What are the Requirements for Admission to Heaven?

**juroara** · 03-22-2010 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by Mario92

NDE's offer little to nothing. There is a very great deal we do not know about the human mind; for all we know, the warm tunnel may very well just be a part of the dying process; of the brain shutting down or being revived. The fact that this is a relatively frequent, but not universal, experience, I would not be surprised if this were the case. Very similar results can be achieved from oxygen deprivation, even if the individual is not on the verge of death.

I'm not asking you to believe in the NDE. But you're wrong to say that they offer nothing. That's like saying dreams offer nothing because it isn't an objective reality. The TRUTH is NDEs have common threads between them all REGARDLESS of religious background. Whether we are dealing with a subjective or objective isn't the point.

The point is we are dealing with something that is truly a human experience, a profound one because people who do experience the NDE change. It changes them.

Something doesn't have to be objective reality to be meaningful.

The Judeo-Christian sense of the afterlife is even more improbable; you either suffer or get pampered for eternity based on your moral choices. Here's the problem: morality is relative. There is no universal code; it's completely man-made, and varies with the society in which you were raised. And yet somehow, God or the universe sorts people out based on their moral choices, which mostly aren't even a choice, and either sends them to paradise or chucks them into a pit of fire. Really, it sounds more like some fantastic fairy tale invented to keep people behaved. In the end, it doesn't add up.

This again is WHY NDEs are important. NDEs challenge, I repeat CHALLENGE mainstream Christianity.

If you don't like the mainstream Christian idea of the afterlife, then educate yourself on the NDE. It paints a wholesome and complete picture, and has given answers to many. No joke! Just pop a question! I'll give you an answer based on the NDE. Do you want to know the meaning of life?

"welcome to paradise, fortunate bit of ignorant carbon."

It's a very beautiful thing to be alive. It's a very beautiful thing to be a human. You shouldn't hate yourself so much

**Maria92** · 03-22-2010 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by juroara

I'm not asking you to believe in the NDE. But you're wrong to say that they offer nothing. That's like saying dreams offer nothing because it isn't an objective reality. The TRUTH is NDEs have common threads between them all REGARDLESS of religious background. Whether we are dealing with a subjective or objective isn't the point.

The point is we are dealing with something that is truly a human experience, a profound one because people who do experience the NDE change. It changes them.

Something doesn't have to be objective reality to be meaningful.

My point was that there is so much we don't understand about the human brain that it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they are constructions or side effects of a dying mind. To better understand NDE's and draw any conclusions from them, we must first understand the human brain and body. As of present, without this crucial bit of understanding, it really is quite hard to build any case for any version of the afterlife. In the scientific method, they don't hold water.

This again is WHY NDEs are important. NDEs challenge, I repeat CHALLENGE mainstream Christianity.

If you don't like the mainstream Christian idea of the afterlife, then educate yourself on the NDE. It paints a wholesome and complete picture, and has given answers to many. No joke! Just pop a question! I'll give you an answer based on the NDE. Do you want to know the meaning of life?

I agree that they challenge mainstream xtianity in some sense, but they are highly subjective as of now. The remark was more directed toward the OP and/or Noogah. But, as I stated above, they still are not reliable evidence for the afterlife, as they could very well be human-made constructions and illusions. Indeed, they can and have changed lives on an individual basis, but again, these are subjective experiences. NDE's are not fully understood; assigning "afterlife" as the cause is implying you can explain an unexplainable event.

It's a very beautiful thing to be alive. It's a very beautiful thing to be a human. You shouldn't hate yourself so much

Who says I hate myself? I'm damn happy to be alive. What I stated, though, was the truth. In the grand scheme of things, humans are insignificant. In all honesty, we won't make an impact beyond our little arm of the Milky Way anytime soon. We could all be wiped out tomorrow, and the universe would get along fine. Any extraterrestrial life would be clueless. The universe grinds on. And for the ignorant bit, it is honestly amazing how little we know. What we don't know is absolutely overwhelming. Again, I see no reason why humans in particular have to have some sort of special treatment over all other life. Okay, so we have (or perceive to have) consciousness. Whoop de doo. In another million years, provided we don't all kill each other, who knows what kinds of capacities our descendants will have? We can't even fathom the capacities that will be available to them. Humans are still evolving, and are far from being perfect life forms. We're basically another link in an unattainable destination. For all intents and purposes, our perceived consciousness isn't that fantastic; at least not so that it entitles us to an invisible world where everyone is happy all the time. That is a notion derived from conscious thought. In all likelihood, humans didn't enter the scene and suddenly the universe created some sort of additional plane just for us to chillax on once we die.

There I go, flying off on my tangents again.