Texas teen posts videos before Christmas death

[Giggly]

Very powerful

Texas teenager, Ben Breedlove, who suffered from a dangerous heart condition died Christmas night from a heart attack, but not before posting a two-part video on YouTube telling his story and describing a series of powerful visions.

[YOUTUBE="tmlTHfVaU9o"]Part 1[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE="a4LSEXsvRAI"]Part 2[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...video-ben-breedlove-video,0,3116197.htmlstory

 

[Lark]

I wish I was more sure.

I'm sorry to hear that this guy died, he doesnt seem like anyone who would have done anyone any harm and I'm sure his family and friends will mourn him.

 

[Giggly]

I wish I was more sure.

Faith.

 

[swordpath]

Faith.

Faith isn't really a solution, because it's not something that can be consciously decided. You have it or you don't.

 

[Usehername]

Faith isn't really a solution, because it's not something that can be consciously decided. You have it or you don't.

Why do you believe that it can't be consciously decided?

 

[A window to the soul]

I wish I was more sure.

About if you're going to heaven?

 

[citizen cane]

It may be consciously or unconsciously decided, but logic and reason cannot be utilized to effectively determine whether faith has merit, at least in regards to faith of a religious sort.

 

[Mole]

Why do you believe that it can't be consciously decided?

Almost all of us, except in a small part of the West, learn our faith at our mother's knee, long before we are able to make a conscious choice.

So our faith is as unconscious as our love of our mother.

 

[ThatGirl]

Holy shit, that just made me cry for 6 minutes straight, and I didn't even read the article yet.

 

[Usehername]

*Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason once accepted, despite your changing moods.
C.S. Lewis

To presume that "mood" or "feeling" = faith seems problematic to me. It's like presuming that one would feel stomach-achey love sickness throughout their marriage.

Faith, IMO, is an action arising from a conscious decision.

Much like love, you know? Sustained love is an action based from a conscious decision.

 

[A window to the soul]

It may be consciously or unconsciously decided, but logic and reason cannot be utilized to effectively determine whether faith has merit, at least in regards to faith of a religious sort.

No, not unconscious, silly; faith is 'belief' in the unseen [no material evidence]. Belief is a willful act.

[That's the partial definition.]

Faith, IMO, is an action arising from a conscious decision.

Much like love, you know? Sustained love is an action based from a conscious decision.

Agreed.

 

[citizen cane]

Good point. I must admit, given that I am tired, my thinking is not at it's best. Such a lame oversight on my thinking, too...

 

[xisnotx]

Sad story about Ben.
Interesting near death experiences.

 

[A window to the soul]

Good point. I must admit, given that I am tired, my thinking is not at it's best. Such a lame oversight on my thinking, too...

The meat of your post was still tasty.

 

[Lark]

About if you're going to heaven?

Nawh, I think the video ends with do you believe in " Angels and God, I do", I've never had any visions or anything like that and so dont have the same certainty.

The afterlife as, I understand it, was best described by Meister Ekhart, he described how if the end of life was traumatic enough, if people had a lot of unfinished business and wherent ready to die, that angels would appear as devils and any purifying of sin would be as torment.

There are passages in the bible about purifying fire, in heaven, Rob Bell has been the most recent to highlight it, flawed as his analysis appears to me at times he's the first to do so for a long time. Most of the character orientation which would make this life hell, would make any life, including the afterlife hellish. So what I'm saying in a round about way is that I believe in purgatory and it is my most likely after life destination if anywhere. At least for some time.

 

[Totenkindly]

Sad story about Ben.
Interesting near death experiences.

Yes, i found myself less analyzing it in a detached way in regards to validity, and more just thinking about this poor guy whose heart issues created a type of barrier between himself and his peers all his life and who underwent a few near-death experiences this year in mundane situations that others can do without fear. How lonely.

And now he's dead. I'm watching a video by a young man who is no longer alive, by not even a week. But whatever he saw, it was a peaceful warm place where he finally felt good and rested. Regardless of whether heaven exist, he still did experience it that way, and i hope he is at peace now. Those who are caught up in an abstracted discussion of faith are having a completely different dialogue here.

 

[Lark]

It made me think of the Queen song which has the line "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

 

[A window to the soul]

Nawh, I think the video ends with do you believe in " Angels and God, I do", I've never had any visions or anything like that and so dont have the same certainty.

The afterlife as, I understand it, was best described by Meister Ekhart, he described how if the end of life was traumatic enough, if people had a lot of unfinished business and wherent ready to die, that angels would appear as devils and any purifying of sin would be as torment.

There are passages in the bible about purifying fire, in heaven, Rob Bell has been the most recent to highlight it, flawed as his analysis appears to me at times he's the first to do so for a long time. Most of the character orientation which would make this life hell, would make any life, including the afterlife hellish. So what I'm saying in a round about way is that I believe in purgatory and it is my most likely after life destination if anywhere. At least for some time.

Ah, I see. I've got no patience for purgatory. I'm going straight to the pearly gates and somebody better let me in. There are streets of gold and red Mustang with my name on it.

 

[Totenkindly]

It made me think of the Queen song which has the line "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

Yeah, it's called Bohemian Rhapsody and about a kid on death row about to be executed because he "put again [the other guy's] head, pulled, the trigger, now he's dead," and now he's going through all the torment of the last few minutes of his life, wanting to be for mercy, expecting the devils of hell to come for him, and yet at the same time hating that feeling of weakness and knowing he's doomed anyway, so he just resigns himself to his fate, saying "none of it really matters to me." A little different than this kid.

Ah, I see. I've got no patience for purgatory. I'm going straight to the pearly gates and somebody better let me in. There are streets of gold and red Mustang with my name on it.

I hope the gas is cheap.

 

[Fluffywolf]

It is nice to know that, even though I do not believe in an after life, death can at least bring peace in the last moments.