okay, i've been praying a lot lately, and started wondering: "when i get to heaven, would i be able to find out which things i prayed most, and what would they be?"

similarly (and on a level that would relate to a lot of people here much better), at the end of lots of games or levels in games we get statistics. "fastest lap", "accuracy", "favourite weapon", "number of headshots", "coins collected", "secrets found", "asses capped" and "ho's done" etc.

if we were to assume that when you died God would give you a big book of personal statistics specific to you, assuming that the book would contain perfectly accurate information, what are some of the things you'd want to find in there?

i say "specific to you" because this book wouldn't contain answers to questions like "what's the meaning of life?" and "was there ever a human taller than Robert Pershing Wadlow?" just as the end-game stats wouldn't tell you if the bad guy is really your brother.

quantitative stats are probably the easiest to compare to others (assuming you'd be able to meet with your dead friends and compare results), but qualitative results can be useful too (while "favourite weapon" would be calculated on quantitative results, i'd still call it a qualitative statistic).

any ideas?

julz

PS: this could probably go in morbius just as easily as hilbert's, but i reckon it's similar enough to the "million year answering machine" question to be in this forum.

Very good question as it really makes one think about what is important in life, but as I'm not planning very far ahead when it comes to the specifics... it's difficult for me to even predict what could be found in such a list for me personally.

The way I understand, these kinds of questions sort of boil down to; 'What would it mean or compass for me to have been successful in life'?

When it comes to things that I'd like to see in that list you've mentioned, it'll probably be a combination of social achievements and materialistic stuff. Being able to feel good about what I did in my life is definitely one of my primary goals though, so while I did mention 'materialistic stuff' as well, this doesn't mean for me that I'd like to become incredibly rich or so. From a uhm practical point of view it would cause more problems than it would solve, it would never be enough anyways.

When it comes to social achievements, it's even more difficult to get specific about what I would want. While I think it's a good thing to dream about having changed the world and what not, I think most of these things aren't very realistic from an individualistic point of view.

At the same time, by far the coolest thing about the future is that it didn't happen yet, so there's plenty of room for change,

Cheers

that's the idea or at least part of it...

you're very deep, PHeMoX. you're right, though, that many things that will mean most to us will change as what we change. still, i think it would be funny to see what shallow stats people would want to know, whether it's "most money lost in a single year" or "how long was your longest lasting sex, and with who". that's the other reason for this thread.

i'd like to know which games i spent the most amount of time playing, and also which games i used most to procrastinate.

i'd be curious as to how many hours in total i spent playing the piano, and what i played most.

if there's a way to measure love i'd like to know who i loved the most -- i can tell for myself out of people i know and love right now, but i can't compare current loves to past loves.
while it's a pleasure to know you on the forums, i'm glad i don't know you in person.

julz

PS: what happened to testDummy's post?

Out of fun's sake, I would like to know, for myself:

How much time out of my days (total years) that I did spend with God, and out of that, how much with everything else.

When were the times I was more obedient and when I was not.

How much time I did spend on video games. On the computer. On the internet.

Under the above answers, how much of that took away from my time with God.

How many people I was actually able to bless, simply because I love blessing.

And last but not least: How much I actually gave to God, out of the percentage of my total lifelong income.

I know it doesn't belong in this subject, but I want to hear the jokes that Jesus pulled as well as the "incognito" part after he came back, I'd like to know how many people didn't know it was Jesus who was there with them (besides the men on the road that the bible mentions)

I have actually thought about this question two or three times after reading it and I think that it is very difficult to say!

You would think that as a Christian my lifegoals would be very lofty but I find myself just hoping that I can create a good financial life for my children.

On a personal note I really want to see how far my mind can take me. I want to continue to learn untill I know a lot about graphics and math.

But I really want to make a game, like a very ambitious game which has innovative technology in ai and physics.

Im sort of a game scientist which would like to discover some new algorithm or math technique for something completely new in 3d technology. I have had this goal for many years now.

I gues that lot of us guys
would have great stats about our:

- health
- forgiveness
- people we prayed alot for
- maybe our future wife

but it would be real interessting to have these stats
and I really think that we will be able to see those
because everything is possible in haven.
As my mom allways says maybe we can replay our lives on earth on a super-computer in all kinds of ways that would be so awesome.
Well the borders must be endless in the haven

My stats should be more real, from the real world. I don't care about wasting my time to pray to anyone. I would rather know how much of my time I have spent with my family. How much could I be a father to my kids and how many time I spent with doing sports.

If I assume to stand in front of a supernatural being like God and he would be more interested in how often I was praying than in how I raised my kids then I cannot feel much respect for him. So I stick to what is really important in life: behaving good, trying to be a good example to the kids, influencing the world in a good way, living healthy and having fun together with the people I love.

that's got nothing to do with the topic. nobody mentioned a god who cares more about prayer than how one raises their kids. i'm the only one who expressed an interest in how much i prayed, and did so simply as it's a good gauge of what concerned me the most. i expressed it in my post as an item of curiosity. aztec did as well, in regards to who he was praying for; probably similar motivation to mine.

besides that, thanks for you input.

so far we have (forgive my vagueness but i'm trying to be concise):
PHeMoX's philosophical perspective;
mpdeveloper_B's concern for how well he served God;
TNT's aspirations to be a father and an innovator;
aztec's well-being, both physical and spiritual;
and Frank's legacy (kids) and relationships.

that's not everything you all said, but i tried to include the items of most importance to each of you.

julz

Great question, julz! I hope I have planted and watered many seeds for Christ. I hope to hear Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. I am grateful for the blood of Christ which covers all my sins so I will not hear Him say I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I just hope to make it to the next level with my stats.

But other than 'sillyness', I have no idea what stats I should ask for.
Actually, I don't really care about how I lived my life, how I wanted to live, or how I should have lived. I am here to witness God's creation, his massive mechanical clockwork universe, and be a tiny part of it.

I'm just a small gear ticking around, and as long as I tick, I serve meaning. If I don't, I'm non-existent, and I'm not non-existent, even after death. So, I serve meaning. And as long as there's meaning, I want to witness. I want to see where it's evolving to. What will become of us? Of our universe?
Give my stats to those, who search in the past for answers. Like we dig up our history for answers, "they" will too. And they need my stats more than I do to complete life's puzzle.

"Will strangers hear our names, long after we're gone, and wonder who we were? How bravely we fought? How fiercely we loved?".

I think I can't bring it anymore dramatically than this .