Eternity - a punishment either way? (soul, hell, myth, church)

[brianrees]

Does anyone agree with me that the religious concept of ETERNITY is a totally bizarre and unpalatable idea?

Irrespective of whether it's about heaven or hell I find either scenario grotesque. We all know about what an unappealing place hell is meant to be, but am I alone in finding the prospect of an eternity spent in heaven just as disturbing?

It's easy to use the word Eternity without considering its full implications, because we are so familiar with the term. However, to me, the almost incomprehensible thought of a literally never-ending state, however pleasant for the first 600 trillion years, is as scary as it gets.

We humans aren't programmed to last forever, even in the Natural World, which changes by the day - mercifully - so how can we hope to get our minds around, let alone want to experience a perfectly static eternity? No future to look forward to, only more of the same - ad nauseam - in fact, NOTHING NEW to distract us in any way.

Even BLISS would start to pall through its sheer monotony. We need the stimulation of challenges to keep our minds working, but there won't be any challenges in heaven - all that will be behind us. We would soon start to pine for our imperfect earthly existence, I'm quite sure. Because, with nothing to contrast with perfect happiness, such happiness would become meaningless, just as light depends on darkness to give it any validity.

Please don't tell me that God will be all we need to keep us sane and stimulated - I suspect god himself would eventually be driven mad in such a situation, and would probably die of boredom, if only he could.

What agony.

[JohnJLethal]

I certainly find the Judeo-Christian Eternity, spent worshiping a seemingly insecure deity, to be nauseating. "Love me, love me!"

I would be interested in human-created conditional immortality, such as scientists identifying the persona or consciousness (if it exists), and being able to download it to a temporary storage medium, and uploading it into a new body of some sort. (Android would be sufficient )

On mythological terms, maybe Valhalla, though I'd have to look into it more.

Off to work.

[Niftybergin]

Happily for me, I believe in reincarnation. I don't expect eternity one way or the other. (Although I guess I do believe that my soul is eternal, although my thoughts/consciousness/memories are not.)

The concept of a full-stop heaven or hell eternity is difficult for me to accept, if only because it doesn't seem "natural" based on what we see around us. Out of death comes life; out of life comes death. Everything is cyclical. As science says, matter can be neither created nor destroyed. So my brain just doesn't accept the idea that we die and then go off to some other place where we "live" for all eternity. *shakes head* Dunno. It just doesn't make sense to me. (And for those who would argue that faith doesn't HAVE to make sense, that may be true for you. But part of the reason MY faith works for me is because it DOES make sense for me. I can embrace my faith with both my heart and my mind. I don't expect it to work for other people. It's enough that it works for me.)

[ShepsMom]

Good questions Brian, that's why i asked on another thread, what do you do in heaven.
Possibilities are endless, and "endless" is a scary thing.

[Miss Blue]

I have absolutely no idea what an eternal spiritual life would be like except maybe I should drop the concept of "life" and just go with spiritual body (absent a human body which begins to die the minute it is born)..
I expect there will be things that will be happening in the spiritual world that I can only imagine with my human brain and consciousness..The bible says very little about heaven, except that we cannot comprehend the things of it..
As far as the idea of hell. Well my opinion of hell is the eternal separation from God, as in dead, gone, forgotten. The "good book" says that on the day of judgement God will say to some "I never knew you"..Maybe that is the moment we disappear from everyones memory...and from God. People have really hung on to old stories from ancient artists and writers of their imaginings about hell..until it has become a "religion" to them.

[GCSTroop]

The other day I was thinking about how simple and easy life would be if I could just win an extraordinary sum of money in the lottery. All of the stresses of life would seemingly go away. I wouldn't have to worry about work, about paying the mortgage every month, or filling up on gas. The world financial crisis would seem so petty and non-existent while I shacked up in my beautiful 18,000 square foot mansion smoking Churchill cigars and drinking my Twinings of London tea.

But, then I began to think... While that may very well be a nice, easy, relaxing way to live my life with little to no worries I don't suspect that happiness comes that easily. While so many would view life like that to be the perfect way to live, I think that I may get bored without the challenges of life. Surely I could still work a challenging job if I so chose but things wouldn't be that challenging if you never had to worry about losing your job. Part of the fun of life is overcoming the obstacles within it. Heaven often seems to be described as a place where there are no obstacles or challenges and that everything is in a constant state of stasis and bliss. That doesn't seem like fun to me. That doesn't seem like something to strive for. While it may seem grand and luxurious at first glance, it really seems like an eternity of utter hell to me.

Honestly, if there were a heaven, I wouldn't want it to be much different than from what I live my life as right now. While I've been through my own personal 'heavens' and 'hells' I quite rightly like the challenges that come along with life. Sometimes they are overwhelming and sometimes they are not but at least that's what makes life interesting.

[baxendale]

They probably have Actitivity Directors to organize things like scavenger hunts, lawn darts, cloud seeding etc.
That job would suck, OK folks, Karaoke night....again.

[TNKY]

"Lean not onto your own understanding." Yes, eternity sounds, eventually, quite boring if we base it on what we know, but the bible says we cannot fully understand it yet. Like blue62 said, we've been told only a little about heaven. Yeah, the concept of living forever blows my mine too, but I look forward to it.

[denverian]

I've thought about this before and eternal bliss makes no sense. I'm not wired for that. My mind would have to be changed to the point I was a drone without thought. Eternity in hell is just a ridiculous thought - not even Hitler deserves that. Maybe a few hundred years though.

[ShepsMom]

Originally Posted by TNKY

"Lean not onto your own understanding." Yes, eternity sounds, eventually, quite boring if we base it on what we know, but the bible says we cannot fully understand it yet. Like blue62 said, we've been told only a little about heaven. Yeah, the concept of living forever blows my mine too, but I look forward to it.

I find it quiet interesting how Christians always have an excuse that we don't understand everything that bible teaches, but then when question is asked, they tell you to go and read the Bible, because it's all there and it's all clear.