Death and afterlife

[MoonTower]

I guess you wont really know for sure until you actually die.

If you ever feel bad about this topic listen to Moontower... although it probally wont make you feel better

 

[RedFox742]

Who is the ultimate authority on this subject? Jesus Christ. Only being to ever come back from the grave in full, historically speaking.

I'm not going to say this isn't true--in fact, as a casual Christian, I'm really supposed to believe it is, and sometimes I do--but you speak of the Resurrection like it's the sun rising in the morning, at the obvious fact that proves all else. Why?

I mean, if it could be proven to me that Christ did indeed rise from the dead, I would lose all my doubts about Christianity, sure. But I've never felt it was any sort of proven fact (and the atheists, etc. around here are already snickering, of course.) For me it's just a story in a book that has some things that are a matter of historical fact and others that are just rather foolish.

With full respect for all viewpoints, I'm just curious as to where your certainty comes from. If I could find it, I would be a much more comfortable Christian (or otherwise), rather than a teetering agnostic theist unitarian general theological mess.

 

[JontRevolting]

Here in Australia religion is mainly concentrated to minorities and mostly plays no part in political decisions and most people's everyday lives.So therefore we have no fear of religious archetypes coming into play once we die,it's more important for most people here to be at peace with those close to them than a god.I also agree with what was previously mentioned about religious archetypes being basically tools to get humans through life and beyond.In saying that,my brother had a near fatal motorcycle accident a few years ago and explained to me what was a NDE that he had,I believe it changed him,although I have only asked him about it a couple of times.My opinion of NDE and the afterlife is that those who experience NDE are experiencing something similiar to the effects of a psychotropic drug,the effects felt when the brain is being starved of life.Once the heart stops feeding the brain with its electrical current and blood then that's it,you won't be going to some magical fairy land or to hell,nirvana or where ever else your deity of choice commands.

 

[Wolves83]

No. I don't believe in afterlife or hell or heaven or any of that shit.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

The whole idea of "life after death" is as nonsensical as it sounds. Life and death are opposites. You can not live when you're dead. That's the point. The whole notion is based on the BS idea of a soul, mind, spirit (the "real" person) etc. separate from the body. That's a load of BS. While should not make the materialist mistake of reducing all experience to neurological states, we also should not make the mistake of believing that we are more than an organic living being. Where are these nonbodily acts? Can someone please point to one for me? Where is this supposedly transcendent soul? And how does it relate to the supposedly separate body? There is no reason to believe in a soul, and without that belief there is sense to the term "afterlife" without the notion of soul.

 

[childofbabylon]

I do believe soul is make up by substance, like elements or whatever, and which is still not eternal existence, just disappeared far more slowly than bodies. if that can be called 'afterlife' so i believe in it some way. but consciousness is given by brain of body, when someone die, afterlife is meaningless.. the eternal one is everyone deliver their infor to next generations, history, races even species, more or less, and keep the line go on, which is the key that nature endowed us..

 

[Vimana]

Afterlife is just the product of wishful thinking. Even religions with afterlife like Christianity and Islam don't realize that the religion they modeled theirs from had no concept of an afterlife outside of interpretations of the Torah. That's like saying there are dinosaurs in Die Hard because someone who watched Die Hard said dinosaurs were in them.

 

[Blowtus]

Well, it's a bit easier to check the dinosaur in die-hard claim.

 

[Vimana]

That's true. But still, the Torah is around for anyone to read. Islam and Christianity are somewhat the results of more appealing and non-culture-specific messages being drawn from it.

 

[NikeGoddess]

Being Catholic, part of me believes in life after death, but as a healthcare professional, I'm inclined to think that humans die and just decompose 6 feet under.

 

[Grymnir]

I'd like to think that there is an afterlife but for me, it's one of those things where if it does exist, then honour will meet us there, if not, then we'll live in the memories of our friends and family for a while

 

[monoxide_child]

Afterlife is just the product of wishful thinking. Even religions with afterlife like Christianity and Islam don't realize that the religion they modeled theirs from had no concept of an afterlife outside of interpretations of the Torah. That's like saying there are dinosaurs in Die Hard because someone who watched Die Hard said dinosaurs were in them.

that's pretty much my thoughts as well

 

[Spiderchrist]

Afterlife is just the product of wishful thinking. Even religions with afterlife like Christianity and Islam don't realize that the religion they modeled theirs from had no concept of an afterlife outside of interpretations of the Torah. That's like saying there are dinosaurs in Die Hard because someone who watched Die Hard said dinosaurs were in them.

That's called creating an illusion. Jesus Christ can be existent in someones illusion, but non existent in someone Else's illusion.

 

[ASD]

Anyone interested in the idea of an afterlife should definitely watch this. It presents various scientific/non-religious afterlife premises.

Personally I believe that an afterlife is possible even in an atheistic worldview. Here's my personal little atheist afterlife theory, and I believe one of the researchers in the video kinda backs this up a bit if I remember correctly from watching it awhile ago:

So basically, we are made up of stardust and all that jazz. This stuff that we are made of eventually coalesced into sentient/human life and we have a consciousness that lets us know we are alive, etc. So after we die, our bodies rot away and are eaten by bacteria. So basically, my theory is that the stuff our bodies are made of will once again coalesce into another sentient form and we will live again. However, this does mean that some "consciousness's" of different people might end up being combined into one being. Nevertheless, it might take billions of years, even long enough for the universe to contract and go through a whole other big bang, but obviously you wouldn't know the difference since you wouldn't be alive and of course you wouldn't have memories of a previous life. It's sort of a godless reincarnation. I don't know, I'm sure theres lots of flaws in this idea but whatever, its an interesting thought.

All of that being said... I'm an Orthodox Christian and I actually believe in that traditions view of the afterlife simply being a state of being in the presence of God. Heaven and hell are terms, and poetic ideas, for the same afterlife. If you loved God in your life, after death when your closer to/know of/somethingsomething His presence, you'll experience heaven. Hell, is obviously the inverse of this.

But anyway, just thought I'd post my little video and

TLDR - watch the video, its cool and Morgan Freeman.

 

[AllShallFall]

I'm an Orthodox Christian and I actually believe in that traditions view of the afterlife simply being a state of being in the presence of God

 

[Hatredcopter]

being catholic and raised and taught by christians in what could quite be the worst school to grace the face of the earth i may be able to shed some light on this subject, in my religion after death you enter a place called purgatory, aparently its kind of a void between heaven and hell where you face judgement, during this period some higher power evaluates your past life and somewhat tallies up your sins, now if your sins were not forgivin then hell it is for you, heaven being the opposite, in my opinion the heaven and hell concept is more a construct of the mind to give other minds a fear of death and judgement as it were and people would try desperatly to extend their lifes aslong as humanly possible and when death comes they hope to find peace, if there is an afterlife then this planet is hell and there has to be something better

 

[monoxide_child]

being catholic and raised and taught by christians in what could quite be the worst school to grace the face of the earth i may be able to shed some light on this subject, in my religion after death you enter a place called purgatory, aparently its kind of a void between heaven and hell where you face judgement, during this period some higher power evaluates your past life and somewhat tallies up your sins, now if your sins were not forgivin then hell it is for you, heaven being the opposite, in my opinion the heaven and hell concept is more a construct of the mind to give other minds a fear of death and judgement as it were and people would try desperatly to extend their lifes aslong as humanly possible and when death comes they hope to find peace, if there is an afterlife then this planet is hell and there has to be something better

the Judeo-Christian "heaven and hell" are clearly ACs made to help people cope with the reality of death
when someone you love dies, everyone tries to believe that the dead person will "be at peace" in Heaven, when you become terminaly ill or mortally wounded, you imagine yourself as "going to go be with God" as a way of coping with fear-of-death
when someone horrendously evil (serial killier/serial rapist/pedophile who has molested dozens of children etc etc etc) dies
the victims/families of victims wait for this evil person to die because they're waiting for him/her to go "be tortured for all eternity in firey burning hell"

clearly "Heaven and Hell" as they exist in Christianity are ACs