Amaranth

Why would the afterlife be like this? Assuming a literalist point of veiw, it didn't take man too very long to bring sin into the garden, and man had a far more personal relationship with god then than he does now. It seems extremely unlikely that man would not have introduced sin into the next world, unless death changes man, either through act of god or loss of physical body. In either case, the person you are is truly dead, and this new person who resembles you is all that is left. I do see other possibilities, but they are equally dismal, and I'm hoping you can present one that isn't such.



I would hope so. Hell would be honestly preferable to that.

Philosoft answers this more concisely than I could hope.

All right, your beliefs in the afterlife are strikingly similar to those of a Unitarian friend of mine, and I think I have a handle on it. The question stands, though: Why would you want to live for eternity? Can you honestly imagine anything that could keep you happy forever without some fundemental change to your being?

Amaranth

Amaranth

Man had a very personal relationship with god in Eden, and still brought sin into the world. Would not mankind, already armed with knowledge of what sin is, only repeat this failure in the afterlife if left to their free will?

We all know we disagree on this, so let's please touch it in another thread. Please?

Amaranth

GeoTheo

No it wouldn't. You seem to be assuming that once you die time stops and all you can study is in the past. Why assume that? There is always somthing new happening-new dramas unfolding.
Maybe most people just have more limits to their imagination than I do. Oh well.

JGL53

quote <Someone who acted through force of their will would be a dictator - that is not the God of the Bible. Kevin>


Rather than a dictator, the god of the bible seems to me to be just a plain DICK.

Amaranth

Sure, but if I've seen a red panda bear juggle 5 chainsaws 200 times, the show isn't going to be more interesting because the panda bear is blue this time, or is juggling 6 chain saws.


OooOOooo...Ad hominem? We're wrong becuase we aren't as imaginative? All right, I can handle this game...how about this:

On the contrary - Were you better able to imagine eternity, you would understand perfectly how boring it would eventually get.

Amaranth

wade-w

Consider this. Our current best estimates say that the universe is somewhere near 14 billion years old. Compared to an eternity, that is less the blink of an eye. How long would you estimate it would take you to do absolutely everything that it is possible to do? A trillion years, 10 Trillion? More? That is still nothing at all in the face of an eternity. Even after 100 trillion years, you might as well have just started. Even after the largest number of years you can possibly think of, you still have just as much time ahead of you as the day you started. How could you possibly not get terminally bored?

The idea of eternal life is horrifying to me.

GrandDesigner

This isnt directed at Amaranth, but I haven't seen a red panda bear juggle 5 chainsaws and I'd like to. But to those who think eternity must be boring, read on.

Sure, but if I've seen a red panda bear juggle 5 chainsaws 200 times, the show isn't going to be more interesting because the panda bear is blue this time, or is juggling 6 chain saws.

Ok, I'll save this post or try and remember it as long as I can. I can ask any of you to do the same. But also try and remember this next part because if you dont, then it may seem a little less interesting.

When you're juggling 5 chainsaws, sometime, look out at the spectators. If I remember this post, I will keep an eye out. When you see me looking back, slowly look down and try and guess the colour of your panda fur. I dont know how they perceive colour so it may not be called 'red', if you see what I'm saying.

At that moment, remember that you once thought or suggested eternity might get a little boring. Then realize you're a panda, and even though you've seen pandas juggling chainsaws, you are now the panda watching the spectators.

There's an infinte amount of possibilites. I imagine it'll take eternity to experience everything, including this life here.

Grand ol' Designer

The Naked Mage

No, no, nooooooooooooooooooo. You imagine wrong.

GeoTheo

Sorry If I ofended you but perhaps you are just not a creative person. Creative people enjoy creating. It does not bore them. You seem to be making an analogy between life and watching a soap opera for the umpteenth time. If I were to look at it that way I would be bored also. But I don't.
You don't understand eternity, you just understand your own analogy of it.
Here is another analogy: God is eternal. He is also creative. He created a world that at it's building block level-the quantum level, it is indeterminate. Perhaps God knows how it will all turn out. We can't. assuming we won't be able to know in the after life their will always be somthing new.

GeoTheo

For some reason you think of eternity as doing the same thing over and over again an infinite number of times. That doesn't make any sense. Variety is usually a good way to avoid boredom. In an eternity you could do a different thing everyday and still have an infinate number of choices left. I don't see how you could have much more variety than that. Maybe if you had to spend eternity in a phone booth it would get boring but not in an infinate Universe.