How is eternal life comforting?

Yeah, I can understand superficially why it would be nice to believe that you live forever after you die, but when you really think about it. Eternity is a really long time, it would probably take me about 100-200 years before I started to get really bored.
You'd do everything you wanted to until you got bored, then everything you didn't want to do, just to have something to do. Eventually it would just become this mind numbing cycle of dull uniformity before you eventually descend into madness.

I prefer sweet oblivion.


[edit] probably shouldn't have posted this right before bed. See you in the morning guys.

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"When work seems overwhelming, remember that you are going to die"
Strangely enough this motivates me.

Hi Wedjat,

For Christians the concept is comforting because of the relationship we have with our God. When you meet someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you marry them because you want to grow in an even deeper connection with them. Now add to this eternal togetherness the promise of an eternal happiness and an eternal freedom from a life of pain, suffering and sorrow. They are just the icing on the proverbial cake. The relationship will be all the more sweeter.

In the Bible's book of Revelations 21:3 we are promised that in the earth made new God himself will dwell with us and we with him and that death, sorrow and pain will no longer exist. Who wouldn't want a life without such?

Besides, there are so many things about the world and universe that we in our finite minds do not already know. And if we are still discovering new things today it is unimaginable what what we shall be able to explore in a setting where nothing can hinder our progress to grow, learn and explore. There shall be no room for boredom for we shall be ever learning, ever exploring new and wonderful things which our human minds in its current state have never experienced or been privy to before.

There is a promise in the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:9 and Isaiah 64:4) that says `no eye has seen nor ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him". Simply put, it will be an awesome experience we cannot even conjure up within the confines of our limited imaginations. For `Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable' (Psalms 145:3) who `does great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number' (Job 5:9)

I'm a real mystery buff and I love the adventure of finding out things that are not always clearly seen or known up front. Some like history, some like science, we are all so varied and I believe that the earth made new will have many things in store for every one of us who dwell in it in order to keep our interests for an eternity.

I too am posting at a time when time will quickly escape me. Will have to catch up with the thread much later on.

I wonder about the billions of believers that can fit in God's kingdom. Because man is created from dust, it does not mean that God would re-create man again from dust in heaven. I believe these transformed spiritual bodies we Christians might become cannot suffer fatigue or need any sleep because there is no night or sunlight, just God's holy light. Because humans on Earth has body size from 1 foot tall to over 7 feet tall in height, in God's kingdom, I believe everyone has to be tiny, or God's kingdom could have some kind of space-dimensional corridors that could lead to countless millions of rooms, just like a mirror-to-mirror reflection giving that illusion of hundreds of mirrors. Our spiritual minds would be time-resistant and we would never suffer mental illnesses or other brain disorders. Omniscience at this level of intelligence is experiencing the vast memory ability like God, to understand how life and the universe began, and how God can know our future.


Revelation 22 (New International Version)


Revelation 22

The River of Life

1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. 6The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."

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I learn to accept Jesus Christ and our God the Father by default.

I think you'd have to have a better understanding, some actual experience of, the Creator of the Universe before you could say how you'd actually feel about an eternity in heaven. Heaven, you see, is all about Him. Heaven is heaven because God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit are there and we are able to stand before God face-to-face and experience Him fully as He is.

I don't think time in Heaven is as it is here on Earth. The Bible reveals that God exists outside time (2Pe. 3:8) and it may well be that in Heaven we may have some experience of that, too. We are told in Scripture that there is no night in Heaven (Rev. 22:5), so we can't expect to have the twenty-four hour cycle that we do here on this planet. Consequently, we won't have weeks, or months, or years, either. Time will pass quite differently (if it passes at all) in Heaven than it does for us now.

God made each of us to worship Him; our fundamental purpose in being is to glorify our Maker. Those who are in Heaven will be able to fulfill their purpose for being completely, which will be an experience beyond anything we can imagine. We will be able, without taint of sin, without hindrance of Self, and with every fibre of our being, to do what we were made to do!

We won't be singing endlessly, however. Worship of God isn't simply standing with a hymn book in hand proclaiming in song how marvelous God is. As John Piper has explained, we best glorify God when we are enjoying Him. The greater the joy we take in our Maker, the greater glory He is given. When we revel in His love and holiness and delight in His kindness and compassion, when we are satisfied with Him beyond all measure, then it is that we are most glorifying God. So it is that we read in the Bible:

Psalms 16:11
11 You (God) will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Peace.

Our concept of time is relative to our current knowledge of it. Eternity is existence without the boundaries of time. When you find someone that you truly Love, you will share a few fleeting moments where time seems to stand still or you will find yourself in a moment where you wish you could savor or live in that moment forever.

Eternity with God is that moment. It is a perpetual existence with someone that you love with all of your Heart, mind, spirit and strength.

Eternal life shouldn't be a crutch or an alternative to Hell, but a home coming. If you could capture the day a soldier coming home from an extended deployment to a loving family for eternity, that would give you the very basic Idea of why we want eternal life..

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God is my judge.

Hi Wedjat, I think your observation is valid. Given the current capacity of our minds, we would "fill up" with stuff and begin to travel down ruts in our mind. But in our "glorified" bodies, who is to say we will experience heaven as we have experienced earth? While it must be thrilling to have a "flash of originality" those experiences do not happen often. But as long as the experience is fresh for us, we can enjoy the moment. Some older folks do not remember yesterday, and so when they see a flower, they can say, I think that is the prettest flower I have ever seen. It would not take much of a tweak to make heaven enjoyable forever, whether we are doing new things or old things that seem new to us. May God Bless

Well as God is infinite, and the universe He created now is so varied and interesting, even from our limited capacity to understand and experience it, (like not being able to fly and stuff), wouldn't heaven be even more diverse and exciting and infinite? All the things we have here that are good, taken to new heights and made infinitely more different and remarkable and enthralling.

Also, we will have new capacites, and all the avenues that opens up. And we won't just get everything at once, it's a learning process, if God is infinite and eternal and deeper and higher and wiser and more creative than anything, then how much more can He make heaven even more wonderful and awesome than this present world, and we'll know more and more of it as eternity goes on.

Angels haven't got bored yet, and they're far far far much older and wiser than we, beyond our human ability to comprehend.

Also perfect peace and love and joy and bliss and no more pain or tears.
Some say that no sorrow would make things boring, but no-one in pain or sadness says that. There is comfort in heaven.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" (Revelation 21:4)

Think of your best moments with friends and loved ones, that day that was too short, that happy conversation that ran out of time, those good times that had to end, well in heaven they don't have to end, they can last for as long as you want them to. No-one gets bored of love and happiness and friendship, also, there'll be billions of other people you can get to know as well, even though you will already know them as family, because the love that comes from God is the very essence of heaven.

I can't explain it enough, but that's the not-quite-good-enough shot I can give it.

Might that simply reflect our current lack of imagination?

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Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)

The main sentiments of this thread seem to be along the lines of my spiritual "body" will be different, or time passes differently.

I would argue that to some degree, I would have to stop being who I am in order to enjoy heaven. Something would have to be fundamentally changed about how I operate to simply love God for the rest of eternity because that's all I'll want to do, it seems more like brainwashing.
In that case I'd rather die who I am than live forever as someone else.

As for the time traveling differently bit. Forever is forever, outside of time or in it, it doesn't matter. If you're there for eternity, you're there for good.

Also I don't see how heaven could be any good without pain or suffering. Joy and happiness are relative, without negative emotions, how do you recognize the good? Plus, pain makes things more interesting in the long run.

__________________
"When work seems overwhelming, remember that you are going to die"
Strangely enough this motivates me.

Have you read The Great Divorce?

__________________
Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)