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afterlife (2)

What is the meaning of life?

                                            What is the meaning of life?

 

                                                                                Atheism;

 

   You live 70-80 years if you’re lucky, then you die. Unless you’re a handful of famous/infamous people, after a couple of generations, nobody remembers you anymore. So, what is the real purpose of your life?
If you’re an atheist, there is no real purpose. You may say that you want to make the world a better place. But you’re just a bunch of electrons, protons and neutrons randomly thrown together. Where did this idea of making the world a better place come from? Certainly not from a bunch of matter randomly thrown together.
In fact, you act the way you act because your genes (which are just a bunch of electrons, protons and neutrons) tell you how to react. Atheist philosopher Michael Rise says “…ethics, as we understand it, is an illusion fobbed off on us by our genes, to get us to cooperate…ethics is a shared illusion of the human race.” One wonders how our genes know how to get us to cooperate.
Atheist philosopher William Provine says, “There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning for life, and no free will for humans either (because our genes determine our actions).”
Atheist filmmaker Woody Allen says in a Newsweek magazine article, “I make movies not to make any type of grand statement but simply to take my mind off the existential horror of being alive.” Allen numbs this bleakness with humor.
Atheists say that;
– you’re nobody special. You’re just a conglomeration of chemicals.
– there’s no special purpose to your life. You live, you die, you cease to exist. There is no afterlife.
– there’s no right and wrong. Just an agreed upon set of morals to live by that can and will change over time.

                                                   


Yet humans do have a universal morality. Its expressions may vary but there are certain universals. Where did these morals come from? Humans are a hopeful group. Where does this hope come from? Why do we consider suicide an unfortunate option, one that is looked with pity on? Why do we look on adultery as wrong? Because we violated our promise to another person, you say. But if there are no absolute morals, why is adultery wrong? So you temporarily changed our mind, so what? But we do feel guilty when we commit adultery. Any morality atheists have is borrowed from other religions.

     If you don’t believe in God, there is nothing to live for, no afterlife to look forward to, no reason to live a good life because there are no absolute morals, only an agreed upon set of opinions. Its all vanity of vanities (Ecclesiastes 1:2-11). But you say, mankind is getting better. There are brighter days ahead. What makes you say that? Its just the chemicals in your brain saying that. But what makes chemicals think? After observing the 20th century where more people were killed than in any other century, what makes you think so positively about our chances of survival? Humanity’s actions speak otherwise. Your heart’s desire that humanity will get better but why do you think that? If there is no God, where does that thought come from?  If there is no purpose in life, after a devastating event (like the death of a spouse), then suicide becomes a rational option.

     Any way you look at it, atheism doesn’t square up with reality on just about anything.

                                                                                     Christianity;

     It is universal that everyone has a yearning to feel that they matter, that their life and what they did with it matters. We all want meaning and purpose in our lives. Where does this yearning come from? We have a desire for our children to live a good, productive life. Parents are protective of their children. We will sacrifice for them. Why? Where do these feelings come from? If our spouse or child is drowning, why would you try to save them? Where does this feeling come from? We have an innate desire to be productive. Work satisfies this. We desire friendship and being part of a good community of friends. Why do we have these desires? Where do they come from? Atheism has no answer for these yearnings, but Christianity does.
Christianity says we’re made in the image of God, that we’re made with eternity in our hearts. That’s why we look forward to a better world here and now but also in the afterlife. It’s also why we don’t consider suicide a rational alternative. We love other people because God loves us and we’re made in His image. We sacrifice for our loved ones because God sacrificed His son, Jesus, for us. We have hope because He instilled it in us. We have a certain morality because we’re made in His image and He’s a moral God. We feel bad when we fall short of His morality. Only when we repeatedly violate His morality on a constant basis can our consciousness become “seared”. This is what happens to serial killers and people like Stalin, Mao and Hitler. We are protective of our spouse and children because He is protective of us and He sacrificed His only son to be in a relationship with us.
We want to learn and advance our society because God gave us dominion over the created cosmos (Genesis 1:26-28) and wanted us to rule it according to His standards. But because we are fallen human beings, we fall short of this mandate. Yet we still strive for it.
Christianity squares up with reality. Atheism doesn’t.


For the sake of the Name,
Dave Maynard

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Is there life after death?

Is there Life after Death?

     Have you thought about death? Or what comes after it?  Psychiatrists report that 75% of their patients are disturbed at the prospect of their death. The amazing thing is:

-few people ever investigate death
-few make an attempt to understand death
-few ever talk about death

Being that death is certain, wouldn’t you want to learn all you could about it? If there is an afterlife, wouldn’t you want to know about it also? Virtually all religions talk about death and most speak about an afterlife. You make extensive plans about where you’ll spend your vacation for 2 weeks. Doesn’t it make sense to make plans for where you’ll spend eternity?

     To understand death, we need to understand life. The problem is that death, life and the afterlife cannot be measured. Nor can we create life, although we can somewhat perpetuate it. Life involves doing things we can observe ( other people, our immediate surroundings, etc.) and things we cannot observe ( thoughts, emotions, love, etc.). Death is the absence of our physical life.

     Materialists believe that when you physically die, your soul/spirit dies also. So when you die, your body goes into the ground (in a coffin) while your spirit just ceases to exist. Every cell in our body is replaced every 7 years or so. But if life were just matter and energy, our body would be replaced every 7 years. Memory would be lost and our personality would change, We wouldn’t be the same people. Yet, we know this isn’t what happens. We retain our memories and personality. So, our life must be more than just matter, energy and chemical reactions in our brains and bodies.

     Almost all religions believe in an afterlife. Many of the archaeological finds from every culture tell us this. Even when someone’s physical body is damaged beyond recognition, that person is still the same person mentally.  About all we can say is that the brain is a conduit that the soul/spirit operates through. So our body is different from our soul/spirit. At death, our body dies (no brain waves, no heartbeat, etc.) and goes to the grave. But where does our spirit go?

     Some people have had what we call Near Death Experiences (NDE’s), where they and their doctors claim that they have died but came back to life. Some scientists have tried to explain NDE’s in terms of our physical reactions of our senses, our nerves or physical reactions in our brains. But these have never been proven and are largely ignored now. While some of these NDE people have described events that they couldn’t have known about, almost all of the NDE stories taken together are very consistent.  The experience of an NDE is almost universal, but how people interpret that experience is where the difference comes in. Some go to heaven, a few go to hell, some see Jesus, some just see a Being of Light. NDE’s all speak of an afterlife. Because we can’t observe, measure and repeat these experiences, it doesn’t seem possible that we’ll ever be able to scientifically prove anything about the afterlife or an NDE. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot know anything about an afterlife.
There are enough things that almost all NDE’s have in common to make it not just a coincidence. John Burke’s book, “Imagine Heaven” is a great book on this subject.

     The most compelling evidence for an afterlife comes from the bible. Given that the bible is so accurate in many other fields (see “Prove to Me that God Exists” at http://BSSSB-LLC.com/video-courses-overview/prove-to-me-that-god-exists/ and “How We Got the Bible” at http://BSSSB-LLC.com/video-courses-overview/how-we-got-the-bible/), we have every reason to believe it over any other religious books.

     The bible distinguishes the body from the spirit in many places.
– Stephen gave up his spirit when he died (Acts 7:29)
– Jesus did the same in Matthew 27:50
– Paul said to be away from the body was to be at home with the Lord (2nd Corinthians 5:8)

                                             The Sequence of Events after Death:
1…our body dies and is buried or cremated
2…our spirit immediately goes to…
A…be with Jesus in the intermediate heaven if we know Him
B…be in Hades, the place of the dead, if we don’t know Jesus
3…Jesus returns to Earth and judgement begins (Revelation 20:11-15). There are many other events that occur before this happens but we won’t go into those here.
4…people’s spirits are reunited with their bodies.
5…some will spend eternity in the future heaven with God.
6…some will spend eternity separated from God forever in hell.
For 5& 6, read Daniel 12:2 and Matthew 25:41-46.
For a more detailed view of heaven and hell, watch or read “Heaven and Hell” at http://BSSSB-LLC.com/video-courses-overview/heaven-and-hell/.

     The one person who did die and came back to life is Jesus. He even said that His resurrection would prove that everything He told us while on Earth is true (John 2:19-22 & Luke 24:44-46). What He told is recorded in the bible. So He not only predicted His own death, He predicted His own resurrection. How many people do you know that have successfully done that? This is a man to be listened to!

     Maybe it’s time for you to talk or think about death and the afterlife…about where you’ll spend it…and what is required to spend it with God in eternal happiness.
Jesus said “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
God has a wonderful plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11)
But you are sinful, you’re not perfect (Romans 6:23)
Jesus died for your imperfections, for your sins (Romans 5:8)
Accept Him as your Savior…Invite Him into your life (John 1:14)

     If you have any questions, please write to me.

Book reference:
“Heaven” by Randy Alcorn
“Imagine Heaven” by John Burke

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
http://BSSSB-LLC.com

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