People who sway away from mainstream religion are making a bad choice because if they understand what religious text implies, then they would never neglect it. Most people who give up or lose their religion act out of personal anger and probably never trusted the scripture in the first place. If you embrace the religion all over again, then you should know it will only bring benefits to your life. Besides my belief in hell being a state of mind, I dont believe in the "afterlife hell".
In response to Faith vs Free will. I guess our freedom to choose from two ultimate roads in life will eventually always merge in the end. This thread has made this a little more clear for me. It's a tough topic . I actually would love to admit that I am automated for the good of god !. The good half of course. But what about people who die horrible deaths, or for example the innocent victims of a plane crash? Some people might say..."why does god allow such horrors" . I say the consciousness we share learns collectively. If the Columbia spacecraft did not blow up after descending into our atmosphere in 2002, then NASA would of never permitted the astronauts to perform heat tile inspections and modify the external fuel tank. Sometimes we need to wake up and smell progress through tragic events..cosmos from chaos.
Death to me is a release from a spell. A waking from a dream. In this alternative paradigm consciousness is there all the time...in the air, the trees, the emptiness in space. It is there waiting for us to rejoin it. Consciousness is like the world inside of a bubble. When the bubble is intact, images are distorted..when the bubble pops the true appearence of things are revealed. At death we move from one side of our senses to the other. We break free from our internal world in our mind and join the intelligent universe. Atoms are recycled. All things that are subjective and objective will fuse .
So do not fear burning in flames if you do not help the old lady cross the street. At the end it's all peace. What happens in this world , stays in this world. The impact of your life will only be felt by the inhabitants of this world. To add some new thoughts to the topic, what if there is a decision at the end of time. A verdict of some sort. A fool who suffers his whole life, and ultimatly raises bad kids, or winds up hurting others etc... are his atoms recycled into a lower form of intelligence ? I only think about these things. For the noble man who attributes to mankind in great ways...where do his atoms go, and what do they become ? these are the ultimate questions that cannot be answered. Not even by intuition.
