But the truly blessed are the ones kicked out of the monitoring room: They are insulated from a future that inevitably turns out nothing like they imagined it. None of the forty tales recommends itself as the basis of a belief system.
But reading Sum may shake loose some new ideas, or at the very least help you understand exactly what you are hoping for after death, if anything. The title is ironic; Barnes is in fact quite frightened of death and the nothingness of it is exactly what frightens him. The old Christian vision of Heaven seems childish to him, but. We grow up; we trade in our old sense of wonder for a new one. We do all this, and do we get any better at dying?
Are we going to get any better at that? We meet his parents and grandparents, and learn about their respective deaths, each unenviable in its own particular way. But their actual deaths—Barnes makes a project out of finding their graves—bear little resemblance to their hopes, and none give him a hero to emulate. The contrast between the two is a constant subject of speculation. The relics of dead religion are seldom far from the spotlight. It does no harm. His attempt to self-induce faith in the Christian plan of salvation goes like this:.
If it were true, it would be beautiful; and because it was beautiful, it would be the more true; and the more true, the more beautiful; and so on. How can he take satisfaction in what future generations will remember of him, when his memories of past generations are so paltry, and so made over by his own needs?
And besides, someday the last person who remembers him will die. Someday his grave will have its last visitor. This very book will have a last reader. That bastard! Intellectually, Barnes grasps the argument that earthly life becomes more serious when it is not just a rehearsal for eternity, and yet:. He is likewise skeptical of the wonder that the scientific mind finds in the workings of a godless universe:.
Should we not be a little more suspicious of it? A dung beetle might well have a primitive sense of awe at the size of the mighty dung ball it is rolling. Is this wonder of ours merely a posher version? He is left in the end with his fear of death intact, no consolation beyond his satisfaction at not having fooled himself, and the vague sense that he could have made a better deal.
Carole A. Passings: Death, Dying, and Unexplained Phenomena is full of visions, unseen presences, pre-cognitive dreams, and other indications that the dead are doing just fine. Unitarian Universalist memorial services and funerals are moving occasions. Friends and loved ones of the deceased work closely with the presiding minister in creating the service. If you would like arrange such a service, please contact a congregation near you. In , Nancy Shaffer's life suddenly changed when she was diagnosed with what would be a fatal brain tumor.
Buy This Book. In 22 simple yet profound reflections, seasoned minister Mark Belletini explores the many and varied forms of grief. And all Universalists agreed that everyone would eventually join God in heaven.
We are finite, limited. Should I be given an infinite punishment for just years worth of sinning? But do you have any evidence for this? His daughter was standing nearby. No matter what they did, you would never want them to be tortured forever, would you? If God is all-powerful, then God is responsible for everything. It was written before we had science, so it gets most scientific ideas wrong. It sometimes contradicts itself. Rick said that he believed the Bible is the Word of God without error, and asked again where the Bible says that everyone is saved.
Everyone is saved, not just some people. He says the same thing in Romans. Rick asked me to send him a list of Bible verses. People tend to find what they want to find in the Bible. I think the Bible is a conversation about God, not a holy encyclopedia where you go to find out what God says on any given topic.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
And there are many more passages like this. Now, can you also find Bible verses about hell?
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