What do you ACTUALLY think happens when we die?

[PP1]

Could you imagine if Jesus came to Earth right now? Would people believe it was him or some crazy person saying?

 

With that said, I could understand why people didn't believe it was him before.

 

I'm happy I was not alive back then

[PP1]

I don't believe anybody goes to heaven or hell until the end of time when Jesus actually returns. I believe that when Jesus comes back the dead will rise first, after that those of us that are still living will go up in the air to meet him together all at once.

 

So I guess I think that hell is completely empty right now. And the only people that are in heaven our God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, angels, Elijah, and Enoch.

[ThrillVille Cardinal51]

I don't believe anybody goes to heaven or hell until the end of time when Jesus actually returns. I believe that when Jesus comes back the dead will rise first, after that those of us that are still living will go up in the air to meet him together all at once.

 

So I guess I think that hell is completely empty right now. And the only people that are in heaven our God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, angels, Elijah, and Enoch.

That's interesting. Are there a lot of people who hold this to be true? And if yes, What about the man crucified next to Christ, who he told would be with him in Paradise?

[PP1]

That's interesting. Are there a lot of people who hold this to be true? And if yes, What about the man crucified next to Christ, who he told would be with him in Paradise?

 

Some people agree with me. I think I am in the minority. I get my opinion from the book of Thessalonians. Those people somehow got the idea that the only people that get to go to heaven are the ones that are still alive when Jesus returns. Paul corrects this idea in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4...

 

"13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words."

 

As far as the thief on the cross, I am not sure. I think Jesus meant something like "I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise." But in most cases the Bible has the comma before the word today, which kind of changes the meaning to contradict what I believe.

[rjs4470]

What if there is a God and when you die you discover you chose the wrong one, that it was actually one from one of the other multitude of different world religions? Then instead of a "win-win" it would be a lose-lose.

 

Just something to ponder. All faiths feel theirs is the correct one.

 

For the vast majority of people in the world, it isn't even a choice. What God you believe in is mostly a product of who your parents are and where you were born. For those born into the wrong faith, well, too bad.

[The Professor]

For the vast majority of people in the world, it isn't even a choice. What God you believe in is mostly a product of who your parents are and where you were born. For those born into the wrong faith, well, too bad.

 

And that is the conundrum.

 

Religions are as much to do with geography, culture, and indoctrination as anything. They evolve, develop and change throughout their history. All begin with someone or a group that have a revelation, develop a cult following, and either grow or fade away. The ones that continue to grow eventually lose the cult label and are considered a religion. All believers of each one feel they are the only one that is true. All have their books, revelations and history to offer proof of why they are faithful. However, all can't be right and most likely none are. When one looks at it rationally it becomes highly likely that all are the construction of men throughout the ages.

 

The religions with the most followers:

 

1. Christianity: 2.3 billion

2 Islam: 1.6 billion

3 Hindu: 1 billion

4 Buddhist: 400 million

5 Sikhism: 30 million

6 Judaism: 20 million

7 Bahaism: 8 million

8 Confucianism: 7 million

9 Jainism: 4.5 million

10 Shintoism: 4 million

 

Three other interesting points I noticed while researching these numbers is (1) although Christianity's origin is the Middle East, only 4% of its members today are located there; (2) analyst predict that Islam will surpass Christianity late in this century; (3) there's an estimated 1 billion non-religious secularist people in the world.

[PP1]

(3) there's an estimated 1 billion non-religious secularist people in the world.

 

I'm not sure I buy this. No one has ever asked me my opinion nor anyone that I know's opinion.

[lawildcat]

I don't know what happens but am hopeful that I'll get to see my mom and dad again. It's been 4 and 37 years, respectively.

[The Professor]

I'm not sure I buy this. No one has ever asked me my opinion nor anyone that I know's opinion.

Some of the 1 billion figure probably relates to China. 77% of the 1.4 billion people in that nation consider themselves either atheist or non-religious, per one source that I googled. That number could be somewhat inflated but even at a less percentage it's still a lot of people when considering the total population is 1.4 billion, 4X the population of the United States.

[InItToWinIt]

Lots of Anti-Christian responses here. "I preach that all religions are delusional but I only attack Christianity."

 

We, Catholics, who strive to live like Christ, believe that ALL people can get to heaven. There is sacramental baptism (with water), baptism of desire (explicit or implicit desire), or baptism by blood (martyrdom).

[Lil Sebastian]

Lots of Anti-Christian responses here. "I preach that all religions are delusional but I only attack Christianity."

 

We, Catholics, who strive to live like Christ, believe that ALL people can get to heaven. There is sacramental baptism (with water), baptism of desire (explicit or implicit desire), or baptism by blood (martyrdom).

 

What attacks on Christianity have there been in this thread? I just went back and re-read thinking I missed something. The only somewhat strong critique I saw was this:

 

Why people "believe." People believe what they so want to be true, regardless of how crazy it seems. It happens in all religions, not just Christianity.

 

And he or she explicitly says "It happens in all religions".

[Science Friction]

What attacks on Christianity have there been in this thread? I just went back and re-read thinking I missed something. The only somewhat strong critique I saw was this:

 

 

 

And he or she explicitly says "It happens in all religions".

 

 

Correct. All religions, not just Christianity.