death

falcon, only God knows where your friend has gone...

All you will get here are people pushing their barrows about there they THINK he has gone.

You may find out when you die as well and meet him...

I have had 3 people I know die this year, one I know is joyously in heaven, the family said that they could feel her presence when they prayed and that she was incredably happy.

The others I don't know ... but I know tha tthey were good people ... so they will be in a place where good people go...

According to me, purgatory is a concept made by the Vatican in the middle ages...

exactly! There is nothing in the bible about a purgatory. Purgatory was made up by rome in the middle ages to give people a hope, that's all.

he's not in heaven or hell, whoever said he's either in purgatory, heaven, or hell is way wrong... I think it was truth if i'm not mistaken.

NO ONE GOES TO HEAVEN OR HELL

only people in heaven right now according to the bible is God, Jesus, and Elijah

Elijah was the only prophet taken up to heaven in the physical and to sum it up Elijah was the strongest of the prophest, what he said went.. Elisha became more powerful than Elijah however because he asked Elijah to have his spirit and he then became three-fold.

maybe Abraham, Moses, Isiaiah, Muhammad and those prophets are in heaven but I dont know.

Falcoln, all you can do is pray like truth said.. when we die, we die.. we sleep until the final judgment.. no one goes to heaven or hell... we just die.

[Edited on 1-4-2003 by Illmatic67]

but what about they story of the rich man and lazarus

To me death is just moving on and inhabiting a different plain of reality. Nothing more, nothing less. The only difference is that there is no time, so the enviroment reacts instantly to your thoughts.

That's my conclusion after reading about countless NDE's, OOBE's, Astral projections and having four OOBE's myself.

When you are asleep, you are in the afterlife, believe it or not. The key is to become conscious there whic has different ranges of difficulty of which the easiest is lucid dreaming. I have those sometimes too. But most of the time they're semi-lucid (not 100% conscious of the fact that I'm dreaming and having my subconcious mind take over wihtin seconds).
Maybe I just should keep a dream journal to increase the amounts of lucid dreams.

I think the reason why most ppl don't have them (LD's) is because we go through life mostly on automatic (or autopilot) without really being aware of what we do. The more we are aware when awake, (so the more we use our conscious mind) the greater the chance of having lucid dreams and being able to transform them into astral projections.

lazarus too, I forgot about him.

There is no heaven, hell or purgatory. These are just inventions which allows the Catholic church to keep its' members in line. One of the greatest con jobs of the millenia.

[Edited on 5-1-2003 by mad scientist]

maybe it's like bandit said, we go on to a differnt universe/dimension/reality. perhaps this one is just a stage in a cycle of realities that continue on forever/to perfection/until tomorrow. Maybe after we die we are freed of this shell and live in joy and enlightenment. Perhaps after we die we sit next to god and discuss the weather.

Wherever your relative is falcon im sure he/she loves you and knows that you miss him. your relative is past suffering. in a better place.


XAOS

I lost two family members very close to each other at the begining of last year, one very traumatic and drawn out the other shockingly sudden. At first all I could do was think about them, where they might be, were they happy/at peace. In the end these thoughts, my need to know began to do my head in, it was all I could think of. One night I was listening to a discussion on some late night radio show, a skeptic was challenging the host (a believer) to describe what any supposed afterlife would be like, the purpose in it. What can we find to do for all eternity etc. The host replied 'I don't know, I suppose when we get over there is the time we start comprehending enough to start figuring it out!' That helped enormously, just accept there in another, better place. That's all we can and need to know for now.

Life after death......Many incidents from the Lives of Orthodox saints and ascetics confirm this teaching.

[7] The Apostolic Constitutions (1st/2nd century) teach that Memorials for the dead be served with "psalms and readings and prayers" on the third day after the death of our beloved one, on account of the Lord Jesus "who rose after three days."

They prescribe Memorials on the ninth day "as a reminder of the living and the dead," as well as "on the fortieth day after death according to ancient practice."

This is how the people of Israel mourned for the great Moses. In addition to these we must have annual Memorials in remembrance of the deceased. This teaching is also given by St. Isidoros Of Pelusium, St. Symeon The New Theolgian and St. Gregory The Theologian.

St. MARK further explains the state of the departed in this way:

"We affirm that neither the righteous have as yet received the fullness of their lot and that blessed condition for which they have prepared themselves here through works, nor have sinners, after death, been led away into the eternal punishment in which they shall be tormented eternally.
Rather, both the one and the other must necessarily take place after the Judgment of that last day and the resurrection of all.


Prayers can be of help.....and it is never too late ..
helen....

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul (St. Matthew 16:26)

'There is no death, only a change of worlds.'
Chief Seattle

If Heaven and Hell are real, just like described, I'll see you all in hell.
But I can't see it. It is my guess that our soul leaves our body, but after that.............. I know as much as anyone else .............. who is still alive that is.