If you die and go to heaven, but your will is to cease to exist instead, would God let that happen?

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If you die and go to heaven, but wish to cease to exist instead, will your god make that happen?
 
If one goes to heaven and sees the face of God, I seriously doubt that he would then want to cease to exist.
 
No. That would violate His will in creating you.

This is sort of a meaningless question though, because if you go to Heaven you will not want to not exist. Heaven is pure bliss and happiness, it is the literal fulfillment of why we were created. It will be impossible for someone to experience the Beatific Vision and desire to cease experiencing it.

However, this is not limited to Heaven. Even the souls in Hell cannot wish to not exist. A person in Hell is there because they worship themselves above God. As a result of this self-worship, they will be incapable of wishing to cease existing because it would destroy the focus of their worship.

This is a reality we really can’t grasp completely here. We can think about it, and we can conjecture on it, but we can’t actually visualize it. What we experience here during our life is like a single quark compared the the universe of Heaven/Hell.
 
Many times on this earth we are faced with severe trials, even despair. There may even be long periods of time where we may wish we were never born, were already dead, or that we would cease to exist.

But in Heaven, we will be filled with so much love and so much joy, that we would never want that to end. We would no longer want to cease to exist–never ever.
 
No more than you could will not to be born, or not to die.

ICXC NIKA
 
ProdglArchitect said:
However, this is not limited to Heaven. Even the souls in Hell cannot wish to not exist. A person in Hell is there because they worship themselves above God. As a result of this self-worship, they will be incapable of wishing to cease existing because it would destroy the focus of their worship.
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You are saying my question is meaningless but this doesn’t make any sense.
 
ANV said:
If you die and go to heaven, but wish to cease to exist instead
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A that simply would not and could not happen.

So might as well ask if you wanted to order a square circle would one come in the mail?..
 
The image of God that a soul carries can be spoken in three aspects (or more): intellect, will, memory and (understanding). These are what make persons “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4)

Due to this divine quality, the soul can never cease to exist, but it can be miserably punished. For many have not lived up to the truth of this divine quality.

Nature is relentless. You jump off a bridge, the nature of gravity will not forgive. You subject your house on the shore in the event of the hurricane, the truth of nature will not forgive. But God’s Nature is Justice and Mercy. While we live, our souls benefit from a time of Mercy. But afterwards it will be the event of Justice. Justice requires responsibility. And our souls with divine aspects will be responsible to divinity itself.

If you raise a child to be responsible, they do not run or vanish - they obey.
 
DaveBj said:
If one goes to heaven and sees the face of God, I seriously doubt that he would then want to cease to exist.
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I agree. One who is in heaven wouldn’t want to cease to exist.

The only ones who would want to cease to exist would be those in hell.

Even those in purgatory would want to continue to exist, because they know they will go to heaven, eventually.
 
ANV said:
You are saying my question is meaningless but this doesn’t make any sense.
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You’re going to have to explain what you didn’t understand, because I thought it was pretty clear. People only think about not wanting to exist when things are “bad.” In Heaven, things will never be bad, therefore no one will ever consider not wanting to exist. Think of it this way. If everything in your life was absolutely perfect, you had no trials or tribulations, then you would never think “Huh, I wish I had never been born…” Heaven will be like that.

As for Hell, that’s why I gave the follow up that this is something we can’t understand. See, as an atheist, I assume your understanding of Hell is that it’s where God sends bad people to suffer for all eternity. (If this is incorrect, I apologize). In reality, the people in Hell are there by choice. They would rather spend eternity separated from God (and, therefore, separated from all good) than submit to His authority. That is what I meant by self-worship. Because those souls value themselves and their own desires above all else, it would be impossible for them desire that their “self” cease existing.

Our souls in Heaven and Hell are not mere continuations of our current worldly desires; they are our desires perfected. If we desire God above ourselves in this life, then that desire will be perfected in Heaven. If, on the other hand, we desire ourselves above God, that desire will be “perfected” in Hell.
 
I think this is an interesting question.

I think we are what we are.

The OP is an atheist. Probably doesn’t believe in angels or demons or fairies or pixies. (I personally think fairies and pixies are just demons with good PR. Some are just figments of inebriation.) Angels are everlasting spiritual beings. We are everlasting beings although we are made up of other substances such as the physical and spiritual. God is the Eternal being.

I think it must be a real comfort to people, the idea of non-existence even more than a Eternal Happiness of Heaven. I lived, I loved, I worked, I made mistakes, I tried… and then it’s over. We’re stuck in a hole or turned to ash and that’s that. Memories of us, except for a few, will fade.

Whereas having to stand before a Perfect Being we can’t possibly measure up, and then give an account of how we used this very finite and mistake riddled life is Frightening.

My husband once tried to comfort me when I was upset with the thought of never seeing my beloved dog again years after she was put down. He said, if it would make Heaven sweeter God would probably have my pet there in Heaven for me. I like the idea, and I can hope, but I’m not certain when faced with Heaven and God in his Glory that it could get much better. And that is what I thought of when reading the OP’s question. If what I want is what would make me happy, than shouldn’t God grant me that?

No.
He’s not obligated to grant any of us what we think we want. My dog wiggling her docked tail, newly restored and running to greet me? I would like that as I sit here and type. But even here on earth, God’s under no obligation to give me what I want.

Nothing my soul, intelligence, spirit and emotions could anymore comprehend anything I’d want more. I have precious little to go by, and I’m not envisioning BLISS. I can’t really even begin to comprehend. Oh the Bible and mystics have thrown us a bone or two. Mansions? Crowns? Streets of gold? Its literary devices to give us a schmear of a taste of something we just can’t wrap our heads around. Maybe it’s literal.

NDEs? Meh. I’m sorry, I’ve known people who have experienced them, and well it’s interesting but I don’t think they’ve gone to Heaven exactly. Maybe purgatory, maybe limbo. Maybe their brain activity vibrated at a frequency that brought about that experience. But I’ve known one young man who was in a three month coma. He claimed he didn’t exist until he woke up. It was nothing. That was his experience, and he believed in Christ.

I’m still messing up in life. I’m trying to do the right thing while here. I’ll mess up some more. I’m grateful for that Perfect Mercy and Justice and I’m trusting that when faced with the Glory of Everlasting Life I will probably accept that over becoming Kaput.
 
ClearWater said:
I agree. One who is in heaven wouldn’t want to cease to exist.

The only ones who would want to cease to exist would be those in hell.

Even those in purgatory would want to continue to exist, because they know they will go to heaven, eventually.
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Exactly regarding the hell part, anyone who is suffering to eternity would most likely prefer to cease to exist.
 
pianistclare said:
:confused:

I don’t know how you could have possibly construed that from his post.
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Because if you were never born you wouldn’t risk Hell since you wouldn’t be here in the first place, it would be better not to be existent than to be in Hell.
 
ANV said:
Because if you were never born you wouldn’t risk Hell since you wouldn’t be here in the first place, it would be better not to be existent than to be in Hell.
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Except hell is not a given.
People choose.
Anyone who willingly CHOOSES hell…? :eek:
 
ANV said:
If you die and go to heaven, but wish to cease to exist instead, will your god make that happen?
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The fact that you are an atheist and you think our “god” will place you in heaven shows that our “god” is extremely, merciful! 👍
 
egretps said:
I think this is an interesting question.

I think we are what we are.

The OP is an atheist. Probably doesn’t believe in angels or demons or fairies or pixies. (I personally think fairies and pixies are just demons with good PR. Some are just figments of inebriation.) Angels are everlasting spiritual beings. We are everlasting beings although we are made up of other substances such as the physical and spiritual. God is the Eternal being.

I think it must be a real comfort to people, the idea of non-existence even more than a Eternal Happiness of Heaven. I lived, I loved, I worked, I made mistakes, I tried… and then it’s over. We’re stuck in a hole or turned to ash and that’s that. Memories of us, except for a few, will fade.

Whereas having to stand before a Perfect Being we can’t possibly measure up, and then give an account of how we used this very finite and mistake riddled life is Frightening.

My husband once tried to comfort me when I was upset with the thought of never seeing my beloved dog again years after she was put down. He said, if it would make Heaven sweeter God would probably have my pet there in Heaven for me. I like the idea, and I can hope, but I’m not certain when faced with Heaven and God in his Glory that it could get much better. And that is what I thought of when reading the OP’s question. If what I want is what would make me happy, than shouldn’t God grant me that?

No.
He’s not obligated to grant any of us what we think we want. My dog wiggling her docked tail, newly restored and running to greet me? I would like that as I sit here and type. But even here on earth, God’s under no obligation to give me what I want.

Nothing my soul, intelligence, spirit and emotions could anymore comprehend anything I’d want more. I have precious little to go by, and I’m not envisioning BLISS. I can’t really even begin to comprehend. Oh the Bible and mystics have thrown us a bone or two. Mansions? Crowns? Streets of gold? Its literary devices to give us a schmear of a taste of something we just can’t wrap our heads around. Maybe it’s literal.

NDEs? Meh. I’m sorry, I’ve known people who have experienced them, and well it’s interesting but I don’t think they’ve gone to Heaven exactly. Maybe purgatory, maybe limbo. Maybe their brain activity vibrated at a frequency that brought about that experience. But I’ve known one young man who was in a three month coma. He claimed he didn’t exist until he woke up. It was nothing. That was his experience, and he believed in Christ.

I’m still messing up in life. I’m trying to do the right thing while here. I’ll mess up some more. I’m grateful for that Perfect Mercy and Justice and I’m trusting that when faced with the Glory of Everlasting Life I will probably accept that over becoming Kaput.
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Then this would be a dictator thing to do and not a free will, if you wouldn’t go to Hell because you were not deserving of Hell, but you also wouldn’t want to spend some place in Heaven, then God being merciful and powerful who loves you and respects your free will can make this happen.
 
ANV said:
I don’t think anyone CHOOSES to eternally suffer. Still this doesn’t answer my reply 😛
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No, they chose themselves over God. That is the choice.

The chief suffering of Hell is eternal separation from God, which is hte wish of souls who chose themselves over God. All the pain that comes with it is a natural repercussion of existing in a state that lacks any Good.
 
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