...earth. Together they had created Heavens Gate. Applewhite, or also known as ‘BO’, believed that the earth was going to be recycled and that it was also a garden to grow souls. Once the souls were developed it was time to exit. To most people the “exit” was suicide, but for members of the cult it was moving on to a more developed kingdom. ‘Do’ had told his members to look for a sign in the night sky. They believed that a spaceship, or UFO, would pick them up and take them to start their new lives. If someone were to stay a member of Heavens Gate, they had to follow many strict rules. They were first cut off from all contact with family and friends. Each member was given a new name. All aspects of life were regulated, such as, what they read, what they watched on TV and even how they shaved. Applewhite and several others underwent castration in Mexico as a means of maintaining the ascetic lifestyle. There was to be no emotion and no gender. Women did not wear dresses and did nothing to bring attention to their body. They even cut their hair. Sex was also “too human” and considered bad. Their purpose in this group was to prepare for what they had called “graduation”. In 1997 Applewhite had said that the commit, Hale Bopp, was the sign that it was time to exit and when it had become brighter in late March of 1997 the members started doing fair-well videos for their family and friends. On March 26th, 1997, Rio Diangelo, a former Heavens Gate member, walked into the San Diego...
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...HEAVEN’S GATE Heaven's Gate was an American cult based in San Diego California, founded in the early 1970s and led by Marshall Applewhite, and Bonnie Nettles. On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed suicide in order to reach what they believed was an alien space craft following the Hale-Bop comet. The first public meeting was in the seaside town of Waldport, Oregon in 1975. For months before, they had put up fliers on telephone poles urging people to attend the meeting to discover the truth about reality. Two hundred people arrived at the Bayshore Inn Hotel to find out what the fliers were about. The Two believed that to be saved, spiritual-minded people must recognize that the appearance that most humans have souls is only an illusion. Only those who truly had souls and were ready to be harvested by God would recognize the truth of the message. Once they did, they would give up their worldly clutter at once and follow a strict regimen. Using biblical notions about sexless angels and the praise Christ gave to those who sacrificed family life to follow him, they insisted that spiritual perfection came only at a price. One had to first see the truth about the evils around them and want desperately to free oneself. The demands for members were overwhelming, which slowed down the cult's early success, but Applewhite and Nettles believed that purging earthly ways was the only means for rediscovering the alien beings they...
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...Heaven’s Gate Religion There are many types of religions that have been formed known as new religious movements and Heaven’s Gate Religion is one that fascinates me. Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religious Millenarian group based in San Diego, California, founded in the early 1970s and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed suicide in order to reach what they believed was an alien space craft following Comet Hale–Bopp. The new religious movement sounds crazy when first reading about it and after writing this essay I hope to learn subjects such as, what are the forms of salvation within the religion and how does the religion address the problem of evil. When looki ng at different websites the first thing that popped up when searching for Heaven’s Gate was the word cult and that’s exactly what I thought about for the group because it reminded me of exactly that. I find it really hard to think of the group as a serious religion since many of them took their own life when I am a Christian and believe strongly against suicide. The first Subject that I would like to talk to you about is what the forms of salvation are when it comes to the new religious movement known as the Heaven’s Gate religion. The group led by Marshall Applewhite had a very interesting way of thinking and it showed when they became convinced that the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet masked a spacecraft...
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...I was sitting at a church play called, Heavens Gates and Hells Flames, the play was about how different people lived their lives and when they died it showed them either going to heaven or going to hell. I remember one scene about a family of four, only the daughter was saved and she was trying to lead the other members of her family to Christ. Some freak accident happened and the family all died, the play showed the parents weeping and begging to be with their daughter, who was walking into heaven. I remember how dramatic it was and thinking about how horrible it would to be in that situation, especially knowing it would be the opposite of the scene, I would be the one weeping and begging to be with my family, since they were saved and I wasn’t. I went to the alter that night and talked with someone, I ended up praying to accept Jesus into my heart. That year I went to the church's youth camp, that week was filled with the Lords presence, from the fellowship to the preaching. I remember one message about how...
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...I was no match for the magnificent beast, I turned and began to venture back to the other side of the seemingly never-ending cave. Then, a man appeared before me and stated that his name was Izuel, a fallen angel. He explains that the lion represents different forms of evil and tells that another greater being that represents good will come one day and remove the lion from its post. Amazed by this story and his Izuel’s arrival, I asked why he had been banished from Heaven. He told me the story of how he had spoken against God and had been sent to Hell, and has been sent by my long lost wife in Heaven and given a short time to guide me to Heaven. He then outlines what the journey will be like and warns me that I must first journey with him through Hell. He says that there are three levels that we must travel through and that each level will be worse than the last, consisting of obstacles we must overcome. I agree to so with him and we proceed onward. Canto II As we approach what seems to be a tall gate, I can feel a great amount of heat emanating from the path that lies ahead. Izuel tells me that this is the first level of Hell, reserved for those who have committed small acts of wrongdoing, such as stealing others’ property and bearing false witness. These souls all...
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...The Divine Comedy represents the mature Dante’s solution to the poet’s task annunciated in The New Life. Its three canticles (the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso) display a nearly limitless wealth of references to historical particulars of the late Middle Ages and to Dante’s life. Even so, its allegorical form allows these to function as symbols. The Pilgrim’s journey through Hell to Heaven thus becomes an emblem of all human experience and a recognition of life’s circularity. The “Comedy” of its title is, therefore, the situation of life and the accumulation of experience that attends it. Correspondingly, however, chronological placement of the narrative from Good Friday through Easter Sunday, 1300, particularizes the experience even as it implies the death and rebirth that attends a critical stage of any person’s life. The poet tells his readers in the first line of the Inferno that he is midway through life, and indeed Dante would have been thirty-five years of age in 1300. Though he maintains present tense throughout the poem, he is, however, actually writing in the years that follow the events that he describes. This extraordinary method allows the Poet to place what amounts to prophetic utterance in the mouth of the Pilgrim. Dante thus maintains and further develops the thesis of The New Life, that the progress of the Pilgrim corresponds directly to the progress of the Poet. The literal journey that the Pilgrim undertakes toward the Beatific Vision succeeds only...
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...''I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand , as in what direction we are moving : to reach the port of heaven , we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes agaist it , but we must sail ,and not drift , nor lie at anchor'' Michael Gates , a young man and Damien Weston his embittered antagonist ,dies in a horrific accident they awaken to view heaven and all it's splendors. glorious sights are witnessed and love abounds. but more is transpiring than meets the eye , each person in heaven will be confronted by past hurts and must choose to forgive for that is the only way to remain in heaven our first 22 days in heaven confronts the issues of hate , love and their battle to reign supreme. The young protagonist an inexperienced teen just learning to drive is killed in a tragic auto accident that also takes his mother and sister as well as a couple in an oncoming car. the accident is caused by his swerving into anotherlane to avoid hitting a little girl on a runaway trycycle in the antechambers of heaven , described in dazzling and delightful detail , there are monuments to great things done for god in this life. our young driver has an monument inscription ''greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends''. To his heroic sacrifice of his own life to save the child he reflexively did what he could to avoid hitting the child , a good and natural reaction normally , but he sacrificed four other lives , just as valuable to...
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...context ) thinking to myself that the Bible was speaking of social reversals once in heaven. The verse goes "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mk. 10-25). Before analyzing the euphemism behind the "eye of a needle", I misinterpreted the symbolism and understood the verse as if it was intentionally saying the rich are not allowed into the kingdom of heaven. Important facts about the verse that are not mentioned straight in the Bible are that the "eye of the needle" is a gate way in Jerusalem where travelers would have to walk through. In order for people to go through the "eye of the needle" with all their baggage, they would have to get rid of or take off their baggage to be able to walk through. Even now that the verse makes more sense, it is confusing to some why God would ask us to get rid of our wealth/belongings. The verse as a whole was originally not intended directly to the rich (as I later found out), but rather everyone who is too concerned with power. That could be anything from their ego, their wealth, or anything holding them back from living a life for Christ and not for this world. So the parable is showing that in order to be set apart from this world it is necessary for Christians (people who want to follow God) to leave everything that they are attached to, because it's only physical, while heaven is not. The saying "The Last will be first, and the first last" is also often difficult...
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...The Pilgrims Progress The Pilgrims Progress, written by John Bunyan is well known and one of the best selling Christian books in the world. It has sold over 20 million copies. The story is about a man named Christian who went on a journey from his home town, the City of Destruction ('' Which is referring to this world'') to Celestial City ('' Referring to Heaven'') This book includes many interesting characters. Christian, his wife, Christiana, Faithful, his companion and many more. Persuaded by Evangelist, Christian decides to go and seek the kingdom of God because he was weighed down by a great burden that he couldn't cope with any more, which was the knowledge of sin. This burden, which would cause him to go to hell was so unbearable, he felt that he must seek deliverance. Evangelist directs him to the "Wicket Gate" for deliverance. Since Christian can't see the "Wicket Gate" in the distance, Evangelist directs him to go to a "shining light," which Christian thinks he sees. Christian left his home,wife, and children just to save himself: He couldn't persuade them to come. Outside the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he meets a pilgrim who as well was from the City of Destruction, His name was called Faithful. Arriving at Vanity Fair, they both were arrested and detained because of their scornfulness for the business of the fair. Faithful was put on trial, and executed as a martyr. As you read in the previous paragraph, the journey he had wasn't easy. Just like life...
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...the knowledge of both The Great Divorce as well as my personal feelings towards this book. The Great Divorce is at its most basic level the quest of a single person through both heaven and hell. The reader could easily make a comparison between this theme and the works of Dante, but in Lewis’ book the reader sees more humor and more realistic occurrences. For example, the narrator enters into the gate to heaven and hell when he steps aboard an ordinary city bus. The book begins with a sad person – the narrator – who is walking in a very evil city. The narrator looks around and sees that everyone in this city is suffering in some way. He then gets on the bus and finds that all the passengers are ghosts. However, as the bus comes close to heaven, these ghosts once more become people and the land becomes less evil. When the narrator steps from the bus he finds that the landscape is very real and because of this he is physically hurt. Yet the ghosts are allowed to pass through this land in order to reach a city that is apparently Heaven. When the bus reaches the city of Heaven, the passengers are allowed to choose whether they want to stay as ghosts or become spirits. The implication is that the ghosts are in hell and that the spirits are in heaven, and that the choice to go to heaven is something that the human being must decide. Here, the role of the ghost is that of a human who willingly remains in hell. Sounds foolish? Not...
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...assists people to understanding God’s reason. Dante uses Virgil as an allegorical figure for Human reason to demonstrate its power and limitations in assisting people on their spiritual journey to God. As Human Reason, Virgil is a purely logical guide who can outsmart sinners as he guides Dante through Hell; his usefulness derives from his logical understanding of divine punishment. Dante the pilgrim wakes up in the darkness of a forest, lost and uncertain. Dante’s narration of his awaking is as follows: “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray/ from the straight road and woke to find myself/ in a dark wood. How shall I say.” (I: 1-3) The “straight road” suggests that Dante’s story is about a spiritual journey representing the path to heaven. Since Dante the Pilgrim goes “astray” and awakens in a “Dark Woods,” it symbolizes that he has fallen off the path of God and the darkness represents a place without God’s Light. At the start, Dante the pilgrim is without Human Reasoning, which causes Dante to fall off his path to god and enter a world of sin. Shortly after, Dante the pilgrim meets Virgil. When Dante meets Virgil, he is in awe and submits himself to him. Dante says, “Glory and light of poets! Now may that zeal/ and love’s apprenticeship that I poured out/ on your heroic verses serve me well! / For you are my true master and first author, /the sole maker from whom I drew the breath.” (I: 79-83) The diction used to describe Virgil, “heroic,” “glory,” and “zeal” places Virgil...
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...however, be duplicated and distributed among interested persons without gain. Charges are only to cover the cost of duplication and distribution. No changes may be introduced to the text. For translation, or commercial publishing, please write to the above address. Scripture quotations are from the Authorised King James Version. The titles in this series on Internet are: Who is Jesus? From darkness to the light The judgement seat of Christ The Antichrist Israel The rapture Revival Hell - what the Bible says about it Spiritual warfare 2 1. How can we know about Hell? “There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between...
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... the purpose of divine justice is to earn God’s mercy and eventually reside in his presence. Using different understandings of divine law and justice, each author is uniquely able to convey a similar message – mankind’s purpose is to achieve salvation and be in God’s grace. In Dante’s The Divine Comedy, the nature of justice seems to be impartial and unexempt from anyone. Specifically, in The Inferno, Dante writes, “Even in the creation of Hell is rooted in God’s Justice, as inscribed on the Gate of Hell: “Justice it was that moved my great creator.” This quote essentially fortifies the idea that due to sin, justice is vital for any kind of existence. The purpose of Divine Justice is to help mankind fulfill our journey to salvation. Divine justice in Dante’s work also suggest that justice cannot exist without sin. If it wasn’t for Adam and Eve, then mankind wouldn’t be as easily susceptible to sin. Mankind wouldn’t have a reason to repent and subsequently would be denied entry into heaven. In The Divine Comedy, the main purpose of the pilgrim’s journey through the circles of Hell is a quest of introspection and to an understanding of divine justice. Along the way, he also learns about the importance of divine justice the different levels of punishment depending on the severity of each sin. For instance, the punishment for dying without being baptized is in the first Circle of Hell: Limbo. In Limbo, the conditions are considerably mild. Its inhabitants are lost souls but do not...
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...Liberty University __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Theology 350 __________________ by Tirsa Woodson July 3, 2015 The Hell Debate The debate over the nature of hell is one that can bring out the best and the worst in biblical exegesis. Everyone nowadays is concerned about the enemy (Satan) and delete hell existence. The beginning signs that Jesus is coming soon, frightens the human race. We were taught when God returns, it will be judgment day. John reveals this judgement will take pace during the last days, when God will conquer all who have and would defy him and to rescue the righteous. Judgment meant the outcome of an individual, will they go to heaven with God or to hell with the devil. There are many misconceptions about Hell, rather the lost will burn forever or annihilated. Hell is real. Universalism believes everyone will eventually be saved, while Christian believe we all will be judged for the deeds we have done. First, the Annihilationist believe that the unrighteous will not suffer eternal torment, but that they will, after being justly punished according to their deeds, be annihilated and cease to exist. Also they believe that hell is eternal in consequence, not duration the wicked shall be no more (Boyd & Eddy). Secondly the classical view states that the wicked will be cast into hell that supports the traditional view they will suffer unending torment The Bible uses...
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...!1 Michael James August 22, 2015 Philosophy 001 Final Exam Final Before taking philosophy, there was not any knowledge in my mind concerning the subject. After taking the subject and learning through the readings, it has broadened my mind to what philosophy actually means. Philosophy is the study of the nature of knowledge, reality and existence in part with academic discipline. Through the readings, there became an understanding through these philosophers writings on their view of different topics. 1. Taking on the question “What is Philosophy?”, there has been more of a realization than just the question itself. In the readings, Fieser, Russell, and Socrates were at ends with how they felt with their logic. They had a different way of viewing everything. Between philosophy and life upon finishing this course, I have come to learn more than I though I would have but also my view changed on certain parts. To reference philosophy, many philosophers have a way of questing whether God truly exist(ed) or was he a made-up immortal that humans gave life and now worship and in that it makes me questions the same thing. “Mortals suppose that gods are born and have clothes and voices and shapes like their own.”(Fieser 14) There is not much evidence to prove that God was a human being and that he was born in Jerusalem in the years between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C. “A man who, having the knowledge and power required to makes his children good, chose instead to make them...
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