just some random thoughts I've always had

[Novawin87]

Im a newer Christian 3 years but ive always had these thoughts and just wanted some opinions and thoughts

I used to be so terrified of dying when i was a kid i remember watching this movie of a kid passing away around my age at that time i would have been maybe 10 (touched by an angel episode) back in the 1990a there and i remember just being terrified and my mom trying to explain that my body and soul separate and then ill receive a new perfect body but also i realized later on her theology from what church's she went to were different too and i just remember like thinking at that time why do we die which i know why now but also i couldn't fathom living forever and ever, as i got older the worse it seemed to become until i got saved and then everything seems its not half as bad now that I understand following and believing in Jesus

I had panic attacks and sometimes still doo on this where il wake up out of a sleep or if i think about dying too much and i just get really scared but when I pray about it and talk to God I feel peace so Its something I have to trust God on to help me through it part of it is and im trying to make as much sense as i can and i understand we really don't know some true answers until we meet Jesus and he lets us know what's going to happen i just wanted your thoughts on do you believe that we will recognize loved ones and also spend time together will that matter anymore will we know them like we do now for example will i know my kids , my husband ? will i spend time with them and get to see my family that are saved and if there is no sadness anymore will I notice the ones who didn't make it . I may be and pretty much am sure I'm overthinking this a bit its just thoughts I've always wondered and i know there's some answers only Jesus can answer I guess I just wanted to know what you all thought

i also understand from what i read that there is no marriage after we begin our eternal life and kind of am learning to understand that i just get thinking like if i will know my kids and my husband will how will i not be able to look at the way i do with my husband or will we just be real great friends lol i know no-one can really answer that for me i just want your thoughts and have you ever felt like this? and if not or so why?

I also wanted to know this too I've read a bit about it but don't get or understand it i feel like I'm missing on the interpretation of what this means but I've heard believers are all the body of Christ which i Understand that pretty good but when people say about us being the bride of Christ Ive tried to read into this not very much thats probably why i feel this is a silly question but like what does that mean to be the brides of Christ i may be totally off here and that not even be a thing but i am sure i read about this somewhat if anyone has an answer for me id love to learn more on that , i understand maybe many will have different views on this its just stuff i always thought about , i know this and believe this tho but when my dad passed away from cancer back in 2008 and I truly believe he went to be with Jesus I remember the panic and fear of seeing him being laid to rest just right after he passed and when i entered the room I felt that panic and fear leave and this peace came over me like God was saying hes okay and ill never forget there was chaos going around me but i was looking at him and he didn't look sick anymore he looked just peace is how i can describe it i remember him asking me 2 nights prior he told me he had to leave and believed he would be okay he asked me if I was scared of losing him and i said dad i don't want you to leave but if your in this much pain and God needs you back i understand and i wasn't a Christian at that time but i saw it in his eyes the humbleness and peace and he said the most gentle thing he said just keeping loving show people no matter what , and he said don't get all wrapped up in the world he said just love your family and others and he love God and put him first and that was the last convo i ever had with him and it didn't hit me until years later so i believe yes of course we will be token care of we will praise and worship God like never before be in his presence and glory and it will no doubt be amazing!

i just wanted your thoughts and insights on this , thanks for reading have a blessed day

 

[Servant78]

Of course every body fears death.

But Paul said in Philippians 1:21 if we live for God to die is a gain

 

[ladybuelah]

wow ok a lot to take in there.
Let's start by saying that there is no fear in death for you as a believer, its natural to have concerns but perfect love casts out all fear, and for us, going home is resting in God's love.

As for the marriage thing, the church is married to Christ or more accurately will be. Marriage as we understand it on earth is different to this. You have plenty of time to come to terms with all of the concepts presented in the Christian faith, just enjoy your journey with Jesus at your own pace.

Finally panic attacks. I feel you. Honestly they are the worst but again, take your journey with Jesus at your own pace and it will help with all the anxieties and worries you may have.

Hope this helps

- LadyBuealah

 

[Mark Quayle]

Im a newer Christian 3 years but ive always had these thoughts and just wanted some opinions and thoughts

I used to be so terrified of dying when i was a kid i remember watching this movie of a kid passing away around my age at that time i would have been maybe 10 (touched by an angel episode) back in the 1990a there and i remember just being terrified and my mom trying to explain that my body and soul separate and then ill receive a new perfect body but also i realized later on her theology from what church's she went to were different too and i just remember like thinking at that time why do we die which i know why now but also i couldn't fathom living forever and ever, as i got older the worse it seemed to become until i got saved and then everything seems its not half as bad now that I understand following and believing in Jesus

I had panic attacks and sometimes still doo on this where il wake up out of a sleep or if i think about dying too much and i just get really scared but when I pray about it and talk to God I feel peace so Its something I have to trust God on to help me through it part of it is and im trying to make as much sense as i can and i understand we really don't know some true answers until we meet Jesus and he lets us know what's going to happen i just wanted your thoughts on do you believe that we will recognize loved ones and also spend time together will that matter anymore will we know them like we do now for example will i know my kids , my husband ? will i spend time with them and get to see my family that are saved and if there is no sadness anymore will I notice the ones who didn't make it . I may be and pretty much am sure I'm overthinking this a bit its just thoughts I've always wondered and i know there's some answers only Jesus can answer I guess I just wanted to know what you all thought

i also understand from what i read that there is no marriage after we begin our eternal life and kind of am learning to understand that i just get thinking like if i will know my kids and my husband will how will i not be able to look at the way i do with my husband or will we just be real great friends lol i know no-one can really answer that for me i just want your thoughts and have you ever felt like this? and if not or so why?

I also wanted to know this too I've read a bit about it but don't get or understand it i feel like I'm missing on the interpretation of what this means but I've heard believers are all the body of Christ which i Understand that pretty good but when people say about us being the bride of Christ Ive tried to read into this not very much thats probably why i feel this is a silly question but like what does that mean to be the brides of Christ i may be totally off here and that not even be a thing but i am sure i read about this somewhat if anyone has an answer for me id love to learn more on that , i understand maybe many will have different views on this its just stuff i always thought about , i know this and believe this tho but when my dad passed away from cancer back in 2008 and I truly believe he went to be with Jesus I remember the panic and fear of seeing him being laid to rest just right after he passed and when i entered the room I felt that panic and fear leave and this peace came over me like God was saying hes okay and ill never forget there was chaos going around me but i was looking at him and he didn't look sick anymore he looked just peace is how i can describe it i remember him asking me 2 nights prior he told me he had to leave and believed he would be okay he asked me if I was scared of losing him and i said dad i don't want you to leave but if your in this much pain and God needs you back i understand and i wasn't a Christian at that time but i saw it in his eyes the humbleness and peace and he said the most gentle thing he said just keeping loving show people no matter what , and he said don't get all wrapped up in the world he said just love your family and others and he love God and put him first and that was the last convo i ever had with him and it didn't hit me until years later so i believe yes of course we will be token care of we will praise and worship God like never before be in his presence and glory and it will no doubt be amazing!

i just wanted your thoughts and insights on this , thanks for reading have a blessed day

You might get some really good insight on this from reading CS Lewis. You seem old enough and intelligent enough to be able to read and appreciate a lot more of his stuff than just the Narnia series. But even that will lend you considerable insight.

One of the things that might help you is to understand that this existence we currently are stuck with is as a vapor, in comparison to the solid reality of the existence we were made for. The flesh knows and loves this current 'reality', but the spirit was built for God to inhabit.

There is as much more to Heaven than we are capable of knowing right now, as God is above us in every way. Primary in all this is the fact that we will not even be complete beings, until we see Him as He is, until we are then ONE with him.

Maybe we can't help but draw pictures of Heaven by what we see and understand on this earth. But the truth is, Heaven is not to be compared to this. This life is just a picture, Heaven is the REAL thing.

So yes, we will recognize, and even love and know more fully, those we love here. But that is because they will be one with us, sort of like one cell of the body is one with all the other cells, but more obviously, one cell of the body is one with that body. And each cell is precious to that body. We are the body of Christ.

There are no 'brides' of Christ, but the one Bride of Christ. We are the Dwelling Place of God, even now, but there, more obviously.

 

[timf]

The "bride of Christ" is most likely a restored Israel. The church today is called "the body of Christ".

Fear of death is fairly common as so little is known. However, as faith increases, fear decreases. We can take Jesus at his word;

Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Joh 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

There will be a time when we will not remember this life;

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

However, whatever it is we will be doing during the millennial kingdom, we should have our memories and recognize each other.

 

[Tolworth John]

I had panic attacks and sometimes still doo on this where il wake up out of a sleep or if i think about dying too much and i just get really scared but when I pray about it and talk to God I feel peace so Its something I have to trust God on to help

Death and taxes the two things we cannot avoid.

Much of what we fear about death is the thought of a painful long dying, and the thought of leaving loved ones.


How do we deal with these fears?

As you say we have to deliberatly put our trust in God, we have a tremendos hope of a perfect life with him.

Death is frightening, but we only have to go through it once.
Concentrate on what is to come, which move into how will we recognise our loved ones?

At the transfiguration the disciples recognised Mosses and Elijah, people they had never met before.
I think there is a conection between family members that will enable us to recognise each other in heaven.
The only verse I have about that is the one about sexual intermacy has spiritual conection.

God created the Family and he does not change so the Family will continue in heaven, in what form I don't know.

 

[atpollard]

An observation about God from THIS LIFE that might shed some light on the NEXT LIFE (Heaven, not reincarnation ). Everything I know about God is "more, not less" and "better, not worse".

Let's start with Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden, PEOPLE (Adam and Eve) were creatures created by God and cared for by God that God enjoyed "walking with in the cool of the day". Before the fall, people got to see and talk to their CREATOR. We know all about how things went south ... but look what happened after that and because of that: God became a man (the incarnation of Jesus Christ) so God would know (through personal first-hand experience) what it WAS to be a PERSON. Jesus died to save us from death (our bodies will fail, but WE will live forever) and God decided that CREATION wasn't good enough, so He adopted us and made us His Children (Child of God is better than Creature of God or Servant of God). Aparently walking with us in the cool of the day wasn't good enough either, so God chose to DWELL INSIDE US ... the Holy Spirit (third person of the triune GODHEAD) lives inside of you where YOU and GOD can NEVER be separated.

This is only what God has done while we are ALIVE (between biological birth and shedding this covering of clay to join GOD in ETERNITY) ... what would lead you to believe that God's future plans are LESS than His plans up to this point? After going to such great efforts, why would God care LESS when He gets all of us together with ALL OF HIM?

********

New thought: DINNER VS THANKSGIVING

Sorry if you are not from America (USA/CANADA) since I don't know if the traditions are the same elsewhere ... substitute some other extended family gathering for Thanksgiving if you don't have one.

At a typical dinner, the husband, wife and 3.2 children all gather at the table to enjoy a good meal together and each other's company. It is good ... very good ... and there is a family of love where close bonds are strengthened.

... and then there is THANKSGIVING. The husband, wife and 3.2 children pile into the mini-van with two-days worth of food and drive to the Grandparents house where a table looking like something out of a medieval manor is being prepared. Soon there are Grandparents and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins (and people with more complex relationships like Great Aunts and second cousins) all gathered around a meal that no human could eat and survive. The quiet intimacy of the family supper is gone, but nobody is complaining. You are SURROUNDED by FAMILY! Everywhere you look is somebody that is FAMILY ... somebody that loves you. MORE, NOT LESS.

I think that HEAVEN is like THANKSGIVING to our present lives of FAMILY SUPPER. The GOD of more, not less.

 

[com7fy8]

Im a newer Christian 3 years but ive always had these thoughts and just wanted some opinions and thoughts

Hi, Novawin Welcome to Christian Forums It is so good to have you here; please be blessed by God, however.

That is such a cute beautiful picture, I think of you and your son.

So - - -

I used to be so terrified of dying when i was a kid

A person can be terrified of dying, but what can help to keep us alive is wisdom so we don't do things that are stupid and can get us killed for no worthwhile reason. And invest in what can help us to stay alive, and not only alive but healthy and knowing how to love.

One great investment I made was I decided never to smoke. And now if I go to get checked for cancer the first thing I might get is something like, "Oh you never smoked; so you probably don't have that cancer." And they double-check and out I go

But I could make good choices for staying alive, but I did not at first deal with being genuine in love. I could be horrible, judging people by what they looked like and if they had status or not . . . were popular or not. But now I have known people who are real Jesus people, and this hopefully has helped me to find out how to love. And this is the best investment, and best education, and greatest adventure and treasure > to learn how to share with God and discover how He has us loving as His family and reaching with hope to wrong people > love "hopes all things," we have in 1 Corinthians 13:7.

And loving helps to keep our attention in the right place, not worrying about bad things that could happen, but we need our attention to stay with God and how He rules us in His peace and has us loving.

So . . . in this world, and in these Christian Forums . . . be prayerful about where our attention belongs . . . guided by God

 

[Mark Quayle]

The "bride of Christ" is most likely a restored Israel. The church today is called "the body of Christ".

"Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh."

 

[Novawin87]

And loving helps to keep our attention in the right place, not worrying about bad things that could happen, but we need our attention to stay with God and how He rules us in His peace and has us loving.

thank you for your kind words and reply i definitely agree about loving people and to share the gospel i believe thats why we are here t obe ambassadors for Christ thanks so much for your reply it helped alot

 

[Novawin87]

Death and taxes the two things we cannot avoid.

Much of what we fear about death is the thought of a painful long dying, and the thought of leaving loved ones.


How do we deal with these fears?

As you say we have to deliberatly put our trust in God, we have a tremendos hope of a perfect life with him.

Death is frightening, but we only have to go through it once.
Concentrate on what is to come, which move into how will we recognise our loved ones?

At the transfiguration the disciples recognised Mosses and Elijah, people they had never met before.
I think there is a conection between family members that will enable us to recognise each other in heaven.
The only verse I have about that is the one about sexual intermacy has spiritual conection.

God created the Family and he does not change so the Family will continue in heaven, in what form I don't know.

thats so true and makes so much sense i forgot about Moses and Elijah about being recognized by rhe disciples and they wouldn't have met before maybe taught about or talked about so its kind of like a veil is removed from us and we reconize more i agree with concentrating on whats to come and keeping my eyes on Jesus . thanks so much for your reply

 

[Novawin87]

An observation about God from THIS LIFE that might shed some light on the NEXT LIFE (Heaven, not reincarnation ). Everything I know about God is "more, not less" and "better, not worse".

Let's start with Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden, PEOPLE (Adam and Eve) were creatures created by God and cared for by God that God enjoyed "walking with in the cool of the day". Before the fall, people got to see and talk to their CREATOR. We know all about how things went south ... but look what happened after that and because of that: God became a man (the incarnation of Jesus Christ) so God would know (through personal first-hand experience) what it WAS to be a PERSON. Jesus died to save us from death (our bodies will fail, but WE will live forever) and God decided that CREATION wasn't good enough, so He adopted us and made us His Children (Child of God is better than Creature of God or Servant of God). Aparently walking with us in the cool of the day wasn't good enough either, so God chose to DWELL INSIDE US ... the Holy Spirit (third person of the triune GODHEAD) lives inside of you where YOU and GOD can NEVER be separated.

This is only what God has done while we are ALIVE (between biological birth and shedding this covering of clay to join GOD in ETERNITY) ... what would lead you to believe that God's future plans are LESS than His plans up to this point? After going to such great efforts, why would God care LESS when He gets all of us together with ALL OF HIM?

********

New thought: DINNER VS THANKSGIVING

Sorry if you are not from America (USA/CANADA) since I don't know if the traditions are the same elsewhere ... substitute some other extended family gathering for Thanksgiving if you don't have one.

At a typical dinner, the husband, wife and 3.2 children all gather at the table to enjoy a good meal together and each other's company. It is good ... very good ... and there is a family of love where close bonds are strengthened.

... and then there is THANKSGIVING. The husband, wife and 3.2 children pile into the mini-van with two-days worth of food and drive to the Grandparents house where a table looking like something out of a medieval manor is being prepared. Soon there are Grandparents and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins (and people with more complex relationships like Great Aunts and second cousins) all gathered around a meal that no human could eat and survive. The quiet intimacy of the family supper is gone, but nobody is complaining. You are SURROUNDED by FAMILY! Everywhere you look is somebody that is FAMILY ... somebody that loves you. MORE, NOT LESS.

I think that HEAVEN is like THANKSGIVING to our present lives of FAMILY SUPPER. The GOD of more, not less.

wow i never looked at that before , such great information thank you ! and what you wrote opened my eyes to alot esp too about the thanksgiving i live up in canada so i know exactly what you mean . and also too like God dwelling in us and us having the Holy Sprit to guide us your right if he does that and gave his Only Son to pay for our sins for us to have eternal life with our God then i imagine he has so much in store for his children. thanks for your reply it helped me understand alot

 

[Novawin87]

You might get some really good insight on this from reading CS Lewis. You seem old enough and intelligent enough to be able to read and appreciate a lot more of his stuff than just the Narnia series. But even that will lend you considerable insight.

One of the things that might help you is to understand that this existence we currently are stuck with is as a vapor, in comparison to the solid reality of the existence we were made for. The flesh knows and loves this current 'reality', but the spirit was built for God to inhabit.

There is as much more to Heaven than we are capable of knowing right now, as God is above us in every way. Primary in all this is the fact that we will not even be complete beings, until we see Him as He is, until we are then ONE with him.

Maybe we can't help but draw pictures of Heaven by what we see and understand on this earth. But the truth is, Heaven is not to be compared to this. This life is just a picture, Heaven is the REAL thing.

So yes, we will recognize, and even love and know more fully, those we love here. But that is because they will be one with us, sort of like one cell of the body is one with all the other cells, but more obviously, one cell of the body is one with that body. And each cell is precious to that body. We are the body of Christ.

There are no 'brides' of Christ, but the one Bride of Christ. We are the Dwelling Place of God, even now, but there, more obviously.

Definitely I actually just downloaded some from audible that im just getting started into and I heard he is an amazing author i think i saw his movie once im trying to thing back was it case for Christ? or maybe that was lee strobel but i have heard of c s lewis and ill look into his books for sure i didnt even know the chronicles of Narnia was based off Christianity until recently i stilll never watched the whole movie yet which i plan to watch one day here soon
when you mentioned about being the dwelling place of God i understand that now

 

[aiki]

i just wanted your thoughts on do you believe that we will recognize loved ones and also spend time together will that matter anymore will we know them like we do now for example will i know my kids , my husband ?

Certainly, you'll recognize your husband and children. And you'll have all of eternity to continue to love them. Paul wrote that we all "see through a glass darkly," that our knowledge of God and one another is obscured by our present fleshly, temporal condition. But on the other side of the door of death our "vision" is freed of the things that obscure it and we will know God and each other in a way not possible here on sin-cursed earth. My suspicion is that the way we'll know each other in eternity will make our present deepest and most intimate relationships seem pale and thin in comparison - even the marriage relationship. It may be, then, that to return to a marriage relationship in eternity would be a big step backward into a lesser and unnecessary relationship which no one will want to do. And, of course, the fleshly, sexual dimension to marriage will be gone. There will be no procreation of the next generation in eternity, sustaining the human race thereby; no children born and no husband-wife couple needed to parent them. So, again, the marriage union will be quite unnecessary.

if there is no sadness anymore will I notice the ones who didn't make it .

I don't know whether or not we will be aware of "those who didn't make it." "The smoke of their torment" rises up forever before God, the apostle John wrote in the Revelation. (Revelation 14:9-11) If we're where God is, will we not notice or understand what this smoke rising before Him means? Perhaps, though, we will recognize in heaven that none of those in hell have been hard done by. I think we'll all understand that perfect justice has been done concerning all who are in hell. No one will be there who doesn't deserve to be there and we'll see that this is so. We'll see, too, that eternal hell is a perfectly appropriate, perfectly proportionate, punishment of the unrepentant wicked. And so, for those in hell we'll shed no tears because we'll see that they are exactly where they should be.

what does that mean to be the brides of Christ

There is one Bride of Christ, the universal (not Roman Catholic) Church. We are not, I think, individually "brides" of Christ but the "Bride of Christ" as a corporate entity. See Ephesians 5:22-33. Read also Revelation 21:9-27 which describes the New Jerusalem where we all as the Church will dwell throughout eternity as the "Bride of the Lamb." Individually, we are "sheep," "branches in the Vine," "bond-servants," "joint-heirs with Christ," "vessels meet for the Master's use," "children of God," "saints," "ambassadors for Christ," and so on, but never is an individual believer referred to as Christ's bride.

love God and put him first

Amen. Great, great words from your father here. Words to live by from a man about to die. He could not have given you better advice.