>>it WAS written in the wrong context, but you know what I mean<<

Well actually, Spanky, I don't.

Which is why I asked the question.

What were you trying to say? It might help if you explained it without using the word "stigmata".

And you might also leave out the exclamation mark, which usually indicates that the particular word or phrase is important.

Yabby,
For all we know, the afterlife may contain a miriad of all our imaginations, it may be a place made up of all our wishes, in which case, may contain bad ones also.
I for one could not imagine the other side being angels playing in a rock band on fluffy white clouds looking down on strip joints, bars and the like, with toe tapping simple folk like pericles looking on, it just doesn't gel somehow, but then again who are we to judge?

Pericles, the point I was trying to make, seeing that you have nothing better to persue in life, was the fact of us humans making a bigger deal out of something, like when something has a "stigma" attached to it, it means it has become that way, without us even trying, like this thing you have about the mis-use of the word "stigma", if you have a better word to use in the right context, then please correct me, if not, get yourself a better dictionary, like an oxford and lets get back to being adults and back to the topic of this thread. Stigma, stigmata, stigmatism, stigmatoid, stigitup your @..., makes no difference to me.

SPANKY....

trust me please.. Ecclesiasties is 'something else' :) I mean.. really.

I think it should be required reading for every human being.

Yabby.. it is only a carnal mind which cannot conceive of a heaven without sex.
To be slightly vulgar.. the most beautiful moments I have in life are AFTER my 'energies' have been spent, and it is far from my mind.

If 'eat drink and be merry' is where you think its at.. oh..wait.. you are not the first :) gee..WHo said that before..... hmmmm
hang on...I'll find it..

aah...here it is :) Ecclesiastes 2:24.....

"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work."

But of course, you have to read the whole book to see where Solomon is coming from there :)

Tease tease.....

Dickie,Yabby,
The point of other nations, like the muslims, may have a similer belief as the Egyptians, we all know the Egyptians have been persuing possible afterlife for thousands of years and there may be something there, for them to continue with this for so long, even till today.
We continue to hear stories of (dare I say it) ghosts, that try to contact us "from the other side" is there something in this perhaps?

I am a firm believer that we don't just die and go away, there are way too many unknowns on this topic.
Another side to this is the point of well known people, met with unfortunate accidents at the time where they have reached a stage where they can no longer escape the public eye. Are they swept off to some island in the middle of nowhere?, making the public believe they have met with their demise? Elvis, John Denver, and the rest, all at the height of their careers. How many people have disappeared without a trace and for what reason, where did they go? The list of disappearing people runs in the tens of millions, no explanations, just missing, is there a higher power watching us and when it suits them, are we just whisked off, never to be seen again? Strange.

Spanky, you started this thread so I suppose you can take it in any direction that takes your fancy.

But words are supposed to carry some meaning.

You answered my question "what would be a fair description of the Christian heaven?" with the answer "I have one word for you...stigmata".

I was intrigued, so I looked in my dictionary (the OED is in fact the Oxford English Dictionary; the complete one) and in the context you used it, clearly 'stigmata' makes no sense.

So I asked you to clarify, that's all.

There's no need to get your knickers in a twist. How am I supposed to guess what you meant?

Boaz, all except one of your "examples" are from the old testament, and presumably therefore pre-date Christianity. Your sole NT example says "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father", which as descriptions of heavenly bliss go, is a fraction short on detail.

So unfortunately my question still stands.

If "heaven" is some kind of mental gymnastics in the here-and-now, that's fine. Just say so and we can move on.

"If "heaven" is some kind of mental gymnastics in the here-and-now, that's fine. Just say so and we can move on."

Sounds to me like its the ultimate in good marketing! Flog
em a dream, flog em hope that they won't really die, flog em
fear if they don't toe the line. You'll never have to ever
deliver anything other then satisfy peoples emotional needs,
people will pour in the doors and deliver you money, power,
prestige, with some religions and cults even sex.

As my old uncle wisely said, "for every sucker that dies,
another ten are born"