I have always feared ghosts, and this fear grows stronger as I grow older. Every strange movement of untouched objects, every mysterious apparition, every inexplicable sound rouse my suspecion of an encounter with the unliving. Never could I watch a horror film without being on my toes for days afterwards; so I have quit those films altogether for a few years now.
This fear rather perplexed me, since I am an atheist and I never really believe in ghosts. But recently I start to rationalize my fear. I do not really fear that the ghosts, if they were there, would do me bodily harm. After all, my folklore knowledge tells me that the dead and the living cannot interact physically. What I truly fear is their mere existence. If there were ghosts, there would be an afterlife, and there might very well be a judgement day for us all. There might even be a God, who would probably have been very angry with me for years of unbelief. I would have to answer for all the things that I have done in godlessness. I might be roiling on a gridiron in hell for eternity. Worst of all, I would not know whether I would still have time to redeem myself in the remainder of my life, by giving up all the joys that God disapprove and all the liberal thoughts that the Church condemns. If I would be a good Christian for the rest of my life but still go to hell because of my earlier sins, I would have lost both in this life and the one after, and that thought would drive me mad.
Now I understand. It is not the ghosts that I fear. It is the perdition.
This fear rather perplexed me, since I am an atheist and I never really believe in ghosts. But recently I start to rationalize my fear. I do not really fear that the ghosts, if they were there, would do me bodily harm. After all, my folklore knowledge tells me that the dead and the living cannot interact physically. What I truly fear is their mere existence. If there were ghosts, there would be an afterlife, and there might very well be a judgement day for us all. There might even be a God, who would probably have been very angry with me for years of unbelief. I would have to answer for all the things that I have done in godlessness. I might be roiling on a gridiron in hell for eternity. Worst of all, I would not know whether I would still have time to redeem myself in the remainder of my life, by giving up all the joys that God disapprove and all the liberal thoughts that the Church condemns. If I would be a good Christian for the rest of my life but still go to hell because of my earlier sins, I would have lost both in this life and the one after, and that thought would drive me mad.
Now I understand. It is not the ghosts that I fear. It is the perdition.
Hi Huafie, you obviously have a thing or two to learn about the doctrines of Christianity. It sounds to me like you hope to "work" the system and beat it, coming out on the top at the end... On the other hand, pursuing spiritual growth for a more or less material or practical gain is always a bit of an oxymoron, right?
ReplyDeleteWell obviously I can't tell you what lies in the great Beyond, can't say I've "been there, done that." But I do and always will believe that God exists and if you earnestly search for God, you will find what you seek. Do you think that's an acceptable premise to chew on?
dude, i think you like to entertain yourself by relishing your "godlessness" =)....since none of us knows what God truly is, perhaps your "godlessness" is precisely the real Godliness...ghosts will be your buddies, dancing in eternal bliss....
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