Re: Eternal inescapable hell?

On Jun 27, 2:01 pm, "Suzanne Gerstner" <sb.gerst...@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Mike wrote:

<<So then the term "state" is being used in different senses in each of t
he
two quotes?>>

I'm not sure what you mean.  How is it used differently in the differen
t
quotes?


Because in one case it seems the "state" cannot change, and if one
possible
meaning of "state" is that of being a (human) soul, which cannot
change, i.e.
we cannot go from the human realm to say the state of the
Manifestation of God,
however this meaning would seem to be at odds with the other
mentioning of "state"
as something that can be improved in this life. Yet if something else
is being
referred to by each, then there would be no problem.

Mike:   <<And I suppose then that this "cutting" of the spiritual "diam
ond"
is the thing that is "peculiar" to this life.>>

Not necessarily.  That could go on for all eternity for all I know.


It could, I suppose.

Mike << And so if we fail to "cut" our spiritual "diamond" right, then we
will be stuck with the less-than-nice "diamond" forever... still a
"diamond", sure,
but not as nice as it would be.>>

No.  I don't believe that's true. As I said, we can always advance
spiritually.  I'm sure that God will help us to develop whatever we did
n't
develop in this world, and a whole lot more that we can't even imagine no
w,
no matter in what state we arrive in the next world.  God is All-loving
,
All-merciful and forgiving.  He wants us all to succeed and draw near t
o
Him.


This sure seems a lot more positive than all that Christian stuff with
the
Hell fire that burns you forever and what not if you slipped up...

Mike;  << Isn't that a sort of eternal hell, though, albeit perhaps not
a
grave one?>>

The quotes I know say that souls will progress.   Not that they will be
stuck forever in a sort of spiritual limbo.  Also, we have no idea who
will
have a good start in the next world and who won't.  Here's what Baha'u'
llah
says about that:

"And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascensio
n,
been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire."
 (Baha'u'llah:  The Kitab-i-Iqan, Pages: 194-195)


So does this mean one should quiver in fear that they might "slip" at
the point
of death, and get into a lot of trouble? I hope not.

Some people may have a rough time to begin with, but nothing in the Writi
ngs
says it's a permanent state.

The Writings are like a giant puzzle, in a way.  Each quote is like a p
uzzle
piece.  When you take one puzzle piece and inflate it to the level of t
he
sole truth, then it becomes a distortion.  All we can do is little by l
itte,
learn enough of the Writings so that we can see what quotes might modify
other ones, and we get a big picture of how it all fits together.  And,
at
the end of the day, none of us knows what the next world will be like.
 We
have to wait until we go there to find out for sure.


I suppose so.

Mike:  <<So then there's still free will in the sense of free action, j
ust
no free will in the sense of good-vs-evil stuff.>>

That's my understanding.

<<Is this the only other dimension and reality, though? If so then what i
s
all this stuff about "worlds of God" (plural) which makes it sound like
there's even more (which sounds even more incredible, too)?>>

The Worlds of God are endless, and we will progress endlessly.  But we
have
all eternity to do it.


It sounds a lot more amazing than the idea you just go off to
heaven if you were good to "rest" forever in bliss in your heavenly
home or something like in Christianity or whatever.

.

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