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Panic attacks about death


Rock
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As far as religion goes, I've always considered myself to be Christian, but I don't think I've ever had any comfort or confidence in any particular man-made flavor or interpretation of it.

 

Whether or not you believe in his super powers, Jesus is historically seen as a pretty chill, smart, loyal, and peace-loving guy. I don't mind at all seeing him as a role model in that regard. If that means there's some sort of end goal in the afterwards, great. If not, at least I'll know I lived a pretty good life. I can find myself at peace with death with all of that.

I've felt like that sometimes. I'm an Orthodox Christian, mostly because I was born into it. What has kept me an Orthodox Christian, however, especially as of late, is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe most of the historical signs point to it having actually happened, and everything else pretty much branches off from there. It validates everything else Jesus said about Himself, in my opinion.

 

So that's why I feel Christianity is the truth. As for which form of Christianity, and what has kept me within my particular form of Christianity, well, it's pretty much an examination of history and doctrinal development. I believe we are the Apostolic Church. I could write an entire book on this topic, but without getting into it, suffice it to say that these two things together are why I am what I am today.

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Well.. All I can say to that is if the gods are up there they don't give a single flying **** about you or I. And why should they?

I don't know about any "gods," but I'd think a God who made us in His image and likeness would certainly care a great deal about us.

Well I don't really fancy a debate on theology cause it isn't going to get us anywhere, other than probably rile you up a bit. But if humanity was created by

(a) God (because there have been MANY to make this claim) and we (humanity) are created in His (their) image (metaphorically or literally) then I only need to look at humanity to see this God(s) certainly are not bothered one way or another AT ALL about us. A quiet or benign neglect would be the most positive spin I would put on it. And I don't see why a supreme being SHOULD care at all.

 

Additionally the possible existence of the Christian god would not negate the existence of all the others. Just that He is more popular.

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As far as religion goes, I've always considered myself to be Christian, but I don't think I've ever had any comfort or confidence in any particular man-made flavor or interpretation of it.

 

Whether or not you believe in his super powers, Jesus is historically seen as a pretty chill, smart, loyal, and peace-loving guy. I don't mind at all seeing him as a role model in that regard. If that means there's some sort of end goal in the afterwards, great. If not, at least I'll know I lived a pretty good life. I can find myself at peace with death with all of that.

I've felt like that sometimes. I'm an Orthodox Christian, mostly because I was born into it. What has kept me an Orthodox Christian, however, especially as of late, is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe most of the historical signs point to it having actually happened, and everything else pretty much branches off from there. It validates everything else Jesus said about Himself, in my opinion.

 

So that's why I feel Christianity is the truth. As for which form of Christianity, and what has kept me within my particular form of Christianity, well, it's pretty much an examination of history and doctrinal development. I believe we are the Apostolic Church. I could write an entire book on this topic, but without getting into it, suffice it to say that these two things together are why I am what I am today.

 

And you call yourself a Marilyn Manson fan... tsk tsk...

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Dont worry about dying alone. The fact is that we all die alone anyway. That's a door we all go through the hard way whether we're happily married or single and alone.

I worded it wrong... what I meant is that I don't want to die never being with anyone. Not knowing what it' like to have someone love you, etc. I just have these wants and they aren't complex, things normal people take for granted and for some reason I feel the need to experience them before I die, otherwise it would be a life wasted. Stupid, but it's what I feel. I wish I didn't feel anything,

 

I don't want to make you feel worse, but your worries remind me of something I always thought about:

What if, when you die, the last feeling you had is what you'll feel forever in the afterlife? I always wondered that about death. Do you feel it happening in real time, or does your body start worming, your whole concept of time and space change and that 30 seconds you're on your death bed, to you, stretches out and feels like 100 million years?

If that's the case, I'd say it's very important to find happiness in this life cause that's what you'll take with you. If not, I agree with Tex. We all die alone. Black curtain. Makes no difference.

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As far as religion goes, I've always considered myself to be Christian, but I don't think I've ever had any comfort or confidence in any particular man-made flavor or interpretation of it.

 

Whether or not you believe in his super powers, Jesus is historically seen as a pretty chill, smart, loyal, and peace-loving guy. I don't mind at all seeing him as a role model in that regard. If that means there's some sort of end goal in the afterwards, great. If not, at least I'll know I lived a pretty good life. I can find myself at peace with death with all of that.

I've felt like that sometimes. I'm an Orthodox Christian, mostly because I was born into it. What has kept me an Orthodox Christian, however, especially as of late, is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe most of the historical signs point to it having actually happened, and everything else pretty much branches off from there. It validates everything else Jesus said about Himself, in my opinion.

 

So that's why I feel Christianity is the truth. As for which form of Christianity, and what has kept me within my particular form of Christianity, well, it's pretty much an examination of history and doctrinal development. I believe we are the Apostolic Church. I could write an entire book on this topic, but without getting into it, suffice it to say that these two things together are why I am what I am today.

 

I believe in a higher power. I have to because we die. There must be a bigger story going on, one that we're not aware of. All those stars, planet and comets have to add up to something bigger, but knowing man he's probably gonna find out all these heavenly orbs are just one big Chinese checkers game. But of course the faithful will still be around and start looking to the higher power playing this Chinese checkers game.

 

Sometimes I wonder if we really made out the map of our universe as best we could if it would turn out the universe was just a dog. But then there's always the question of what world that dog lives in. The universe is so big, I find it so hard to believe we're the only aliens that look like us. The chance that an asteroid had the ingredients to make life and those ingredients only had the chance to hit ONE planet out of trillions seems less plausible. But I digress...

 

For all those 'evolutionists' that want to make life more interesting by further exploring our roots instead of stopping at the bible: I warn you of the inherent danger. We could end up making our infinite universe FINITE by starting to 'chart out', if you will, man's bigger story in the universe. Say it was a Chinese checkers game. That would certainly affect the market down here on earth to say the least. People would start conforming their lives to this new truth. The new world would be rationed out and fought over just like this smaller world we live in today. Look at the internet. They say the internet is in its wild west era. But what happens when our online lifestyle starts to take its toll and bandwidth has to be rationed more, there's more regulations, etc... It'll only be a matter of time before we're on this new plateau of truth and have nowhere else to go. How is that any different from the dark ages? My guess is life won't be any less a struggle even on a higher plane of consciousness.

 

I work with pizza, and I think about the yeast sometimes! Yeast grows, reproduces, and makes waste. Think of all those millions of little dudes that live in their yeast society that are struggling to figure out their existence. Half the yeast says they shouldn't question such things and should simply live in love of the great design. The other half of the yeast isn't satisfied and would give anything to be as tall as me, the guy making the pizza, and be able to analyze the yeast and put its existence into context of the world it lives in. Does it make a difference to the yeast if it found out its whole purpose was to make a pizza?

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Well.. All I can say to that is if the gods are up there they don't give a single flying **** about you or I. And why should they?

I don't know about any "gods," but I'd think a God who made us in His image and likeness would certainly care a great deal about us.

 

Why? If she's truly a GOD, she's so far beyond petty human emotion and ego that I can't imagine she'd give a flying **** about what esteem we hold her in. What gives you a different impression?

 

 

 

I believe in a higher power. I have to because we die.

 

? How many pillows again? Seriously-this is as WTF non-sequitor as I've ever seen. Because we die, you must believe in a higher power? How do those 2 concepts connect for you?

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I'm not being glib, or putting down how anyone feels, or making light of Rock, Mara, D-Ray or SD or anyone else who struggles with this...

 

But am I the only one who is okay with just being worm-food when it's all said and done? Even at my lowest, like not too far in the past when my life's goals were out of reach, my thought was less about the failure and futility of life and more about making myself interested enough in shifting focus to something else.

 

It's like, at the end of the week, you're pooped from work. You want to go home, turn off your phone, and just enjoy the quiet and get some sleep. I imagine when you're 90 years old the busy week = life, and sleep = death.

 

I've never seen an old person on their deathbed wanting more time, they're usually cool with it.

 

It's younger people going to early who want more time. I know you can't tell somebody to just turn of a neurotic function, but I think if you start to understand that time lost worrying that you haven't done enough with your life is in fact, wasting time of your life.

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I think it's fear of the unknown. After all, no one comes back from a deathcation to tell you how beautiful the scenery was, or how terrible the food is.

 

My husband's grandfather is entering hospice care this week, but it sounds like they may be getting a second opinion, just to cover their bases. We last saw him less than 2 weeks ago. He was recovering from pneumonia and exhausted. When my husband spoke to his grandfather's wife, she made the comment about how "he can end this whenever he wants" and it took my husband aback. At 33, my husband can't conceive giving up. His grandfather is pushing 90, and his wife is 92 (but spry as hell). I think he may be ready, and that is going to be hard for my husband to deal with. He hasn't dealt with much death in his life.

 

What blows my mind is that his children are taking their sweet time to come say their goodbyes. One of them said he can't make it up until next month. What the hell do you have to do that is more important than saying goodbye to your father? (This isn't one of those cases where there was a broken home.) I flew twice in a month halfway across the country to say goodbye to my grandfather, and to attend his funeral. I definitely don't regret coming back to say goodbye. Leaving him was awful, knowing it would be the last time, but I have a beautiful picture of him and I from that visit that hangs in my house. I'd rather be there to enjoy him while he's still relatively healthy than to be there when he's a broken mess, or to just miss him.

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1. Yeast doesn't have any intelligence.

Well yeast doesn't have time to evolve and be intelligent enough to build medical labs and space probes because I turn the dough into a pizza so fast!

 

But in all seriousness, you don't know for sure there is no intelligent microscopic life. I looked all over the internet. It's maybe yes, maybe no. But I guess maybe you're right about yeast alone. I didn't find anything.

 

2. The universe is finite.

YOU! I don't even have to look this up. I'm pretty friggin sure it's maybe yes, and maybe no. Depends how you look at it. The more you learn about the universe, the bigger it becomes!

 

 

I believe in a higher power. I have to because we die.

? How many pillows again? Seriously-this is as WTF non-sequitor as I've ever seen. Because we die, you must believe in a higher power? How do those 2 concepts connect for you?

 

I die. But energy never does. There is a higher power at work. The sun dies, and even that is a higher power than me!

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Destiny, I try to live my life such that every interaction is a goodbye. My grandfather is old-- he will probably die sooner than later. I may go to the funeral, I may not. It doesn't matter. Honestly, I've said everything that needs to be said between us. Trying to say more isn't really necessary. He knows I love him, I know he loves me. The same with other people in my life. As cheesy as it sounds to quote Star Wars about a sensitive topic such as this, I actually get a lot of solace from Yoda's advice to practice losing that which you are most afraid to lose.

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I'm cool with wormfood. I like the notions of ghosts, life after death, some forms of reincarnation-they're very romantic but I'm 99% sure we just die and our souls/energy/essences just cease to be. I don't like that, it seems like such a waste but it's the most logical conclusion to me.

 

I DO know that what I was taught in Catholic school when I was a kid scared the hell out of me. I don't want to live forever.

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I'm not scared of dying at all. After all, I surely won't have a problem with it after I'm dead. I do believe in a Christian afterlife, but not heaven and hell in the way most people do. I like to think that "heaven" will be eternal contentment in the presence of God. I don't believe in any form of hell because I can't rectify a loving God with eternal damnation.

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It's not His favorite thing, either. That's kind of the point of the Great Commission in general and John 3:16 in particular.

 

Whether or not Hell matches Dante's particular visions, or resembles the one on The Simpsons, or is just a large sealed room full of absolute nothingness cut off from God forever, or is a pocket universe where every film ever made was directed by Uwe Boll, or takes some other as-yet-unimaginable form altogether, is up for debate.

 

But a key part of accepting Christ is that it's a choice. And there're an awful lot of people who don't want to spend the afterlife with God. Strictly speaking, forcing them all into Heaven would feel like punishment, wouldn't it?

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