Hell @ MindSay

From the beginning of time man has wondered about what lies beyond the doors of death. Fearful of the "unknown" he has reached into his deepest imagination trying to find what lies beyond the boundaries of this life.
Some envision a life reincarnate in another body but with the same spirit or life essence.
Others envision a great deity waiting to judge and condemn you to an eternity of darkness and pain in a lake of fire or an eternity of paradise with no pain or sorrow. Still others see an army of ghosts destined to walk the earth haunting those who remain.
But today I want to pose to you this question: What if there is no "after life" of any kind? What if death is the end, your over and done, kaput, finished, your parking meter expired for good? then what ? What would this mean?
Maybe thoughts of an after life aren't so healthy. Maybe they cause you to procrastinate, to postpone really living this life to it's fullest?
I hear others speaking of how wonderful heavens going to be, and how they can't wait to be with Jesus! But to you I pose this question. If you believe in Jesus and what he taught do you not believe he is with you now? And if your savior and you are one in the spirit isn't your heaven here and now?
And those who are waiting for the "next life " to be perfected as in reincarnation, I say whats a matter with perfecting yourself now? can't you get started in this life to be the best you can be and do the best you can do?
If there is no after life you may be throwing your one and only chance to truly live away on a  a bet or a gamble.
I think you should live this life like it's the only one you have or ever will have. See it as your one chance to get things right, to make your mark, to live and love and experience all life has to offer!
Maybe each second would seem more precious, each kiss, each hug a priceless treasure. Maybe we would walk more slowly, listen more carefully, love more deeply and laugh more often. Maybe we would be slow to anger and quick to love. If a war meant dying forever, never seeing your sons or daughters or family again, maybe then it would not seem so heroic and noble.
My challenge to you is this. For the next week think about your life as being from now till the day you die and nothing beyond that point. Today or tomorrow could be your last day...forever. How do you want to "live " it?

Okay, so I’ve STILL got some more questions for you all… But first, so you can possibly understand more of my Christian background, I’ll share some of that first with you.

I’ve been attending church ever since I was born. Literally. My parents were raised in the church, and they’ve done the same with me. They still think I’m strong in my faith; but I’m yet to tell them. I don’t want to tell them.

I’ve researched up the topic of if I’m going to hell or not. I’ve actually thought whether or not I’m going to heaven or hell. I’ve thought about the rapture, and if it comes in the years where I’m still alive, I think about whether or not I’ll still be stuck on this earth. I’ve been debating on reading the ‘Left Behind’ series. I’ve seen a few clips from the movie. But anyway, that’s off topic.

I’ve also looked up on YouTube the interviews about people who have experienced a glimpse of heaven, or hell. I’ve read fragments from the book “23 Minutes In Hell” by Bill Weise, the first part of it anyway, where he describes how he’s naked and how he’s seeing all these demons that seem like something from your worst nightmare.

“Do you really think you’re possessed?”
“Yes.”

There’s been a few times where my mother has asked me that, and I’ve responded with the same answer. She’s told me that Satan can’t touch her, for one she’s a Children’s Pastor, and two – she’s so firm in her faith that even I can tell that NOTHING will shake her out of it.

On Boxing Day, I had an interesting conversation with my uncle. We were talking about my future, and how I would make a great wife/mom someday. We were talking about career paths too, stuff like that.

“What do you plan on doing?”
“Oh, um, I dunno. It’s always been my dream as a little girl to become a fiction writer.”
“Emily, if you like to write so much – I can assure that God has planted that passion within you, and he WILL use that.”

I don’t know what he directly means by that. Does he think that I’ll become one of those Christian writers someday…? Don’t get me wrong, one of my favourite authors IS a Christian and he writes for the Christian market. He’s a best-seller, too. (Ted Dekker, if anybody’s wondering out there…)

I shall admit, there has been times where I've been ashamed to say "Oh, well, I'm a Christian!". Especially at the time where my ex-friend told her boyfriend that I'm only allowed to date guys who are Christian (parents are over protective and strong spirited, even I sometimes hate it). That didn't bother me. It was the fact that he said straight to my face, "Oh, Christian guys are fags." (pardon that word please, I'm not going to censor it). I have a guy friend who's a Christian, and he's a great buddy of mine. But anyway, next subject.

There’s also a teen Youth Group at my church, which I attended last week with Myles, a buddy of mine. I’m now going to officially attend Youth from now on, but it’s only for Myles. There’s a few reasons why I don’t really go, and why I have avoided it for months at a time until my mother would literally force me to go.

• I don’t really know anybody, and I’m very shy.

• I have a deep thought and feeling that it won’t help me get better in my relationship with God.

• I’m terrified to tell ANYONE at my church, mainly authority figures like Pastors, that I’ve been struggling in my relationship with God. Even if I did tell them, I don’t think they could help me.

I just have the most DIFFICULT time in believing in something that you can’t see. Don’t get me wrong, I hear voices in my head sometimes when I’m completely stressed and don’t know what to do. It tells me that ‘everything will be alright’, or it’s a call… “Emily… Come to me.” To possibly “lean on his shoulder”. Or even it’s just telling me that “this voice” (who I would LIKE to believe is God, but I don’t know if it is) just tells me that it loves me. It’s the strangest thing. I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard this voice, though. Sometimes I wonder if it really is God, but I’m not sure at all.

I also sometimes think that God is speaking to me through songs I listen to. All I ever listen to is Christian Alt. Rock and a Variety of Christian Metal. Sometimes, even though these songs are most likely "rock hard, jump around, and bang your head to the beat", the lyrics sometimes make me cry. Like here, take this one for example. This little "stanza" made me cry earlier today:


That's from a song called Re-Bel, by Brian "Head" Welch; it talks of child abuse. I like his songs, they're amazing. I may be the only one who thinks that God can speak to somebody through song, or you can just call me insane and crazy.

I know, you’re probably going to say “all it takes is faith” to believe.Well, I don’t have much of it. If I did, I wouldn’t even be writing this. I’m just wondering how people can believe in something that they can’t physically see, or touch.

I’ve heard stories about Satanists becoming saved by Jesus Christ. I’ve heard remarkable tales of how people have snapped away from addictions and have been lead to God’s word and stuff like that.

For example, Brian “Head” Welch – the ex-lead guitarist of the band Korn, was baptized in the Jordan River and saved in 2005. He was divorced with his wife, and didn’t get to see his daughter much. He was addicted to meth, and he E-Mailed one of his friends about some of the issues he had been having. His friend replied back, and said he should come to church with him. Brian agreed, and later, he went and sat in a hotel room, bible in hand, and started what he called a “personal rehab with God” (that’s where I got it from. :)). Then the presence of God just swept over him, he describes how we was trembling at the time, and he claims he heard a voice whisper “I love you”.  He left Korn a few years ago, and now has taken a solo artist project – of which I’ve listened to, and absolutely LOVE. Maybe I’ll stick up the interview, if I can find out how to post videos up to my blog…

Okay, so that’s pretty much a rap… The easter play my church is putting on, which focuses around the crucifixion (my dad is James the disciple, and I’m just a crowds-person XD). Our costumes are apparently going to be near to the costumes of “The Passion (of the Christ)”. Yet to see that movie, my parents have seen it – and from what I’ve heard from anybody who has seen it, they say “it’s really graphic and really bloody – but it REALLY gives you a wide open window to what Jesus went through during the crucifixion).

And guess what? Our audience is going to be filled with people who aren’t even saved. Nobody that IS saved is “allowed” to come (well, we aren’t really limiting, but it’s a dinner-theatre performance, and at the end, people are gonna be asked if they want to accept Jesus into their hearts.) I was thinking I could be ‘saved again’ (I don’t even know if that’s possible. XD But you know what I mean), but yet, I don’t think I’ll be “ready”. I think it’s best to gain the belief before I even go near restoring a relationship.

Questions, questions…

1) How can you believe in something that you can't physically see? Nobody's really seen any of his miracles during our present time, so how can you believe those? Try not to give me the "Oh, well you believe that Hurricane Katrina happened. You believe that 9/11 happened, right? Well, what's the difference?" stuff, alright?

2) God and Satan can read our minds, right? I'm assuming they both know what's occuring in our lives... Does God "plan out our future"? I've heard that God knows "everything that's going on", so that just seemed to link with me...

3) I've heard many say that "you will never find true happiness without God". If so, then why are some of my friends not Christian, and are leading better lives than I am...? No, it's not jealousy, I'm just wondering about that.

4) Why did Jesus die on the cross? I mean, I know if was in God's plan for him to come to our earth and everything, but couldn't he have saved us and cleansed us from our sins WITHOUT dying...?

5) Can somebody who once loved God end up going to hell?

6) How do we know that the Bible and God is actually the "way, the truth, and the light?" - I mean, any 'godly' figure could say that and people believe them... What makes God so different from the rest of the 'fake idols'?

That's all I'll leave you with, until I think up some more. XD Thanks for hearing me out.