> Hello all,
>
> I just want to say that within Christian thought (and I have seen this in
> real life too) death bed repentance may not be the great way to "have your
>
> cake and eat it" that some think. There is the doctrine that the spirit
> of
> Christ does not always strive with people when they have repeatedly pushed
>
> away the promptings that they need to repent. They may very well reach
> the
> point of no return where they are so mired in sin and certain attitudes
> that
> they will no longer have the desire to repent even on their death bed.
> And
> as stated often people die suddenly and have no time to repent.
>
> And repentance is more then a quick little prayer but a real letting go of
>
> old ways and attitudes that denotes real desire to change. God can see
> the
> real nature of our hearts. As a Latter-day Saint I believe that their are
>
> various degrees and levels in Heaven and that only those that really lived
>
> for God will get to dwell in the highest level with God and certainly not
> only lds people will be there; in fact many won't. We also believe that
> before birth we lived in Heaven with God as adult spirits where we
> developed
> our personalities and talents in a multitude of ways. I suppose many of
> you
> here spent all your time in the science section of the divine library!
> Mormons believe that only the most wicked and heinous will wind up in hell
>
> with the satan and his angels. Hitler and Stalin I am sure would have
> their
> accommodations there.
>
Sorry, I was just being a bit facetious there. I'm a fairly strong
non-believer, and I'll be part of the rebel underground if there does turn
out to be a god... Nevertheless, it's not my aim to offend the sensibilities
of those who do believe through off-hand remarks. My apologies again if this
was so.
[snipped lots of personal stuff]
> I realize I have talked about these things before but they are dear to my
> heart. I wish I could attend the Extro but it looks like finances will
> not
> allow it this year so I will have to attend the one in 2000. I look
> forward
> to whatever thoughts any of you might have on my comments. I wish you all
>
> the best.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> John Grigg
>
Sounds like you've had a hard run of it, John; I think that
extropianism/transhumanism/whatever you want to call it gives hope to a lot
of people in a similar way to what it does for you. Don't let depression get
to you - the world is way too interesting just now to go getting down in the
dumps.
We've got clones, neural computing, gene hacking, real space travel, life extension, human/computer integration, even the massively cliched flying car, all either here or just round the corner! What about the promise of nanotech, or real AI? And all the other stuff that I've missed of course...
The quiet little, personal/global revolution of the 90s, the internet (coming since the 60s/70s of course), still blows my mind! I think we often forget just what a revolution/revelation this is - sometimes I catch myself taking it for granted and even thinking of it as a little antiquated. The changes to the world it is wreaking stretch across every facet of human life; they are fundamental, they are immense, and they are irreversible. Best of all for you, the net is allowing us to begin to build a society (or a collection of groups) where you can leave behing a lot of the problems which most irritate you.
These are wild, eye-popping, crazy-making times. I think that many of the great figures of history would have given a limb or two to get a look at what is happening today. For us it's like riding on the roof of a fast train. It gets uncomfortable, it can be scary, but its not getting boring any time soon. All we have to do is pay attention and hang on. With luck we can even add a bit of value.
So pay attention, and hang on! If heaven is there, it'll still be there when you get around to dying, there's no rush. Meanwhile, we've got big-L Life going on here...
Emlyn