Do you look upon your death as the end?

This is what I presume non- believer's do but Christians do not. Death to an atheist must be a full stop, nothing at all afterwards. Death as meaningless, therefore life the same? Like a machine once switched on then off. A bleak view indeed.

Jesus Christ transformed the point of death into the point of life. This I only realised as I became Christian. This shift in perspective happens.

If you are an atheist do you fear death , are you neutral about it or do you for some reason welcome it?

I am looking forward to my moment of death, it will be the moment of true lasting happiness the like of which this earth can never provide. Of course I trust in the will of God as to when that shall be, but I will not be sorry to leave this world because I know it is and always always was, but temporary.

I look upon death as not the end but rather the beginng.

Death for me is the beginning but while I'm here, I want to halp the lost to be found. I understand how Paul felt about (no I'm not quoting him) how he was in-between a rock and a hard spot. Yes I can't wait to leave but by leaving I can't help others.

I am a smig nervous on how though. I definitely don't want to burn to death.

I too worry about the mode of death. It's only natural to do so and I pray for God's mercy.

I do not look forward to my end days here, no. That is generally a period of suffering of some sort, as death is associated with decay, pain, etc. However, yes, I do look forward to the afterlife because it will be infinitely better than the current life.

Death is only a transition to me.. We shall all exist forever and ever..

Possibilities, in order of descending probability:
1 - You are arguing with an atheist, a friend or cow*rker, and taking out your frustration in forum threads.
2 - You like preaching to the choir.
3 - You are a preacher trotting out sermon topics and hoping the forum members will fill in the sermon for you.

I consider #1 to be most likely, so... If so, who are you having this argument with?

To the OP: No.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

There are plenty of things to ponder. Everyone leaves a legacy of some sort when they die. That legacy can be positive, negative, or some of each.

Unfortunately I have sinned. The legacy of sin is death and possibly the death of others who embrace those sins.

But there's also righteous acts of kindness, compassion, and love that I have done. Will those be remembered and emulated? Will people try to do the same so those attributes spread?

Dunno....I hope so.

Of course I believe IN Jesus and the things He said and did. I try to emulate Him...kinda suck at it at times despite my best efforts not to. God is good; me? Not so much. God keeps ALL promises. Even ones He doesn't have to. So I'm confident that He hears me when I pray. He is also going to allow me access to Heaven one day too.

So...when I die that will be the end of my sinning to some degree. Those sins I got others to commit maybe lessened by some measure. (I hope) Those exhortations I promoted of righteousness? I hope they never die....unfortunately they likely will be just like my sins and dwindle to nothing....

I'm a nobody except to Jesus. He left the 99 for the one and I was the one. I'm the ugly red-headed step child that's a little easier to beat than the rest. But I'm getting to go. Better than the alternative. But even if I didn't get to go to Heaven when I die, I still would promote Jesus anyway. There's real freedom and hope in following Him.
And what we need is a little bit more hope than what we currently have.

I'm not afraid to die. I actually had an accident last year and was bleeding profusely. I thought to myself, "Okay, I'm bleeding profusely. If I don't do anything about it, I'll bleed out and die.... I GET TO GO HOME TO JESUS!" God laid it on my heart that it wasn't the time for me to go home to Him, and that wasn't the way He wanted me to die. He ordered me to go to the ER! So yeah, still here.


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Yeah....me neither.

Once I got a scare from a doctor who called. I recently had a procedure done to check for cancer. I seen her after it and she said everything looked fine. But then she called and left a message on my phone to call her.
I didn't want to be sick and go through chemo and all that mess...
Dying? Wasn't a consideration. Living post cancer would be difficult. Like it is for many family members.

But I called and everything was fine. I dodged a bullet. (Lots of family history of a particular cancer)

It's still not going to stop the way I'm likely going to die. Only God can intervene on that one.

I'm glad you understand. I wondered if I came across as suicidal. I'm not! But I think we both understand Paul when he wrote:

Philippians 1:22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.


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Just curious...in John 17:3, Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God and Himself. Does this not begin when one is saved?

You say the term "saved" as if it's past tense. That's because we believe God and Jesus will keep His Promises. And He has and will continue to do so.

And also we, as humans, have issues understanding eternal life as life without time controlling and limiting us in an overwhelming fashion as it does now.

Heaven is a very different place. Not the same constraints as we have now with sin and time opposing us at every turn. Not easy to apprehend and impossible to comprehend.

Salvation is not exactly a specific point in time....nor is sanctification. These are processes that stem from a choice to know God and Jesus. If I sound confusing...it's because Heaven is not something we can readily understand all that it entails. But look at the story of the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah were alive! Abraham was talked about by Jesus as if he were still alive too....because he wasn't dead either.

It's not just knowledge that saves you....it's faith that you act upon the knowledge as if it's the truth. (Which it is)

I don't disagree. The Bible speaks of salvation as having been accomplished, being accomplished, and will be accomplished. I was merely using the past tense to indicate a particular moment in time and space where God comes to an individual and reveals Himself and the salvation He has wrought through Christ. And my point was that God can be known intimately in the here and now. We don't have to wait for death to experience eternal life.

If you believe correctly, you don't die.
If you don't believe correctly you die.

Source: Forum Polls.

Two things (not to elicit disagreement or even suggest that you are wrong) but what you said reminded me of a couple of scriptures.

One was Job. At the end of the story he claimed to have seen God and changed his mind about his own righteousness. That line about despising himself in dust and ashes now that he had seen God instead of just hearing. Not saying that you are wrong by any stretch....but no matter how hard we might try (and we need to) it still doesn't match that whole face-to-face thing.

Then there's the story of Stephen. As he was being killed for being a follower of Jesus the Christ he saw Jesus not sitting but standing to honor his arrival into Heaven. However....the Chief Priest and officials Jesus said that they would see him sitting at his Father's right hand. Probably in judgment. Not a good thing. Friendship with Jesus is the ONLY way to make it. Stephen is alive today...Chief Priests? I really don't like their odds.

You are just bound and determined to find any nit you can pick, ain't ya?

Those are great experiences and actually highlight the point I was making. Knowing God is about experiencing Him. Just as we see in the OT and early church great experiences of God in the lives of God's people, we should be experiencing God. God is at work all around us.