I want to believe in a great beyond, but as for Heaven and Hell I think Hell was always used as a form of obedience to the masses. An all loving, all forgiving, all knowing God who condemns those who don't follow perfectly or follow the "One true path" in his footsteps...I see a flaw in this idea.
I was raised Roman Catholic and yes, it did provide me with a nice base for discovering more about life, ethics, morality, and the beyond. However, I doubt that any human can really contemplate the true nature of the afterlife, because in all honesty there is no universal binding idea of what happens and in the end it either is all explained or we go into nothingness.
I do believe in God, not sure whether it's the exact Christian one I was raised to believe in, or some form of higher being/power/energy. I can't really see this as all meaning anything but maybe death is but one step amongst a path, or that when it all ends we start back at the beginning in a perfect circle, I have no idea. As for Heaven and Hell...who's to say that this right now is not Hell or purgatory. Heaven seems romanticized quite a bit in all religions, but maybe that's the way it is. Regardless, excellent topic creation here.
|