Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,480,204 times
Reputation: 12187
Advertisements
Intellectually I can not believe in an afterlife. If there is an enormous spirit world filled with everyone who has ever lived I can't believe there would be zero physical evidence for it. I have never seen seen a ghost or seen anything that clearly showed divine intervention.
In addition the book claiming to have all the answers about the afterlife, while being a great literary work on morality, has just enough errors to prove it was written by fallible men and not guided by an all knowing eternal God. (examples: major contradictions btw the accounts of Paul's conversion in Acts / Jesus last words / creation of world in Genesis). While generally very historically accurate it is obvious that men divinely guided would not make such elementary mistakes.
With that said I still attend church weekly and consort with spiritually minded people. Why? I feel it has great benefits regardless of whether or not those people are right on the afterlife. You get a group of "instant friends" no matter where you live or move to who will help you with anything and give you a great support system. What's wrong with a mortal person getting comfort at the end of their life because they think they are going to heaven to be with loved ones departed?
IMO Christianity is the greatest 'lie' ever conceived.
Ponder this, the laws of physics - energy can never be created nor destroyed.
Actually Energy can be created, Duke power does it every day. It is matter that can neither be created nor destroyed, but, can be altered.
Sorry Dusty . . . you misunderstand. There is ONLY energy (matter is an aggregated form of energy) and it takes many forms. It can be transformed from one form to another (what you see as "creating energy" when some of it is released during the change) . . . but it is "conserved" (meaning it simply changes from form to form).
i was just reminded how life is just way too short. the first time that made me think of it was when my mom passed away only on her 60s. and again today, i was told my cousin's husband has died and he was only in his 40s. i was told he was rushed in the ICU and the next day he passed away apparently alone coz my cousin was called at their house at 5 am this morning by the doctor to inform her of his passing. that just makes u think, you really can die anytime, in my mom's case we kind of are prepared since she was diagnosed with terminal 4 cancer. in my cousin's husband's case, i was told his legs was swelling but he did not take care of it right away. i was told it was related to kidney failure. that same cousin's father died of kidney disease. so i feel sorry for her they have 2 sons.
if there is no afterlife i really dont know why we even live. that is why i believe in afterlife, knowing there is something to look forward to after death. i believe death as the beginning of a new adventure. not the end. never the end.
I don't know what happens after we die. Nobody does. People have all sorts of different BELIEFS, but nobody really KNOWS. Most of the time, I believe we just die. I don't really know why people characterize this as cynical, bleak, etc. I don't understand why people think that if there is nothing after death then this life isn't worth living. To me - that is cynical, bleak, etc. As with all things - I think life is about the journey - not the destination. We all die - nobody lives forever. It's the things that we do now that count. My father died young at 54 - and he lived life to the fullest. He died having no regrets. He also made the world a better place while he was here. He helped others and he was a wonderful father. That's what I want for myself (well, I'd like to be a wonderful mother, not father). I just want to enjoy the ride! You only live once (that we are aware of)!
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,480,204 times
Reputation: 12187
^ Exactly. Life after death / spirit worlds / God/ gods can neither be proven or disproven. There is a truth about all those things but mortals can never 100% know the answer. Someone will be right and everyone one else (that is, every other belief) will be wrong.
Try to drop back from your opinions or beliefs, and recall that Christianity is a faith-based religion, and doesn't require logic. Though Christianity, (and -- in its old name) Muhammadanism are both relatively new religions in the world history, the notion of faith is not. Faith is deeply ingrained in our human psyche. Further, there is nothing wrong with faith.
If you read the Bible as a series of stories to illustrate how peoples have tried, and often failed to serve an idea of a presence much greater in life than they, you find it is full of lessons on how to live in a day-to-day world. The mistake we too often make is to take it as a literal, historic book. It is not.
If you understand that it is a SPIRITUAL guide, you will find a treasure of information, including what to hope for when this life is done. Doubtless, one's physical world, nor body, will continue beyond the point of death. That does not preclude that a consciousness will not prevail that experience.
It is possible that life after death is a common, unfounded desire, and has subsequently worked itself into our deep-psyche. Regardless, if it makes ones life AND death easier to cope with, I see no harm.
I also see no harm in letting people believe as they choose. It is their path, and they should lead themselves to their own destiny.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,480,204 times
Reputation: 12187
That's why a don't understand the atheist/ agnostic hatred of religion. If there is no God/ gods then what is so wrong with people inventing religion to help cope with life's struggles? A suicide bomber has to have an afterlife to have any meaning, but a causally religion person usually gets great 'worldly' benefits from religion.
That's why a don't understand the atheist/ agnostic hatred of religion. If there is no God/ gods then what is so wrong with people inventing religion to help cope with life's struggles? A suicide bomber has to have an afterlife to have any meaning, but a causally religion person usually gets great 'worldly' benefits from religion.
Religion is a power system, an archaic system of social control. Great for back when we needed it, but our modern society would be better off without it.
It is the number one cause of insolence and bigotry in our nation. You may disagree on this, but anytime someone can't defend their position rationally, they back onto the "ultimate authority" and claim that God/Religion/The Bible tells them so.
Take our Middle Eastern friends, where extremism has run rampant to the point that death of oneself and others is an acceptable means of spreading the faith. Christianity did so in it's childhood as well, and now we have to deal with Islam's childishness.
Take the U.S., where Evangelicalism took over the white house for eight years and shoved us in two wars and mounting financial debt. Have you seen the hazards posed by that kind of far-right irrationalism?
Let me first start by saying there is no right or wrong answer to this, so please don't troll. But what do you feel happens in the afterlife?
A life review? a greeting of loved ones? The hand of god? The crossing over into the the light? Jesus, Buddha, Muhammed or any particular profit? Heaven or hell or neither? Lights out, ashes to ashes, nothing at all? There are endless possibilities.
What do you mean there's no right or wrong answer? Of course there is. We may not know the answer, but that's a separate question.
My own perspective is that there is no evidence for any life after the death of the organism.
What is more, there has never been a persuasive theory presented to describe the mechanism or entity that would have a continued existence after the death of the organism.
Does that mean there is absolutely no afterlife? No, but so what? I can't absolutely prove there is no invisible elephant waiting to trample me when I walk out the door in the morning, but I don't order my affairs so as to avoid that possibility. do you?
Beyond that, consider the Christian conception of afterlife, and in particular the idea of heaven. We are told that heaven is some place of some kind of eternal reward. Once we get there, assuming we are lucky enough to do so, we will be in the presence of god and be happy forever.
My question is this: whatever the "you" is that makes it to heaven, does that thing have free will? Will "you" still be a moral agent with the capacity to make moral choices? If so, then why would you be the beneficiary of everlasting happiness if you could, and do, make an immoral choice?
Or if you don't have free will and the ability to make choices for good or evil, who wants it?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Christianity is the biggest Lie?
