Scared of eternity

[IsaiahSpirit]

In a sense we participate in Eternity right now in a limited
fashion like when Jesus was temporarily lower than the Angels.

Jesus is consubstantial, one in Being with The Father and
Their Spirit. We know by being taught He always Existed.

Since God is outside of time and through Jesus, The Kernel of Wheat,
exists inside time also. I think of space-time as a sphere.
Jesus arrived in time from the beginning, during, and end of time.
So we should have a healthy diligent concern on how we treat each other,
for Jesus said, what you do to one of the least among you, you
do to Me. Boredom is a punishment for a lack of concern to help others
as a cheerful giver. So is worry. So is obsession with anything earthy
for personal comfort or pleasure. The best thing to do is ask The Father
in Jesus’ Name, by The Spirit to examine our conscience. Then
through Reconciliation and reparation, improve more and more.
The more we accept His Joy by Grace, the more we have
joie de vivre , joy of life and look forward to Eternal Rest, with
all it’s non-stressful challenges. The more true peace we have.

Tremendous Awe and respect for God our Father brings about a healthy
fear of disappointing our so Loving and Compassionate Creator.
We willingly accept discipline even chastisement and willingly make
reparation for the effects of our sins though forgiven. This less we
cooperate with His Grace, the more we start getting worried and fearful.
It’s a yoke to bring us back and to improve more and more. It’s healthy
to be afraid of damnation, but it’s extremely unhealthy to be afraid of God.
The devil, his angels, and those who chose to be tares among the wheat
always dread God. It’s a very sad thing that on earth so many delude themselves
with presumption using it as a false blessed assurance. Some perform works
of God’s charity only to look good to themselves, others, and even God Whom
of course is never deceived. Mammon for personal comfort and pleasure is their
God. They have no real compassion for others, but some are good at deluding themselves
and others. Very few come across as a ‘hitler’ They are seducers.
God help the young people and the impressionable people from their snare!

It’s scary, but we develop a greater sense of His Eternal Peace and Joy, less bored or nervous & worried the more we grow in true virtue. We look forward to Eternal Rest.
Peace.
28"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS…" From Matthew 11:28-29

 

[GEddie]

We should remember that eternity is not a nonending collinear time.

We think of it as such because our entropic bodies, and minds fitted to these bodies, know nothing else. But eternity is free of collinear time.

So it is in no case a matter of continuing a linear existence.

It also explains “going to Hell.” Those in Hell are not there for nonending time because they were “sent” there; they are there because repentance requires time, which for them has run out.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[JamesAnthony12]

You aren’t alone. I remember as a child I had the same fears that my mom had to comfort me.

I’m glad I saw this thread! I am still nervous about this myself…It’s a very frightening concept to any human being since we can’t grasp true immortality. Everything in our lives comes to an end. Everything that we have interacted with from the time we could first breathe and understand the world around us is finite, and has a finite end. Nobody fully comprehends infinity, or eternal life, or life without time. Of course the concept is scary, it’s something you can’t grasp, and you will never fully grasp…at least on this earth.

It’s also exciting if you think about it. It’s something completely new, a new adventure. It sounds like you have a healthy fear of God… something that we are taught is necessary to possess as a good Catholic.

 

[Shin]

‘The first ideas I can remember date back to when I was five years old. When I went to bed, instead of sleeping – I have never been much of a sleeper – I used to think about eternity. I would think “forever, forever, forever.” I would try to imagine enormous distances and pile still more distances on these and realize that they would never come to an end.’

St. Anthony Mary Claret

 

[soma]

We are all in Eternity, the Infinite, God. Don’t be afraid be overjoyed as we came from, are in and will return to God who is Eternity or Infinity. The finite is in infinite so commune the the Divinity within you, the Infinite within you in…the finite.

 

[GEddie]

We are all in Eternity, the Infinite, God. Don’t be afraid be overjoyed as we came from, are in and will return to God who is Eternity or Infinity. The finite is in infinite so commune the the Divinity within you, the Infinite within you in…the finite.

Your footer is inaccurate; we are both, we are embodied souls and ensouled bodies.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[ethereality]

To the OP: Don’t think of it as “forever” (time as we know it going on indefinitely), because that’s not what the Church teaches. Yes, an infinite time frightens us because it’s foreign to our experience, beyond what we can imagine – hence it’s frightening because it’s overwhelming.

Rather, I understand that we’ll exist like God apart from this time we’re currently in. Hence there’s no reason to be afraid, because there’s nothing that we know to imagine. Conceptually we can understand that our existence will be different, and better and happier, and we can “leave it at that” and return to focusing on the present moment.

That being said, I want to respond to this currently-former Christian,* though:

If 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.

Presumably as an atheist you value reason, so I’m hoping you’ll appreciate a critique here.

What you’ve said here contains both a contradiction, and is a conflation of two ideas.

The contradiction: Life isn’t a gift because there is no giver of it, under atheism (i.e. materialism = only material entities exist). Sure, you can say your parents – or some scientist in a laboratory in the case of in vitro fertilization – created you, but ultimately life itself (that principle they had whereby they were able to impart it to you) is the unintended result of atoms, not a gift from a person (or omnipotent mind). So you can’t speak of life as a gift and be consistent with materialist philosophy.

The conflation of two ideas: That life is a ‘rare’ gift is because we can only live it once, not because of anything that happens after we die. That life is to be taken seriously (“not to be taken lightly”) is because of the judgment after we die regarding the import our actions have, hence literally the importance of our actions. So you’re conflating that we can only live it once with the reason for it being only livable once.

Moreover, once again under atheism your conclusion is inconsistent: The atheist is free to embrace nihilism like Christopher Nolan’s Joker (or David Wood as a teenager), and conclude that life is an absurd joke and ought to be taken lightly, precisely because “there’s no overall reason for things happening the way they do”. You’re free to personally think that it should be taken seriously, but you have no grounds for telling others that they should take it seriously.

• currently-former Christian: A small joke, i.e. I’m hoping you’ll reconsider, that you’ll find reasons to believe again.

 

[technatrix]

That being said, I want to respond to this currently-former Christian,* thoughresumably as an atheist you value reason, so I’m hoping you’ll appreciate a critique here.

What you’ve said here contains both a contradiction, and is a conflation of two ideas.

The contradiction: Life isn’t a gift because there is no giver of it, under atheism (i.e. materialism = only material entities exist). Sure, you can say your parents – or some scientist in a laboratory in the case of in vitro fertilization – created you, but ultimately life itself (that principle they had whereby they were able to impart it to you) is the unintended result of atoms, not a gift from a person (or omnipotent mind). So you can’t speak of life as a gift and be consistent with materialist philosophy.

The conflation of two ideas: That life is a ‘rare’ gift is because we can only live it once, not because of anything that happens after we die. That life is to be taken seriously (“not to be taken lightly”) is because of the judgment after we die regarding the import our actions have, hence literally the importance of our actions. So you’re conflating that we can only live it once with the reason for it being only livable once.

Moreover, once again under atheism your conclusion is inconsistent: The atheist is free to embrace nihilism like Christopher Nolan’s Joker (or David Wood as a teenager), and conclude that life is an absurd joke and ought to be taken lightly, precisely because “there’s no overall reason for things happening the way they do”. You’re free to personally think that it should be taken seriously, but you have no grounds for telling others that they should take it seriously.

• currently-former Christian: A small joke, i.e. I’m hoping you’ll reconsider, that you’ll find reasons to believe again.

I suppose it’s a good that I’m stating what I think and how I feel about the subject as a participant in this conversation and not telling anyone else how they should feel about it, then. You and anyone else are certainly free to feel however you like on the subject, it makes absolutely no difference to me and how I feel about it all. Nothing requires us all to feel the same way.

And, I was speaking figuratively concerning the idea of life being a gift. To me, life is a gift in the same way that finding a $100 bill laying on the side of the road would be a “gift”. No one gives it to you, it’s just an unlikely and yet fortuitous thing to happen and so emotionally it can feel like a sort of gift even if it’s really just a random accident. But, I’m an optimist, I’ll still feel good about a random accident in my favor and try to make the most of it. Why not? Not everything in one’s emotional experience of the world has to be weighed and analyzed and taken really, really seriously.

 

[soma]

GEddie what is your interpretation?

My footer is a statement asking are you aligned with your soul or do you identify with the body. Most people are not aware of the soul and think they are the personality.

Our bodies decompose and are returned to the elements, dust to dust. Our souls are in Eternity and will not decompose.

 

[GEddie]

GEddie what is your interpretation?

My footer is a statement asking are you aligned with your soul or do you identify with the body. Most people are not aware of the soul and think they are the personality.

Our bodies decompose and are returned to the elements, dust to dust. Our souls are in Eternity and will not decompose.

We should identify as much with our body as with our soul.

While your soul or mind makes you “you”, your body makes you somebody.

While our soul can survive death, it remains stranded, so to speak, without the services of a human or resurrectional body.

ICXC NIKA

 

[soma]

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) was a bishop who wrote, among others, about the creation of the human body. Gregory states, that the soul does not need to acquire the vision of God; it has this vision from the beginning.The mixing with body and material things let the soul deviate from its divine vision and fall. Human efforts must therefore be oriented toward recreating this vision and thus participating in the Divine life.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

 

[ethereality]

And, I was speaking figuratively concerning the idea of life being a gift. …] Not everything in one’s emotional experience of the world has to be weighed and analyzed and taken really, really seriously.

I hope you see how this is a cop-out: You’re trying to reposition yourself by claiming to be speaking ‘figuratively’, but the basis for this figurative language is Christianity, which you are saying is false – so again, there’s no basis for what you’re saying. It seems clear (especially from your closing statement) that you don’t really want to reconsider your thoughts critically, so I won’t press the matter.

 

[technatrix]

It seems clear (especially from your closing statement) that you don’t really want to reconsider your thoughts critically, so I won’t press the matter.

Dude, let’s not go there. You don’t know anything about me or how I think or what I’m considering and it’s unlikely you’re going to get a good picture of that information from a few flip remarks on a message board. Not everyone is into aggressively debating and picking apart random strangers on the internet. For the record, I wouldn’t be on a Catholic forum if I wasn’t sorting out some thoughts on the subject, but your general tone in this conversation and the type of response in the quotes isn’t all that helpful and really just reminds me of some of the many reasons I left to start with. So, if you’re coming at me with your debate club hat on, sorry, I just can’t take it seriously. If you want to have a more casual and friendly conversation on the subject, right on.

 

[rom422]

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?

Heaven is not just a place, but a state of everlasting joy. As such, heaven never occurred to me as a scary thought at all. Have you ever experienced a day in your life when you were so happy that you wished the day would never end? Well, that is what heaven is like. If you think that heaven is nothing but a state of everlasting existence, then it would be boring and, therefore, scary. But it is not just a state of everlasting existence. It is a state of everlasting joy. If you are in heaven, you would be so happy that you wouldn’t even think that time is passing by. You live every moment, and cherish every moment, and wish the day would never end.

Just my idea of what heaven is like.

 

[AJB328]

When I was young it used to keep me up at night and I would agonize over the idea. I really couldn’t believe it when I read this and saw how many other people experienced the same thing. As I got older I just look at it as a mystery of God and think that I couldn’t conceptualize what eternity in Heaven is like. Considering it’s what we’re made for I don’t think it’ll be as constraining as we think.

 

[Beautiful]

I sometimes go through phases where I start to think about the concept of forever and get really worried./QUOTE]

Those who have ever reached a point of recognizing sin and letting go of it for what appears to be an abyss understands the process of letting go into eternity. The process of letting go of sin can be difficult because of this feeling of abyss but once you have faith and trust you realize the process of dying to oneself and the possibility of living in God’s Love for eternity.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Dude, let’s not go there. You don’t know anything about me or how I think or what I’m considering and it’s unlikely you’re going to get a good picture of that information from a few flip remarks on a message board. Not everyone is into aggressively debating and picking apart random strangers on the internet. For the record, I wouldn’t be on a Catholic forum if I wasn’t sorting out some thoughts on the subject, but your general tone in this conversation and the type of response in the quotes isn’t all that helpful and really just reminds me of some of the many reasons I left to start with. So, if you’re coming at me with your debate club hat on, sorry, I just can’t take it seriously. If you want to have a more casual and friendly conversation on the subject, right on.

Please don’t judge us all by the tone of one or two. I’m a strongly believing cradle Catholic but for me that means being charitable and listening to the other person’s side and how they got to wherever they are. In other words, I try not to “pounce.” Hope that helps.

About this thread in general - fascinating topic. I have had my share of childhood fears regarding religious things. I used to be afraid Mary would appear to me and show me a vision of Hell or simply that being the object of a Marian apparition would change my life too much! Like, I wouldn’t be “normal” like other kids/teens anymore. It took me some years to develop a positive relationship with the Blessed Mother. Now I wouldn’t be without her maternal care. :heaven:

Eternity boggles my mind but it more puzzles than frightens. However, I do find myself feeling so used to Earthly life (and enjoying the things I love doing such as art) and wondering whether I’ll miss those Earthly pleasures and just how I’ll “adjust” to eternity itself. Which is probably rather silly - I’m sure help with the adjustment process is included with the price of admission!

 

[rom422]

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.

I added the boldface for emphasis.

I agree perfectly with this post. In heaven the blessed do not care about the passing of the days. Since they are happy with the vision of God (the beatific vision), they do not mind enjoying their happiness “forever and ever.” But hell is the exact opposite. The damned souls are so miserable in their life without God, that the thought of just one more day in hell is, for them, unbearable. The damned souls wish that their existence would end, and the thought of an everlasting state of separation from God causes them great anguish, pain, anger and despair.

 

[IsaiahSpirit]

In our struggles let us please pray for life, it is so important and Sacred.

So it’s up to us to imitate God’s merciful love by helping and praying for those who persecute us, and those who don’t love us back.

Prayer

Gracious God, loving our enemies seems like one of most difficult things you could ask of us. Please remind us that this is how you love and that if you ask it of us then you will give us the grace to do it. This we ask through Christ our Lord, Amen.

source: 40daysforlife.com/media/day13.pdf
40DaysForLife.com

–excerpt--------------------------------
Day 13 intention

We pray for the strength to love those who do not love us.

Scripture

But the Lord said “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock? Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

— Jonah 4:10-11

Reflection by Dennis DiMauro

God doesn’t value people and things like we do.

Jonah loved a shade tree more than an entire city of sinful people. We love our dogs more than a terrorist. We love our cars more than a beggar on the side of the road. And sometimes, we love our money more than a child growing in a desperate teenager’s womb.

But God isn’t like us. Genesis 1 tells us that humans were the capstone of God’s creation.

We were created on the sixth day after God had completed the land, the stars, the plants and the animals. Therefore, His love for us is greater than His love for a plant, an animal, or any other created thing.

And the book of Jonah tells us that He loves even the most sinful people and seeks to bring them into His merciful arms. And it’s a love that seeks to touch all of his created children: that desperate teenager, the baby growing in her womb, even tyrants and terrorists.

So it’s up to us to imitate God’s merciful love by helping and praying for those who persecute us, and those who don’t love us back.

Prayer

Gracious God, loving our enemies seems like one of most difficult things you could ask of us. Please remind us that this is how you love and that if you ask it of us then you will give us the grace to do it. This we ask through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Printable devotional

To download today’s devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share:

40daysforlife.com/media/day13.pdf​

 

[carmenp1]

QUOTE=namax91;12738422]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?

When we get saved God puts an assurance in our hearts that we have entered into his grace, by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins. The bible says to confess with your mouth.

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the HEART one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Confess: open your mouth and speak it out loud)

I was led in a prayer. It isn’t any set prayer, it just needs to come from your heart. You need to believe with your heart. The prayer I prayed was something like this:

Dear Jesus,
I admit that I am a sinner. I believe that You died for me. Come into my heart right now and forgive me my sins. Help me to turn from my sins and to live for you from this day forward. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How does God want us to go to Him?
John 14:6 “Jesus said unto Him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”

No more fear of death? Why?
1John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment,”

Why do we no longer fear punishment?
Ephesians 1:7 “For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God”

What has God’s grace given us?
Romans 6:22 “But now you have been set free from sin and are slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to Him, and the result is eternal life.”

What do you need to do to have eternal life?
Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that non one can boast about it”

Jesus will not lose any the Father has drawn to Him
John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from Me”

This is what God wants
John 6:40 “For what My Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day”

We have an assurance from God in our hearts that testifies that we are children of God.
When you have this, you know you can look forward to being with God. You have been forgiven, reconciled to God and can have a personal relationship with Him.

Read you bible because this is God’s instruction manual to us who want to know Him.
Carmen