After most of a lifetime pondering and studying, mostly Christian texts, and watching and reading thousands of near death videos I am currently resting at this explanation: We are an instance, a fork, a spawn of god. Virtual mini god. Still solidly networked to the server in the sky. And we can download truth and knowledge if we have desire and make an effort. Psalms 82 says we are all gods. I think we are a tendril of God here in an ultra sophisticated meat sack made of stardust. We are eternal and all participated in creation. One of the major tools of creation of living beings is guided evolution. And now we come here to have harsh experiences to learn how to not be assholes and grow our spiritual capabilities. I also currently entertain the idea that a holding place after death where the truly selfish narcissistic assholes hang out together due to natural affinities. But they can get out of that space if they ever choose to look up and accept the help of people like us willing to show them why they ended up there. Work in progress, my position may change. Essentially I could be called a Christian Universalist. Super cool book by a guy named George Richie, WW2 medical student croaked from flue during Army training in Texas. After the war he became a physician. The books is called “Return from Tomorrow”. Short read. Do it in an afternoon. Pretty convincing story. Especially starting with chapter 4. I have read dozens of these kind of books, none better. No religion, just his telling his story.
From: AF [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2025 1:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Some more stats I see that all a bit differently. Homo sapiens have existed by some estimates for ~~300,000 years, and organized religion in its various forms has been around for 10-11 thousand years. So for almost 97% of the time humans have existed, there was no organized religion. Maybe there were other nature-based beliefs going back a bit farther, but there may have been as many belief versions as there were families or tribes or whatever. If there is a god, I have a hard time believing they would "punish" someone for not worshiping them during a lifetime. Further, which of the several religions is the "correct" one? I think if you live a just, fair, and empathetic life, that should be reward enough; especially if there is no clear choice. That said, I know Georgia has had experiences/conversations with her dearly departed parents and sister. Maybe there's something there, and maybe it's random synapse activity. Who knows? In any case, it's not my position to tell people (or preach) how they should or should not live. I just hope they have the same level of fairness that I have for everyone else. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 9/24/2025 12:30 PM, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: Easy to see why. I understand your rationale. Irrespective of history, we either survive death in some form or we don’t. I don’t have enough courage to even entertain the notion we do not survive death. Especially in light of 100,000 or more near death writings and videos all largely describing the same experience. Moreover I had a direct physical experience with my son Adam after he died. So, not hedging your bets seems risky to me. It costs you nothing really to cover your bases. If there is some form of afterlife, is your situation there dependent on any decisions you make while here? Some say yes. Surely there are some best practices describing how to make the most of you sojourn here. Lots of opinions about that. I am more of a universalist in nature. If all you have to do was recite a holy incantation to get a nice country home with a pool and a cook, hey, tell me the magic words. I am all in.
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