tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post660620980036056283..comments2024-03-28T12:23:39.665+00:00Comments on Coppola Comment: Life after deathFrances Coppolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-7479222520530075032018-08-21T17:20:09.093+01:002018-08-21T17:20:09.093+01:00all living things will feel death and will arrive ...all living things will feel death and will arrive in time, but we will never know after that death and until now it remains a secret of a God until the time comes we will feel that and no one will know about the journey after death.Bromo Solutionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07599288258649500053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-9569951827764777762018-08-14T00:00:13.498+01:002018-08-14T00:00:13.498+01:00I apologize if I've offended you. That is not ...I apologize if I've offended you. That is not my intent. My intention was to show that outside of God, there is no power. It was to free you from the idea that dark forces hold some kind of power over us. They don't.<br /><br />Please note that my post about St. Teresa of Avila was posted at the same time as your reply as you can see from the time stamp. I only just refreshed my browser and saw your reply (I did not see your reply when I posted it). Which is why I posted one more time lest you think me insensitive in not respecting your wish not to post.<br /><br />I will not post anymore on this subject.<br /><br />If you wish, feel free to delete all my posts here. I will understand.Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-31860774990014444222018-08-13T23:33:54.920+01:002018-08-13T23:33:54.920+01:00In my piece I observed that the promise of life af...In my piece I observed that the promise of life after death is used to justify brutality. This quote from Kirkegaard simply proves my point. It is snake oil. <br /><br />I have already made it clear that I do not see God as the violent thug you portray. Since I have written this post as a reflection on my father's death, not as a religious tract, I also find your posts utterly insensitive and inconsiderate. Please don't post any more. <br />Frances Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-29945947536912216802018-08-13T23:33:07.826+01:002018-08-13T23:33:07.826+01:00"And while Teresa’s spirituality was a deeply..."And while Teresa’s spirituality was a deeply reverential one, her humor also evinces a kind of playfulness in her relationship with God. Once, when she was travelling to one of her convents, St. Teresa of Ávila was knocked off her donkey and fell into the mud, injuring her leg. “Lord,” she said, “you couldn’t have picked a worse time for this to happen. Why would you let this happen?”<br /><br />And the response in prayer that she heard was, “That is how I treat my friends.”<br /><br />Teresa answered, “And that is why you have so few of them!” Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-23587969403806654822018-08-13T23:23:36.789+01:002018-08-13T23:23:36.789+01:00"The Human — the Divine
When a human soverei..."The Human — the Divine<br /><br />When a human sovereign, even if he were the most absolute, needs a person to keep others in line, how does he go about it? Well, he gives this person wine and cakes and sweet words and all earthly glory, etc. — and then says: Now go out and crack down on the others.<br /><br />It is quite different with God. When he is going to use a person to bring the others in line, how does he go about it? This person is, so to speak, summoned [kaldt op]. Then, if I dare put it this way, God takes this person in his own hands and gives him a sound thrashing. And then he says: Go out and bring the rest in line. In the service of God the rule is that no one gets orders to thrash others more than he himself has been thrashed, or a fraction thereof.<br /><br />Why the difference? Because God is in truth sovereign; God only figuratively 'needs' a man, for God needs no one. Every human sovereign needs a man, and therefore he can express sovereignty only in the latter relationship." —Søren KierkegaardAhmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-6306793086512630182018-08-13T21:14:30.277+01:002018-08-13T21:14:30.277+01:00This is nothing like the God that I know. I do not...This is nothing like the God that I know. I do not believe that God deliberately causes suffering. He allows it to happen because of the hardness of our hearts, and because it is a natural part of the living system that he created. But to say that "when God loves a person, he rains down calamities on that person" - no, that is going too far. It is the snake oil of which I spoke. It is too often used to justify both inaction in the face of suffering and actual brutality. Enough. This must stop. <br /><br />I don't think the human measure of "greatness" in art and inventions is any measure of God's love for people. Frances Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-90056078685158532892018-08-13T21:09:27.718+01:002018-08-13T21:09:27.718+01:00Christians call it "resurrection".
I d...Christians call it "resurrection". <br /><br />I do not know if it exists. And I do not think this should be our focus anyway. Our job is to make the best we can of THIS life, not hanker after the next. Frances Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-14986111176182533722018-08-13T21:04:54.548+01:002018-08-13T21:04:54.548+01:00"Evil does not exist; once you have crossed t..."Evil does not exist; once you have crossed the threshold, all is good. Once in another world, you must hold your tongue." —Franz Kafka<br /><br />Rumi says that there are two veils between a man and God—health and wealth—the other veils are derivatives of these veils. All suffering comes from God and it is part of the human condition. People see suffering coming from people rather than coming through people. They stop short at causes, short of the Causer of causes.<br /><br />When God loves a person, he rains down calamities on that person. Thus He draws that person close. The rest he showers with riches. As if to say: Go away, I have nothing to do with you.<br /><br />This is why the Bible says: "We glory in tribulations." —Romans 5:3<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I hate suffering as much as the next person. But looking back at my life, I have never seen anything but good come out of my suffering. The good years on the other hand, few as they are, I consider to be wasted time. For I did not grow in those years.<br /><br />"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." —Orson Welles (The Third Man, 1949)<br /><br />Suffering notwithstanding, if I was a country, I'd rather be Italy than Switzerland.<br /><br />Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-82270077950673891272018-08-13T13:01:43.324+01:002018-08-13T13:01:43.324+01:00Hi Frances, I make a point of reading your excelle...Hi Frances, I make a point of reading your excellent blog and occasionally find myself posting a (hopefully constructive) anonymous reply. I'm sorry to hear of the death of your father and I'd like to extend my condolences to you and your family. Losing a loved one is never an easy thing, but I hope you can take some small comfort in knowing that the thoughts of the many people you've reached with your writing over the years are with you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-53746022332696004452018-08-13T07:45:53.623+01:002018-08-13T07:45:53.623+01:00Please re-read the paragraph ending in "They ...Please re-read the paragraph ending in "They are snake oil".<br /><br />You will find that Francis has already eloquently addressed promises of a life after death.<br />RPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17695303458973909485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-41086196154368887652018-08-13T07:37:11.221+01:002018-08-13T07:37:11.221+01:00I have been following your blog for a long time an...I have been following your blog for a long time and am sorry to hear about the loss of your father.<br /><br />The refugee/religion/general human selfishness I would like to address, but think that this is not the time. Maybe you can at some point address in in the future with another post?<br /><br />Regards.RPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17695303458973909485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-24223905871568101392018-08-13T01:50:16.723+01:002018-08-13T01:50:16.723+01:00Ms. Coppola. Condolences on the loss of your fathe...Ms. Coppola. Condolences on the loss of your father. <br /><br />Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam, i.e., the Islamic path to enlightenment. It has as its goal, the death of the ego, which is called "fana". Mystics die, and are raised to life again. Buddhists know this state as "nirvana". The Hindus call it "moksha". Christians know it as being "born again" (no, not that common meaning of being born again). And so on. All mystics bear witness to life after death. Thus, their faith is turned into certainty. And in dying, they increase the faith of others.<br /><br />The Prophet Muhammad was referring to this ego death when he said: "Die before you die.". He also said: "Whosoever desires to see a dead man walking upon the face of the earth, let him look at Abu Bakr." (Abu Bakr was his closest companion, father-in-law, and the first Caliph after the Prophet died.)<br /><br />There is life after death. The twice-born attest to that.<br />Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-47616042914203627492018-08-12T22:00:19.426+01:002018-08-12T22:00:19.426+01:00I didn't see my father die, but I did see him ...I didn't see my father die, but I did see him laid out. 'Waxen' is right - I was expecting to have to remind myself that he wasn't still there, but in fact I had to remind myself that this thing *had been* his body, that it wasn't just a dummy.<br /><br />Death is cruel. You have my deepest sympathies, now and in what may be some tough months to come.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.com