What happens when you die?

[St0ne]

Not long ago the mormans or "the other lot" payed a visit while I was out, they left behind a typical leaflet, however this one as I recall was about or at least touched on what actually happens when you die. It quoted from the bible a scrpture that said when you die you are dead, unconcious, unbound materially and spiritual, basically nilhism but that you will be resurected like jesus only in spirit in the kingdom of heaven. Hopefully some will know the scripture I'm referring to. Is this right? Because it seems to me most Christians don't believe this, they believe they die their soul lives on it is judged by god and they go to heaven or hell.

Is there a distinct difference between soul and spirit? Would heaven be a great place if all you were was energy. What are you supposed to do for eternity in heaven when you are limited to what you can do, you obviously can't be as great as god, look what he did to lucifer. What is it about heaven that it is worth striving for?

 

[Bishka]

This wasn't the LDS, because this IS NOT what we believe. It was probably the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I'll leave this question to them.

 

[St0ne]

Feel free to answer if you like it is more a general question than just for them.

 

[ayani]

: pause :

in my faith, it is the heavenly upon earth which i strive for. to be near to God in this life. i do not determine when i die, nor do i control or know what happens to me upon death. therefor, why should i worry terribly? likely i will go where my father, my sister, my friends have gone. wherever that may be. the ground, a void, heaven, another world. who knows?

what i can worry about and work for is a holy life with what time i have on earth. and that is what i concern myself with.

 

[Kay]

JW's believe that when you die, you're gone, alive only in God's memory until a future bodily (not spiritual) resurrection to a "cleansed" (read genocide) earth.

I used to think that only JW's believed this. However, since leaving them I've come across a few Christians who believe in what they call "soul sleep," which is basically the same thing.

What I haven't come across, however, is any other organization that teaches this (outside JW's). I'm sure they're out there though.

 

[Katzpur]

Not long ago the mormans or "the other lot" payed a visit while I was out, they left behind a typical leaflet, however this one as I recall was about or at least touched on what actually happens when you die.

It must have been "the other lot."

It quoted from the bible a scrpture that said when you die you are dead, unconcious, unbound materially and spiritual, basically nilhism but that you will be resurected like jesus only in spirit in the kingdom of heaven. Hopefully some will know the scripture I'm referring to. Is this right? Because it seems to me most Christians don't believe this, they believe they die their soul lives on it is judged by god and they go to heaven or hell.

Latter-day Saints definitely don't believe that "when you die you are... unconscious." We believe that when a person dies, his spirit leaves his body but continues to exist as a fully cognizant entity. Between death and the resurrection, spirits reside in the Spirit World which, for the righteous, is Paradise, and, for the wicked, Prison. When the body is resurrected, perfected and made immortal, the spirit once again enters into the body, giving it eternal life.

Is there a distinct difference between soul and spirit?

While the Latter-day Saints occasionally use the words interchangeably, this is technically not correct. We believe that the spirit and the physical body together make up the soul of man. According to LDS scripture:

"For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy." (D&C 93:33-34)

Would heaven be a great place if all you were was energy. What are you supposed to do for eternity in heaven when you are limited to what you can do, you obviously can't be as great as god, look what he did to lucifer. What is it about heaven that it is worth striving for?

From our perspective (as the previous scripture states), heaven would not be such a great place if we were merely energy. We see the physical resurrection of all mankind as an absolute must, if we are to reach out full potential as sons and daughters of God. We believe that, by God's grace, each of us has the opportunity to progress eternally. We anticipate heaven to be a lot more interesting than it would be if we were to just sit around strumming a harp all day.

 

[uumckk16]

: pause :

in my faith, it is the heavenly upon earth which i strive for. to be near to God in this life. i do not determine when i die, nor do i control or know what happens to me upon death. therefor, why should i worry terribly? likely i will go where my father, my sister, my friends have gone. wherever that may be. the ground, a void, heaven, another world. who knows?

what i can worry about and work for is a holy life with what time i have on earth. and that is what i concern myself with.

Darn, it won't let me frubal you

I agree with what Gracie said! :yes:

I like to think something good happens when we die. But "something good" is rather broad. So I just try to live this life to the best of my ability, and leave the after-death part up to God

 

[syoonsh]

watch this animated video clip and you'll have some idea...

if you're interested in this, try to visit the site as shown on my religion...

http://www.jeungsando.org/vod/briefjourney_pdk.swf

 

[roli]

[quote=St0ne]

Is there a distinct difference between soul and spirit? Would heaven be a great place if all you were was energy. What are you supposed to do for eternity in heaven when you are limited to what you can do, you obviously can't be as great as god, look what he did to lucifer. What is it about heaven that it is worth striving for?[/quote]

The soul is the mediator if you will between the flesh and the spirit.
Either the flesh and all it's desires and cravings rule the man or the spirit of God rules over the man.
The soul is the mind will and emotions where the decisions and actions are developed

It is through the corporal body that man comes into contact with the material world. Hence we may label the body as that part which gives us world-consciousness.
The soul comprises the intellect which aids us in the present state of existence and the emotions which proceed from the senses. Since the soul belongs to man’s own self and reveals his personality, it is termed the part of self-consciousness.
The spirit is that part by which we commune with God and by which alone we are able to apprehend and worship Him. Because it tells us of our relationship with God, the spirit is called the element of God-consciousness.
God dwells in the spirit, self dwells in the soul, while senses dwell in the body.

As I have mentioned already, the soul is the meeting-point of spirit and body, for there they are merged. By his spirit man holds intercourse with the spiritual world and with the Spirit of God, both receiving and expressing the power and life of the spiritual realm. Through his body man is in contact with the outside sensuous world, affecting it and being affected by it. The soul stands between these two worlds,yet belongs to both. It is linked with the spiritual world through the spirit and with the material world through the body. It also possesses the power of free will, hence is able to choose from among its environments. The spirit cannot act directly upon the body. It needs a medium, and that medium is the soul produced by the touching of the spirit with the body. The soul therefore stands between the spirit and the body, binding these two together. The spirit can subdue the body through the medium of the soul, so that it will obey God; likewise the body through the soul can draw the spirit into loving the world.

The spirit is the noblest part of man and occupies the innermost area of his being. The body is the lowest and takes the outermost place. Between these two dwells the soul, serving as their medium. The body is the outer shelter of the soul, while the soul is the outer sheath of the spirit. The spirit transmits its thought to the soul and the soul exercises the body to obey the spirit’s order. This is the meaning of the soul as the medium. Before the fall of man the spirit controlled the whole being through the soul.
What Will Happen At Death :
For the Christian who has been born again spiritually by the Spirit of God,Eternal life and being in the presence of God,where there will be no more pain and sickness etc is what the bible speaks of and the spirit of God testifies with our spirit
Hbr 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

 

[Hema]

I don't think God will judge us if he loves us unconditionally. Plus, if he is forgiving, he will not send us to an eternity of suffering. I believe in reincarnation whereby God gives us as many chances as we need to correct our bad karma. At the end of the process, we break free of the cycle of birth and death and become one with God. Spirit and Soul are the same thing. Hinduism says that we are Atman (individual soul) and God is Param Atman (Super soul). He is like the ocean and we are each like a drop of water from the ocean - made of the same material. Even the Bible says that God created us in his image and likeness. We are all Spirit having a temporary bodily existance.

 

[ayani]

I like to think something good happens when we die. But "something good" is rather broad. So I just try to live this life to the best of my ability, and leave the after-death part up to God

exactly. :yes:

 

[CanuckRasta]

Death doesn't exist.

It is becoming an issue among certain elements of Rastafari, but essentially to in any way acknowledge the possibility of a physical death is to detract from the spiritual part of Creation. We have been classified as immortalists.

“Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah's gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.” - Bob Marley, Ras Berhane Selassie

 

[krashlocke]

I'm happy to say that I'll know soon enough, in the meantime I'll just enjoy what happens prior and not worry too much about what might be.

you obviously can't be as great as god, look what he did to lucifer

To be fair, that's only according to Milton's poetic interetation of Genesis in Paradise Lost and has no foundation in the Bible - a common mistake.

 

[Mary Blackchurch]

JW's believe that when you die, you're gone, alive only in God's memory until a future bodily (not spiritual) resurrection to a "cleansed" (read genocide) earth.

I used to think that only JW's believed this. However, since leaving them I've come across a few Christians who believe in what they call "soul sleep," which is basically the same thing.

What I haven't come across, however, is any other organization that teaches this (outside JW's). I'm sure they're out there though.

Yes, there are other institutions. Seventh Day Adventists teach the same thing. People are dead in the grave until the Resurrection. At that time, God breathes the SPIRIT of life back into them in the same way he did in the begining with Adam.

Not long ago the mormans or "the other lot" payed a visit while I was out, they left behind a typical leaflet, however this one as I recall was about or at least touched on what actually happens when you die. It quoted from the bible a scrpture that said when you die you are dead, unconcious, unbound materially and spiritual, basically nilhism but that you will be resurected like jesus only in spirit in the kingdom of heaven.

Yes, this verse is most definitely in the bible and I will find it! There are also other verses from King David that allude to this very thing. He says, "surely I will sleep in the grave but the Lord will remember me and draw me up to Him".
There are many places in the OT that refer to a sleeping death. Even in the NT there's a verse that says "We shall not all sleep [die] but we shall all be changed.
I personally believe that death is sleep. It is going back to that place you were before you were born. Nowhere.
An anesthesiologist explained it to me this way: General anesthesia is 10 levels until death. 100 levels more and you're dead. After being put under general anesthesia and not knowing or remembering anything even though my operation lasted more than 4 hours, I concluded that anything deeper than that just means: I don't wake up.

 

[roli]

I don't think God will judge us if he loves us unconditionally. Plus, if he is forgiving, he will not send us to an eternity of suffering. I believe in reincarnation whereby God gives us as many chances as we need to correct our bad karma. At the end of the process, we break free of the cycle of birth and death and become one with God. Spirit and Soul are the same thing. Hinduism says that we are Atman (individual soul) and God is Param Atman (Super soul). He is like the ocean and we are each like a drop of water from the ocean - made of the same material. Even the Bible says that God created us in his image and likeness. We are all Spirit having a temporary bodily existance.

What if God is right and you are wrong
2Cr 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.
Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
2Ti 4:1 I charge [thee] therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Rev 6:17Rom 2:16

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Rev 6:17
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

God created us in his image but sin twarfed / marred and defiled that image and only being born again can reunite us into His likeness.
If God is spirit we could not have been made in his physical appearance and therefore it was the spiritual image God refers to ,but sin separated us from God and our spirits died that day but Jesus made a way to be spiritually reconciled

 

[roli]

Death doesn't exist.

It is becoming an issue among certain elements of Rastafari, but essentially to in any way acknowledge the possibility of a physical death is to detract from the spiritual part of Creation. We have been classified as immortalists.

“Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah's gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.” - Bob Marley, Ras Berhane Selassie

That is great thought but death is a reality nevertheless and justice will be given to us all

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

Roli even within the bounds of this thread plenty of Gods have apparently different views, or maybe the same God has many interpreters if indeed God can be thought of as ever having spoke at all.

Here's something a little off-topic but nevertheless may be interesting to some: -

Through practising meditation or just blind luck some people have the experience of having had personal identity stripped away only for their sense of presence to expand to fill every phenomenon of mind & body. Mind & body falls away in Samadhi (stillness) but in Kensho (an experience of sudden yet incomplete enlightenment that follows it) there can be a definite sense that whatever one is looking at (and not looking at) is part of you. It rushes into you and you into it. Without a subtle subject/object distinction going on, as if switched off at at some level of mind, everything appears unified. The knock-on effect of such an experience, especially if repeated, is the sense that you are already immortal in that oneness. To put it another way in the mind's eye no tangible self can somehow also appear as an ever-present endless self. Death can come to be seen as no change to this.

As to whether that means consciousness transcends death even with that experience it would seem premature to assume it must. A popular story: A monk asked a Zen master, "What happens when you die?" The Zen master replied, "I don't know." The monk said, "What do you mean. Aren't you a Zen master?" And the Zen Master replied, "Yes, but I'm not a dead one."

 

[d.]

To be fair, that's only according to Milton's poetic interetation of Genesis in Paradise Lost and has no foundation in the Bible - a common mistake.

the idea of lucifer being cast out of heaven predates milton - its present in divina commedia, for example. i believe equalling lucifer to satan is a mediaeval idea though.

and it does have a little foundation in the bible :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer#Origins_in_Isaiah

 

[roli]

Roli even within the bounds of this thread plenty of Gods have apparently different views, or maybe the same God has many interpreters if indeed God can be thought of as ever having spoke at all.

Here's something a little off-topic but nevertheless may be interesting to some: -

Through practising meditation or just blind luck some people have the experience of having had personal identity stripped away only for their sense of presence to expand to fill every phenomenon of mind & body. Mind & body falls away in Samadhi (stillness) but in Kensho (an experience of sudden yet incomplete enlightenment that follows it) there can be a definite sense that whatever one is looking at (and not looking at) is part of you. It rushes into you and you into it. Without a subtle subject/object distinction going on, as if switched off at at some level of mind, everything appears unified. The knock-on effect of such an experience, especially if repeated, is the sense that you are already immortal in that oneness. To put it another way in the mind's eye no tangible self can somehow also appear as an ever-present endless self. Death can come to be seen as no change to this.

As to whether that means consciousness transcends death even with that experience it would seem premature to assume it must. A popular story: A monk asked a Zen master, "What happens when you die?" The Zen master replied, "I don't know." The monk said, "What do you mean. Aren't you a Zen master?" And the Zen Master replied, "Yes, but I'm not a dead one."

In the end of our lives it won't really matter what one god or religion said over another, but what truth will be revealed at that time regarding death.
Such expereinces and encounters as you have mentioned can be brought on by several factors and many of today's experiences in such areas seem to me to be self induced, meditation and or consciousness leading to states of enlightenment.
I guess there is nothing wrong with that to the individual as it is their right, but it nevertheless seems to exclude the God of the bible and exalt man's abilities to transcend their level of consciousness by their own means thus elevating self.
The mind is amazing thing that can take men on journey's of the imagination that leads them to states that appear reality, but in the end may be nothing more than dillusions of grandeur.

An experience and revelation of God regarding life,death,heaven hell is beyond the ability for me to accurately describe by mere words and it does not come about by surrendering the mind but the heart.

 

[TumH20Coreybear]

I know what happens when a human dies, they rot like every other organism does.

anda: