Extreme Anxiety - Eternity

[Gentlemantech48]

Eternal life with Jesus is something that Christians accept and look forward to. On the other hand I'm betting that many have experienced extreme anxiety over the idea of eternity because it is beyond the capability of our human mind to comprehend. It is believed that we will do some sort of work for God for eternity. The Bible mentions the "judging of angels" as one responsibility we might have. 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Beyond this work, I know of nothing else mentioned about what work we will do. Since a brand new, eternal earth is our destiny, will there be much to do in taking care of the earth? Revelation 21:1 Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

OK, so we will not just spend all of our days sitting on a cloud playing a harp. Even though we will have work to do, what if I'm tired of doing the same work after 1000 years? What about 10,000 years?, 100,000 years, a million years?, a billion years? A trillion years? etc, etc, etc. What if I'm tired of living for that long? Life without end? I don't know about other readers of this posting but I actually start having a panic attack if I think about this for too long. On one hand I don't want to just die and never regain consciousness, but on the other hand we are putting our faith in God that this anxiety will never occur. Actually, I believe that is part of what the Bible calls the "fear of God". We have to have complete trust in His love that living forever will not be a problem to us. I guess we retain something from our earthly personality but to become an eternal being has to produce a major change in who we are.

Another question that boggles the human mind is "why did God decided to create man at this point in eternity?" Has He ever done this before, say like a billion years ago? Has he been doing it for eternity?

And then, of course, the ultimate mind boggling thought. How can believe that God has always existed? On the other hand, He has to have always existed because there had to be a being to create things. Our human minds go into overload if we think about eternal things too much. We have to accept that there is a loving God who has lived eternally and who cares about us enough to send His son to die on a cross for our sins. Science has to be thrown out the window here. Even though God's creation can all be analyzed using science, God's eternal life and our eternal life to come cannot be analyzed using science. It has to be accepted by faith, knowing that there is no other answer that makes any sense. There is one God, one Christ, one way to salvation. What happened a billion years ago or what will happen a billion years from now doesn't matter in terms of faith. An eternal God is to be feared but feared in a good, respectful way. Our life, both now and eternally, is in His hands and to reject His plan of salvation is foolishness.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I think the reason why our minds cannot stand being alive for more than a set period of time .. is similar to why it does not make sense that there can be an existence that did not begin or end, it defies all that we have ever known.

 

[SkyWriting]

OK, so we will not just spend all of our days sitting on a cloud playing a harp. Even though we will have work to do, what if I'm tired of doing the same work after 1000 years? What about 10,000 years?, 100,000 years, a million years?, a billion years? A trillion years? etc, etc, etc. What if I'm tired of living for that long? Life without end? I don't know about other readers of this posting but I actually start having a panic attack if I think about this for too long.

The problem stems from that likelihood that "time" does not exist in the afterlife.
So there is no good comparison or the associated potential drawbacks.

 

[bling]

We are in time so it is hard to imagine being outside of time.

If God were “in time” and there was an infinite amount of time prior to His making this universe, than the universe would not be made, since an infinite amount of time has not passed by yet?

Time might be something God created for us?

As far as “work” to do in heaven, what do you like doing?

I like helping others and that seems to be what God/Christ like to do and it fits the definition of “Love” which God is. There are people that die without ever having the opportunity to accept or reject Godly type Love and from my understanding of God these people would go on to heaven without ever fulfilling their earthly objective and obtaining Godly type Love, so they would enter heaven with only a strong “child for parent type love”. These without Godly type Love would need close attention 24/7 to protect and preserve them for eternity, which would be a wonderful “work” to do and I hope to do it.

 

[1213]

...Even though we will have work to do, what if I'm tired of doing the same work after 1000 years? What about 10,000 years?, 100,000 years, a million years?, a billion years? A trillion years? etc, etc, etc. What if I'm tired of living for that long? Life without end?...

There is no time, if you live in a moment.

Also I think it is good to notice, in eternal life, there is righteous people that love as God has commanded. And where is love and righteousness, there is missing nothing good.

 

[ImAllLikeOkWaitWat]

When you become perfect like Christ you won't be worrying about things like what to do for eternity. There will be no fear when our day of glory comes.