hi there all,
At the moment my faith is very strained. My husband says that my epitaph will say 'I don't know what to believe anymore'!
I don't.
I feel that the bible doesn't give me the answers i crave. I know Jesus says 'If you believe in me you will never die'. What does that mean? We all know that we will die some day. Does it maybe mean that reincarnation is real and that we who believe now won't have to go through any more life's? I like things said real simple but to me this scripture and many like it, are anything but.
From your feelings, experience, etc, what do you feel goes on when we die, not what the bible says but what you feel is real?
Godbless
Nancy
Hi Nancy
When we die as most people regard death to be it is our bodies that die but the real "us" that is spirit and soul lives on just fine and you will not feel any different as "you" the moment after you die then you did from the moment just before you died other than things like pain that are associated with physical bodies will be absent.
I say this with confidence because of a flat line experience I had that while medical people had given up on reviving me and my body laid dead before them I was quite alive and well elsewhere (but without my body) and standing before what is described in revelations as the Great White Throne that is something John saw people resurrected to after they had died. (BTW I did not know of this scene prior to my accident so it is not like it was something coming from a memory or from a subconscious state)
So I say with this confidence that you too will live on after what people have come to recognize as "you" (your body) has finished the job it was given to you to do........... be a place for your spirit and soul that is the real you to abide in while on earth.
Think of what James said
James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Good luck with your journey of seeking answers.................. it is a good journey and will lead to where God will have you to be.
Blessings
Doug
Quote from: Nancy on June 07, 2009, 07:33:17 PM
hi there all,
At the moment my faith is very strained. My husband says that my epitaph will say 'I don't know what to believe anymore'!
I don't.
I feel that the bible doesn't give me the answers i crave. I know Jesus says 'If you believe in me you will never die'. What does that mean? We all know that we will die some day. Does it maybe mean that reincarnation is real and that we who believe now won't have to go through any more life's? I like things said real simple but to me this scripture and many like it, are anything but.
From your feelings, experience, etc, what do you feel goes on when we die, not what the bible says but what you feel is real?
Godbless
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
What you are experiencing is a growth beyond the written word, you have read it and you see words, but the words cannot depict what you feel.
God is love, what happens after we die is unprovable, as a result, we can fear that unknown. It is because the world is filled with people who fear, they spread it, they look at world events and warn us the coming doom, they critisize others for not measuring up to their own eyes (while saying it is Gods) and putting all to a stop. When someone says "you don't know what to believe" do not let that hinder you because you are who you are at any given moment.
All that gets filtered in our thinking so we in our own faith seem disatisfied, we may have our own desires that are unfullfilled as we hear so many people quoting the verses on prayer and make God out to be their personal genie but rubbing the lamp seems to have come up short for us.
Take your spiritual self to the next level Nancy, look around and see that Christ is in the most obvious and the most faint of things. You will see Christ and perhaps see that someone else sees Christ but doesn't call him that specific word as religion has seasoned us to believe must be.
I cannot describe what I believe I know concerning the afterlife, there is no description because once you move past rituals, routines and the written word, you only find knowledge and understanding, a knowing.
You will know when you no longer have to re-experience some revelation that God is good, it will be a constant. It is a struggle to get there because it is letting go of all the notions that place everything in a box or a page of text.
Your on your way, your right where I was about a year ago in how you describe things. Keep trying, never let go.
I know that sounds easy to say and rather vague, but no one else but you and God will come to that understanding and it is in his time, it cannot be forced, it is perfect timing so that you are ready to accept it and walk to the next step of freedom.
Quote from: Nancy on June 07, 2009, 07:33:17 PM
hi there all,
At the moment my faith is very strained. My husband says that my epitaph will say 'I don't know what to believe anymore'!
I don't.
I feel that the bible doesn't give me the answers i crave. I know Jesus says 'If you believe in me you will never die'. What does that mean? We all know that we will die some day. Does it maybe mean that reincarnation is real and that we who believe now won't have to go through any more life's? I like things said real simple but to me this scripture and many like it, are anything but.
From your feelings, experience, etc, what do you feel goes on when we die, not what the bible says but what you feel is real?
Godbless
Nancy
I can't answer your question, as I'm unsure myself. There appear to be good arguments on both sides of the question as to what happens when we die. I can tell you that the scripture you quoted is somewhat misleading as translated. The literal translation is not "never die", but rather, "shall not be dying for the eon". I believe that Jesus Christ literally died in every sense of the word, spirit returning to God (for three days), but that does not necessarily mean we will, because we know He tasted death for every man.
(AUV-NT) And whoever goes on living and believing in me, will never die [spiritually]. Do you believe this?"
(Diaglott-NT) and all the living and believing into me, not not may die into the age. Believest thou this?
(LITV) And everyone living and believing into Me shall not die to the age, never! Do you believe this?
(Rotherham) And, no one who liveth again and believeth on me, shall in anywise die, unto times age-abiding. Believest thou this?
(YLT) and every one who is living and believing in me shall not die--to the age;
(CLV) And everyone who is living and believing in Me, should by no means be dying for the eon. Are you believing this?"
Seems to speak about a death of a certain period.
Sinners are resurrected after the 1000 years/eon.
Perhaps it just means "stay death during the 1000 year rule of Jesus." ?
Quote from: Doc on June 09, 2009, 10:34:58 PM
I believe that Jesus Christ literally died in every sense of the word, spirit returning to God (for three days), but that does not necessarily mean we will, because we know He tasted death for every man.
Ok, but did Jesus save us from temporay death or eternal death?
I think the last because Revelation speaks about first fruits, resurrected after 1000 years, LoF, etc.
So I think there still is (2nd) death. Without Jesus death would be permanent.
Wages of sin is death. That rules is still valid. It's just that Jesus payed our wages.
Quote from: WhiteWings on June 09, 2009, 11:00:56 PM
Quote from: Doc on June 09, 2009, 10:34:58 PM
I believe that Jesus Christ literally died in every sense of the word, spirit returning to God (for three days), but that does not necessarily mean we will, because we know He tasted death for every man.
Ok, but did Jesus save us from temporay death or eternal death?
I think the last because Revelation speaks about first fruits, resurrected after 1000 years, LoF, etc.
So I think there still is (2nd) death. Without Jesus death would be permanent.
Wages of sin is death. That rules is still valid. It's just that Jesus payed our wages.
Well, He certainly saved us from eternal death at the very least. I don't know for sure, but I'm leaning away from the notion of being saved from temporary death, unless it is for the temporary eon we're talking about.
And actually, that should read "the
ration of sin is death." Wages is a different Greek word, and is something you get at an end point in return for doing something, while a ration is something that you get that sustains you over an interval. A subtle but important difference, I think.