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On this forum, belief in God and an afterlife usually go hand in hand, as do lack of belief in God and an afterlife. I'm curious as to whether anyone believes that there is a God but no afterlife, or that there is an afterlife but no God.
The first belief pair isn't contradictory. If you believe that the existence of God is possible, then isn't it also possible that God might have created a world in which life is transitory, and that it's the overall system (i.e., the universe) that's intended to continue on, at least until it either cools to absolute zero or implodes for another Big Bang? It's not a comforting notion (why believe in an unproveable God but not in an unproveable hereafter?), but God, if he exists, must indeed work in mysterious ways, and this certainly would fall under the heading of "mysterious." Do deists typcally believe this, or do most believe in an afterlife? It never occurred to me to wonder until now.
The second belief pair is more problematic. I see no way that evolution could have selected for an afterlife; the very notion seems contradictory. But if quantum physics eventually is found to provide a mechanism by which the organized energy of consciousness could survive the death of the physical body, then I don't see that it necessarily implies the existence of God, unless you choose to define God as "all that is."
I think the second belief pair could be non-contradictory depending on how one defines god. If we define god as an anthropomorphised god and it does not exist, then yes, it is contradictory for the reasons you stated. If we define god as being some kind of force or energy that is omnipresent throughout nature and the cosmos, then it may not be contradictory because an afterlife would then maybe be just a part of nature and the cosmos.
There has been an evolution in thought regarding God/Gods.
At one time people declared their were rock Gods, Thunder Gods, Ocean Gods, Desert Gods, Forest Gods. depending upon their geography is how they determined which Gods there were. As well as fairies, trolls, sprites, demons, Goddess's etc.
There were our God/s vs your God/s, racial and cultural God/s. Then, one God but arguing the we are the ones that best understand the one God.
The thought that there was just a single God the creator of everything developed to replace the many Gods.
Now instead of many Gods/Goddess's to appease and prostrate ourselves to, there is one God to appease and prostrate ourselves to.
There is no God nor Gods, but there is a conscience existence after our bodies die off in this arena.
And you know this how? (I don't think you meant "conscience", but I think I know what you meant.)
Oh, indeed, misspelling; conscious is correct.
How does anyone know anything they say they believe about that which cannot be proven until after their personal death, I know due to my faith and reason.
I also have a small amount of personal knowledge through association with a dear and close person whom I loved greatly and how they acted, reacted and said during the last 16 hours of their life, as far as an indication that an existence after mortal life is probable.
As far as believing there is a Great and all powerful Father personage who created all is ridiculous and obviously a vain attempt to explain the unexplainable and also simple human thought where we will be protected by the Father figure in our life and after if we please Him. Simple psychology can explain it as people who continue to think of themselves and act as children who continue to desire to live as a child under the protection of a great man whom they they never had in a real father.
When true religion would be to bring the individual to maturity to stand on their own to become the parent themselves.
I think there's an afterlife but probably no personal god. There's a lot of evidence for ghosts, out of body experiences, and other paranormal activity that may be naturally connected to the laws of physics and quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and all that other strange stuff we don't quite yet fully understand, so I say why can't an afterlife or some sort of ongoing consciousness exist and just be another natural part of the universe and physics? Personally my view of the afterlife is its a lot like having a lucid dream without waking up.
Scientific evidence and logic point to a Creator---be it primal cause---we have a Big Bang (effect) so there must be a cause (Creator) or by simply observing the amazing organizational structure of the universe. DNA, as Bill Gates once stated is like a software program far more complex than anything Microsoft ever wrote. It is mathematically impossible for DNA to develop thru random chance. The earth is estimated to be about 5 billion years old so it would be more probable that a version of Windows pop up on a flat rock than for DNA to progress and develop to create the various life forms we now witness. If the Creator does not interact with the created and there is no afterlife, then eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die or if there is an afterlife with no known criteria for entering it, then it's still eat, drink and be merry since there is no way of knowing how to behave. If there is an afterlife and if what we say, think, do, and believe in this life does affect our status in the next life, then it becomes incumbent for us to discover what is the best things to say, think, do and believe. Quantum physics does not answer this---it explains the "how" of the ways of the universe, not the "why". Desim doesn't answer this either---one must transition to theism---be it panentheism---reincarnation--circle of life type theology or monotheism--Islam, Judiasm or Christianity. Only Jesus claimed to be from the Creator---I am the bread of life that came down from heaven, I and the Father are One, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father etc. So Jesus is either a liar (all the above is false), a lunatic (He thought the above is true but was mistaken), or Lord. If either of the first two are true, then choose another path---if He is Lord, then it is He that you should follow and His life is the one to emmulate.
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Mental Evolution
(I don't think you meant "conscience", but I think I know what you meant.)
