The Quran says that hell does exist (which TBH cheers me up because I like the thought that Hitler gets a taste of his own medicine) but it also says that Allah's mercy is such that it will eventually be empty.
Moderator
The Quran says that hell does exist (which TBH cheers me up because I like the thought that Hitler gets a taste of his own medicine) but it also says that Allah's mercy is such that it will eventually be empty.
Registered User
Does that mean that people can work their way out of hell, Onyx? Or that eventually Allah will take mercy on them, kinda like a prison sentence type thing?
Moderator
No. You can't work your way out of hell but eventually Allah will take mercy on you. Even if you're Hitler and you murdered 10'000'000 innocent people.
Registered User
I like the idea of the lessons thing.. I beleive we are held accountable.. but are given the chance to constantly learn and move forward. And also are given some leeway for not being too accountable, as we are kind of kept in the dark about things, and are kind of blindly fudging our way through life.. so there is some give and take.
I beleive in reincarnation, that we go through cycles and come back and forth (from where.. not sure on that yet...) between lives. I like to think that there can be some "time" spent between lives (in this place that I dont know what is called) to maybe learn things too... so you may die, and you may not have quite learned your lesson (coz if we all learned our lessons there wouldnt be horrible people out there and not everyone has dramatic life changing moments on their death bed where they confess all their mistakes and are suddenly a wonderful person) so there is some time in the "other place that I dont know what it is called" to have some redemption, some learning, some guidence before we enter again and take form in a life on earth. Sadly with no immediate memory of the "other place I dont know what is called" or excactly what happened there, but an essence is remembered.. and that is the path that we are set to follow for this life.. and so it goes. (Hence the blindly fudging our way.. if we could just remember and know exactly what our goals are.. it would be so much easier.. but maybe not as interesting!!!!)
There are a few flaws in my theory... the place that I dont know where it is or what it is or if it exsists is a big one.. lol and the idea that while people are learning all their lessons, why are people even now still awful people who surely havent learned anything (besides the whole no memory of the other place that i dont know what its called).. and why do really good people who seem to not have to learn anything have really horrible things happen to them???? I understand they may have to learn some things.. but it seems a bit uneven.. and I would like to think that some people out there who are horrible and in my opinion "deserve" some kind of "punishment" for the way they treat people get something, and on the same token, I like to think that the "good" people will in turn get some kind of reward. But I dont really know who desides who gets what, and when....
Off to ponder some more.....
Registered User
i believe in the lessons to be learnt and if we dont learn them in this life we will be back again.
i also think that we are not always here for ourselves to learn things, but for others lessons instead. i believe we choose this before coming back each time.
Registered User
As I was pondering more.... I was thinking just that.. sometimes what we do or see or face in life has repercussions for others to see and learn from. And strangely I started thinking of Hitler too... the idea that yes, what he did was wrong and horrible, but what if he isnt in a "hell" for someone to later have mercy on him.. what if he was being used a tool for others to learn from... a great big lesson for mankind to learn what NOT to do..... ????? Hmmmmmm... pondering......
Moderator
I don't see that the 2 things are mutually exclusive. In my reality we can learn and he can go to hell. I believe in a merciful God and I also believe that he is non-interventionalist so I find it very difficult to conceive of a reality in which millions of innocent people are killed in the most horrific ways just to help us learn a lesson. I can't reconcile that much cruelty with my view of a merciful God.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
This is one of my favourite topics. I believe in reincarnation. Apparently early versions of the Bible included reincarnation, but they were edited out by Charlemagne. Obviously, I am not a Bible expert though, having never read anything other than a Children's Bible.
I've read a couple of great books, including Life between Lives by Michael Newton, and Many Masters, Many Lives by Brian Weiss. These two are both psychiatrist/psychotherapists who separately have used hypnosis to investigate life in the Afterlife. I read both books thinking oh yeah. A lot of it reconfirmed my own beliefs. A lot was new. The hypothesis is that all souls are reborn many times. The Creator or God creates us to incarnate on this or other worlds. We choose the life ahead of time, based on lessons we need to learn. We are then born but lose our memory of the Before life, in order to be able to express free will. The lessons we learn in our life help us to evolve as souls. Over many thousand of lifetimes, we evolve in to perfect souls until we no longer need to be reborn and merge with the Godhead.
Life between lives is like a community and school for souls. We evolve in groups of like souls. Our soul group is at a similar level of evolution. We have soulmates who we meet over and over in our lives. Some souls act as our guides in life. In some lives, as we evolve, we become guides to others. So your grandma, uncle or fabourite techer may not be part if your soul group, but they may be your soul teachers. After we die, we go through different levels depending on our soul evolution. Older souls go through fewer steps than new souls. We debrief with our guides and then meet with our soul group to go over the lessons in life.
Eventually, after a period of rest, we choose our next life with guidance from others. We are then born to parents we choose and the next life brings us opportunities to further evolve.
All this reinforced things I already believed on some level. I always knew or hoped I'd meet my soulmate. I was certain he would come from overseas, which he did. My biggest struggle with this is, did we choose to have two babies die? If so, what lesson are we supposed to learn and have we learnt it? It's something I've been talking with someone who is schooled in Buddhism about. Something about having agency in our choices. Obviously we didnt choose for our babies to die. I just need to understand it more on a spiritual level.
I suppose one reason I've always felt so sad about people who commit suicide. Not only is it a complete waste, with a whole heap of pain and suffering left for friends and family to live with, but also because I believe by taking a shortcut like that, it means that person will have to cone back and do it all over again next time and that next time it may be more difficult. It's that thought that has sustained me at times.
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