To IronFist:
When we are following Christ\'s teachings, and doing the "right" things, we will be happier people than if we are doing the wrong things.
I absolutely agree with this statement! When we do the right things, we will be happier. But, what must be realized is that not only are Jesus\' teachings good, philosophers before and after him have good teachings as well and thus, righteous inspiration doesn\'t necessarily come from Christ exclusively. The philosophy of Buddhism states that "any thougts, speech or actions that are rooted in giving, love and wisdeom and thus help clear the way to Nirvana are good." Non-Christian religions have been found to preach goodness suh as Wiccan. Each spell is like the embodiment of the universal Golden Rule (I say universal because it\'s found in all cultures and no matter how it\'s worded it still means the same thing): Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I can\'t wait until I can find a girl who I can marry and grow old with. I agree that that is happiness. I don\'t know how close you and Ryu are, if you are just really good friends, or if you are actually close enough to consider marriage (I don\'t think it\'s any of my business either ),
Let\'s just say that my relationship with Ryu is close enough to the point that I can pick his nose without feeling embarrassed or grossed out, and we know each other\'s likes and dislikes so well that we can use the facts against each other in stupid, silly arguments.
[Ed. Note:
She\'s telling the truth. I actually have a picture of her gleefully picking my nose. What a Sicko. -Ryu]
but I do know that in a lot of people\'s beliefs, after this life that kind of happiness will be gone. According to many people, after this life we either cease to exist (those are the beliefs of people who don\'t believe in God),
I don\'t believe in God, yet I don\'t think that we\'ll cease to exist. Here\'s my thoughts on this subject: We all have a spirit. My theory is that it\'s much like what Christians view as a soul, only we\'re not damned from the beginning. Let me switch gears a little bit. In science, there are a lot of things that work with magnetics. We\'ve got the magnetic fields of planets and the sun. There\'s a magnetic force between the planets and the sun. There\'s regular magnets that we have on our refridgerators. =P Both natural and manmade things have magnets.
So with this in mind, going back to the subject of souls, our lives are magnetised to one other person on this Earth because we are part of the natural things of the universe, of Earth. Some people will find that person and some people won\'t, but it\'s all a matter of how much effort that was put into the search. For those who divorced, it\'s a matter of not attaching themselves to the other person the right way (like if you put magnets together on their midsections, they move all funny or they were attached with a piece of paper in between). Those who get married a second time have strong magnetism and can attract many more people (so you can guess how strong of a personality Elizabeth Taylor has!
)
When we die, it\'s just our hollow bodies that die. It\'s like a computer -- Computers are bought, they are used, and they they are worn out. There could be parts that are still usable in it, but it\'s mostly gone; Too dusty, too warn out. So you can extract those missing parts and throw away the rest. Our bodies get worn out so our souls are naturally extracted from the organics. The organic part is returned to nature because we are a part of it. Our soul gets recycled in the next life that is to be born. Then we start the quest in finding our magnetic partner. So happiness doesn\'t fade. The game of looking for the one we\'re meant to be with starts over again, so the fun always stays.
[Ed. Note:
Does that mean it\'s game over for us since our search is over? So far, I like the ending if it is.-Ryu]
So I guess to answer to your last question, "why would we need to find further happiness when we\'re already in bliss?" It\'s because that kind of happiness is not forever.
Sure it can. In your theory, it can because it\'ll continue onto heaven and in my theory it can because it\'ll be renewed after each meeting. Think of a couple -- Their relationship brings happiness. There\'s a huge argument leading to poor Mr. Guy to sleep in the dogless doghouse because Ms. Girl has had enough of Mr. Guy. Later, Mr. Guy and Ms. Girl make up. But that argument doesn\'t tarnish their relationship forever. Their relationship continues to be happy. Happiness is happiness, even if it doesn\'t last forever. The fact that it existed is permanent.
If they are living a worthy life, then there is no reason for them to fear god. If they are living a sinful life, then they have every reason in the world to fear god, and have every reason in the world to not want to believe in him.
You\'re right, a person living a worthy life has no reason to fear god, but when that worthy person doesn\'t believe in god, there\'s nothing to worry about. It\'s like if a person doesn\'t believe in vampires, then he doesn\'t have to worry about putting up garlic or getting his blood sucked because there\'s nothing to worry about. And I think that a person who isn\'t living a worthy life has every reason to fear everything including god, life, society, a rat, etc.
(for example, I don\'t know if we evolved from monkeys, or if we were put here directly from God with the snap of the fingers.
I agree with everything you said before this quote. I can understand that people just straight up need an answer to questions as we\'ve been discussing and they\'d go searching for God or some other source to find this answer.
But the quote I have put above, this is a silly question for me to ask (kinda like does Adam and Eve have belly buttons), do you think, that since God created animals before humans, he might have taken the monkey and the 24 hours on the 6th (?) day to evolve the monkey into Adam, leaving the traces of pre-primate remains to piss us off so he can get a good laugh? Or maybe he was in the process of making man when the wooly mammoth crossed his field of vision and created a creature in the shape of a human (arms, legs, face structures), but made it hairy? Maybe he swore a little after that and then decided to cool off for a day and continue his work the next day when he did make Adam correctly? If this offended you, I apologize. During one winter break party Ryu was holding, Ryu and I asked our Christian friend questions like these and found them amusing, but when I asked questions like these to another Christian friend, he was offended and I\'m not sure how well you\'d take it, Ironfist.
No matter what the perception of truth is, the truth will always be the same. There are thousands of different religions on the world today teaching many different things about who and what God is, but even with all of these different beliefs, God is still who he is. No matter what we say about him, he will always be the same.
I\'ll agree that Christianity, as a whole, has one God that is the same, but everyone looks at him differently. But maybe one of the other religions that existed before Christianity has truth in it too. There\'s a reason why there are religions that are older than Christianity still in existance today.
To be continued...
