If an afterlife exists

[Desk trauma]

It may seem cruel from our standpoint, but we must remember that our judgement is corrupt because we're all fallen creatures.
God's ways are infinitely higher than ours, so we have zero chance of ever understanding His ways.

Again, how convenient.

 

[Dan1988]

I don`t believe in a afterlife myself because the logic implies that if people never died, they would just fill up space to a infinite amount, the problem then is that every soul will eventually fly into eachothers because of lack of space and another problem, is that you wouldn`t walk around on this planet anymore ether, so you would always suffer with missing it and missing life

There's no problem with overcrowding in the life to come, the universe is endless. God said that there would be no end to the expansion of His Kingdom.
Nobody will miss this earth, because the new one will be infinitely better.

 

[ananda]

God's ways are infinitely higher than ours, so we have zero chance of ever understanding His ways.

If this is true, then that would include you. Perhaps the truth is that the Buddha is the highest, and you didn't understand.

 

[ViaCrucis]

In the unlikely event of there being an afterlife what will it be like? Would we be the same people we are here on earth or totally different? If someone passes into the afterlife as a child, will they stay as such, not growing into an adult? If a person has a disability or illness will they continue to suffer from it?

What do others think?

The Christian hope is that, at the conclusion of history, Christ will return, the dead shall rise, and God will restore all things. The hope of that future world involves a world in which goodness, peace, justice, and love reign; as such all injustice is no longer, that includes sickness, pain, suffering, etc. The biblical metaphors of maturity are probably relevant in discussing if we will be the same people; in other words, yet, in the same way that you are the same person you were when you were born; but obviously you aren't identical to the infant you, you've grown, matured, etc. In the same way, we see the present way in which we are human as being infantile, Christ being the grown up--God's work on us in both this life and its perfection in the resurrection is growing into the image of Jesus, the new man. In that sense, it is probably safe to say that the difference between you now, and the you in the Age to Come is the difference between you as a child and the you as an adult.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Pulchra]

There's no problem with overcrowding in the life to come, the universe is endless. God said that there would be no end to the expansion of His Kingdom.
Nobody will miss this earth, because the new one will be infinitely better.

I personally would suffer missing this planet

 

[Dan1988]

If this is true, then that would include you. Perhaps the truth is that the Buddha is the highest, and you didn't understand.

I'm not sure if you're joking, but we know that Buddha never claimed to be a god. He was a philosopher, who tried to explain life to the best of his ability.
He had no answers to the basic questions, that 5 year old kids ask . Like, who am I, where did I come from, why am I here and where am I going.

 

[Dan1988]

I personally would suffer missing this planet

You wouldn't suffer any separation anxiety over this planet at all. The Creator said that it will be far better than we could possibly imagine.
Would you miss driving a rusty old VW Beetle, if you were given a brand new Lamborghini.

 

[Pulchra]

You wouldn't suffer any separation anxiety over this planet at all. The Creator said that it will be far better than we could possibly imagine.
Would you miss driving a rusty old VW Beetle, if you were given a brand new Lamborghini.

But, what`s the point in having sort of two lives if you can just live forever to begin with?

 

[ananda]

I'm not sure if you're joking, but we know that Buddha never claimed to be a god.

I wasn't joking ... in the suttas, the Buddha accepted the title of "Teacher of God(s)", so he was claiming to be higher than any god.

He was a philosopher, who tried to explain life to the best of his ability. He had no answers to the basic questions, that 5 year old kids ask . Like, who am I, where did I come from, why am I here and where am I going.

As I understand the suttas, he didn't answer those questions because he knew that they weren't really the most basic questions. He went deeper and addressed the more fundamental concerns regarding suffering, discontentment, contentment, peace, and happiness. E.g. Looking back, I know now that when I asked about heaven/god(s)/saviors/etc., I wasn't really searching for heaven/god(s)/saviors/etc.. I was actually searching for what those things supposedly promises - unending contentment, peace and happiness.

 

[Dan1988]

But, what`s the point in having sort of two lives if you can just live forever to begin with?

This life on earth was created to test mankind and prepare us for eternity. Everyone will either spend eternity in heaven or hell, our eternal fate depends on what we believe.
We will all stand before God to give an account of our lives, those who rely on their own righteousness will be cast into hell. Those who trust in Christ for their justification will enter into eternal paradise.
We all inherited a sin nature from our parents, so God said we must be born again to enter heaven. There's no third option, men have invented all kinds of theories about the afterlife but God said we all go to one of the two places to spend eternity.

 

[Dan1988]

I wasn't joking ... in the suttas, the Buddha accepted the title of "Teacher of God(s)", so he was claiming to be higher than any god.

As I understand the suttas, he didn't answer those questions because he knew that they weren't really the most basic questions. He went deeper and addressed the more fundamental concerns regarding suffering, discontentment, contentment, peace, and happiness. E.g. Looking back, I know now that when I asked about heaven/god(s)/saviors/etc., I wasn't really searching for heaven/god(s)/saviors/etc.. I was actually searching for what those things supposedly promises - unending contentment, peace and happiness.

Please excuse my ignorance about the teachings of Buddha, I didn't know that he claimed to be higher than any god.
The God of the Bible said that He's the only true God, He said that He's a jealous God who would never share His glory with any other god.
The Bible tells us that He will cast everyone who didn't serve and worship Him alone, into hell to be tormented with fire forever.
That's a very serious promise, so I don't understand why unbelievers would risk such a fate.
We know that God is angry with unbelievers, He hates them so much that He destroyed every man, woman, child and animal with a flood before. He only spared Noah and his family, so we can see how He feels about unbelievers.

 

[ananda]

Please excuse my ignorance about the teachings of Buddha, I didn't know that he claimed to be higher than any god.
The God of the Bible said that He's the only true God, He said that He's a jealous God who would never share His glory with any other god.
The Bible tells us that He will cast everyone who didn't serve and worship Him alone, into hell to be tormented with fire foreve ... We know that God is angry with unbelievers, He hates them so much that He destroyed every man, woman, child and animal with a flood before. He only spared Noah and his family, so we can see how He feels about unbelievers.

I thought that there was a zero chance of understanding his ways ...

That's a very serious promise, so I don't understand why unbelievers would risk such a fate.

There are similar, serious claims in the Buddhist scriptures too ... yet many also risk the fate that they claim by being an unbeliever.

 

[Dan1988]

I thought that there was a zero chance of understanding his ways ...

There are similar, serious claims in the Buddhist scriptures too ... yet many also risk the fate that they claim by being an unbeliever.

God has revealed everything He want's us to know about Him in His Holy Scriptures, but there's an infinite more about Him which will take all of eternity to find out.
The first commandment warns against having other god's. God created Buddha, and I've never heard of any of Buddha's miracles.
God came into the world, in the Person of Jesus Christ and proved that He is God by demonstrating His power over all His creation. He raised people from the dead, gave sight to the blind, calmed a fierce storm and performed many other miracles.
If Buddha did any of these, I would take notice but to me he was a great philosopher who was created by Jesus and his life was taken away from him by Jesus.

 

[Jok]

In the unlikely event of there being an afterlife what will it be like? Would we be the same people we are here on earth or totally different? If someone passes into the afterlife as a child, will they stay as such, not growing into an adult? If a person has a disability or illness will they continue to suffer from it?

What do others think?

A year before my birth I was nothing, then I became something. I did it once so I would say that the odds would be in my favor that it can be done again. My existence after non-existence was already proven to be possible since it happened. So something put me here, it can surely put me somewhere else next time as well. So I don't think it's unlikely. In my most pessimistic state I would even say it is more like 50/50

 

[ananda]

God has revealed everything He want's us to know about Him in His Holy Scriptures, but there's an infinite more about Him which will take all of eternity to find out.
The first commandment warns against having other god's. God created Buddha, and I've never heard of any of Buddha's miracles.
God came into the world, in the Person of Jesus Christ and proved that He is God by demonstrating His power over all His creation. He raised people from the dead, gave sight to the blind, calmed a fierce storm and performed many other miracles.
If Buddha did any of these, I would take notice but to me he was a great philosopher who was created by Jesus and his life was taken away from him by Jesus.

The Buddha is said to have performed many miracles in the Buddhist scriptures, but - in His own words - His greatest miracle was the miracle of instruction, whereby He taught how the resolution of suffering was humanity's core problem - not death, life, sight, calming storms, etc.

 

[Pulchra]

This life on earth was created to test mankind and prepare us for eternity. Everyone will either spend eternity in heaven or hell, our eternal fate depends on what we believe.
We will all stand before God to give an account of our lives, those who rely on their own righteousness will be cast into hell. Those who trust in Christ for their justification will enter into eternal paradise.
We all inherited a sin nature from our parents, so God said we must be born again to enter heaven. There's no third option, men have invented all kinds of theories about the afterlife but God said we all go to one of the two places to spend eternity.

Good story sort of, but I don`t believe it really

 

[Dan1988]

The Buddha is said to have performed many miracles in the Buddhist scriptures, but - in His own words - His greatest miracle was the miracle of instruction, whereby He taught how the resolution of suffering was humanity's core problem - not death, life, sight, calming storms, etc.

I don't see how instruction on how to resolve the problem of suffering as a miracle, since not a single follower of Buddha has ever found the supposed resolution.
All Buddhists suffer the same pain when they break bones in accidents and get cancer, so we can say his supposed miracle failed spectacularly.

 

[Dan1988]

Good story sort of, but I don`t believe it really

I really hope and pray that you would ask God to reveal Himself to you, before you dismiss Him as a myth.
There's just too much at stake here, the truth exists and nothing can change it. At least 50 million believers have been executed for the sake of the truth. All they had to do, was deny Christ and they could have waked away from the fiery stake.
Christians put Christ's honor above everything else, including their own lives. So everyone who knows Christ, lives to serve and worship Him alone. Everything and everyone else pales into insignificance.
Christ created everything that exists, so He already owns everyone. He said we will know Him as our savior or our judge.
I hope you give it some serious thought, because He said that He will cast everyone who doesn't know Him as their savior into hell.

 

[ananda]

I don't see how instruction on how to resolve the problem of suffering as a miracle,

It's the highest miracle because it resolves the deepest problem plaguing mankind.

since not a single follower of Buddha has ever found the supposed resolution.

How do you know that? Our scriptures suggests many thousands in the Buddha's time did achieve complete resolution. I also know for myself that my ongoing practice of His Path continues to bring me closer to the resolution.

All Buddhists suffer the same pain when they break bones in accidents and get cancer, so we can say his supposed miracle failed spectacularly.

Buddhists distinguish between pain and suffering. Yes, we must all undergo pains in life, but suffering is optional.

 

[VCR-2000]

There is no way to understand it in this realm. We see through the mirror darkly. Nobody is going to be a robot but their perfected selves from a Christian pov. To try to know every detail from our understand here to what it will be like there is a futile exercise.

If there is no way to understand this realm, I will argue that is technically meaningless.