I hope there is a Life after his one.

I don't even want to put you down so I will go about your post this way. Being an atheist is a hopeless end.
Jesus Christ is the endless hope. He suffered horribly for you and me and that is the truth above everything else.
If you don't feel the love in that ? May I suggest you find a place where you truly can.

Jesus is better than magic.

reply to post by randyvs

And if it's unconditional, then it matters not what people believe. That said, a gift can only be opened, once recieved. The eternal life starts now, we don't need to wait - I think that's the point, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, now, because of the Great Work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said we must become as little children to enter, he didn't say we must first get old and die..

And at the very least, it presents an opportunity to have our humor and our joy restored, as a triumph over the absurdity of the injustices of life, which, ending in death, would otherwise represents the worst insult imaginable, and life as a free gift, is not an insult.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Isn't he just the best thing to have ? He keeps a smile on my face, in this often dark and dismal place.

reply to post by applebaum


If I have to come back I certainly would not want a do over cause this turn around has not been that great for me either. Be nice to be just done and done and hopefully relax in heaven.

reply to post by randyvs

Yes. But why? Because of the removal of separation, without any loss of personal integrity (unique individuality)!

"Life is a Mighty Joke. He who knows this can hardly be understood by others. He who does not know it finds himself in a state of delusion. He may ponder over this problem day and night, but will find himself incapable of knowing it. Why? People take life seriously, and God lightly; whereas we must take God seriously, and take life lightly. Then, we know that we always were the same and will ever remain the same.......the Originator of this joke. This knowledge is not acheived by reasoning.
But it is the knowledge of experience."

~ Meher Baba

Meher Baba, a so-called Avatar of the Hindu tradition, is about a one in a billion phenomenon, who was enlightened to God-realization as a result of a very long and ancient tradition of Brahmavidya (supreme science of the soul).

So unless you just happen to be one of those - the work of Jesus Christ, understood or "grokked" (appropriated and integrated or "eaten"), is sufficient to allow anyone to have their humor and joy restored, and to get the ultimate "cosmic joke" that is life.

Btw, it resides on the far side of our worst fear, something few of us are able to face on our own.

"Seek and you shall find, knock and the door WILL be opened!"

"And you will come to know to truth and truth shall set you free (in eternity)."

It's all good. No worries as they say, eh?

Who among us does not love, love?


Therefore, cast your fears and sorrows and sufferings at the foot of His cross, and be baptised into his death and resurrection, and you will see, as the tears are wiped from your eyes, to be replaced with a newfound twinkle and a smile capable of renewing itself indefinitely! ad infinitim (and yes, there will still be heataches and sorrows, but they will all be swallowed up, again and again by the power of his glory, by he who said "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!"

I suppose that there are also tears of joy... ;' )

reply to post by blahandblahandyadayada2


Your thought sounds really nice. Mine is more speculative in the hopes that there will be plenty of building to do.

New Age Man

That couldn't describe what I know about this life any better. It is a joke because of the "god of this world"
whos time is short.


Little g intended.

Originally posted by Wyn Hawks

Originally posted by DragonriderGal
Hum.. the op has not answered or responded to even one of these posts. I always wonder when that happens. Is the post just to get people fighting among themselves so the op can sit back and watch the fun? Or is the Op just trying to get attention?? Or???

...interesting that you left out the possibility that applebaum was being sincere in their op and they're going thru a rough patch...

That is the assumption made at the beginning of the thread. The failure to respond is what I am addressing.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by randyvs

 

And if it's unconditional, then it matters not what people believe. That said, a gift can only be opened, once recieved. The eternal life starts now, we don't need to wait - I think that's the point, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, now, because of the Great Work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said we must become as little children to enter, he didn't say we must first get old and die..

And at the very least, it presents an opportunity to have our humor and our joy restored, as a triumph over the absurdity of the injustices of life, which, ending in death, would otherwise represents the worst insult imaginable, and life as a free gift, is not an insult.

edit on 30-8-2011 by NewAgeMan because: The answer to, because why? is - because I love you.

What I'm hoping you understand my good man ? Is that this life is a joke because it is not at all what" The Creator God " intended.
You see when sin enter the world it says, " and the world was changed". Into this joke we now have. So the joke is on us, because of us.

That is how I see it. That is all I have to say.

Love everything as you love yourself but love God more.

Randyvious

reply to post by randyvs

And it's most certainly, at least in part, a joke at the expense of the devil within who is based on our own ignorance, and the lies it begets. We cannot laugh with authenticity as fully self expressed people, until we understand the full magnitude of our prior delusion, right?

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by randyvs

 

And it's most certainly, at least in part, a joke at the expense of the devil within who is based on our own ignorance, and the lies it begets. We cannot laugh with authenticity as fully self expressed people, until we understand the full magnitude of our prior delusion, right?

No delusion in my previous post. None.

reply to post by randyvs

I think we're saying the same thing, but what's funny isn't the ugly and painful stuff that's not funny at all, both our own and that of others and the world without, but the notion that we were trapped in it, without the possibility of escape, while awaiting the final insult of being rubbed out by death. It's the utter absurdity of that whole faulty premise, driving us relative to a negative or what is not, and the liberation of being freed from it, permamently, which restores us to good humor. The "mighty joke" that Meher Baba refers to is something even deeper, having to do I think with the idea that as God we arranged the whole show and set ourselves up in it from the get go, whereby the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, something like that. Jesus said we must not however allow the left hand to know what the right hand is doing, and I think the reason for that is simply to keep the joke alive!

reply to post by NewAgeMan


When he made that comment about the left and right hand....he was speaking about charity. Basically to do it in secret to God so you are not boasting about giving to the poor. You may already know this....just wanting to clarify for the ones who don't.

This life is an experience. One that is hand in a short span of "time". We will go back home in "no time".

reply to post by MamaJ

Maybe we are already there, and time is just an illusion..?

I knew that about Charity, but with Jesus the meaning is often much deeper in this case the notion of hiding something on purpose from one's self.

You know, when ever i run across a good spiritual idea, I cannot help but come away with the impression that life is "cute", do you know what I mean..?

There's this cute, gentle, playful quality to it, to God.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I don't think the things of God always so deep. They are at times in need of a gentle stir but always near the surface. We don't always see eye to eye you and I. But like your words often and sometimes emensely.

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

I don't think the things of God always so deep. They are at times in need of a gentle stir but always near the surface. We don't always see eye to eye you and I. But like your words often and sometimes emensely.

A gentle stir near the surface! I LOVE that!

And here I was with a giant wooden spoon stirring madly to the very depths and cackling like a madman/witch..

Sometimes I overdo things a bit, yes.

reply to post by applebaum


I have had this problem too.. going from believing.. to not believing.. back and forth. It doesn't matter. There is just as much proof for life after death as there isn't any. Neither can be proven. Neither can be disproven. With that equality of knowledge, I have a choice. I choose to believe that there is, probably for comfort. Both are just as reasonable. Both are just as non-reasonable. After looking at life after death as being something that is not provable one way or another, I am able to make a choice that I can have faith in. If I die and there is no life after death, I will have died with the peace of mind that I will live on. What will be on the other side to bring me sadness that I was wrong.. that that was it? Nothing. If there is life after my body dies, then I'm good to go.. there is.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Ha..maybe we are. Maybe we are able to travel "to and fro"....who knows. Sounds fun though.

Yeah you can take the meanings sometimes and make them much deeper...that is for sure. Translations can be a hindrance and sometimes they add a little flare to the fire. Make you really think about the message and then you find yourself wondering...pondering on the idea and then BAM....asking google.

Originally posted by blahandblahandyadayada2
reply to post by applebaum

 

If I have to come back I certainly would not want a do over cause this turn around has not been that great for me either. Be nice to be just done and done and hopefully relax in heaven.

Not for long. There is always something to do at any given moment in eternity.

Relax? What not continue to have fun and enjoy yourself. If there's no such thing as death, then we don't really need to bother with any of those preconceptions ie: "rest in peace", that absurd! LOL

"Rest in peace." RIP on every tombstone. That's funny!

I swear there're some good jokes that only a Christian believer can truly appreciate.

To clarify (takes out the giant wooden spoon, oh no!)

When we realize God by taking God seriously, and life lightly, we realize God, and when God is realized, through us, God realizes himself, as the otherwise hidden (from himself) transcendent, eternal self, and if that's the truth which sets us free, then by God we are truly free indeed! That is the sharing of the kingdom of heaven in "koinonia" (Google it), and from that perspective, tell me, where is death's sting?!

Do you, do I myself understand, because to realize and re cognize this truth, is what it means to inherit the incalculable gift of eternal life, now.