Moderator Margee Posted August 27, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 27, 2011 Just gonna drive you guys crazy with questions today. Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? At most every funeral you go to, they say god must be calling him/her back to heaven. The young woman who would be traveling to a remote place as a missionary to help children and has followed god all her life, is found murdered in her living room and at the funeral the preachers says: ''He must have wanted her back''. For what? What purpose would god need to want my sister 'back' at 40 years old? Why did he need President Kennedy back? Or the billions of people and babies under the age of say..................65? What good reasons did we come up with when god used murder, famine, genocide, deadly plagues, car accidents, etc.... to call people back to heaven? Is he lonely or something? Are there 'things' to be done in heaven? How did we console ourselves, on the issue of why god decided he wanted somebody back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScifiChick Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 The brand of fundyism I was in would say that satan comes to "kill, steal and destroy", and that he is responsible for these deaths. It takes away from God's omnipotence, but it also makes him less of an asshole, 'cause it means he's not brutally murdering people so he can have some company. It worked for me at the time, because I'm a sucker for the idea of a war between good and evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 God's way is mysterious... Personally, I think he wanted them back because he was hungry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Soul bowling? Really Fantasy Football? A kinky 10 billion-way sex thing? It's a damn good thing I'm not god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaToOmega Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 So when they get to heaven he can look at them and say, "Ah souls". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asanerman Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Is there any scriptural evidence of ..... I read these words and I pause! Does it even matter? The whole "maddening" idea is so reminiscent of a thought system based in duality! A binary system of thinking and being that runs on the power of "either/or." A childlike way of making sense of the world by dividing reality into subject and object, inside and outside, good and bad, right and wrong, before and after, up and down and yes, "coming out of" and "going "back to." This type of thinking gives us a solid sense of ourselves as the one at the hub of this duality, the one inside mastering the experience. This sort of thinking cannot possibly perceive unity, harmony, oneness, or understand satisfaction or enduring peace: It cannot create anything beyond itself--only more duality and more trouble. So the drama goes on and on, ad nauseam! This sort of thinking is built right into the structure of the human brain and for good reason--without in we could not survive. Our primitive "reptilian brain" we share with our animal ancestors and as with all animal brains, its primary concerns are the tasks of survival and self-defense. The human primitive brain has sequentially evolved over hundreds of thousands of years (Mitochondrial Eve lived 200,000 years ago) of evolution. Nature has give us the "old mammalian"or emotional-cognitive brain, the seat of our emotional intelligence; the neocortex, with its capacities for complex and creative thinking; and the prefrontal lobes, with their overall harmonizing and integrating effect. The good news is that we have the capacity, if we so choose, to shift to a whole different basis of perception. We come into life with another "operating system" already lying in latency and if we wish to move in this direction, we can learn to steer by it, understand through it and ultimately discover our deepest sense of identity within it! The greatest news is that evolution has already given us the hardware! An upgrade in software comes with tiring from our juvenile need for survival and self-defense! I have a notion that when the old worn out cliches and myths loose their power we know we are ready for a deeper reality! Revisiting tired ideas only serve to remind and humble me--from whence I come! They were "paths" I had to tread toward "liveliness." I'm no longer embarrassed or ashamed but inspired--the complex is built on the simple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? There would actually be plenty to contradict it. The OT is littered with people dying and going nowhere or heading to the underworld (not going to go into a technical argument over the various names and/or places). The OT god is the god of the living and not the dead so it has nothing to do with you once you've kicked the bucket. The couple who manage to gain its favor go directly to heaven without dying. All of this is contained in various places in the bible. The NT, mainly Paul, (and some other docs) introduce the idea of the "soul" being able to go hang out with that version of god. The idea here being the "soul" is eternal so it comes from heaven and then returns to heaven with a quick stop-over in the body. Therefore when a person dies they go "home" (ie. the "real" place of origin of the "soul"). The bible does not spell all this out. Paul mainly deals with the idea of being "transformed" like a seed is transformed into the final plant and that is what people will also do. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ireckinso Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Real estate is very lucrative. So as God builds more condos in heaven he needs people to fill them. I mean streets of gold aren't cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noggy Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 All acts of bibleGod can be described by this simple equation: God = Douchebag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 The brand of fundyism I was in would say that satan comes to "kill, steal and destroy", and that he is responsible for these deaths. It takes away from God's omnipotence, but it also makes him less of an asshole, 'cause it means he's not brutally murdering people so he can have some company. It worked for me at the time, because I'm a sucker for the idea of a war between good and evil. I was in the type that said it's the devil's doing it because he rules this world, but actually it's all our fault because we turned away from God. And all this death and suffering is nothing to what'll happen to you if you don't believe in Jesus. Get God on your side and he'll make everything ok. You won't even remember your loved one's who didn't make it to heaven. Oh yes, you'll FINALLY be happy. They go by a primitive way of understanding the world that's not even near something that should be intelligently accepted, and live in denial of their own feelings about it. Look at how Americans do funerals, we can't even show our emotion about how much pain we're in. We use religion to calm us down and not have to believe that our loved ones are 'really' gone. No wonder we're so fucked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScifiChick Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I was in the type that said it's the devil's doing it because he rules this world, but actually it's all our fault because we turned away from God. And all this death and suffering is nothing to what'll happen to you if you don't believe in Jesus. Get God on your side and he'll make everything ok. You won't even remember your loved one's who didn't make it to heaven. Oh yes, you'll FINALLY be happy. That was actually one of my biggest nightmares. I constantly worried about loved ones that had already died and clearly weren't Christians. I was also particularly worried about my father, because he's not only someone who walked away from the faith, but he's an asshole. In spite of that, I didn't want him to suffer eternally, and the idea that I would forget he ever existed caused me no end of pain. I'm not even certain that isn't one of the things that ultimately led me to question my faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I was in the type that said it's the devil's doing it because he rules this world, but actually it's all our fault because we turned away from God. And all this death and suffering is nothing to what'll happen to you if you don't believe in Jesus. Get God on your side and he'll make everything ok. You won't even remember your loved one's who didn't make it to heaven. Oh yes, you'll FINALLY be happy. That was actually one of my biggest nightmares. I constantly worried about loved ones that had already died and clearly weren't Christians. I was also particularly worried about my father, because he's not only someone who walked away from the faith, but he's an asshole. In spite of that, I didn't want him to suffer eternally, and the idea that I would forget he ever existed caused me no end of pain. I'm not even certain that isn't one of the things that ultimately led me to question my faith. I'm sure it was. Their whole thing is about ignoring the heart, so it doesn't surprise me they'd come up with a story like that. As long as we live we'll never forget our loved ones. And letting people think they're suffering in hell is cruel and heartless.. that's the fundie way. People that believe in a soul, but don't even have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? No. Shortest post from me ever, like "Jesus wept'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Just gonna drive you guys crazy with questions today. Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? At most every funeral you go to, they say god must be calling him/her back to heaven. The young woman who would be traveling to a remote place as a missionary to help children and has followed god all her life, is found murdered in her living room and at the funeral the preachers says: ''He must have wanted her back''. For what? What purpose would god need to want my sister 'back' at 40 years old? Why did he need President Kennedy back? Or the billions of people and babies under the age of say..................65? What good reasons did we come up with when god used murder, famine, genocide, deadly plagues, car accidents, etc.... to call people back to heaven? Is he lonely or something? Are there 'things' to be done in heaven? How did we console ourselves, on the issue of why god decided he wanted somebody back? He called Osama bin Laden back. Wait, no. Bad example. I wasn't aware people 'started' in heaven. It sounds like a good story though. In matters of faith you can make up any silly stuff you like and pass it off to the gullible tards believers. Maybe these people were recalled because they had some defect, like Toyotas. ::shrugs:: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted August 30, 2011 Author Moderator Share Posted August 30, 2011 Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? No. Shortest post from me ever, like "Jesus wept'. Thanks Antlerman for this answer - I thought maybe I missed something -I was searching the 'holy word', but couldn't find a scriptural explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VacuumFlux Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Just gonna drive you guys crazy with questions today. Is there any scriptural evidence of this particular statement that we have used for years? At most every funeral you go to, they say god must be calling him/her back to heaven. The young woman who would be traveling to a remote place as a missionary to help children and has followed god all her life, is found murdered in her living room and at the funeral the preachers says: ''He must have wanted her back''. For what? What purpose would god need to want my sister 'back' at 40 years old? Why did he need President Kennedy back? Or the billions of people and babies under the age of say..................65? What good reasons did we come up with when god used murder, famine, genocide, deadly plagues, car accidents, etc.... to call people back to heaven? Is he lonely or something? Are there 'things' to be done in heaven? How did we console ourselves, on the issue of why god decided he wanted somebody back? He called Osama bin Laden back. Wait, no. Bad example. I wasn't aware people 'started' in heaven. It sounds like a good story though. In matters of faith you can make up any silly stuff you like and pass it off to the gullible tards believers. Maybe these people were recalled because they had some defect, like Toyotas. ::shrugs:: The story I'd always heard is that we're ensouled at conception, but we're aliens (as in foreigners, not little green men) on earth if we're christian. The idea of god taking someone home was never meant so much to say that god was fulling some need of his, but more the sense that "they're in a better place" where they are loved and all that. Mormons are different, though. I was handed a Mormon tract once and read it out of curiosity. It was an awful lot like every other tract I'd seen with the whole "god makes people, people need salvation, jesus, heaven" thing, but with a few differences. One was the idea that God made all of our souls a looong time ago and we've been hanging out in heaven, bodiless. If god takes a liking to us (or something like that) we get sent down to earth to... be awesome mormons? It was actually more positive than the "ya'll are are going to hell 'cause ya'll were born evil!" thing; it was phrased more like "the reason you got to be incarnated is because you were already pretty awesome, and you should now be the most awesome you can be by being the pinnacle of what it means to be human, which is Mormonism". There was still the same stuff about the more you follow the religion, the better off you are when you get (back) to heaven. It was hilarious to show it to my fundy family and watch them express shock that anyone could believe such nonsense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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