Philosophy Discussion Forums

EricPH wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 2:58 pm

Belindi wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 7:58 am I suspect EricPH believes in physical resurrection of corpses to living persons.

I believe in a greater good life after death with God.

The genocidal God and St. Hitler?

Regards
DL

EricPH wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 2:58 pm

Belindi wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 7:58 am I suspect EricPH believes in physical resurrection of corpses to living persons.

I believe in a greater good life after death with God.

Do you mean that following death the spirit separates from the body?

EricPH wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 2:58 pm

Belindi wrote: ↑January 5th, 2022, 7:58 amI suspect EricPH believes in physical resurrection of corpses to living persons.

I believe in a greater good life after death with God.

Eric, a few questions:

Did you you always believe this? Or did you come to your beliefs from a position of scepticism? If the latter, what evidence prompted the change?

Cheers

Belindi wrote: ↑January 6th, 2022, 7:27 am Do you mean that following death the spirit separates from the body?

Probably, there is some debate even amongst believers. But I am convinced in a greater good life after death; despite the lack of clarity of how it will be.

EricPH wrote: ↑January 7th, 2022, 7:47 am

Belindi wrote: ↑January 6th, 2022, 7:27 am Do you mean that following death the spirit separates from the body?

Probably, there is some debate even amongst believers. But I am convinced in a greater good life after death; despite the lack of clarity of how it will be.

I echo Sy Borg's question about how and when you came to believe this.

I started to search for God when I was in my late forties, a number of profound events happened. No one can prove to me that God exists, or Jesus died and rose from the dead; or that he loves me as he loves himself. I have to prove this to myself in some way. I have to do something. There is a big difference between belief and faith. I can sit here and say; I believe parachuting is easy. But the only way to have faith in parachuting; is to put one on; go up in a plane and jump. To jump once is to have faith once, to jump a hundred times is to test our faith a hundred times.

To put our trust in God; when our health and safety could be at risk; has proved to be a profound experience for the last fourteen years. We shall be out wondering the streets of our town again tonight, and finish around 4 am tomorrow. We can be in the middle of drunken angry violence like last week. We can meet distressed and anxious people, suicide and of course we meet lots of wonderful people too. We don’t do self defence or carry any protective equipment other than disposable gloves. We pray, we put our trust in God and go. We hope to make our town a kinder and more caring place to live; but we have to be the change we want to see and do something.

Why would someone "resurrect" in heaven or hell?

I thought the whole idea of a resurrection was that the person returned to life on Earth.

Maybe I really don't know what "resurrection" is supposed to refer to, though. I don't normally bother with religious stuff very much.

EricPH wrote: ↑January 7th, 2022, 10:56 am I started to search for God when I was in my late forties, a number of profound events happened. No one can prove to me that God exists, or Jesus died and rose from the dead; or that he loves me as he loves himself. I have to prove this to myself in some way. I have to do something. There is a big difference between belief and faith. I can sit here and say; I believe parachuting is easy. But the only way to have faith in parachuting; is to put one on; go up in a plane and jump. To jump once is to have faith once, to jump a hundred times is to test our faith a hundred times.

To put our trust in God; when our health and safety could be at risk; has proved to be a profound experience for the last fourteen years. We shall be out wondering the streets of our town again tonight, and finish around 4 am tomorrow. We can be in the middle of drunken angry violence like last week. We can meet distressed and anxious people, suicide and of course we meet lots of wonderful people too. We don’t do self defence or carry any protective equipment other than disposable gloves. We pray, we put our trust in God and go. We hope to make our town a kinder and more caring place to live; but we have to be the change we want to see and do something.

I have wholehearted and sincere respect for your work and your trust in God. But the question was not about faith in God and His love, the question was how you came to believe in life after death.

EricPH wrote: ↑January 7th, 2022, 10:56 am I started to search for God when I was in my late forties, a number of profound events happened. No one can prove to me that God exists, or Jesus died and rose from the dead; or that he loves me as he loves himself. I have to prove this to myself in some way. I have to do something. There is a big difference between belief and faith. I can sit here and say; I believe parachuting is easy. But the only way to have faith in parachuting; is to put one on; go up in a plane and jump. To jump once is to have faith once, to jump a hundred times is to test our faith a hundred times.

To put our trust in God; when our health and safety could be at risk; has proved to be a profound experience for the last fourteen years. We shall be out wondering the streets of our town again tonight, and finish around 4 am tomorrow. We can be in the middle of drunken angry violence like last week. We can meet distressed and anxious people, suicide and of course we meet lots of wonderful people too. We don’t do self defence or carry any protective equipment other than disposable gloves. We pray, we put our trust in God and go. We hope to make our town a kinder and more caring place to live; but we have to be the change we want to see and do something.

Thanks for your reply, Eric. That looks to me like religious belief being put to good use. I have to admit being curious about the profound events that triggered your interest, but fear that this may be probing too much into your private affairs. I had an amazing peak experience about a decade ago that I expect those less inclined to question would have assumed was God. The next few days my mind was unusually clear, and I generally felt very well. I never entirely returned to "normal" afterwards because you can't experience something like that without questioning the usual assumptions about consciousness and the nature of reality.

Sy Borg wrote: ↑January 7th, 2022, 9:58 pm I have to admit being curious about the profound events that triggered your interest,

We gradually lost our mum over a period of about thirty years through multiple sclerosis. She lost the use of both legs and both hands; and for about the last fifteen years she was paralysed from the neck down. My mum went into a coma and was rushed to hospital, her breathing was a horrible gurgling sound, nicknamed the death rattle. The doctors said she had days to live and there was nothing they could do for her. We called a priest, although none of us had a faith at the time, we just thought it was what you should do as mum was bought up a Catholic.

As the priest prayed my mum’s breathing seemed to relax and change. About ten minutes after the priest walked out the door, mum came round and started to speak, she had no recollection of anything that happened in hospital, or that the priest had prayed for her. We thought it might have just been a temporary reprieve, but she lived another eleven years.

Having our mum back was a mixed blessing, before the coma, there were times she said she wanted to die. But after the coma my mum regarded her healing as a blessing, despite her paralysed body, and she said she was not ready to die after surviving the coma. I really could not understand how she seemed to just accept being paralysed from the neck down, she rarely complained and often seemed more worried and concerned about our problems than her own. She had a faith in God and she sometimes used to say that she is ready to meet Jesus now. People might have said that it would have been kinder for her to have passed away in hospital.

I can only say that I will never meet a stronger person than my mum, and she was so kind and caring too. Faith is only faith when it is tested; sometimes it seems that God tests us in extreme ways. We all die; faith and trust in God helps us to look forwards to a greater good life after death.

My brothers and sisters witnessed the events in hospital; but it did not inspire them to search for God.

A number of other profound events happened; but it took another two or three years to find God.

EricPH I am sorry for your mother's suffering, and I am glad that faith in God helped her.

Thanks Eric and I'm sorry about the mother's and your struggles. I can't imagine handling the problems experienced by your mother. I would definitely want out. Her stoicism was pretty extraordinary.

It seems like your mother had the after effects of a near death experience, but without actually experiencing it. If I was you, I'd keep that priest's number! Maybe it was coincidence, but whatever he was doing seemed to work.

Thanks again for speaking so openly.

Indeed.

Anecdotal rendering are always good.

A nice break from the give and take.

They tone down rhetoric.

Regards
DL

Sy Borg wrote: ↑January 8th, 2022, 5:20 pm It seems like your mother had the after effects of a near death experience, but without actually experiencing it. If I was you, I'd keep that priest's number! Maybe it was coincidence, but whatever he was doing seemed to work.

Hi Sy; this happened over thirty years ago; and I have to say I was a sceptic at the time. I am sure the priest introduced himself, but none of us recall his name for many different reasons. I truthfully thought we were saying goodbye and the priest was an outsider. There have been times I would have liked to thank him; but this cannot happen. I know deep down it was nothing to do with the priest, it was God working in mysterious ways.

It took another life or death experience for me to search for God.

I would not be so heavy handed as to argue with EricPH.