The End of Time

[Dimmesdale]

How do you envision the End of Time? This doesn't have to be limited to the Christian religion, though I would like the input of Christians.

Personally, I find it illogical to believe that King Jesus will simply appear in the clouds and judge everyone and inaugurate his great eternal kingdom, the "new heavens and new earth." This to me smacks of a gross form of utopianism, as it were setting everything in a perfect political context like we have here only eliminating and hence "weeding out" all the inconsistent elements in a "new order."

On the other hand, the infinitely more pessimistic stance that the sun will simply explode and engulf our earth and the entire universe will die off due to the inevitable energetic decay of the universe, also strikes me as "off" in the extreme.

How is the "end" envisaged by you, personally?

[JehovahsWitness]

How do you envision the End of Time?

Where did you get this notion of "the end of time"? Is it something you believe is spoken about in the bible?

JW





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What is the bible refering to when it speaks about the "last days"?
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[2timothy316]

[Replying to 2timothy316]

The idea of time moving "simultaneously" is also prevalent in near-death experiences. I think the notion should be taken seriously and not confined to science fiction.

I do not take the belief of an afterlife seriously. There is no such thing as an eternal soul, thus to me, it is fiction. There is only life and death, there is no such thing as living-dead no more than a room be both full of light and dark at the same time. Life and death are complete opposites in every way. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all..." - Ecc 9:5

[dio9]

[Replying to post 1 by 7homas]

I personally think the end spoken of is that of (for want of a better word) evil civilization. Civilization based on war conquest domination exploitation . The end of times simply means the end of these fallen/dystopian political times.
My question is are humans psyco/ emotionally/ spiritually able to live in such a restored utopian world? The end we can hope for is the end of evils domination of the human spirit..

[Dimmesdale]

[Replying to 2timothy316]

The idea of time moving "simultaneously" is also prevalent in near-death experiences. I think the notion should be taken seriously and not confined to science fiction.

I do not take the belief of an afterlife seriously. There is no such thing as an eternal soul, thus to me, it is fiction. There is only life and death, there is no such thing as living-dead no more than a room be both full of light and dark at the same time. Life and death are complete opposites in every way. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all..." - Ecc 9:5

I think that is a very impoverished view, personally. For me, after reading many NDE accounts over the years, I am convinced that there is an afterlife which is full of bliss.

[marco]

There is no such thing as an eternal soul, thus to me, it is fiction.

It is as fictional as belief in an eventual Earth where lions eat grass and babies stay babies deathlessly. In fact it is easier to belief in a soul than in a fairy tale. It was a belief good enough for the Emperor Hadrian.

There is only life and death, there is no such thing as living-dead no more than a room be both full of light and dark at the same time. Life and death are complete opposites in every way. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all..." - Ecc 9:5

This very simple quotation tells us only what we already know - that a dead body feels nothing. To build a theory on this simple fact is a credit to the ingenuity of the human mind.

[Dimmesdale]

[Replying to post 1 by 7homas]

I personally think the end spoken of is that of (for want of a better word) evil civilization. Civilization based on war conquest domination exploitation . The end of times simply means the end of these fallen/dystopian political times.
My question is are humans psyco/ emotionally/ spiritually able to live in such a restored utopian world? The end we can hope for is the end of evils domination of the human spirit..

The question for me is, is it even reasonable to suppose that such a utopia could even exist in our world?

You speak of a "restored" utopian world, but it is far from clear that the world ever was in a perfect state of harmony. On the contrary, animals have been eating each other since time immemorial and the rule of survival and one-upmanship seems to be the most prevalent law on the planet, a law based upon conflict and selfishness and greed. This is all woven into our genes.

[JehovahsWitness]

The question for me is, is it even reasonable to suppose that such a utopia could even exist in our world?

I think that would depend on if one believes the bible account of the Garden of Eden or not. If one accepts that, then a paradise-like existence on earth for perfect people was indeed God's purpose.

And if God always achieves his purpose then the answer is yes.


Can we hope the earth will be a paradise-like home one day?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 092#830092





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[2timothy316]

[Replying to 2timothy316]

The idea of time moving "simultaneously" is also prevalent in near-death experiences. I think the notion should be taken seriously and not confined to science fiction.

I do not take the belief of an afterlife seriously. There is no such thing as an eternal soul, thus to me, it is fiction. There is only life and death, there is no such thing as living-dead no more than a room be both full of light and dark at the same time. Life and death are complete opposites in every way. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all..." - Ecc 9:5

I think that is a very impoverished view, personally. For me, after reading many NDE accounts over the years, I am convinced that there is an afterlife which is full of bliss.

Mine is the Biblical view. A book 'God-breathed' who I am quite sure knows what it means to die. NDE can be explained though.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/new ... n-dioxide/

People that have too much CO2 in their blood describe the same experience as a person that has had a NDE. Think of the term Near Death Experience. A person near death is not dead. There is no modern day record of a person that has been brain dead for days to return to tell the tail of an afterlife. So while NDE are are abundant, not even a single FDEs (Full Death Experiences) has ever been recorded in modern history. Jesus was the only one to tell us what a fully dead experience was like. He liked the experience of death to sleep or being unconscious. (John 11:11)

Remember the movie "Heaven is for real"? Well, the kid admits it was a hoax.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... -pull-book

So while I think it is good that you're reading to gain knowledge, I recommend that your research not be one sided. Don't only read tails of NDEs but also read all the other information and examine all the other evidence as well. Otherwise conclusions will be biased and skewed if a person only listens to what they want to hear.

[2timothy316]

There is no such thing as an eternal soul, thus to me, it is fiction.

It is as fictional as belief in an eventual Earth where lions eat grass

Just for you, a lion eating grass. Eating grass is beneficial for lions.

[ttruscott]

...End of Time.

No such thing, I think. The kjv phrase in Rev 10:6 that there should be time no longer has been accepted to be wrongly interpreted and better thought of as "there shall be no more delay."

The "end times" is a different phrase and does not mean the end of time either but the end age.