Do you fear death?

[Lost_Sheep]

How can anyone possibly** know** that for certain?

I just know. I can’t explain it. I just know that’s where I’m heading.

If my life on this Earth is any indication of how much God “loves” me then it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’m headed for the Hot Place.

 

[GEddie]

Life is way overrated.

I don’t know about that.

Alive, you get to move, breathe, see, smell, etc.

How is that not infinitely preferable to lying in the dark earth with the d**** earthworms nibbling on your skin!!!

 

[meltzerboy]

I just know. I can’t explain it. I just know that’s where I’m heading.

If my life on this Earth is any indication of how much God “loves” me then it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’m headed for the Hot Place.

Nonsense! If anything, you have already paid some or most of your penance through your suffering here on Earth. G-d will make it up to you in the World to Come.

 

[tonyrey]

I just know. I can’t explain it. I just know that’s where I’m heading.

If my life on this Earth is any indication of how much God “loves” me then it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’m headed for the Hot Place.

To set yourself up as an authority on God’s love is a symptom of intellectual pride and presumption but they don’t lead to damnation because they are the result of ignorance and failure to recognise the immensity of His love for all of us demonstrated by Jesus on the Cross. Pascal believed He is in agony until the end of the world because He shares our suffering - and there is no reason to believe he was mistaken.

 

[tonyrey]

Nonsense! If anything, you have already paid some or most of your penance through your suffering here on Earth. G-d will make it up to you in the World to Come.

Otherwise He would be unjust - which doesn’t make sense. The Creator is either perfect or non-existent!

 

[laylow]

How could you not? Narrow path…eternal torment…

 

[Clevus]

Thank you. I would think I’m going to hell because I commit sins that I don’t confess and then miss mass and communion. If I were to die in this condition, I think my damnation would be almost certain. This sort of thing happens so often to me that I am reconciled to the idea of going to hell.

After an examination of conscience, I mean a quiet spot where one can itemize his past sins to the best of his ability, and then a sincere confession and absolution, you no longer need to think of the past. There is a danger that the attitude will turn to negativism, where the attitude is actually an opinion of the inadequacy of God’s graces.

You are free from the past, really free from every sin committed. Be joyful!!

Fr. Ripperger has good advice on this:

youtube.com/watch?v=RoEWGSa6bxE

 

[Pat_Albertson]

After an examination of conscience, I mean a quiet spot where one can itemize his past sins to the best of his ability, and then a sincere confession and absolution, you no longer need to think of the past. There is a danger that the attitude will turn to negativism, where the attitude is actually an opinion of the inadequacy of God’s graces.

You are free from the past, really free from every sin committed. Be joyful!!

Fr. Ripperger has good advice on this:

youtube.com/watch?v=RoEWGSa6bxE

I was feeling unusually down and depressed a few days ago. Nevertheless, even though I am feeling better and at present I am not quite so pessimistic, this doctrine is never very far from my thoughts: The Fewness of the Saved.

 

[tonyrey]

I was feeling unusually down and depressed a few days ago. Nevertheless, even though I am feeling better and at present I am not quite so pessimistic, this doctrine is never very far from my thoughts: The Fewness of the Saved.

So you believe Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross was a waste of time for the vast majority of men, women and children? :ehh:

 

[Pat_Albertson]

So you believe Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross was a waste of time for the vast majority of men, women and children? :ehh:

What is “waste of time”? Isn’t that something from a utilitarian calculation? Isn’t that for somebody who has only finite resources, somebody who experiences finiteness at every instant?

I do not pretend to understand the mind of God. I do not know what He would think is a waste. Mostly I just repeat what I find various priests, theologians and other commentators saying online, or what they say that various saints have said.

I could report an instance of the opposite, I could report that the modern mystic, the still living Lorna Byrne has said, that while she believes in hell and Satan, and that God has let Satan draw near to her and that she was frightened almost to death, that she sees angels, that she has seen plenty of peoples’ souls when they depart, that she has seen quite a number of people die, and she has never yet seen anybody being sent to hell. She is not held in high esteem on CAF though, ergo, up until this point I have only spoken of her in a very few private pms to people.

On a personal note, I find it much easier to believe in my own damnation than in my salvation. I don’t know why. Perhaps it is just my depression.

I have to say that I find the confidence that so many people here seem to have in their own salvation to be somewhat surprising. I am more than a little flummoxed and taken aback by it.

There is a common logical error that many people make:

Another example occurs in the film The Matrix. There Neo is asked whether he believes in fate; he says that he doesn’t. He is then asked why, and replies, “I don’t like the thought that I’m not in control.” This is not an appeal to evidence, but to the unpleasantness of believing in fate: Fate would imply that the world is a way that I don’t want it to be, therefore there is no such thing.

From: logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-consequences/

God has infinite power; He might not consider 5/30,000 or 3/60,000 to be “wasteful”. Indeed, maybe it’s a “bargain”, whatever that is to Somebody with infinite power . . .

As Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Is it just a gut check? If so, then I guess I’m as guilty as the next party, except that my gut often seems to want to run in the opposite direction to what other people seem to want. Or is it something else, other better people’s (better than me at any rate) revelations, science, logic, church tradition?

I dunno . . . mostly I just end up praying to God for help . . .

 

[Lost_Sheep]

Nonsense! If anything, you have already paid some or most of your penance through your suffering here on Earth. G-d will make it up to you in the World to Come.

And how do I know that for a fact?

 

[Lost_Sheep]

Otherwise He would be unjust - which doesn’t make sense. The Creator is either perfect or non-existent!

And you know this how? Is it factually true? Or do you just *believe *it is true?

Where is the proof? That’s what I’m searching for.

 

[Robert_Sock]

When I wake up in the morning I feel very spiritual, calm and peaceful, especial while in prayer, but after several hours I begin to feel anxious, scared, insecure, and sometimes feel like I’m going to go insane. The only thought of comfort is wanting to die and go to Heaven, which causes me to be in good spirit! Living in this world filled with so much evil scares me.

 

[ANV]

When I wake up in the morning I feel very spiritual, calm and peaceful, especial while in prayer, but after several hours I begin to feel anxious, scared, insecure, and sometimes feel like I’m going to go insane. The only thought of comfort is wanting to die and go to Heaven, which causes me to be in good spirit! Living in this world filled with so much evil scares me.

Me too, except for the prayer and Heaven part.

 

[pianistclare]

I think it is only human to have at least some fear of death or the dying process or both, even if you have faith. We are only human. The trick is, I suppose, not to let the fear of death or dying prevent you from living, not to be so obsessed by the fear that you give up on everything and lapse into an existential depression. There are some people who are more afraid to live than to die. And then there is also the fear of growing old and feeble (and feeble-minded): that is not such a comforting thought either. Neither is the thought of the death of loved ones, or one’s own death which results in bringing pain and suffering to loved ones. But these are all thoughts that, I believe, we all think about from time to time. Our faith, whatever it may be, should give us some comfort, however, that our lives are not in vain and that we are headed, literally, in the right direction.

Well stated.
We were made to live in heaven with God.
Don’t want to rush it, but I don’t fear it either.

 

[Lost_Sheep]

Funny how everybody thinks *they *are going to heaven, but other people aren’t.

 

[pianistclare]

I was feeling unusually down and depressed a few days ago. Nevertheless, even though I am feeling better and at present I am not quite so pessimistic, this doctrine is never very far from my thoughts: The Fewness of the Saved.

That Fewness of the Saved is not a doctrine, and it is wreaking havoc here on these forums.

Christ came for EVERYONE. We all hope in the Resurrection. Or else He died for nothing. And we KNOW that is simply not true.

Get, and read this book.
amazon.com/Padre-Pios-Words-Eileen-Bertanzetti/dp/0879736941

 

[rinnie]

Are you afraid of dying, is it strange that I am not afraid of dying, maybe I would be afraid and escape of a natural danger when it occurs, just as a natural feeling and reaction, but in general as my mind does speak, I don’t fear death, not even a bit, does anyone else feel that way? Do you think it would be different when you grow older?

Most people fear death. I have mixed emotions. I pray God will accept me and cannot wait to meet him. But I fear he will deem me not worthy. So I rely on his grace.

If I denied God and his existence I would be scared shitless!!

 

[rinnie]

When I wake up in the morning I feel very spiritual, calm and peaceful, especial while in prayer, but after several hours I begin to feel anxious, scared, insecure, and sometimes feel like I’m going to go insane. The only thought of comfort is wanting to die and go to Heaven, which causes me to be in good spirit! Living in this world filled with so much evil scares me.

Also the way people treat eachother. Its depressing. My happiest thought of death is that eternal supper at the table of the Lord with all of my loved ones. It is then I could take the end of the world right this second. To be where not a tear will be shed, only if it is happiness no fear, worry, pain, evil anger etc. Only eternal happiness. Yeah I am ready for that.

 

[tonyrey]

Otherwise He would be unjust - which doesn’t make sense. The Creator is either perfect or non-existent! And you know this how? Is it factually true? Or do you just *believe *

Belief in an imperfect God raises more problems than it solves. He wouldn’t be eternal but finite and limited in both power and knowledge. So how did He originate and what restricts His activity?