Question on heaven?

[rollmeover]

Maybe the appearance changes according to what the person is familiar with. I was not there. But I am open minded enough to say that it is possible. There is no logical explanation for my uncle being able to see his kids either, but he saw them.

That makes sense as a possible explanation, from my POV as a Catholic - the Virgin Mary has appeared in ways that made sense to the people who saw her and speaking the languages that they were most comfortable in.

I must be a very weak little person, but I do take great comfort and peace in the stories such as your uncle's.

[theologygeek]

You certainly have an interesting use of the term "lol". I certainly wouldn't apply it to a now dead relative having a heart attack.

Regarding the main thing, I am perfectly happy to agree to disagree. The thing I disagree with you on, mostly, is your idea that there could be no logical explanations for what happened. There do seem to be some, fairly straightforward, logical explanations. I just gave you my ideas about them.

I was lol'ing at your responses. I bolded the one up top that got me quite silly. It's not that hard to grasp. He was revived, and when he could talk, he told his son-in-law what happened as in "I saw your wife moving bedroom furniture." That's pretty simple stuff. No one needed it to be true, especially me. I already believe in God. I don't need confirmation that He's real. They're all Italian Catholics. They didn't need it to be true either. To know them is to love them. Whether or not it happened, they all knew where he'd go when he died. It was an attitude of "how cool" rather than "I needed to hear this to confirm that there's a God or heaven." Three things that Italian Catholics of that generation don't fool around with-God, the Pope, and Frank Sinatra.

[Guest Anonymous]

I was lol'ing at your responses. I bolded the one up top that got me quite silly. It's not that hard to grasp. He was revived, and when he could talk, he told his son-in-law what happened as in "I saw your wife moving bedroom furniture." That's pretty simple stuff. No one needed it to be true, especially me. I already believe in God. I don't need confirmation that He's real. They're all Italian Catholics. They didn't need it to be true either. To know them is to love them. Whether or not it happened, they all knew where he'd go when he died. It was an attitude of "how cool" rather than "I needed to hear this to confirm that there's a God or heaven." Three things that Italian Catholics of that generation don't fool around with-God, the Pope, and Frank Sinatra.

Are we done yet? You don't seem to be done.

[theologygeek]

Are we done yet? You don't seem to be done.

If you post something, you might get a response. That's how message boards work.

[Minerva]

Interestingly, a lot of people have near-death experiences without even being close to death at all. What matters more is that you think you're near death.

That's what stood out to me from the link posted upthread as well.

I just remembered this, but when I was a teen I literally believed everything Sylvia Browne said. :lol: She was an interesting character.

[Guest Anonymous]

OK, so I'll post this and hope to get a direct response:

Do you accept that there could be other, more reasonable, explanations for your family's experience beyond "Heaven is real"?

Do you see how I might come to the conclusion that your constant denial of any other explanations is as much like a fundie's response as you have accused my response of being?

Do you see how others, who have not met you or your family, might not see a second-hand story that seems highly implausible (think "Heaven is real" to an atheist) as particularly reliable?

Do you appreciate that people (such as myself) might believe in concepts like dreams, hallucinations, memory drift and the fallibility of eyewitness testimony more than they do the rather more ethereal concept of Heaven?

Edited for wording (again).

[theologygeek]

OK, so I'll post this and hope to get a direct response:

Do you accept that there could be other, more reasonable, explanations for your family's experience beyond "Heaven is real"?

Do you see how I might come to the conclusion that your constant denial of any other explanations is as much like a fundie's response as you have accused my response of being?

Do you see how others, who have not met you or your family, might not see a second-hand story that seems highly implausible (think "Heaven is real" to an atheist) as particularly reliable?

Do you appreciate that people (such as myself) might believe in concepts like dreams, hallucinations, memory drift and the fallibility of eyewitness testimony more than they do the rather more ethereal concept of Heaven?

Edited for wording (again).

1. Sure, there could be another explanation. I haven't heard any good ones yet. When thousands of people all over the world have the same "tunnel/light/heaven dream," the explanation needs to be better than it's just a dream, hallucination, memory drift, etc. The possibility of so many people having the same dream is probably nil, especially when the dreams also include seeing relatives they have never met before, seeing what's happening below the person, and things of that nature.

2. If I heard an explanation that was a possibility, I'd say it. None of them were good rebuttals.

3. You have a right to think it's not reliable. It's really okay. I won't lose sleep over it.

4. See #1.