This is because this world is all we know, so we have no idea how much better Heaven is (and Heaven is forever, you never get sick or grow old, there is no pain, just eternal bliss). It may seem to us like an injustice to leave this world earlier, but if we are going to a much better place, no possible comparison, isn't it actually the other way around?!

So, from God's perspective the good people are plucked earlier so they can go on to their REAL eternal life, and have their just reward there as the spiritual beings they really are - the evil, however, are allowed to linger on in this valley of tears so that all the good they have ever done (mostly unintended) has already been paid back in full by the time they die - but in this world, not the next. This is why bad people may actually seem to prosper (but once they are dead, there will be Hell to pay) - they are also given every chance to repent, until there are no more chances.

This is what I think, anyway.

Well said, Jorge.  Now, get the skinning engine to all us good guys before you die, please....    

Have been hoping his daughter would know how to access his account here and keep us updated as to how he is...

she seemed to be taking good care of him..     

Hey Syd, long time no see. Good you're still amongst us!

Howdy....  

yep...still around and kicking but a lot less time for fun stuff these days...

always pop in to see how my WC family are travelling.... and check out new creations...

it's sad we're all falling apart these days.... we're not spring chickens anymore!!...been over 15 years since I stumbled across WC... so many good memories and wonderful people....

it seemed like Uvah was under very good care.... I'm sure they've made his time left comfortable as possible..

*sigh....    

I understand the reality of the afterlife and believe in Heaven, I would not have dedicated 3 years of my life to seminary college if I was an atheist. What I really meant by my comment is that I don't understand Gods timing and I don't believe anyone does, however, God does not owe me an explanation. 
I am human so I am not perfect and far from it so I question things at times such as the timing of my best friends death. God did not need him in heaven, he was doing a great work as a Pastor of a small church, he did a great deal of good for the small community in which he lived, God could have chosen to heal him so he could continue his needed work here on earth, instead he died and the community was never the same since, even the church closed it's doors permanently.

So yes, there are things that I don't get but my comprehension is limited while I inhabit this earthly home, I look forward to the day when all things will be revealed but until that time I will live without knowing all the answers, there are things that need to be left in Gods hands.

Was raised a Catholic. I was Confirmed. When my wife was pregnant with our first child she became a Catholic.

During all that I never had any faith that there is a afterlife. That there is a God. I would tell people I was a agnostic but I was lying. I wanted to have faith. I wanted to believe but I never did. I tried. I failed.

I've come to realize that living a good and moral life is enough.

I could be wrong and I suppose if there is something more after we die I'll find out about it for good or bad.

At any rate I feel we live on in other people. Our children our friends and people we have touched, connected with. I think that is what life is about. 

Nobody except God himself fully does, IMO. I tend to think a lot about this, so please take the following as my own rambles.

We live in an imperfect world which is supposed to be that way for a variety of reasons. Here God says 'your will be done' instead of 'My will be done'. This world is our playground and is thus what WE decide to make of it (within limits, of course). If this world isn't better than it currently is, we only have ourselves to blame.

Here we are allowed to be dualistic beings, both good and bad at the same time, like different shades of gray, while in the spiritual realm you can only be either completely Good or completely Bad, there is no in-between. By Good I mean your will is always fully aligned with the will of God (and by that I don't mean there is no free will in Heaven, only that you ALWAYS want to do what God wants, because that is WHO you are). Angelic beings can still rebel, just as Satan did.

The simplest definition of Sin I ever read, is, after all, 'anything that goes against God's will'.

Anyway, everything that happens here on earth is due to a combination of factors, from natural to divine.

We tend to think of God as something external to us, but the reality is that God IS everything that exists and NOTHING exists OUTSIDE of God. You, I, everything and every being are thus but a little piece of God. And so, nothing can happen without God knowing about it. Some things happen by God's permission and others because God actually wants them to happen, and only God knows which are which.

So, someone can die because that was God's will for reasons only He knows, or they can die because genetically it was their time to die (i.e.; their biological clock ran out).

What we need to understand is that God is ALWAYS extracting good from evil, so that everything has a purpose and nothing is ever wasted. As for us, we are like children who resent their parents for not letting them do as they want, i.e.; play on the train tracks.

Chuck, this is not something that you want to be wrong about, if I am wrong and the millions who believe like me are wrong then we have lost nothing, we have lived a good life (even though I screwed my life up many times by making bad decisions)
I will spare you a sermon but I can tell that what I read in the Holy Scriptures makes it clear about the afterlife and what is involved in our part regarding how we will spend eternity, of course, one would need to believe in what the Bible says to be true for it to have purpose and meaning.  
I have experienced things in my life that cause me to believe and there are things that I just accept by faith, some people would say that is naive but if I am right then I will make heaven my home, if I am wrong the worst that will happen is that I am buried in the ground and I become fertilizer. 

For me, What you are, is God's gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.

Thanks Ken. It's not like there's a on believe/off believe switch. You can't make yourself have faith. Either you have it or you don't. Here's how I feel:

They call me the Seeker
I've been searching low and high
I won't find what I'm after
Till the day I die - The Seeker. Lyrics by Pete Townshend  

♥

In my thoughts. ♥

I spent an hour or 2 last night, looking through Ross Anderson obits, as I believe Tom has as well.  no luck.  

 

Miss you Ross. Be well, where ever you are.