Would you really want to live for a Eternity

Originally posted by LDragonFire

JustMike, It is my fault that there are posts concerning Religious faith in this thread.
1. I posted this in the Conspiracy in Religion forum.

2. I mentioned would you want to spend Eternity on your knees[before your choice of God]

However, I can almost hear the chanting in the background.

Hi again,

actually I clicked on a link in the ATS email that goes out which lists the most interesting/active/whatever threads, and dropped straight in here. I hadn't actually noticed the tiny print that says ">>Conspiracies in Religions>>", probably because I just got straight into reading the posts and didn't look at all the stuff at the top of the screen too much...

Yes, there was supplementary info you gave that allowed for a religious context but even so, a lot of the posts here don't seem to address your original, key question. But hey, some opinion is better than no opinion. (I always wonder when people get "Gallup Polled" on stuff like their government's foreign policy and they have duhhh... "no opinion". I'm sure most governments love people like that... )

On the other hand...the posts here kind of show the real need for this category of forum, don't they?

Hey hey Raphael, you're probably wondering why I'm asking questions that I may or should already know the answer to. I am very interested in getting your take on all this. If I'm being too literal, feel free to let me know. My experiences had to be literal because I was too dense (and arguably to some degree still am) to accept on faith alone.

Originally posted by Raphael
I began to cry and shake and asked for death over a life of sin, then the LORD descended over me and I was become light so that my soul had been transformed, then The Lord placed a seal on my forehead,

Can you give any details as to what the seal is in addition to what it says in the Bible?

Originally posted by Raphael
I am to prophecy what I have seen,

What did you see?

Originally posted by Raphael
so that I may lead you to The Truth which resides in the Spirit which is the Word.

How would you do this?

I love the questions storm put forward here. What's more fun than reading them is trying to answer them :

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Sometimes I wonder why god gave us free will only to lay down laws he knew we wouldn't keep because he made us imperfect.

Same reason why we let our children make mistakes when they refuse to learn by any other way.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
What is it, is all a test to see who would be courageous enough to ask god why and not follow unquestioningly

Could be! I questioned a lot, still do. He loves me anyway.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Does God know what we are going to do before we do it?

Oy! Put a free-will baptist and a reformed presbyterian in the same room and let them go at it! You can page through the Bible and support either one. I'm going to throw in my opinion and say relationship dynamics are such that there's a little bit of both. Jonah headed the other way when God told him where to go, but ultimately he was put where he needed to be at the time that he was needed. This could be a whole 'nuther thread and would love to be on it.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Like we needed a Judas, didn't the plan need fulfillment, so we had to have a Savior who had to be betrayed in order for the fulfillment of prophecy, So with Judas just a part of the divine plan, was he really a bad guy or also a scapegoat,

Yes, yes and yes. God can use even the worst situation towards fulfillment of the plan. It doesn't matter what poker hand you've been dealt, God has five aces .

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Jesus the hero, or Judas the scoundrel, who makes out Best in that drama?

Jesus said for Judas it would have been better to never been born at all. Ouch...

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I would rather play the hero, seems to me it takes more guts to be the villain who resides in hell forever then the son of god.

It's a choice we all have.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Not unlike Satan, so we need a tempter to test us?

I don't believe we do, yet one exists.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I always wondered if God does have a eternal place for our souls, would he not have to forgive all of us regardless, because he knew we would fail?

He could, but didn't. It's His game, therefore His rules.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Is earth a hell like testing ground?

Not as bad as Hell, but I think there's good support to say 'yes'.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
About reincarnation, It seems unfair to be reincarnated and punished or rewarded for things you cannot remember,

I'd agree with that. I don't find any forgetting in Christianity, so it's a non-issue for me.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Also I often wondered how fair it is to feel guilt for a harsh life because you think you were bad in a past life, how horrible to carry around all that guilt, for nothing.

Hard to learn when you don't know what you're being punished for.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I remember as a small child my fear of hell, I would cry inconsolable at the smallest of mistakes i perceived as sins, through most of my young adulthood I always thought i would never be good enough to make it into heaven.

You're right on both accounts, which is why we needed someone to pay for those sins FOR us. We can't afford that bill. There's nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven.

I often wondered this.

Living forever would get extremely boring.

The only releif would be to become born agian into somthing that could wonder about things again.

This also brings me to this idea.......

What if everyone, EVERYONE, is already eternal? What if we already have experienced all things? Have we already been born again just to kill the boredom of eternity?

Then again we all can't remember being at the top level of existence, thus, whatever mechanisms in place driving this whole process must be working

We don't know it but we have already had this life.

If I were eternal I would probably build universes to keep busy.

Who wants to live forever if your the only one who can

Can anyone imagen the pain living for always when all the loved ones around you die..seeing your countless lovers, wives, children, in your life die, whilst you stay the same, never changing..

It would indeed be a living hell..who would want to live forever eternally surrounded yet eternally alone..simply counting the days untill inevitably you find yourself alone again, with the emptiness,knowing that it will be like this..for eternity.

Who wants to live forever when love must die.

[edit on 9-10-2007 by andy1972]

reply to post by saint4God


HI Saint4, thanks for the very thought provoking responses.

We have more in common then I had originally thought .

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
HI Saint4, thanks for the very thought provoking responses.

We have more in common then I had originally thought .

Coolness . Glad it helped bring up considerations and thought they were excellent thinker questions.

Originally posted by saint4God
Hey hey Raphael, you're probably wondering why I'm asking questions that I may or should already know the answer to. I am very interested in getting your take on all this. If I'm being too literal, feel free to let me know. My experiences had to be literal because I was too dense (and arguably to some degree still am) to accept on faith alone.

I want to answer all that I can but please understand I experienced so much and there are so many details its very hard to write an accurate time line of events that are not missing details unless I sit down and really write a book almost.

Originally posted by Raphael
I began to cry and shake and asked for death over a life of sin, then the LORD descended over me and I was become light so that my soul had been transformed, then The Lord placed a seal on my forehead,

Originally posted by saint4God
Can you give any details as to what the seal is in addition to what it says in the Bible?

I actually am Jewish and am not the most familiar person when it comes to Christianity or the writings in the New Testament. I spent many years contemplating if my experience was a good or bad and then I realized the only way I could be told the future and have revelations which are true, is if the teller of the story is omnipresent and not bound by time. I do not know what the seal looks like but I saw it being placed on my forehead in the holy presence of the Cherubim and The Lord. I was then told I Was Rock. ( Which I still search to find meaning of. )

Originally posted by Raphael
I am to prophecy what I have seen,

Originally posted by saint4God
What did you see?

God? I declared at the top of my lungs "The King! Hear Oh Israel The King has returned!!" over and over for about 30 - 45 minutes. This was The Spirit speaking through me. Interstingly enough I also stated a passsage out of the Book of Tobit word for word and could only have been the Divine Inspiration of God because I was never taught this book nor had I ever heard of it. After I had declared the return of the King the Spirit descended upon me in full and It was like the sound of a rushing stream. This is where I received the 10 commandments through God's Spirit and was told about my own life's future good and bad. A few things which were revealed to me was the early death of my mother, the name of the woman I would marry, my child, his sex, and his name. I also was given revelation of a scary future which I prefer to not talk about yet. All revelations have come to pass except for the scary future.

I made my way to my bedroom and looked up at the sky out my window and did pray, and I said,
"Righteous art thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all they ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever. 3:3 Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offences and those which my fathers committed before thee. 3:4 For they disobeyed thy commandments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed. 3:5 And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee. 3:6 And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me."

The last 8 words of that passage were so powerful because on that command I began to utter words which I could not understand and which I do not remember to this day. Nor do I know the meaning of what I said.

I looked up at the sky again and I felt my body begin to shake uncontrollably. It was like I was going to convulse to death. I looked up at the sky and prayed please dear God help me. There was no answer and I was starting to feel my life slipping away. I called out Jesus, Mary Help me, and on the word of Jesus I saw the shining white star appear in the blue sky of day. It began to descend, and the light had become three. Two came to stop on my right side looking at me, the third light danced to and fro accross the sky above me as if examining me from different angles. It then descended upon me and I was turned into light. Then I saw the looks of something in which I had never seen and it came into my room and had what was like a robots arm but was not tangible and it moved toward my forehead and I blacked out. When I awoke I was in the presence of the Cherubim and one of them called out to me. I asked who it was and he told me he was Raphael and that I was now Rock. A day or two later a small piece of gold fell out of my teeth and it made me wonder.

( Recently I reread Genesis and so many things made sense to me based on what I had seen )

Originally posted by Raphael
so that I may lead you to The Truth which resides in the Spirit which is the Word.

Originally posted by saint4God
How would you do this?

Listen to what I have told you as it came from the Spirit and is the ONLY TRUTH. Live by your heart. Follow the 10 commandments and Love The Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might.


[edit on 10-10-2007 by Raphael]

Your account parallels the New Testament closely, as I see it. If you're not familiar with the Book, I think you've got strong evidence that validates it and it validates you. Even the future you've spoken of so far sounds a lot like the last book, Revelation...right down to the seal.

Originally posted by Raphael
... Love The Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might.

Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'

Luke 10:27
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'

Regarding the rock...

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Matthew 7:23-25
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

I know what you mean about a long testimony. I find it particularly interesting and reassuring, what you've written so far. Thanks