FāVS News News and Commentary about Religion and Ethics in Eastern Washington and North Idaho
What do you want to Ask a Religious Scientist? Submit your questions online or fill out the form below.
By Joe Niemiec
What do you believe happens to someone after they die?
“Let us learn to view eternity as a continuity of time, forever and ever expanding, until time as we experience it shall be no more. Realizing this we shall see in everyone a budding spirit, a becoming God, an unfolding soul, an eternal destiny,” – Ernest Holmes
The above is just a short excerpt on what Ernest Holmes, our founder, wrote about the hereafter. We, as a teaching, are pretty liberal and we know “whatsoever you believe is true for you,” i.e. a Christian will go to heaven and a Hindu will continue to be reborn until enlightenment is achieved and then enter Nirvana. I asked a Buddhist this question and he said he doesn’t give it a lot of thought since they continue to be reborn until achieving enlightenment and then may choose continue to return as a Bodhisattva until all beings are enlightened (talk about eternity!).
Religious Scientists do not have the concrete beliefs of many religions, but rather acknowledge that each person is the Beloved manifest so that God (or Spirit) may experience life in, through, and as an individual. We believe that we are eternal souls moving toward that time of full experience of the Divine within ourselves (enlightenment).
The Rev. Joe Niemiec Jr. began his spiritual quest in 1986 when he walked out of a Houston jail and was struck by the realization that his life was in shambles.
He began his quest for ‘getting back on track’ with 12 step programs, followed by learning and practicing meditation with a local Redding, California, teacher.
“whatsoever you believe is true for you,” – This cannot be correct.
Define the truth in the following way: (1) Truth comes from the laws of nature only (2) Nature always demonstrates its laws (3) Therefore truth must be unique and universal.
Since nature always demonstrates its laws, truth must be detected only from these demonstrations given by nature, just like Galileo did. This also means we cannot find the truth by doing some mathematics sitting in our offices. Similarly, we cannot do some experiments in a controlled and isolated environment in the labs to find the truth.
Since the truth is unique and universal, what is true in USA must also be true in China. What is true on earth must also be true on mars. What was true million years back must be true now and will remain true million years from now. Therefore science and technology neither can detect nor can change the truth. Take a look at https://theoryofsouls.wordpress.com/