My Religious Questions & Views

CHRISTIANS MOURN DEATH, CELEBRATE DEATH & WAIT FOR LIFE TO COME

IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER JOSEPHINE DECOSSAUX

By John L. Decossaux, 5/20/13, Posted 6/6/13

Dear Christian Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Half Brother, Half Sister, etc. and Friends,

    As Shakespeare illustrated with a play, we are all somehow guilty, we are all mourning, but we are waiting our turn to dance & laugh. We are at the King’s wedding to his brother’s recently widowed wife. It is an illicit wedding, because this brother had the good King secretly murdered. Hamlet lost his father. He wonders if his Uncle is a murderer & his mother is a fool, adulterer or maybe she hired someone to kill her husband. Why else would she agree to remarry while the Kingdom was still in mourning & she was also mourned the death of her husband or should be mourning?

Suicide appeared to be a real option to Hamlet, rather than face the uncertainties of his new future. Would he even be a prince anymore, would he want to be part of this new royal family? Hamlet had the sense to be afraid of God. Would God throw him into Hades, because he took a life, his life that God had created for HIS own purposes? Did he dare, become the enemy of God, because of a temporary loss of sameness, security & what was a predictable future? Was death a secret that caught him by surprise? Every young adult is faced with the fact that others are dying all over the world & his or her turn is coming next. And yet we are shocked & horrified when it happens to someone we are attached to, dependent upon, still needing—even if only for a presence in the home, especially our mother & father.

We mourn, we weep, we thank God our Daddy that HE let Jesus die for us, because not one of us can keep, even one commandment, for our whole lives. We realize that we are sinners, but we chafe at the tight collar we must wear--Jesus is the only righteous human being who ever won the race. We realize that because he picked, elected, called & chose us to be on HIS team we are all declared co-winners!! We will eat at our own wedding feast, as brides, in Heaven & dance with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus was never born in Heaven, HE existed for all eternity & defeated death forever. We are all dancing to the life Christ gave us when HE:  gave up HIS control over HIS life, for HIS FATHER & by doing so, the Trinity, choreographed a complex dance that defeated Satan. The Great & Terrible Dragon’s will never replace God. Hell & Death will one day go out of business, forever.

“Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”. Bag- pipes-a-wailing this melody, makes us weep. The military bugle, a gunpowder salute which jerks our bodies each shout & the tale of the “Unknown Soldier” for those honored in a Military Funeral. The “Unknown Soldier” is still honored/ The unknown Christians & the unknown Christian martyrs remind us, through our tears, that the billions of people are searching for the unknown GOD. Everyone isn’t allowed to go to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, but I hope everyone makes it to Heaven. Humans were not made to suffer in Hell, Hell was built for demons, let’s proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of the only true God—YAHWEH. Tell them about God’s only Son Jesus Christ & that Hades doesn’t have to be for Christians. You can know that you have a real Savior, a new family & a merciful God.

We are traveling alone as we regroup. We are requesting a new mission and “calling” from God our King. Death has been conquered by Jesus’ resurrection but “sleep”-- a dream-filled-death; we must endure unless we follow our team Captain Jesus. While we long to be “present with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8), we mourn the loss of family, mental & financial support.

Most of all we cry over the loss of Agape love-unconditional, undeserved and unrelenting charity that we imagined our family had for us. God is Agape!! God is still with us & HE will never die again, leave us when we die or leave us orphans in this sin cursed world. He is calling someone else to be your mother, father, son or daughter. Jesus told Saint John, this is your mother. To his mother, this is your son. Jesus wanted the one that loved HIM the most & whom HE loved the most to be with HIS mother Mary. I think that on that cross Jesus realized that none of his brothers & sisters would love her as much as HE did. I think Jesus, being human, as well as divine, felt the agony of leaving HIS mother on earth without HIS love & protection. He loved HIS mother more than HE realized….

*Poetic license & paraphrase of the Play Wright’s concept of mourning a funeral while at the same time celebrating a new king’s wedding.

[Posted on My Facebook Notes, Emailed to my Religious Friends & Posted on my free website: http://MyReligiousQuestionsViews.YolaSite.com Double click on “What Happens to a Person at Death” scroll down to the first topic: “Christians Mourn Death, Celebrate Death  Wait For Life to Come”]

WHAT HAPPENS TO A PERSON AT DEATH & WHERE DOES HE OR SHE GO?

by John, Revised, 3/7/11, 6/6/13

Nobody knows all the details including me. However I do have an opinion, based on my religion & on the premise that God is love & just. Here are also some other beliefs. Within each group they have slight differences or nuances of belief.....

1. We turn into a dead body & a living spirit is released from it.
2. The spirit (or soul, if you prefer) goes either up or down.
        a) As a nominal Catholic I sometimes believe the spirit spends time in Purgatory or a transition station in or near Heaven. *
        b) Some Jews believe that you are not allowed into Paradise for eleven or less months. That's why they pray & mourn their dead fellow believers that long. 
        c) Protestants, don't believe that they have any sins to be purged after they're dead so, Jesus paid it all and their soul is cleansed and they go straight to Heaven. Good for them. Then they get resurrected to live in the New Heaven &/or on the New Earth.
        d) SDAs & Jehovah witnesses believe you sleep until judgment.
        e) Hindus believe in several levels of heaven & hell, then there's reincarnations back into several bodies & eventually merging into the impersonal God or Universal Power.
        f) Mormons, Baha'i & misc.: believe the spirit goes on learning & advancing spiritually on planets, etc.
3. If you are bound for Hell there is no Purgatory, just a miserable place. Do not pass go, DON'T GO TO GOD, don't see the good relatives, don't have anyone to comfort you, don't have any good people to sacrifice, suffer & bleed for you so that you can keep on sinning comfortably, just live with your belief bad as it is.

Any place without holy people & God would be miserable for me. Think what the world would be like if everyone were constantly lying, stealing, killing, using others, cheating, holding grudges, torturing, raping, imprisoning & completely self--absorbed. HELL! Catholic doctrine seems to say, the spirit or soul of the damned will suffer, because they are cut off from God's light, love & holiness for eternity. There are no do-overs or second chances. The Bible says no one will miss or mourn the destroyed sinners. Sorry.

Imagine dozens, hundreds or even thousands of years, in a timeless prison of Hell. Good for you, but I can't. Here's the rub for in that timeless, clock-less Hell, one minute is no different than a million years. But is the suffering really unrelenting, without mercy & without moments of joy?

In depression that's how we see our life, but' it' a false view, because we do have comforts & pleasures. We diminish, ignore & deny the pleasures & soon they lose the healing benefit that we should be experiencing. We become our own worst enemy. Eventually the good & bad get resurrected with a pretty good body. Some say the damned get a rotted body, because a rotten soul can only create or recreate a body fit for sin & despair. God can do anything He wants & HE wants to talk to all of us about our past lives & whether we'll have a future in Heaven or Hell & that's why he brings us back to life out of Heaven or Hell. No one can make this stuff up so, this seems true to me.

 And oops! There is Jesus or God in front of your resurrected eyes, who is someone that you said didn't exist or that was evil or a myth & you could never love them.   Hey, I'm not mocking you, no one's perfect & everyone chooses his own destiny.

But anyway, that will be our chance to see & speak to the real God & HE to us. Pretty awesome.

4.  The "saved" will have an eternal life.
5.  The "damned" will have their wonderful new bodies burned for days until there is nothing but ashes left. Then, God will probably punish or kill the spirit (Soul)[Matt. 10:28 "Conditionalist View of Hell" says that when you die the "second death" you die & Hell is abolished]. This is a view that is consistent with the Bible & God's mercy. Before the sinners are thrown into the Lake of Fire, they will admit that God is fair, they didn't want to live a second life with holy people anyway & at least they lived the life they wanted to.
6. Hell & death are thrown into the Lake of Fire.
7. Eternity has dawned for humanity. This should be great for those who want it.

*Corrections for June 6, 2013:  I've been a member of a Methodist Church Sunday school (Not the Church) & no longer consider myself a Roman Catholic. I've also added the term "Conditional View of Hell" which I found in the book: "God's Plan for the Ages", by Dr. David R. Reagan, page 166.

LIMBO OF THE FATHERS OR ABRAHAM'S BOSOM

 IS IT STILL THERE?

Attention:  Evil sinners, who don't go to Heaven, don't be a hater. You took advantage of the love, kindness, money, friendship, time, & happiness of the saints. God loved you through them. He gave you, for most of your life, food, shelter, anger management advice & mercy from the judges & courts. Your body repaired itself countless times from your hateful thinking, alcohol, drugs, medicines, incompetent doctors, dangerous jobs, falling apart vehicles & dysfunctional families, caretakers & institutional caretakers in foster care, juvenile jails, etc. He gave you plenty of other second chances, just as He did for the saints. We are are all needy human beings. Those are some of the ways that charity & mercy were manifested in your life. Love is charity that sacrifices for others. Many good loving people were seeking to please & to love God by serving a snake like you. More often you thought that they were weak, hypocritical, superstitious, gullible, masochistic, self hating & foolish. That's what God provided for you & you used his blessings & used his holy people & mocked religion, God & the holy children of God. You're welcome. They don't hold a grudges, because they did it for God not an ingrate like you. Even if you had a horrible life, you could have determined to turn yourself around & help others in their situation. I'm sure you did help a lot of people, but not for God, but for yourself. No blame, no hatred. You lived life on your own terms & I hope you achieved your ideal life.

I know you will hate saintly people & God, because, you must pick a team. God's or Satan's. It's more fun to cheer for your team with total commitment, passion & excitement. If you are not evil, don't let Satan or that little nasty voice inside you convince you that you are. Holy people would like to see you abandon your selfish ways & they will forgive you & love you, when you come aboard. Give them a little time to get used to you. It's not too late to change, if you're alive....

If you might want to be a saint then come to the Roman Catholic Church and tell them you want to study about Jesus, & the Catholic Church. They will baptized you, if needed, teach you the sacraments & their Catechism beliefs, confirm you, etc. They don't hold you hostage & you'll get out of it as much as you put in. The Church, to my surprise, is actually based on the Bible, well, most of it anyway. Try CatholicAnswers.com.

Or go to a Protestant Church & go to their Bible Study classes. They will also baptize & confirm you in the faith. You can also go to BeliefNet.com & do research on your own about how to connect with God or which churches are best for you.

There are many teachings about God, but Jesus Christ is the only historically verifiable person that was a prophet, healer, died for our sins, resurrected himself three days later & is still alive in Heaven. He will soon return to save Israel from total annihilation & he's a pretty good savior. At least he's not a myth....

If you're a Cultural nominal Jew or  even a saintly Jew committed to Judaism or a Jew that serves Jesus the Christ (Yeshua ha'Mashiach), then try a Messianic Church or one that  successfully accommodates  & acclimates our  great Jewish brothers. To sacrifice your culture or heritage for a greater truth or adding truth is truly a sacrifice. This is a decision that will all character & holistic truth to your life. Find a church district or independent church with an ex-rabbi or rabbi who is also a Christian. Many Christians today love & honor the Jews  & even realize that Jesus name in Hebrew was more like Joshua the Messiah & he was a Jewish teacher (rabbi) who transcended religion & spoke directly from God. We're not all Crusaders or Nazis, so try to forgive the ones who were the nominal Christians, that were easily twisted into murder & hatred. What do you think nominal religious people, liberal people & desperate people do today? They don't sacrifice their lives, but instead abort & bury their problems. A holocaust doesn't have to be against the Jews it can be against Gentiles, fetuses, babies & children. It's not always obvious to us when we're wrong, if we think murder will keep the oil flowing, romance alive, keep us from being homeless or tied down to crushing responsibilities. Many churches don't feel complete without you. I don't feel complete if one person is walking in confusion away from God. Walking away from your former crimes against humanity will be a good thing.

If you're a Buddhist, Wiccan, Hindu, Muslim, Baha'i, Mormon Sufi, Taoist, pagan, former Christian, former whatever, agnostic, atheist and you feel drawn to Jesus, but not Christians---join the club of Jesus. Jesus is the draw, the inspiration is not the churches, sermons, rituals or the people. God is love and the  congregations are always struggling to be holy. A church is a hospital for sinners & it's also a gathering place for group worship. Come worship with us, learn with us, & let us be brothers & sisters under the one Father God. You don't have to commit to one church forever, just commit to God forever.

Some of us have studied about your religions, but our understanding is often: Western delusional, prejudiced & a bit ignorant. Don't expect us to understand you completely. If you were born in another culture or belief system you don't understand us fully either. If you love God, life or the Universe, you can love Jesus too. If you don't eventually believe in the Trinity of Father, Son & Holy Spirit/One God, Godly Truth & Godly miracles there are still many Liberal & ecumenical Christian Churches you can feel comfortable in. Life's too short to reject people & chase them away. Every church won't be a perfect fit, don't give up and maybe Jesus can give you something, even if it's only his type of love....

God doesn't do everything for you. You still have to resist sin, change your life, attend church on a regular basis. You will need spiritual support. Read & meditate on the God of the Bible. Be open & prepared to tell someone about your experience with God or to help them get through a rough time. You still have to work & support your family, maybe you're work is in the Church or care-taking your family or a goodly nonprofit. So it's not an excuse to be lazy, because God has some loving work for you to do. You will be part of his Church the Universal Christian Assembly. Like any family there are chores, responsibilities & traditions that keep the family together & build pleasant memories.

God loves you & so does Jesus. Talk to God. As the Muslims say, "He's closer to you then the vein in you neck". I don't care what religion you are, try Jesus and follow his terms and find Heaven on earth.  Wake up from your "sleep of death" with the love of God shining upon you. 

Good Luck and I hope to see you there.

12/28/11, Revised 12/29/11

WHAT DO I BELIEVE ABOUT SALVATION,

WORKING THROUGH MY OWN THEOLOGY

[INSPIRED BY DONALD & KATHRYN]

LIVING, CARING FOR & ENCOURAGING THE DYING MAKES YOU QUESTION YOUR BELIEFS ABOUT THE AFTER LIFE. MY SISTER DIED, NOW WHAT DO I BELIEVE?

Two days ago at 3 AM I got up, because the Lord wanted me to pray for her. I got some olive oil  & some holy water from Lourdes & mixed them together & anointed her head hands & feet & said blessings & prayers for about an hour & then sat with her. I think it was as much for her friend  Kathryn lovingly wouldn't leave her side as for Mary Lou. Then when Mary Lou died, the next day at 11:45 PM I read Psalms 18 and her husband quickly went out on the porch & the door slammed. Then, the nurse came from outside & Kathryn told me to keep on reading. So they waited until I finished the last two thirds of it. I felt my sister was a fighter, like King David in Psalms 18, but she was not in love with Judaism or organized religion as much as God. I felt funny reading it, because this is a psalm most liberals would hate. Mary Lou was offended by Christianity that said only Christians can be saved & love or sex was only for the opposite sex & marriage, among other things. She wasn't as offended by her version of Jesus though. If you were put through the college brainwashing mill & had parents that always contradicted Catholics & considered Protestants as ten times worse like we did....

In spite of my conservative Christianity I don't believe I can't say who is saved only God can. To him that knows it is sin it is sin & you are accountable, but the reverse is also true. So, to him or her that thinks conservative Christians are sinners & liberals are saints...I have to let God judge you.

I want to believe that Mary Lou is in Heaven & she is taking mandatory religion classes & attending lectures by Jesus, with the other descent people who loved & were loved in return by so many people. We can't be sure until we die. We can't be 100% sure of our interpretation. We can't feel safer or more superior because our Biblical or atheistic or logical interpretation is a little or a lot more accurate, because God judges by the heart & intentions of our actions based on His morality & truth, not ours. If we want to get along with Him in the next life we should be of the same mind or neither of us would enjoy the experience. There is a core & essential connection or repellent that we can't always detect, but God can. Jesus is the gate keeper, High Priest & Judge. We see through our dark glasses, through our own sins & they distort our spiritual vision. Our love for others overcomes our desire to judge by the letter of the law & we beg for the mercy of God. We always see that God has been merciful. It can always be worse.

They say that in funerals 99% of the people are praised as worthy of heaven. Billions of people have confessed Jesus as Savior at least once. Maybe they will be of the lowest ranks in heaven, but still be saved as the fetus, baby, pre-Christian civilizations, deceived, ignorant, etc. But, I will preach what Jesus taught, but also preach that I am not sent to condemn the world, but to offer you a more abundant life with Jesus.

My sister had some pretty liberal views & like Gandhi & Obama. But she also liked Martin Luther King a Christian preacher who became a Moses for the Black people, but later became involved in Communist causes, anti American war marches & such. She also believed in the liberal ideas of Jesus. Maybe Jesus got drunk, had sex with men & women, didn't care about morality & just self improvement.

That's not at all what I see in the Bible, but then I was swayed for many years by the opinions of others on what the Bible was actually saying. I think there are a lot of paradoxical statements & that means that there is a thin line that you walk, in between truth & falsehood. Each day, each situation is a little different, but each day is devoted to letting God say,

"Walk a little to the left. No! Not that much, a little to the right. No! Not that much. Get along with others. No! Now you're letting them direct you & you're not listening to me."

Doctrines are like sign posts, it's easy to drive past them. The voice of God is easy to ignore, because life is noisy. Do you trust that God will do what is eternally best for you or not? Logically speaking, if God doesn't want or know what is best for us, then we might as well screw up our own lives as we've always done. But, God does know & so we must logically follow the leader who created the universe. We must listen to his stories, logic & explanations. When you love someone you listen. When you listen you change some of your ideas & become a little more similar in your thinking. When you love God that's what you are doing. He changes us slowly & subtly, because we were leaning our sleepy heads on His chest & listening to his whispers & heart beats until we were completely in love with Him.