life after death, your view

[kvrdave]

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki

What's the Christian "before" belief? We're souls waiting for our future parents to meet?

Only in the sense that everything in the future is waiting for the events that lead up to it. But that is probably no different that the non-Christian belief.

[jeffbase34]

I find it pretty maddening that there is no concrete way to prove or disprove the most important question in this life. I think people who claim that there is no life after death just simply don't think about it.

I subscribe to the Christian belief of the afterlife. There is more evidence supporting this belief than the atheist one. To believe that there is no life after death, you must:


1. Believe that every single ghost story or supernatural encounter is a lie or the mind playing tricks on people.

2. Man has no inherit purpose on this earth. Sex is for procreation only. It is just merely concidental that it is also a means of intimacy and showing love.

3. Man's internal need to experience love and companionship is merely just chemical reactions in the brain.

4. Man doesn't have a sin nature.

5. Miracle healings do not take place.

6. The fact that Bible prophecy has been so accurate is merely concidental. Ex. The Jews suffering greatly and becoming a nation again.

7. The perfect position of the earth from the sun, and the countless machinations of the human body are merely random events.


However, I'll play devil's advocate and admit that the Christian beliefs are problematic especially with the concept of hell. One belief is that the descriptions of hell are metaphorical. The Bible described things according to the culture at the time. If that is true, heaven could be metaphorical as well. Kings sat on thrones at the time. The Bible talks about God sitting on his throne. Are we to really believe that there is this massive chair in heaven that God is sitting on?

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by jeffbase34

I find it pretty maddening that there is no concrete way to prove or disprove the most important question in this life.

Oh, there's a concrete way. And we'll all get to experience it!

Also, I just realized that "Reincarnation" isn't on the original poll. That's actually a very common belief world wide, but practically non-existent in Western culture.

[Mrs. Danger]

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki

What's the Christian "before" belief? We're souls waiting for our future parents to meet?

The most common Christian "before" belief is that we don't exist until conception. We are new creations.

[Mrs. Danger]

Originally Posted by jeffbase34

I subscribe to the Christian belief of the afterlife. There is more evidence supporting this belief than the atheist one. To believe that there is no life after death, you must:


1. Believe that every single ghost story or supernatural encounter is a lie or the mind playing tricks on people.

Believing in ghosts does not require a belief in an immortal soul. Ghosts could be demonic deceptions. This would make them still "real", rather than the mind playing tricks.

2. Man has no inherent purpose on this earth. Sex is for procreation only. It is just merely concidental that it is also a means of intimacy and showing love.

I believe this.

3. Man's internal need to experience love and companionship is merely just chemical reactions in the brain.

I believe this, except for the "merely" part.

4. Man doesn't have a sin nature.

I absolutely believe this. I think believing that man is by nature "bad" is behind a lot of badness in the world.

5. Miracle healings do not take place.

I have seen one miracle healing. But, again, belief in "faith healing" does not require one to believe in an immortal soul.

6. The fact that Bible prophecy has been so accurate is merely concidental. Ex. The Jews suffering greatly and becoming a nation again.

Bible prophecy is no more accurate than Nostradamus.


7. The perfect position of the earth from the sun, and the countless machinations of the human body are merely random events.

I believe this, too.

And.... I believe in an after life. So there!

[Yeti4623]

I have faith that we just don't "cease to exist" when we die.

[RyoHazuki]

Originally Posted by jeffbase34

I subscribe to the Christian belief of the afterlife. There is more evidence supporting this belief than the atheist one.

Can you clarify this statement please?

[Brian Shannon]

I think people who claim that there is no life after death just simply don't think about it.

Exactly

[Nausicaa]

Originally Posted by Brian Shannon

Exactly

Not exactly. I've thought about it plenty.

What is heaven and where or how does it exist? How exactly do we get there when we die? How does one experience heaven with no sensory perception? The only way I could believe in an afterlife is if what I perceive as objective reality is all an illusion.

[Lemmy]

My views on what comes after death? Why, complete and total nothing. Ultimate blackness. Permanent goodnight. Nada. Nil. Zilch. MJ was right when he said "This Is It"!

[Hokeyboy]

Drink every time kvrdave responds with a

[Hokeyboy]

I don't know what happens after death. The existence of "ghosts" or "spirits" could literally be leftover manifestations of ectoplasmic energy; an after-image of your "life force" still imprinted on this dimension. Who knows. Who cares. Whether there is or isn't, I have no proof. I can only live the best, most fulfilling, and most ethical life imaginable as I can. Or strive to.

That having been said, I believe in ghosts/spirits based on observation and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

[Mrs. Danger]

Personally, I expect there to be a bit of a wait at first, in a sort of anteroom that's a lot like a High School Cafeteria. Eventually, everyone gets to talk to their after life counselor, and moves on to the supposed ideal afterlife.

Meantime, everyone tends to sit in cliques. The people who died in motorcycle accidents will be at one table, talking about their bikes. Victims of heart attacks will be comparing notes at another table. Off to one side, cancer patients will be bragging about how much worse their cancer was than everyone else's.

And, over in the corner, is the nerds' table. You know the one. The table where all the people nobody wants to sit with sit. That'll be the Darwin Award winners.

[The Cow]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Danger

Personally, I expect there to be a bit of a wait at first, in a sort of anteroom that's a lot like a High School Cafeteria. Eventually, everyone gets to talk to their after life counselor, and moves on to the supposed ideal afterlife.

Meantime, everyone tends to sit in cliques. The people who died in motorcycle accidents will be at one table, talking about their bikes. Victims of heart attacks will be comparing notes at another table. Off to one side, cancer patients will be bragging about how much worse their cancer was than everyone else's.

And, over in the corner, is the nerds' table. You know the one. The table where all the people nobody wants to sit with sit. That'll be the Darwin Award winners.

So sorta like Beetlejuice? Beetlejuice? Beetle..

[kvrdave]

Originally Posted by Hokeyboy

Drink every time kvrdave responds with a

[kvrdave]

I hope you know that they are very good natured and never sarcastic

I am just a happy fellow who laughs a lot.

[Josh-da-man]

I find the idea of Christian Heaven to be frightfully dull.

What do you do for all eternity? Sit around listening to God brag?

What do you do for fun without sin? We're talking eternity here. I mean, if it's eternity, I'm eventually going to end up in a three-way with Audrey Hepburn and Helen of Troy, aren't I? And I also refuse to give up my porn and horror movies, which I would assume that the big guy and his son would also frown on.

[Draven]

That's the problem with the afterlife - no one can ever explain what it will actually be. It's always described with these vague terms that don't actually mean anything.

To me it comes down to this: if I die, go to heaven and I'm still "me," eternity in paradise is going to get pretty boring. And if I'm not "me," but some form of me that has no concept of time, no capacity to have emotions, and no ability to interact with others then I won't actually be "me" anymore anyway, so what's the point?

For those that believe - what do you think is actually going to happen...specifically. I'm sure some think that whatever it is, it's beyond our ability to comprehend. But to that I again say what's the point...if I'm not a human being anymore then why would I want it at all? Isn't the whole point of the afterlife to continue living?

[Groucho]

It would be helpful if somebody would run an Internet connection to the afterlife. That way the unliving could blog about it and answer a lot of questions.

[Mrs. Danger]

Blogging from Hell... interesting idea.

"I discovered something fun today, while we were being marched out to shovel lava. I can throw rocks at people, and they think it's just the Demons picking on them. I'm going to throw rocks at that awful Jimmy Peterson all day tomorrow. Maybe I'll try throwing rocks at some of the Demons, too."

[Dr Mabuse]

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki

What's the Christian "before" belief? We're souls waiting for our future parents to meet?

Something like that.

The bible makes clear reference to God knowing people before He even forms them in the womb.

But they are references, there is no clear flow chart of the spiritual in the bible like there is in... say the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book Of The Dead.

[Anubis2005X]

Originally Posted by Draven

For those that believe - what do you think is actually going to happen...specifically. I'm sure some think that whatever it is, it's beyond our ability to comprehend. But to that I again say what's the point...if I'm not a human being anymore then why would I want it at all? Isn't the whole point of the afterlife to continue living?

I feel like it'll be somewhat similar to kids in mortality. They're pretty stupid and naive, but they grow up, adapt, and become adults. Afterlife could be similar in that sense, who knows...

[Mrs. Danger]

Really, the only way to get any hard data on this issue is for someone to go the the afterlife, then come back and report.

The problem is, the only reports we have are from discorporate beings who can't be considered as reliable as mortal men. After all, you can sue a mortal if he fudges his data.

[Palaver]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Danger

4. Man doesn't have a sin nature.

I absolutely believe this. I think believing that man is by nature "bad" is behind a lot of badness in the world.

I prefer to look at as man being "imperfect" rather than "sinful." I think most people today would not argue that man is not perfect, but that wasn't always a common belief. Prior to this concept, it was believed that man was inherently good with a few bad flaws.

That belief is what I think is behind most of the "badness" in this world. If you believe that it is in your nature to make mistakes, you will constantly analyze your actions to make sure you are acting morally. If you believe that you are inherently perfect/good, then you have no real cause to question whether your actions are "right".

[Sorraffy]

Originally Posted by whoopdido

Not necessarily trying to start or continue a debate...I happen to believe in an afterlife, but that's not really the point of my post I guess.

When I'm just thinking about life I think that everything runs so perfectly in the world/universe that it can't just all be evolution and science that got us to this point.

People first came into the universe living on the perfect planet and the human body .... well that's just an amazing thing in itself with how it keeps us going.

Sure I can think of life as "One and done. There was nothing before .. there will be nothing after", but when I really think about it, it's just hard to dismiss other views.