Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Argue for and against Christianity

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
POI
Prodigy
Posts: 3474
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:22 pm
Has thanked: 1611 times
Been thanked: 1081 times

Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #1

Post by POI »

You are involved in a car wreck with your spouse and children. Sad news... None of you survive.

You regain consciousness and find that you are in what looks to be Heaven. You see what you believe to be YHWH standing before you. Indeed, it is YHWH. You then look around to see if your closest loved ones are near by. You notice they are all absent. You then first ask YHWH, "where are my kids and spouse?" YHWH replies, "they now reside in hell." You ask why? YHWH responds, "because they were not selected for this realm". You then inquire further, and ultimately beg and plead for God to reconsider their decided fate. But of course, you know that God is all mighty and knows what is best. You also ask God what hell is like for them. He again responds, "well, you've read my Book, right?" You then ask Him, point/blank, "are they in a place of eternal torment then?" He states, "yes".

Question:

Is Heaven a completely blissful place, moving forward? If so, why?
In case anyone is wondering... The avatar quote states the following:

"I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."

User avatar
brunumb
Savant
Posts: 6002
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:20 am
Location: Melbourne
Has thanked: 6623 times
Been thanked: 3219 times

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #91

Post by brunumb »

We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm When it comes to God, the evidence of God's existence is weighing heavy on the positive side...so the scale is balanced heavily on one side...so being the logical person that I am, I must go where the evidence takes me, which is pretty much 100% all the way.
Indoctrination causes one to see evidence where there isn't any. Going where the actual evidence takes you does not lead to any gods.
George Orwell:: “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
Gender ideology is anti-science, anti truth.

User avatar
We_Are_VENOM
Banned
Banned
Posts: 1632
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:33 am
Has thanked: 76 times
Been thanked: 58 times

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #92

Post by We_Are_VENOM »

brunumb wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:45 pm
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm When it comes to God, the evidence of God's existence is weighing heavy on the positive side...so the scale is balanced heavily on one side...so being the logical person that I am, I must go where the evidence takes me, which is pretty much 100% all the way.
Indoctrination causes one to see evidence where there isn't any. Going where the actual evidence takes you does not lead to any gods.
Unwarranted opinion noted.
Venni Vetti Vecci!!

User avatar
POI
Prodigy
Posts: 3474
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:22 pm
Has thanked: 1611 times
Been thanked: 1081 times

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #93

Post by POI »

I hope you can sort out who's who in this reply. It got messed up somehow :(
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm You make Heaven out to be a place where your ONLY concern is achieving a perpetual orgasmic feeling from God, and that NOTHING else matters or even appears to exist. Is this a fair assessment?
Yes. Fair assessment.

If this is the case, you would never know who made it to heaven. You would have absolutely no awareness of your surroundings. You might not even really know what Heaven is truly like. You would be obvious to all, except God Himself. Sounds like God would need to change you, big time, since this outcome seems untenable by any believer's standards here on earth. Which might mean, when you enter Heaven God needs to change you. You are no longer you; in the sense that yes, you may still have the same name, but you now merely possess tunnel vision for God, and nothing else.

Thus, like I stated prior, the Bible should have been a one-pager. No need to love your neighbor, or follow any other rules. Just worship God, ignore your neighbors, etc....
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm If you admit that you do not know, then you must still entertain the consensus view, that God zaps your conscious with amnesia and/or dementia :)
Not necessarily. Because it could be the case that we will remember certain things, but we won't think about those things the same way in our spiritual state than we would in our human state.
So you no longer care for your loved one's well-being in Heaven?

We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm
POI wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:57 pm There's a difference between an 'atheist' and 'satan'.

- The atheist does not believe in god/gods.
- Satan believes and chooses to rebel.

The atheist is not rebelling. The atheist does not buy the story.
Sure, that may be the distinction, but from a Biblical perspective, the atheists and Satan are going to the same place anyway.
My prior point is that it's possible that if an atheist was no longer an atheist, they may choose to follow, and not rebel. The atheist is never given to opportunity. It's likely most would obey, being that Christianity is completely compulsory.
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm
POI wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:57 pm Just like you are an 'aBigfootist' supposedly :) You do not buy the story of a real Bigfoot.
I am an agnostic when it comes to Big Foot. :D
Not going to quibble over terms here (i.e.) agnostic/gnostic -- atheism/theism :) You do not buy the story about Bigfoot. Neither do I, regarding 'God/Jesus'.
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm
POI wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:57 pm Please again refer to my analogy above, about Bigfoot. I could just as easily tell you that this is a conversation you will need to have with Bigfoot, after you are made aware of the 'truth'. "You must not currently believe in Bigfoot because you are "stiffnecked" ;) "We have many anecdotal sightings of Bigfoot". "The evidence is all around you" :)
But it goes deeper than just not believing in Big Foot.

When it comes to God, the evidence of God's existence is weighing heavy on the positive side...so the scale is balanced heavily on one side...so being the logical person that I am, I must go where the evidence takes me, which is pretty much 100% all the way.

When it comes to Big Foot, I need to see what the evidence is for it, and against it...and then I will make my decision.
I would instead argue you possess an a priori belief and/or possess some conformation bias/special pleading/cognitive dissonance/etc... We can delve into this below...
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm And most of you know deep down inside that Christianity is true, but since Christianity comes with moral accountability, you'd rather not be held accountability to this Cosmic Moral Agent, and would rather suppress the reality of it's existence by finding ways to convince yourself that it doesn't exist.

Negative. If I thought YHWH existed, I would then be aware of the compulsory proposition. I would then be compelled to obey. Otherwise, the only alternative would be hell.
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm And since the Holy Spirit is in a constant state of convicting you, you need to constantly reinforce your rebellions by joining religious forums and thus reinforce your justifications for your continual state of disbelief.

That is just my opinion.

Well, as long as you admit it's an opinion :)
We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm If such reality is true, God and God alone created the realty. The chosen go to bliss, the unchosen go to "hell". What a fierce dichotomy? A dichotomy which God created. At least with taxes, the consequence has more than one plausible conclusion. God's apparent unified punishment is eternal torment, for something humans cannot even control.
But it is something you can control. Here is an example of this control...

The Mona Lisa painting is a painting of a woman.

Would you agree that intelligent design is required for the creation of such a painting?

I assume you agree.

Now, if the painting of the woman requires intelligent design, then how much more intelligence is needed for the creation of the woman herself?

Hmmm?

Here is where the control comes in....your mind (common sense) agrees with me (assumed), but yet your own stubbornness to accept what the creation of the woman implies is preventing you from taking it all the way to "perhaps an intelligent designer created the woman".

That is something YOU can control. You decide whether you want to take it towards the direction that you know it should go, or whether you want to be stiffnecked.

The choice is yours.
I have to ask if you ever actually truly examined your argument?

We know humans create paintings. We have countless examples. Aside from the way humans 'make' other humans, do we know what 'created' the first human? But once we understand the process of evolution, we can now ask new questions... Such as, when was the first human classified, after branching off from it's common ancestry?

If I steelman your position, you make a case for a clumsy god, at best. Why?

We have many paintings. Some by great artists, and some by many others (amateurs, kids, other). You can usually tell a professional painting, from that of an amateur (mostly).

Is the human body a work of true art? You tell me? Would a truly competent 'creator' design an airway which shares a food path - (prone to choking)? Would a truly competent 'creator' design a sewage system to share a pleasure path - (prone to infection)? Would a truly competent 'creator' design an appendix, which sometimes inflates and ruptures? Or how about having to eat all the time, drink all the time, breath all the time, blink all the time, etc etc etc etc.......................................................

Or, would it be, at best, the work of a clumsy designer, if designed at all?

I'll stop here...
In case anyone is wondering... The avatar quote states the following:

"I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."

User avatar
otseng
Savant
Posts: 20517
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 1:16 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
Has thanked: 197 times
Been thanked: 337 times
Contact:

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #94

Post by otseng »

We_Are_VENOM wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:59 pm That is something YOU can control. You decide whether you want to take it towards the direction that you know it should go, or whether you want to be stiffnecked.

The choice is yours.
Moderator Comment

Please avoid making personal comments.

Please review the Rules.


______________

Moderator comments do not count as a strike against any posters. They only serve as an acknowledgment that a post report has been received, but has not been judged to warrant a moderator warning against a particular poster. Any challenges or replies to moderator postings should be made via Private Message to avoid derailing topics.

User avatar
tam
Savant
Posts: 6443
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:59 pm
Has thanked: 353 times
Been thanked: 324 times
Contact:

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #95

Post by tam »

Peace again Joey!
JoeyKnothead wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:18 am
tam wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 7:11 pm Peace to you Joey!
Thanks, and you tell em I said to fix you up a mess of it yourself :wave:
tam wrote: There won't be anyone acting falsely in God's name, in the Kingdom.
Well about that, I kinda forgot the OP topic, and how you was just explaining stuff in terms of your theology. I saw you'd posted, and, per standard operating procedure, had to read me what it is you did.

In my defense, genetic testing's confirmed me and stupid share us most the same dna.

I retract and deny I ever said me any of that I just there retracted.

I thanked you for your post (even though I am thankful to you for bringing up some issues and giving me a chance to expound the truth more accurately about my Lord), but I just needed to make sure I say this one thing while I have a moment (been busy busy): you are not stupid, dear Joey. Probably (hopefully) you know that and are just poking lighthearted fun at yourself, but you keep saying it... so now I gotta say that you are not.



Peace as always to you and to your loved ones,
your servant and friend and a slave of Christ,
tammy

User avatar
JoeyKnothead
Banned
Banned
Posts: 20879
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:59 am
Location: Here
Has thanked: 4093 times
Been thanked: 2572 times

Re: Is Heaven a Place of Complete Bliss? (Thought Experiment)

Post #96

Post by JoeyKnothead »

Quotatorial editorializatins've occurred...
tam wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:12 am Peace again Joey!
Peace back, double stamped, times infinity!
tam wrote: I thanked you for your post (even though I am thankful to you for bringing up some issues and giving me a chance to expound the truth more accurately about my Lord),
I remind folks you got you a good one of em.
tam wrote: but I just needed to make sure I say this one thing while I have a moment (been busy busy): you are not stupid, dear Joey. Probably (hopefully) you know that and are just poking lighthearted fun at yourself, but you keep saying it... so now I gotta say that you are not.
Thanks for the kind words.

I like to fun around. On the "I'm stupid" there, it's my way of saying I was embarrassed I misunderstood it all.

You're sweetern a hunerd pound of honey, that you'd take the time.
Peace as always to you and to your loved ones,
your servant and friend and a slave of Christ,
tammy
And all y'all. Um. This is kinda awkward, and I ain't trying to flirt, and this is new times, and we oughtn be too forward nowadays, but you're you one of my loved ones too.
I might be Teddy Roosevelt, but I ain't.
-Punkinhead Martin

Post Reply