What do you hope for when you die?

wil said:
Deviates from conventional thinking???


Well of course it does! Conventional thinking is what forced us to think! I teach Sunday school, and we may have a lesson plan, a topic for discussion, a biblical passage to contemplate...but all that is secondary. We want the kids that enter that door to know one thing... They are loved. We want them to feel and grasp the understanding of unconditional love. That is number one...number two is that we don't want to teach them what to think, but 'to' think. Not take anything for um....er...gospel, but to question, to contemplate, meditate, circumambulate. So whatever is in their 'now' whatever is formost on their mind, what is troubling/bothering them is what we are concerned with...and once we accomplish that...and it is ok that that is all we accomplish...but if we do...we go onto the lesson plan...of unconventional thought.
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Like I said, that's a good thing!
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Ok Q, what's best for you, is what's best for you. Take a look around and read some of the past posts. You're sure to find a path that will suit you just fine. Keep an open mind though, some of the stuff diviates from convensional thinking quite a ways... and that's a good thing!
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I am quite happy with just being me, it has worked for 64 years. I don't wish to be any different from the way I am now. Of course I am far from perfect, but have no wish for perfection, being good enough is just fine.:)
 
I was just reading the the posts on this thread and was reminded of something that happened at my Mom's funeral some years ago. We were all standing solemnly as the casket was lowered and the grave sealed. That's when I noticed my 4 year old Grand Nephew staring up at a tree with a big grin on his face. I asked what he was looking at and he said, "Granny." I said, "but we just buried your Granny." Insistent, he pointed toward the tree and said, "No Uncle, Granny's up that tree watching us." I just took his hand and walked toward the car. As my wife and I were getting in, he pointed at my wife's feet and said, "Granny likes your shoes." I thought maybe he had recalled my Mom admiring them at some point, but then I remembered that my wife had just got them the day before. He's 10 now and claims to have no memory of the incident, but the hair on the back of my neck still stands up when I think about it.
 
If I had attended my mother's funeral last year, the old girl would have sat up in her coffin and berated me for wearing trousers in church. :D:D:D

I bet my father was putting up barricades in the grave at the thought of her being dumped on top of him! No doubt they are continuing to argue as they did for their 58 years of marriage:D:D:D
 
"What do you hope for when you die?"

--> I'm hoping for a little bit of time in heaven before I have to reincarnate again. I have heard that more and more people are reincarnating quickly, and not spending enough time in heaven between incarnations.
 
If I reincarnate I would probably come back as an earthworm. If I see one in danger an out of its habitat, I pick it up and put it in a place of safety.:D
 
Quirkybird said:
If I had attended my mother's funeral last year, the old girl would have sat up in her coffin and berated me for wearing trousers in church. :D:D:D

I bet my father was putting up barricades in the grave at the thought of her being dumped on top of him! No doubt they are continuing to argue as they did for their 58 years of marriage:D:D:D
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To some, the act of arguing is a sign of affection. We seldom bother to argue with those we hate. Must have been something there. They stayed together for 58 years.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
To some, the act of arguing is a sign of affection. We seldom bother to argue with those we hate. Must have been something there. They stayed together for 58 years.
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They didn't get on at all, mother even engineered a row with my father on his death bed when he was hours from dying!:mad: There was no love lost I assure you! Sadly my mother was very hard to get on with, her own children/mother and her siblings found her very hard to take! When she died all I felt was relief, no grief. It would have been inconvenient for me to go to the funeral, so I didn't bother.
 
Quirkybird said:
They didn't get on at all, mother even engineered a row with my father on his death bed when he was hours from dying!:mad: There was no love lost I assure you! Sadly my mother was very hard to get on with, her own children/mother and her siblings found her very hard to take! When she died all I felt was relief, no grief. It would have been inconvenient for me to go to the funeral, so I didn't bother.
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Ah I see. Must have been tough growing up in such an environment. Could this be what influences your negative thoughts on religion and faith?
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Ah I see. Must have been tough growing up in such an environment. Could this be what influences your negative thoughts on religion and faith?
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I was very devout when a young person, embarrassingly so:eek:. When I actually read the Bible in detail that was when the doubts really crept in, and the more I read that book the more amazed I am that anyone could believe the deity to be 'good'. Jesus might have been a charismatic figure, but far from perfect like the rest of us.
 
Nick the Pilot said:
"What do you hope for when you die?"

--> I'm hoping for a little bit of time in heaven before I have to reincarnate again. I have heard that more and more people are reincarnating quickly, and not spending enough time in heaven between incarnations.
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Say huh? Where on earth, or anywhere else for that matter, have you heard that? Or, I guess my actual curiosity is what source did you get this information from, and why do you believe it has any accuracy?
 
Gordian Knot said:
Say huh? Where on earth, or anywhere else for that matter, have you heard that? Or, I guess my actual curiosity is what source did you get this information from, and why do you believe it has any accuracy?
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I was wondering that too?
 
Quirkybird said:
I was very devout when a young person, embarrassingly so:eek:. When I actually read the Bible in detail that was when the doubts really crept in, and the more I read that book the more amazed I am that anyone could believe the deity to be 'good'. Jesus might have been a charismatic figure, but far from perfect like the rest of us.
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I've always believed there to be an overriding truth to Christian scripture, but I've never much cared for the 'manmade' tone of the bible. That's one of the reasons I turned to Hindu scripture for solace. It too has a kill or be killed air about it at times, but it's a much friendlier account of things overall. The Bhagavad Gita for instance, has actually enhanced my understanding of the bible.
 
Quirkybird said:
I was very devout when a young person, embarrassingly so:eek:. When I actually read the Bible in detail that was when the doubts really crept in, and the more I read that book the more amazed I am that anyone could believe the deity to be 'good'. Jesus might have been a charismatic figure, but far from perfect like the rest of us.
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How does the Bible having discrepancies and errors lead to the implausibility of God? Doesn't it only mean the people who wrote and assembled the Bible didn't get it all correct? (which is not surprising to me since they were humans, thus fallible as we all are.)

I first became a Deist, which requires no scriptures nor religions to follow, to believe in the existence of a spiritual governing power of the universe. And then read the Bible, not thinking even for a second that it's the inerrant word of God. But what Jesus taught spoke directly to my heart and made me think, he is super-extraordinary, one of those who understands God so darn well, and I decided that I want to follow him. (Now I'm even willing to believe in the certain aspect of his divinity and supernatural ability.)

But that's just me... thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I have nothing against agnosticism. Most of my Japanese family and friends are agnostic and I love them just the same. :)

Tad
 
"…what source did you get this information from…"
 　
--> I got this information from a friend of mine who was a very good psychic. (She has since passed away.)
　
"…why do you believe it has any accuracy?"
 　
--> My psychic friend said we are approaching what I call the 4/7 point in the age of the human race. According to my psychic friend, we are now about four-sevenths through the time allotted for the human race, and the human race now includes a number of people who are too selfish, trouble-making, narcissistic, violent, Machiavellian, etc. My psychic friend said that these people will soon be removed from among us, because they are too far behind and cannot catch up with the rest of us in the remaining allotted time for the human race. Also, they are making a lot of trouble for the rest of us, preventing the rest of us from achieving enlightenment and nirvana in the time we have remaining. So these trouble-makers need to be removed.
　
This connects to the idea that more and more people are hurrying up and trying to get in more reincarnations in a short time, because they want to ‘beat the rush" before this deadline is reached.

This also explains why there is more trouble and negativity all of the world today. More and more of the trouble-makers are reincarnating rapidly because of this deadline, and the percentage of trouble-makers in the population continues to increase, which is why we keep seeing more and more violence on the TV news every night. Just take a look at the violence that was unthinkable 50 years ago, which is now seen as ‘normal.’
　
One more thing. More of us good people are also forgoing heaven and reincarnating more rapidly too. This explains why so many of us feel tired, unhappy, restless, and unfulfilled.
　
All of this makes sense to me.
 
QB, you said,

"Jesus might have been a charismatic figure, but far from perfect like the rest of us."

--> I see Jesus as being at a very high level, just like Buddha. These people are at such a high level that they no longer need to reincarnate. But these Elder Brothers voluntarily and intentionally take human birth from time to time, in order to teach us and help us accelerate our spiritual progress.

But I agree with you that this in no way means or proves that Jesus was a deity, he never claimed to be a deity, and I believe the idea of his being a deity was erroneously and intentionally added many years after he died. Please read my thread on the concept of immutability

http://www.interfaith.org/forum/the-concept-of-immutability-16679.html
 
I wonder if what was actually claimed for Jesus had much basis in fact? The stories were written well after the guy's death and I think there was a lot of exaggeration and untruths in the accounts.

Seeing isn't always believing as I know for a fact. I experienced the weirdest 'paranormal' events throughout my life, yet I still think there is a natural explanation for that sort of thing.
 
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