if we do not have what we need to live in a purely spiritual world.
If anyone has ever read about a near death experience wherein someone went to hell, it was the most frightening thing one could EVER experience, and for good reason. But those people came back to life and had a chance to change, and many will say that they changed because of that experience of hell. But what if they had died at that time, instead of coming back to life? It would be like being stuck in a bad dream from which they could never awake.
It is not as if God has not given us fair warning through His Messengers; we have been given the teachings we need to avoid a hellish afterlife, the teachings we need in order spend eternal life in heaven, but we have free will, so we can choose to turn away from the Messengers and their teachings, and thereby we turn away from God and seal our own fate. How can we blame God for this?
I already know what atheists will say, but in my religion it says that we all have the “capacity” to recognize God as He is revealed to us in the Messenger.
“.... I have perfected in every one of you My creation, so that the excellence of My handiwork may be fully revealed unto men. It follows, therefore, that every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of himself to appreciate the Beauty of God, the Glorified. Had he not been endowed with such a capacity, how could he be called to account for his failure?” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 143
My material life is undesirable in many ways and there are many things I could do to change it if I had the time, because I have enough money to make major changes, but I cannot see myself spending the time I have left pursuing the things of this world, given what I believe about the world, as noted below. If I am wrong about God and the afterlife I have not lost anything but a more comfortable and enjoyable life in this material world, but if I am right… well, hopefully you can do the math.
What Jesus said about the world is no different than what Baha’u’llah said, the message is the same. That is no mere coincidence, since both Jesus and Baha’u’llah were sent by the same God, and these are eternal spiritual truths.
John 12:24-26 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
"Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof. Beware that ye approach them not, inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires, and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 276
“Dispute not with any one concerning the things of this world and its affairs, for God hath abandoned them to such as have set their affection upon them. Out of the whole world He hath chosen for Himself the hearts of men—hearts which the hosts of revelation and of utterance can subdue.” Gleanings, p.279
“Ere long the world and all that is therein shall be as a thing forgotten, and all honor shall belong to the loved ones of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful.” Gleanings, p. 306
“The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion.” Gleanings, p. 328
According to my religion, we will have no free will in the afterlife so it is not as if we can say “Oops. I blew it, I believe in God and religion after all.” I believe that as soon as we die the doors shut, and we will realize what we have lost or what we have gained by living in this world, as we will be the sum total of what we have accomplished and believed in THIS world. Only by the prayers of others and the mercy of God will we be able to advance and improve our condition. Mind you, these are just my beliefs and I do not expect anyone to believe me.
According to my religion, nearness to God is heaven and distance for God is hell, and the way we get near to God is through the Messengers of God. This explains why Jesus and Baha’u’llah both said that we need to believe in them in order to attain eternal life. We not only have to believe in them, we have to follow their teachings to the best of our ability.
If people want to spend their time living for the material world that is their choice, but I felt it my duty to convey what I was thinking when I woke up this morning. I think people need to know so they will have a chance to change their life before it is too late, because I believe there are no second chances. Logically speaking, if there were second chances, why would we have been given so many warnings in scriptures; not only in the Bible, but also in the Qur’an and the Writings of Baha’u’llah?
In my religion it says we can continue to progress in the spiritual world for all of eternity, but we can only progress from where we started when we died, and we can only progress by the mercy of God and the prayers of others. So what if God does not have mercy on our souls and what if nobody prays for us? Even then, we will be much better off if we had entered the spiritual world with what we will need to have eternal happiness, because there is no guarantee that God will have mercy on our souls. Moreover, we will be handicapped if we do not have what we need to live in a purely spiritual world.
If anyone has ever read about a near death experience wherein someone went to hell, it was the most frightening thing one could EVER experience, and for good reason. But those people came back to life and had a chance to change, and many will say that they changed because of that experience of hell. But what if they had died at that time, instead of coming back to life? It would be like being stuck in a bad dream from which they could never awake.
It is not as if God has not given us fair warning through His Messengers; we have been given the teachings we need to avoid a hellish afterlife, the teachings we need in order spend eternal life in heaven, but we have free will, so we can choose to turn away from the Messengers and their teachings, and thereby we turn away from God and seal our own fate. How can we blame God for this?
I already know what atheists will say, but in my religion it says that we all have the “capacity” to recognize God as He is revealed to us in the Messenger.
“.... I have perfected in every one of you My creation, so that the excellence of My handiwork may be fully revealed unto men. It follows, therefore, that every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of himself to appreciate the Beauty of God, the Glorified. Had he not been endowed with such a capacity, how could he be called to account for his failure?” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 143
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
My material life is undesirable in many ways and there are many things I could do to change it if I had the time, because I have enough money to make major changes, but I cannot see myself spending the time I have left pursuing the things of this world, given what I believe about the world, as noted below. If I am wrong about God and the afterlife I have not lost anything but a more comfortable and enjoyable life in this material world, but if I am right… well, hopefully you can do the math.
What Jesus said about the world is no different than what Baha’u’llah said, the message is the same. That is no mere coincidence, since both Jesus and Baha’u’llah were sent by the same God, and these are eternal spiritual truths.
John 12:24-26 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
"Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof. Beware that ye approach them not, inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires, and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 276
“Dispute not with any one concerning the things of this world and its affairs, for God hath abandoned them to such as have set their affection upon them. Out of the whole world He hath chosen for Himself the hearts of men—hearts which the hosts of revelation and of utterance can subdue.” Gleanings, p.279
“Ere long the world and all that is therein shall be as a thing forgotten, and all honor shall belong to the loved ones of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful.” Gleanings, p. 306
“The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion.” Gleanings, p. 328
