Heaven is said to be the best place in the universe why do we pray for longer earth life and not shorter one?

Question

Im afraid that if you tell all believers that tomorrow they are going to die all will be so scared inspite of the promise of a better/sweet place called heaven!
Why?

.

Answer 1

Mystics have traditionally taught the truth of God to people according to each students individual level of understanding. In every society throughout the history of mysticism the deepest truths have only been revealed from mentor to disciple when the disciple was capable of understanding the truth being given. The Jewish mystics, that is the prophets, and also Jesus and the early Christian mystics closely followed this tradition. Considering the society of his time, Jesus gave good reason for this.



He said: “Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before swine. They will trample them under foot at best, and perhaps even tear you to shreds.” (Matt. 7:6)



Jesus had to be careful with giving too much spiritual information too soon to his own disciples. He said: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” (John 16:10)



The apostle Paul followed the same tradition. He wrote: “Brothers, the trouble was that I could not talk to you as spiritual men but only as men of flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, and did not give you solid food because you were not ready for it.” (1 Cor. 3: 1,2)



Origen, one of the most renowned early Christian scholars, writes: “But for those who are wise he has always the higher teachings, which are given only to those who have proved themselves worthy of it.”



And: “I have not yet spoke of the observance of all that is written in the Gospels, each one of which contains much doctrine difficult to be understood, not merely by the multitude, but even by certain of the more intelligent, including a very profound explanation of the parables, which Jesus delivered to “those without” while reserving the exhibition of their full meaning for those who had passed beyond the stage of exoteric teaching, and who came to him privately ‘in the house.’”



Origen wrote in ON FIRST PRINCIPLE: “The scriptures have a meaning not only such as is apparent at first sight, but also another, which escapes the notice of most men. For such is written in the forms of certain Mysteries, and the image of divine things. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole Church, that the whole law is indeed spiritual, but that the spiritual meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed...”



Origen wrote in ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS, this response to the Roman emperor Celsus’ charge that Christianity was a secret organization teaching half truths to the masses. He wrote: “But that there should be certain doctrines, not known to the multitude, which are divulged after the exoteric ones have been taught, is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone, but also of philosophic systems in which certain truths are exoteric and others esoteric.”

St. Clement of Alexandria (the second pope) writes: “those who are still blind and dumb, not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative soul, must stand outside of the divine choir. Wherefore, in accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was by the Egyptians called “adyta”, and the Hebrew ‘the veil.’ Only the consecrated were allowed access to them.”



St. Clement writes: “He who has been purified in baptism and initiated into the little mysteries becomes rife for the greater mysteries for the gnosis, the scientific knowledge of God.”

Jesus: “said unto them, ‘Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they hear, and not understand.’” Mark 9: 33,34



What is this Truth of God, soul and the nature of all manifest creation, hidden by what the Egyptians called “adyta”; hidden behind “the veil” of the prophets, hidden within the parables of Jesus, hidden within key words and phrases of the scriptures and writings of the saints? What is this truth of the nature of existence that has been and still is so far out of “those outside of the divine choir’s” reality that if heard will be trampled underfoot and in some religions even get the teller of this truth torn to shreds?



The answer is in a child’s song.



ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT

(live your life)



GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM

(with love, throughout all your years)



MERRILY, MERRILY, VERILY, VERILY

(with much joy but in all seriousness)



LIFE

(Everything we do, think and believe, everything that happens to and around everyone and everything on earth or in heaven)



IS BUT A DREAM

(is but Divine Consciousness individualized as each soul and all that is manifest, dreaming the dream of creation)

Answer 2

Instead of praying for long life we should be praying for the Lord Jesus Christ to appear and takes us off this earth so we will not have to die. 1 Thessalonians 4: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is the only way to escape death. There is another place call hell. All you have to do to go there is reject what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. He died for your sins, He was buried and took your sins away and He rose again the third day for your justification. 1 Corinthians 15: 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 1 Corinthians 15: 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Answer 3

And some of them want to prolong someones' life by artificial means against the wills of the person and the relatives pleads to stop unnecessary sufferings. I was disgusted that some of the politicians did that a few years ago.

Edit: to those that said they want a longer live to save non-believer, I say: don't. Don't blame us for prolonging your stay and endure more sufferings from day to day. The logic I see is we live because living things want to live. Ending lives before the time is unnatural and it passes to the future generation a bad karma.

Answer 4

I have often wondered that myself. You never hear christians say "oooh i can't wait to die! it's going to be great!!" If they are stricken with a deadly disease, they want to be cured just like the rest of us so they go to the doctor to have their lives saved.

You'd think they'd be anxious to die already so they can get off this miserable planet & go somewhere that is peaceful & pleasant..... where they can finally mingle with their creator.

Edit: I love the people who say it's their job to lead people to salvation.... yet... they're here on Yahoo! answers doing what? Absolutely nothing! They come here & tell people that they are wrong & they're going to hell. If that is their definition of "leading to salvation" they are surely lacking. The ignorance is astounding. There have been THOUSANDS of religions BEFORE christianity, and there will probably be THOUSANDS more after it fizzles out, but the christians are in with the christ fad & they want everyone else to join their little cult.

Thanks, but no thanks! I can be a good person without your imaginary gods, hypocritical holy books & irrational superstitions!

Answer 5

FEAR is what has made reliigons RICH, and you are right. People do not realize what heaven IS, otherwise they would not fear death. Being one who has lived ill most of my life, I have "experienced" death. Heaven is of a PEACE not found on earth, not even the most explored reality of what we perceive it to be and as for existance, there is no pain or suffering there. Dying, I don't fear the future......

Answer 6

Christian is your problem. A Christian today is just a title people use. Ask someone who has a relationship with Christ. They wont say that. Do we want shorter lives on earth? Yes and no. We want to be with our Lord and Savior for all eternity. But we also want to bring unbelievers to this saving grace as well. So it is a hard decision. All we can do is keep going on in this race until the Lord calls us home. Peace out.............

Answer 7

I have two theories - one is that people are not absolutely certain that there is a Heaven and are actually unsure what will happen to them after death: fear of the unknown. The other is that your earthly life is supposed to be when and where you become a more spiritually developed person. Maybe they are not "done" yet.

Answer 8

It's unbelief....it is inherent in each human to doubt and fear...that is why one who rejects this natural tendency and chooses instead to believe Christ's promises and follow Him are so very rare and lives appear to be so "flaky". The vacillation between the natural man and the spiritual is a constant fight and support is small or none exist ant. In fact if it wasn't for the spirit of Christ comforting and encouraging these brave "counter-culture" humans it would not be possible. The pressure by fellow peers and family to discount and doubt the fantastic claims of Christ are so powerful and pervasive that Christ's own disciples often "caved" even in His presence. I hope this helps resolve your query.

Answer 9

This is Paul's attitude:
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,"
Philippians 1:21-25

And again:
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."
II Corinthians 4:16 -5:9

Obviously, most have not attained to this level of maturity in their faith.

Answer 10

We have a job on this earth, to try and lead people to salvation, why would we pray for a shorter time to be able to do that?