Death and afterlife

When I was a conservative evangelical Christian, I believed in Heaven and Hell. Annoyingly so. I was one of those people standing on street corners passing out gospel tracts. (No offense meant for anyone who may still do this.) I never yelled at passerby’s about them going to hell but I was friends with people that did.

Then I started discovering Heaven isn’t even the Christian hope; resurrection is. One would think this is obvious but with all of the cultural Christian tropes in the United States it’s easy to forget. (Rest in peace, they are in a better place, God took them home to be with Him, etc.)

After I gave up on the concept of Heaven, but not Resurrection, I started looking at the concept of Hell. That went away quicker than the Heaven thing. (Oops. :rofl: Dropping Hell meant no need for penal substitutionary atonement and I found myself on the wrong side of the evangelical fence.) For the longest time after that I decided soul sleep was what happened.

My ex gf was big into past/future lives. I was finally embracing the magic in the world and decided to stop dabbling and dive into my Wiccan beliefs. Her ideas didn’t seem impossible so I looked into them while we were dating. If I was still with her, I would probably still be on board with the idea but now I have my doubts. Reincarnation over multiple centuries almost sounds like Hell to me. (Plus I would have to see my ex, again. :joy:)

I know this is a long way to an answer but my beliefs have evolved as I have grown over the years. I don’t expect to be in 10 years time where I am today. Wicca has brought me a peace about death, seeing it as part of a cycle instead of finality. I currently believe we are all connected in some way to a divine source. I think we go back to it in some way after death. (Although I am not opposed to the idea found in The Egg.)

No NDE’s but I had an out-of-body when my childhood head was ran over by a toboggan full of teenagers. :open_mouth: I was about 6 at the time and sledding with my dad and brother. We crashed halfway down. I fell out. The toboggan ran over my head. Blood everywhere and rushed to the hospital but all of my memories from the moment it happened until I came to in the hospital were all from outside of my body.

BTW, @christina4, I know all about the overdosing while believing I am a burden. I hope you overcame that demon because I know it is still one I fight.

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