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Old 07-10-2019, 04:22 PM
Molearner Molearner is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SlayerOfLight
What I noticed from studying and annalysing ndes, many people have different experiences. Some of them will tell you there is a devil and a hell, while others won't. One can talk about a ''hell of their own making'' but then why are Christ and/or God present in some of those ndes confirming the whole thing to be true? Is this a false god that they also created subconsciously?

SlayerOfLight,

Interesting. Yes, we can create a hell of our own making and conversely we can create a heaven of our own making. Either one is created by our own imagination. It is my belief that imagination is the creative force that is in play. It would be wrong to interpolate that this process creates imaginary hells or heavens. They can both be real because we have brought them to life. I come at this from a Christian background so I am reminded of scriptures to substantiate my thinking. My construct is formed by these scriptures and/or beliefs:

1. God is a god of love. He loves all of us.....this includes those of every belief(Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, etc.). Christianity, as practiced, errs in insisting on exclusivity when, by their own scriptures, is reminded that God is inclusive.

2. Don't you know that we are Gods? We are gods by virtue of possessing free will. Therefore we are free by process of our imagination to create our individual beliefs and these are IMO genuine creations.

3. With God all things are possible. I ascribe to Pascal's wager to the extent that we must make a choice.....understanding that to say you are making no choice is, in reality, a choice.

4. John 14:2...."In my house there are many mansions" indicates that once again this implies that there are mansions for those of all beliefs/constructs.

These, for me, are the basics. As a Christian I can share this here under the province that the internet affords of anonymity. Uttered in my church I would be assailed for not insisting on exclusivity of the Christian religion. I must say I am very comfortable with my Christian affiliation. My beliefs would mark me as one more suited to be a Baha'i......LOL....:) But once again I assert my belief in the validity of all religions. That is not to say that I do not think that Christianity is not the preferred path for me....because it is.

In a previous posting of mine I pointed to what I perceive as a difference between Christianity and Buddhism. It is my understanding that Buddhism believes that completion of the Noble Eightfold Path results in reaching nirvana.....thus it is a 'do it yourself' process. Christianity, on the other hand, relies on the grace of God. In other words, Christians are to submit themselves to God and when they do they are aided by God via grace. IMO this represent a 'shortcut' to the ultimate goal. Buddhists, on the other hand, following an unaided path are faced with an indeterminate number of re-births. Christians can also experience the necessity of reincarnations until they are able to accept the grace of God. Nevertheless, Christians always have the caveat of the willingness of God to aid them.

As an offshoot of this thinking, i.e. the possible difference in the number of re-births between these 2 religions.....Is it possible that is a reason or contributing factor to population growth in the world? We know, for example, that the Asian countries have huge populations.

These are just possible thoughts...…..no one should believe that I have any kind of definitive proof for any of my speculations. In other words by exposing myself in this way I am, you might say, standing naked before the entire world...……:) I fully expect to be eviscerated because many will choose to believe that I presented these speculations as some absolute truth.
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