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Hi Katjonjj....I read somewhere on this post and believe I have seen you reference before that you believe that THIS IS IT. Our time here on Earth is the end of the road and that you live for today and apply God's words in your life for the here and now so that by doing so your life on Earth is more "heaven like" is that correct?
I believe that this is a great approach to living life
I know that you have thoroughly dissected and studied the bible and it is most obvious in your posts... but I have to admit I was sorry to hear that you feel like THIS IS IT. It worried me a bit as you are so knowledgeable.
I believe that we are here to experience all emotions, to strengthen our souls, and this is but a fleeting moment of our eternal existance.
Is there any inkling down deep for you that there may be more after your life here on Earth?
Hi Oakback...I understand what you are saying here. I was brought up Catholic and I too always felt that the singing and the incense together connected me to God. This is one of my favourite hymns:
MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there is doubt true faith in You
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness only light
And where there's sadness ever joy
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we are born to eternal life
I love that hymn, too. I've never heard those exact words, but I recognized St. Francis' thoughts immediately.
Our good Lord does not require ritual, but it helps this child of His.
I agree with this..We are all individuals, all with needs unique to our character..God understands this when most others don't..
The beauty and magnificance of nature, the silence that surrounds me at times, the voices of a childrens choir and many other things bring me closer to feeling His presence..
I hear people sometimes speak of spirit and soul as if the two were synonyms, and I hear other people say we are made up of body, spirit and soul. Do you see the spirit and the soul as separate and, if you do, could you explain what you believe the difference to be between them?
I hear people sometimes speak of spirit and soul as if the two were synonyms, and I hear other people say we are made up of body, spirit and soul. Do you see the spirit and the soul as separate and, if you do, could you explain what you believe the difference to be between them?
Have really have to compliment you on this thread. I believe I'm seeing a sincere search for the truth among the participants.
I'll be the first to admit that I have developed long standing beliefs, that sometimes are pretty firm. However, I also have confessed many times on this forum that I don't possess a monopoly on the truth. But I do see that we all agree the "truth" is what we all seek. And I think we all agree there can be only one truth. And this thread is contributing to that glorious day when we will all speak in one voice.
I'm bopping in and out of the forum today, in between completing my "honey do" list.
Hopefully, I can return and contribute my two cents to the discussion.
Hi Katjonjj....I read somewhere on this post and believe I have seen you reference before that you believe that THIS IS IT. Our time here on Earth is the end of the road and that you live for today and apply God's words in your life for the here and now so that by doing so your life on Earth is more "heaven like" is that correct?
I believe that this is a great approach to living life
Correct. I believe if we have our eyes on what happens after death then we miss out on what is here and now.
Quote:
I know that you have thoroughly dissected and studied the bible and it is most obvious in your posts... but I have to admit I was sorry to hear that you feel like THIS IS IT. It worried me a bit as you are so knowledgeable.
Oh.. well thanks but I am one ignorant soul so don't take my word for it! It is not so much that I feel there is nothing after this but that my focus is on here and now. I also believe that if we go on to spend the afterlife elsewhere then that is where we began and since I don't remember what was before I was born then I can't say one will remember this life in the next, if there is in fact one after this. So realistically I believe we existed as part of a whole before we are born and return to that same whole when we die... but that is pure speculation on my part as I believe all thoughts of an afterlife are.
Quote:
I believe that we are here to experience all emotions, to strengthen our souls, and this is but a fleeting moment of our eternal existance.
I just wonder how you can truly love someone if you think your meeting them is but a fleeting moment. I believe it is even more important to pay attention while on earth considering it is fleeting.
Quote:
Is there any inkling down deep for you that there may be more after your life here on Earth?
Sure there is... in fact, I think we will return to the substance from which we came. I just don't know what that substance is exactly. Spirit, Energy... perhaps it is beyond my understanding. I do not believe that those who wrote the bible had enough information to truly understand what makes the world go round, so I really have a hard time using the bible to make out what happens after death, as it seems to me the bible is all about living abundantly on earth.
I have no problem with an afterlife... I am just not going to believe there is a real palace sitting on the clouds... or a fiery pit for sinners in the middle of the earth (although it is interesting that there is fire there...
I am open to all theories... but when it comes to the afterlife it has to be speculation... we have no witnesses.
I hear people sometimes speak of spirit and soul as if the two were synonyms, and I hear other people say we are made up of body, spirit and soul. Do you see the spirit and the soul as separate and, if you do, could you explain what you believe the difference to be between them?
Hebrews 4:12 says:
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So, that says to me that they are very, very close, but separate.
Hebrews 4:12 says:
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So, that says to me that they are very, very close, but separate.
That is interesting because if you look at the other example... Joints and marrow..
The marrow is inside the bone while the joint is outside of the bone.
Then the thoughts and attitudes which the KJV renders as: discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Very interesting. I believe that spirit + body = living soul. It makes sense to me and is from Genesis so ...
I know there is a body and if you call what animates us a spirit then without both you are not alive. The dead are not animated so they are missing something, the spark of life. What that spark of life is depends on what religion you belong to...IMO
Anyway.... That brings up a question.
What do people think Jesus meant when he said, "let the dead bury their dead" in Matt. 8:22, Luke 9:60.
That is interesting because if you look at the other example... Joints and marrow..
The marrow is inside the bone while the joint is outside of the bone.
Then the thoughts and attitudes which the KJV renders as: discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Very interesting. I believe that spirit + body = living soul. It makes sense to me and is from Genesis so ...
I know there is a body and if you call what animates us a spirit then without both you are not alive. The dead are not animated so they are missing something, the spark of life. What that spark of life is depends on what religion you belong to...IMO
Anyway.... That brings up a question.
What do people think Jesus meant when he said, "let the dead bury their dead" in Matt. 8:22, Luke 9:60.
Kat,
I too believe that Spirit + body = living soul, and do not know how that ties with being told by traditional christian doctrine that we are born spiritually dead -- maybe Jesus used that phrase as a figure of speech.
I too believe that Spirit + body = living soul, and do not know how that ties with being told by traditional christian doctrine that we are born spiritually dead -- maybe Jesus used that phrase as a figure of speech.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a LIVING SOUL.
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereofthou shalt SURELY DIE.
What died in Adam the very instant he ate? We must believe that when God said "thou shalt surely die" Adam did...what died in him?
Unless a man be born again in the spirit...he shall not see the Kingdom of God.
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I am open to all theories... but when it comes to the afterlife it has to be speculation... we have no witnesses. 
and if you call what animates us a spirit then without both you are not alive. The dead are not animated so they are missing something, the spark of life. What that spark of life is depends on what religion you belong to...IMO
