If the horror that is (Pauline) CHRISTIANITY is true...
I read that in the current Iraq debacle, an average
of 2 MEN A DAY have their genitals removed by surgeons
in Germany (the sorts of injuries requiring this procedure
are rather unsurprising when you think of how many
"hits" scored on our boys in Iraq consist of bombs that
their vehicles drive over, ar next to...)
If you allow 3 years since the Iraqi insurgency got going in
earnest, that's over a THOUSAND GUYS, folks. (Almost HALF
the number of their more fortunate comrades, the DEAD
ones.)
Imagine being in your late teens, or early 20s...
You face of life of gray, drab, dead CELIBACY now. And
if you're a Christian? Hell, the fun's JUST STARTED!!!
You get to be celibate FOREVER, AFTER you become maggot
food in 60 years or so...
You know, I'm an old fartknocker (38) yet I WOULDN'T be able
to handle such a loss even now, though I've only got 30 or so years
left to pound through... most of which will be as a wrinkly old geezer anyway. I've seen my best days already (and I've at least had the OPPORTUNITY to make the most of 'em.) But these poor schmucks... they're just KIDS!!!
Let us hope that (optional! I wouldn't want it to be REQUIRED, because I'm not sure I'd want to reincarnate when all's said and done, I might want annihilation instead!) REINCARNATION is true, at least for the
sake of these guys. (Can you imagine being a testosterone-
driven Marine, being told you have NOTHING to look forward
to but the life of an emasculated hairdresser??? And it's gonna
last - FOREVER???)
Makes me hurt "down there" just THINKING about it..!

B-man

B-man, I know you imagine some of your desires to be too perverse to quality you for heaven.  So humor me for a moment.  just think of all that great spirit sex through soul fusion you're goiing to miss while you're being slapped around in your own Hell.  Swedenborg's book about romantic unions in Heaven is deemed his best by many Swedenborgians. In your custom-made Hell, yuur privacy won't be respected because you'll be surrounded by domineering control freaks who may want their own privacy but won't expect the desires of others for the same privilege.  As you admitted on another thread, you'll probably be too weak to adquately defend yourself.  So you'll be taking your lumps while you wait for a chance to annihilate oourself, but that chance may never come for aeons.  Bruce Moen encoutneres soul annihilations during his astral travels, but  insists they are extremely rare.

Ah, but if you opt for a heaven and union with Christ, hey, you'll almost be omnipotent as you immerse yourself in the high vibration of PUL.  You'll have so much more freedom there than in your inevitable Hell.  And to get there, all you have to do is start asking yourself this question: Is it possible that some of my base desires might evolve as I evolve spiritually?  If a guy had never experinced orgasm and said he's sure he'd hate it, wouldn't you first try to find out if he's gay?  And if not, wouldn't you encourage him to try it first with a sexy woman to see if he'd change his priorities?  That how it is with intimate encounters with the divine.  Try it; you'll like it even more than orgasm.  Read Storm and you'll be well on your way.

Some ghastly typos now correected.  Sorry!
Don

B-man, I know you imagine some of your desirese to be too perverse to quality you for heaven.  So humor me for a moment.  just think of all that great spirit sex through soul fusion you're goiing to miss while you're being slapped around in your own Hell.  Swedenborg's book about romantic unions in Heaven is deemed his best by many Swedenborgians. In your custom-made Hell, yuur privacy won't be respected because you'll be surrounded by domineering control freaks who may want their own privacy but won't expect the desires of others for the same privilege.  As you admitted on another thread, you'll probably be too weak to adquately defend yourself.  So you'll be taken your laumps while you wait for a chance to annihilate oourself, but that chance may never come for aeons.  Bruce Moen encoutneres soul annihilations during his astral travels, but  insists they are extremely rare.
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Well, so be it, Don. If my fate is to be a weakling, then I DESERVE
to be slapped around for a couple million years.
Weak men. If EVER there was an insult to creation, it's THESE turds. (Maybe if Hitler had gone after WIMPS instead of Jews, the world wouldn't have hated his memory so much???)
Maybe the reason why soul annihilations are so rare, is because so
few people WANT it during their lives? They haven't adequately TRAINED their desires!
How many "souls", are actively seeking annihilation at any given time?
Not many, I'd bet.
Would not your precious "angels" respond to the direct calls of an obviously depressed individual, who RECOGNIZED their existence and their office? (As I'm sure the "thief" in "Thief Hell" did just that when he successfully petitioned "God" to un-make him. He knew he could never stomach "heaven", but he acknowledged "God." Knowing this story, gives me the advantage over your typical "confused" "Hell" arrivee... does it not? For I don't think that thief studied the afterlife while he was alive, as I have. Would THAT not save me an eon or two of suffering?)
Me, I am working on understanding oblivion, and conceptualizing it. Believe it or not, Don... I actually PRAY for it (along the lines of, "God, I don't know if you exist or if you even give a s**t, but show me the way to oblivion after I die - Amen" or what have you.) Helps me sleep at night.
In the meantime, better practice my pistol shooting, get back into martial arts, and even work on guided meditation so I can make astral weapons appear and so forth. If I can hold onto my conscious logical mind enough to seek after annihilation, I'm sure I can learn to do this... right? It makes sense.
Perhaps I could learn to construct a "fortress" for myself, or even
a portable "force field" or what have you...
Or I could cover myself with quills, like a porcupine. (Would you
slap a porkie, Don? Didn't think so..!)
Of course, "Hell" is hell, right? There'd be a heavy price to pay. The price I'd pay for this is LONELINESS, boredom perhaps, and no friends as I continued to research means to snuff my consciousness. (But I'd way prefer that, to getting "slapped around" like a Southern housewife.)
In other words... I should take up MAGICAL ARTS!!! From what I've studied about metaphysics, "magical arts" are nothing more than conscious manipulation of subconscious content.
(Perhaps this merits a thread of its OWN, Don. I'll think about it...)
Remember that dream I posted about last year, when I shot the guy who was vandalizing my car? Maybe I can make "Hell" a little less hot for myself, while striving for my annihilation..!

B-man

P.S. "Soul Fusion"?
Sounds about as exciting as picking my nose, Don.
(Heck, even less so... you can't deny the satisfaction
of mining a "nugget" every now and then.)

Brendan,

To hear accounts of the afterlife and NDEs, many find themselves with "bodies" and appetites on the spiritual planes.  They have no need for food as in the physical, but there are many descriptions of banquets or eating when it suits them.  Sex has also been described.  If it has the capability to be at an even higher level than sex in the physical in some way, why not try it?  Only a closed mind would keep you away from spiritual sex.

Tell me really, Chum, do you truly only find happiness in sex, and carnal pleasure (food, alcohol, indulgence)?  If you knew that some of the heavens had people/spirits indulging in their own version of these pleasures, why wouldn't you want to try it?  Why do you bring up this angel with a harp anaology all the time?  I haven't heard Don or even JD when he was here talk about that.


M

right on, Matthew.  B-man, all of us discover new desires and priorities when we explore new territory and expand our horizons.  A couple of years ago, I took my only cruise to Alaska, complete with side trips.  I couldn't anticipate how much I enjoyed those those side trips: e.g  (1) kayaking among spouting whales with sea otters poking their cute heads above water as fish fled in terror and especially (2) taking a helicopter ride to huge moving glaciers, and then walking around the top of them 400 ft. up.  The ice was a brilliant torquoise and was dazzlingly bright in the deep crevasses.  Above the crevasses, you could hear melting water roar like Niagara Falls as it nudged the glacier along.  

Why are you so close-minded to the principle that new experiences arouse new desires and priorities?   OK, I know you've had bad experiences with Fundamentalist Christianity in the past.   But why rule out any spiritual quest until you've dabbled with it?   Why not read your first book on spiritual experiences and then discuss your reaction on this board?  I've suggested Howard Storm, but pick any book that catches your fancy.  Just don't create a foolish stereotype of the afterlife and then refuse to take new pictures.  


Don

Brendan,

To hear accounts of the afterlife and NDEs, many find themselves with "bodies" and appetites on the spiritual planes.  They have no need for food as in the physical, but there are many descriptions of banquets or eating when it suits them.  Sex has also been described.  If it has the capability to be at an even higher level than sex in the physical in some way, why not try it?  Only a closed mind would keep you away from spiritual sex.

Tell me really, Chum, do you truly only find happiness in sex, and carnal pleasure (food, alcohol, indulgence)?  If you knew that some of the heavens had people/spirits indulging in their own version of these pleasures, why wouldn't you want to try it?  Why do you bring up this angel with a harp anaology all the time?  I haven't heard Don or even JD when he was here talk about that.
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You might say that I am, have always been, and will always be
a guy who lives for the weekend, Doc.
What do I mean by this?
Well, I DO enjoy (some) contemplative activities, but it is just
chips-and-dip for me. I don't get excited over it.
I'm not into "good" group activities. (I tried volunteer work a couple
times. Not only was it as much fun as pounding nails into my
head, but I found the people there to be singularly un-interesting
and conventionally-minded. (I'll bet they all had subscriptions to
Reader's Digest...)
No, what I look forward to, with excitement, are the CARNAL things. (I
have always tried to be disciplined about them though. With the
exception of smoking, I haven't got any monkeys on my back so far.)
Also, I don't think they have hunting in "Heaven!"
Who knows. Maybe if "Heaven and Hell" is true, maybe there is a "Hell" where you are allowed to do "stupid" things (although if you are not careful and screw up, you will be made to SUFFER.) Maybe I'll find a place with no laws against drunk driving, or completely legalized prostitution, or where you can own a nuclear bomb of your own, if you have the money for it..!) As long as you are DISCIPLINED (which most folks aren't, and I'd imagine most "hellbounds" REALLY aren't!) you should be more or less O.K....
In other words... save me from paternalism..!
Remember, you have to NEGLECT YOUR OWN DESIRES and be
a servant-droid, to qualify for "Heaven". I'm not into self-abnegation for the pleasure of others. Why do you think that from time immemorial, monks in all cultures have sworn themselves to poverty and "chastity" and locked themselves away in grubby little cells (Hell, "others" have way too big a share of lifes good things as it is! Only by self-improvement and disciplined focus on my OWN interests, will I be able to get my "chunk of the pie", if you will.)

B-man

P.S. It's been a while since I mentioned harps, Doc.
All I'm saying is, is if "Heaven" is what medieval Christians
believed it to be in ANY way, then I'll pass on it.
(The traditional Catholic view is one of the worst offenders,
IMHO... and it has been very influential.)
Dante's view of the "Beatific Vision" is enough to curl my
hairs and induce dry heaves...

Honestly Chumley you're on a progressive afterlife forum and yet you continue to talk about a heaven with harps and gates and a hell with suffering and punishment as if there is some entity outside of yourself who gets high off punishing for all eternity like some school prefect nerd. Maybe you should be going to a conservative Christian forum and 'wax lyrical' about the bible and see if they take the bait  ::)

I bet you that spirits in the higher realms don't miss physical sex at all. They've found something that the pleasure of physical sex can't compare to.