Wouldn't Eternal Life Get Boring?

Originally posted by FJKchristain
I believe Jesus is the way into heaven.

I believe that a good person would automatically get into Heaven even if they don't believe in God.

reply to post by RickGrimes

or is reincarnation kind of like a gamble?

If only I knew the answer to that question. There is evidence to support both sides of that argument. Sometimes, one feels they are in alignment to what is meant to be... other times, one feels like they got a bad roll in this life, but end up finding out why they got the roll they did. Life experiences may sometimes be worth the pain and suffering, sometimes not from our perspectives, we can only speculate... but it is a fascinating thought process to debate & expand upon.

Originally posted by followtheevidence
When people pose this question they always seem to forget one thing -

Eternity is not boundless time, it is the absence of time.

Therefore, you will not experience eternity durationally.

Something we literally have no existential concept of in mind or body - to any degree, whatsoever, as everything we experience at this juncture is linear (barring true mediation but that's another thread entirely).

So no, "boredom" will not be an issue.

Cheers

Briliant! I've often pondered on this subject and have never really considered that I could not truly grasp timelessness, only a linear future much like what we experience as a biological entities.

However, since we cannot comprehend timelessness, we also cannot assume that boredom does not exist either. We do not know.

Originally posted by RickGrimes

then how would you explain children with physical, and mental problems?

did the disenbodied souls "choose" to be re-incarnated into the body of a child with down syndrome?

or is reincarnation kind of like a gamble?

What if the boredom you experienced after billions upon trillions of years pass is so oppressive that you are willing to chance any life, and a moment to forget. Perhaps our immortal souls cannot choose who or what we are born into in all the multiverse, but we become so desperate for a moment of reprieve, we gladly take it.

When I think of the atrocitities and brutality that happen on this earth, it seems to me an eternal life would have to be pretty bad to want to take your chances here.

The Bible doesn't really state what we will be doing after the millenium reign. We don't know. If we live for eternity there are an unlimited number of possibilities is it not? It depends on what Yahweh wants.

Eternity with all your dead relatives...well whoopdi f***** doo D:

reply to post by 0rbital


Not when the universe is your playground , which we are promised by God.

reply to post by 0rbital


Eternity is the absence of desire. Your applying hindrances of your earth mind to your eternal self. Your earth mind will be dead when you are therefore these concepts of boredom, urges, time, present and future will not apply. No human can fathom what eternity is or our creator, our bodies are tiny fragments on the whole of reality and our minds are even smaller fractions of that, but what I tell myself (so that dying does not seem so hopeless) is that if there is an eternity after death then it is nothing, but you will desire nothing therefore it is eternal bliss, surely the earth mind would go insane in a space of nothing but if our disgusting earth mind was dead then eternal elation is possible........... I hope

reply to post by 0rbital


Eternity is the absence of desire. Your applying hindrances of your earth mind to your eternal self. Your earth mind will be dead when you are therefore these concepts of boredom, urges, time, present and future will not apply. No human can fathom what eternity is or our creator, our bodies are tiny fragments on the whole of reality and our minds are even smaller fractions of that, but what I tell myself (so that dying does not seem so hopeless) is that if there is an eternity after death then it is nothing, but you will desire nothing therefore it is eternal bliss, surely the earth mind would go insane in a space of nothing but if our disgusting earth mind was dead then eternal elation is possible........... I hope

I've thought about this too. I think well have different minds and bodies that won't grow old or get diseases and will view things from a super-human perspective. It's hard to imagine eternity with the human brain.

Wouldn't we have to assume that if Heaven exists--and I believe it does--that it would be just that: Heaven? No tears, no pain (physiological or psychological) and infinite love.

The question reminds me of two things: Once, not that long ago, I was blasted with a greater Consciousness that presented itself to me as Jesus.

He answered ALL my questions as quick or quicker than my mind could even utter them. Wisdom and mercy and some sternness too.

He would "blast" me with so much love and intense ecstasy at times that I had to beg for it to reside for a moment or two.

That reminded of a near-death experience I read about. It was a college professor that had denied God all his life and was living a very worldly existence. He clinically died on a school trip he chaperoned to Paris over the summer.

One of the things he related was that the "souls" in, for lack of a better word, "space" were brilliant light orbs of white.

There was an even brighter and bigger source of light that was God himself.

Many of the little soul orbs were flying and playing all over the universe while the rest were diving and wiggling into the big source. They would go and crowd into God in loving bliss until they couldn't stand anymore and then shoot off gleefully to roam and continue to play joyfully throughout the universe while others would fly in to soak some up.

I still don't know what to make of that Professor's experience, but after my own it kind of made sense.

No, I don't believe boredom is an issue in heaven.

reply to post by 0rbital


First, you have to separate the varying teachings about Heaven by different religions. In Buddhism reaching Nirvana is a state of bliss where you don't experience anything. It is bliss because you no longer exist and can no longer suffer the pains of life. Buddha taught that nothing is permanent. Muslims teach that it's pretty much going to be an everlasting orgy with a bunch of virgins for the men, though I don't recall ever reading in the Quran what women will receive. A lot of new-age religions speak about Heaven being what you decide it to be, since you yourself have the potential to be god if you just unleash that inner spiritual you.

Being a Christian, I'll be answering your question based on what the Bible has to say about Heaven.

A lot of people think the Christian concept of Heaven means that we will all get wings and halos while we float around in the clouds singing songs to God for all eternity. Honestly, that would get VERY boring in my opinion. But that's the impression I had as a kid and I felt bad that going to Heaven sounded so boring, but it was still better than burning for eternity. In reality, the Biblical Heaven is nothing like that.

Imagine life now, only perfected. No more pain (physical, emotional, etc.). The Bible doesn't actually teach that we go to Heaven but that God is going to create a New Earth and that He will come and dwell with us there. The best way to define Heaven is "the place where God dwells" and right now that is in an area that we don't have access to, but when God comes to live among His people on the New Earth, Heaven will essentially be on earth.

That being said, we also will NOT be omnipotent. We will not know everything. I imagine if we did that it would be boring. But instead we have an eternity to continue to learn and grow in knowledge. Our new bodies will be similar to the one Christ had after resurrecting from the dead. They will be spiritual bodies that are very similar but do not have the same restrictions. Jesus appeared to his disciples in a room that they had locked down tight for fear of being persecuted. Jesus just appeared among them as if to go through the wall or something. He disappeared from view on occasion as well. Some speculate that this means we will also be able to explore the deepest parts of the oceans and the bounds of outer space, exploring other galaxies and potentially planets that have life.

I do admit the personality issue is one that I'm not 100% sure how to answer. Any mental illnesses would be cured, and that would affect their personality, but it's only fair to them that they not have to suffer those limitations any longer. The angle that I've always wondered about was how God will deal with the imperfections that we still have in our personalities. The Bible says that those who reject God/Christ will go to Hell along with the murderers, adulterers, thieves, etc., but even the best of us are still not perfect and would cause turmoil in a perfect place like Heaven (New earth). Catholics answer this by saying that we will become perfect through our time spent suffering in purgatory (it refines you and removes all sinfulness from you). How God will do this I am unsure, but I have faith that He can figure it out. I do think for the most part our personalities will remain intact.

Hope that helps answer your question. If you are really interested in the topic I would suggest a book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. It's Christian, but it's also very enlightening and makes good use of Bible verses alongside of his claims to show you a pretty good picture of what the next life will be like.

Edit: Also, I should mention that you are experiencing eternity right now. None of us knows what it is like to not exist, or, we have never experienced non-existence. So far as I am aware, I have always existed. I only know that there was a time that I did not because of the testimony of others. Eternity will continue on and on, just like it did yesterday, today, and tomorrow. don't think of eternity being some long distant time that just will never get here. Think of it as eternity is right now.

Orbital,

Thanks for suggesting this thread, and for soliciting OPINIONS. However, I would DISAGREE with your opening comment and the premise for your subsequent questions:

"Let's say there is a Heaven"

I do not accept this argument, especially within the context of your definition/description of it, and the consequences of attaining it. Heaven, as you describe it, is a place where one would "go," after a lifetime, for "eternity." I disagree on this too. I would say that the first and more appropriate line of questioning is: "What would be the next stage of evolution of a human consciousness following death?" It is a question which must come before addressing the issue of how "boring" it would or would not be in that post-life experience.

"Are people supposed to exist there forever in the same state of bliss?"

Certainly "eternal bliss" would eventually become suffocating. As I see it, the immediate after-death experience (that is if you don't have to make a stop off in Purgatory first), what you call "Heaven," is but a mere "way station" between rounds of incarnations. But that really begs the question: "But when you FINALLY do get to the end of the line of lives, when you have met and solved the great mysteries of life and of your TRUE identity, what happens then?"

To state it briefly, at that point, one has become, through trial, error and lessons learned, an absolute replica of CREATION ITSELF. As such, your "job" then is simply to continue on, throughout eternity, creating, for if is true that, as "god" says in Genesis, man is made "...in our image, after our likeness," then we too are whole and complete Creators. Now I don't know about you, but I think that being eternally creative sounds pretty cool, and a far cry from boring..

You also ask, "...how much of our personality would we retain on entrance to heaven?"

"Personality" is associated with an individual life. As such it would, by necessity, change from lifetime to lifetime. If it were not mutable, your SOUL would be stuck making the same mistakes, liking and disliking the same things from life to life or, indeed, in "Heaven," and be lacking any motivation to grow or do things differently. Now THAT is my definition of "boring." So no, you would shuck that old personality in favor of a more whole, less needy one.

Finally, as someone has already pointed out on this thread, that "final state'" does not exist in time. Rather it exists in the ever present moment of NOW, and that alone should give the lie to even wondering about becoming bored for eternity.

Once again, thanks for putting up this thread.

Johnny

Originally posted by lsnypvcs
This poked a great hole in my logic. I believe that once we leave our physical body, our soul escapes the body and we travel back to our home planet or dimension and we can choose to reincarnate anywhere we want.

Great thread OP

S & F

Why would someone want to reincarnate into a cripple, mentally handicapped, pedophile, murder, drug addict, etc? Why would I want to leave such a wonderful place where sorrow, grief, pain, anger, and such exists? It's like leaving Hawaii to go to Antarctica in my opinion. Sure penguins are cute but why would I want to be there, just to experience the cold and see what it's like? lol

To answer the question about heaven being boring, I don't think that we would know that. We could be ignorant and naive, like the saying "ignorance is bliss". Perhaps we would only feel the good: happiness, peace, curiosity, excitement, and fun. Of course that is just romanticizing it but this is just a belief. Also, there are probably many things to do in the universe, dimensions, planets, then what we can imagine. There are so many things and places to explore. Time is not an issue for us since we know no time. Lets say we do get bored, then maybe we just choose to go to "sleep" or whatever you want to call it until we want to do it again. Just like watching a movie you've seen twice...you don't feel like watching it but few years later you'd want to watch it again and it's like seeing it for the first time again.