Scared of eternity

[namax91]

Does anyone else get really scared when thinking about eternity? I sometimes go through phases where I start to think about the concept of forever and get really worried. I even remember when I was a little kid people in my class saying how they were excited to hopefully go to Heaven, and I said that I would be scared. (Just in terms of the fact that I will exist forever.) I still am shaken by this when I think about the passing of time and my own mortality. The last verse of Amazing Grace where Newton talks about after being there for 10,000 years we will have “no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first began” encapsulates what makes me nervous. I know that there is no time in Heaven, but I’m still shaken up. Is anyone else nervous thinking about this?

 

[LJR]

Hi,

I was amazed when I read this! It started for me when I was in elementary school. When I heard that I would live forever it scared the heck out of me and I got a funny, panicky feeling

As I was growing up and into my adulthood, if I thought about it the words, “forever, and ever and ever” would pop into my mind and it scared me. It’s like my mind can’t grasp the thought of forever.

I think it’s because it is incomprehensable. I have no idea why it is. If there is a counselor on this forum, maybe they could answer for us So glad you brought this up!!

 

[Kmon23]

You aren’t alone. I remember as a child I had the same fears that my mom had to comfort me. However, as I grew up, one thing I had to remember is that our fears do not matter if God is there for us. We may fear something, but if God is there for us, that fear holds no light to God’s. Trust in God’s goodness, and trust in Him, and all our fears with time just wash away. With time, the idea of eternity turned from fear into awe for me.

Hope this helps.

 

[IsaiahSpirit]

Only when I drift away from God and sense my peril.

In the after life we will always be joyful and contented… And it is wonderful,
always feeling loved and needed. Always a sense of purpose… Always
knowing what to do… Never ever feeling bored or lost … Just loving God
with all we are… and the same for each other… And it is written eye has not
seen, ear has not heard, nor human heart conceived what God has prepared
for those who love Him. In a private revelation, a child asked Jesus what
Heaven is like… He said, ‘A wonderful surprise.’

God is Perfect and always has done His Almighty best for us…
But the mystery to me is why space-time at all? It is for our mercy
I know, and while Jesus Suffered to save us, there is so much unearned suffering
from persons like helpless children that has, is, and will happen.
God knows why this is necessary for us and eventually have every tear wiped away.

 

[Hans_W]

You won’t be looking at your watch all the time, or ticking off days on a calendar.

There won’t be any time. Same as there was no time before the creation of this universe.

 

[Kount_C]

Does anyone else get really scared when thinking about eternity? I sometimes go through phases where I start to think about the concept of forever and get really worried. I even remember when I was a little kid people in my class saying how they were excited to hopefully go to Heaven, and I said that I would be scared. (Just in terms of the fact that I will exist forever.) I still am shaken by this when I think about the passing of time and my own mortality. The last verse of Amazing Grace where Newton talks about after being there for 10,000 years we will have “no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first began” encapsulates what makes me nervous. I know that there is no time in Heaven, but I’m still shaken up. Is anyone else nervous thinking about this?

Yes,
It freaks me out.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I’m not scared of eternity per se. In fact I hardly ever think about it.

The potential prospect of an eternity in Hell does concern me, but as not as far as heaven goes.

For one thing, if we get to heaven, we won’t be thinking of eternity, but will just live one perfect day at a time, if you’ll pardon the time-limited expression, just as you live one day at a time now.

 

[GEddie]

I’m not.

I long to be alive forever.

I ache to hide in our LORD’s arms, in a body and life that never need to end.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[Sparkythedog]

You won’t be looking at your watch all the time, or ticking off days on a calendar.

There won’t be any time. Same as there was no time before the creation of this universe.

If there’s no time, how would you do anything?

 

[IsaiahSpirit]

If there’s no time, how would you do anything?

I studied physics and understand movement without time as we know it
is mysterious to us. But maybe one of our rewards is to see
Creation from the beginning and at other times, For God is not
bound by time. It would be glorious to witness Jesus time on earth
temporarily lower than the angels. Maybe at first we will have to witness
His Passion to better give Him Glory, Honor, and Thanksgiving deeply
from the heart. I have no idea what our Perfect Benevolent God has in store.
It will simply be astoundingly loving and joyful.
Peace

 

[namax91]

Only when I drift away from God and sense my peril.

In the after life we will always be joyful and contented… And it is wonderful,
always feeling loved and needed. Always a sense of purpose… Always
knowing what to do… Never ever feeling bored or lost … Just loving God
with all we are… and the same for each other… And it is written eye has not
seen, ear has not heard, nor human heart conceived what God has prepared
for those who love Him. In a private revelation, a child asked Jesus what
Heaven is like… He said, ‘A wonderful surprise.’

God is Perfect and always has done His Almighty best for us…
But the mystery to me is why space-time at all? It is for our mercy
I know, and while Jesus Suffered to save us, there is so much unearned suffering
from persons like helpless children that has, is, and will happen.
God knows why this is necessary for us and eventually have every tear wiped away.

Thank you for all of that. That’s really beautiful and poetic.

 

[technatrix]

Does anyone else get really scared when thinking about eternity? I sometimes go through phases where I start to think about the concept of forever and get really worried. I even remember when I was a little kid people in my class saying how they were excited to hopefully go to Heaven, and I said that I would be scared. (Just in terms of the fact that I will exist forever.) I still am shaken by this when I think about the passing of time and my own mortality. The last verse of Amazing Grace where Newton talks about after being there for 10,000 years we will have “no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first began” encapsulates what makes me nervous. I know that there is no time in Heaven, but I’m still shaken up. Is anyone else nervous thinking about this?

This used to scare me, too, when I was growing up. One of the more comforting things that happened when I became an atheist was the relief over realizing that I wouldn’t exist for an eternity and that it would just be done with at some point.

I’m not really sure where the fear came from, but I think it had more to do with the idea of consciousness without direction. In life, we have goals and direction and things to do, and I can’t imagine an eternity without that sort of mental stimulus, and it seems like heaven is always described as a place of unchanging stasis. I don’t know, though, maybe consciousness is experienced differently in heaven, if it exists. Maybe the parts of you that care about time and activity are stripped away with your physical body and it won’t matter anymore.

 

[namax91]

This used to scare me, too, when I was growing up. One of the more comforting things that happened when I became an atheist was the relief over realizing that I wouldn’t exist for an eternity and that it would just be done with at some point.

The possibility of ceasing to exist scares me even more. That’s one thing I don’t understand about Buddhism. Nirvana sounds scarier than being reborn over and over again. I think there is good reason to believe that the Christian afterlife exists. If I may ask, what do you think of Pascal’s Wager?

 

[Saint_Cunigunde]

I studied physics and understand movement without time as we know it
is mysterious to us. But maybe one of our rewards is to see
Creation from the beginning and at other times, For God is not
bound by time. It would be glorious to witness Jesus time on earth
temporarily lower than the angels. Maybe at first we will have to witness
His Passion to better give Him Glory, Honor, and Thanksgiving deeply
from the heart. I have no idea what our Perfect Benevolent God has in store.
It will simply be astoundingly loving and joyful.
Peace

There will be time, but it won’t be so linear, or something like that.
C.S. Lewis wrote about it.
:twocents:

 

[multitude]

I can’t say I was ever scared of eternity. Maybe I just don’t think that far ahead. I am a little scared about my day of judgement though, whenever it is. However when I was agnostic/atheist, I don’t think I was ever scared of either.

 

[technatrix]

The possibility of ceasing to exist scares me even more. That’s one thing I don’t understand about Buddhism. Nirvana sounds scarier than being reborn over and over again. I think there is good reason to believe that the Christian afterlife exists. If I may ask, what do you think of Pascal’s Wager?

It can be hard for a lot of people to think about their own annihilation, but for me personally, it actually makes my life feel more special and worth living by comparison. If there’s not going to be any eternal reward or punishment and there’s no overall reason for things happening the way they do and one day I’m simply going to cease to exist, then life is a rare gift that isn’t to be taken lightly and even the bad parts are worth experiencing before I do the Off This Mortal Coil Shuffle. Coincidentally, it also means that everyone else in the world is rare and special simply by being a spark of conscious life in the infinite void, so it makes me feel like treating other people well and cutting them some slack.

Pascal’s Wager is a little more mercenary than I prefer to be where important things are concerned. I’m not sure I could have respect for a god that would let me into heaven knowing full well that I’m just hedging my bets. I’d rather lose fairly than win dishonestly. So, if it turns out I’m wrong, at least it’ll be a fair cop, and maybe I’ll scrape by into purgatory simply for being honestly dense.

 

[Sparkythedog]

There will be time, but it won’t be so linear, or something like that.
C.S. Lewis wrote about it.
:twocents:

What would non linear time look like? How would C. S. Lewis know that the afterlife behaves this way? It seems like these concepts are just pulled out of thin air and it doesn’t seem like they are very well thought out.

 

[GEddie]

What would non linear time look like? How would C. S. Lewis know that the afterlife behaves this way? It seems like these concepts are just pulled out of thin air and it doesn’t seem like they are very well thought out.

Collinear time is an effect of entropy, which we feel cooking off inside our heads and bodies, and observe running down in the external world. In the absence of the material of our natural bodies, there may be time, after a fashion, but not the collinear progression we know.

I can imagine non-collinear time quite well. So can anybody; consider how time seems to work (and therefore does work for your mind) while you are dreaming.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[GEddie]

I can’t say I was ever scared of eternity. Maybe I just don’t think that far ahead. I am a little scared about my day of judgement though, whenever it is. However when I was agnostic/atheist, I don’t think I was ever scared of either.

Well eternity isn’t that far ahead.

It’s just a blocked breath, or loosened blood-vessel away for anybody.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

What would non linear time look like? How would C. S. Lewis know that the afterlife behaves this way? It seems like these concepts are just pulled out of thin air and it doesn’t seem like they are very well thought out.

I’m not sure which CS Lewis *St. Cunigunde *was referring to, but I do remember one item where Lewis compared God to an author. When an author is writing a book, he has as much time as he wants to think about a certain character in the book. In a similar sense, God in His eternal being has as much time to think about a real character as He wants.

So in that sense time would be non-linear.