The afterlife, what do you think happens?

[Xanatos 162]

I can believe in a God because it was the way I was born and raised.

 

No. Wrong. Stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. "I was raised that way" is not believing something. It's buying into indoctrination.

[Golurk 468]

I'm not overly sure, and I will not be completely sure until it would be too late to tell anyone. My suspicion, though, is that there is something that saves a human consciousness. I just refuse to believe that death results in cessation of being. It's just... such a waste. Whether it be an afterlife or reincarnation, I just cannot see a soul ceasing to exist.

 

I have nothing to support my conclusion, but I also have nothing to disprove it. So for now, I'm perfectly content to believe what I believe.

[Scootadress 361]

I fear this topic mainly because I don't want to know even HOW I would die. The concept of death itself sort of scares me. Now, whether or not you go somewhere later....

 

That terrifies me. Where would you go? I don't want to think that I wouldn't get my personal heaven, but the idea that we are just going to float? I fear that the most I guess. 

[akalink 163]

I still think it is wrong for /any/ religion to damn people to hell. I grew up in the southern baptist church, and I was forced and brainwashed to believe this sort of nonsense, and I still have mental and emotional problems related to what people did to me this day. 

 

I've since become buddhist/spiritualist, And I long for truth and peace, and for others to see that that is what truly matters. I think it is absolutely wrong for anyone to deserve eternal punishment like that. And for organizations to spread lies and hatred such as that. 

 

I don't mean to be a dick. I just personally went through a lot of abuse, conflict, and suffering due to those attitudes being instilled into people. 

I sorry you have gone through abuse. But I think its is even more wrong to allow a mindset of relative truth. The funny thing about things that are true, is that they are true independent of what everyone believes. So if what I believe to be the outset of the afterlife is incorrect, then my view of the afterlife has no power over what the afterlife is actually like. Now I want to clarify because I think you might misunderstand part of my view. The church, the clergy, all members of the Christian religion are not the ones who determine who goes to heaven or hell, its God. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with church. Christianity isn't about damning people to hell, we already did that ourselves, its about getting closer to a God who want to get closer to his creation, and give them exemption from punishment. If you look at the stories of the Bible, you see a constant forgiveness that God gives to his chosen people, and any punishment they face is deserved. Sorry to give you such a long winded post, I hope that this can help you come to terms with your past experience better and help you heal from them.

[Xanatos 162]

I fear this topic mainly because I don't want to know even HOW I would die. The concept of death itself sort of scares me. Now, whether or not you go somewhere later....

 

That terrifies me. Where would you go? I don't want to think that I wouldn't get my personal heaven, but the idea that we are just going to float? I fear that the most I guess. 

 

...Float? Who mentioned floating? You mean the whole "nothing after death" thing? It's like being asleep. Just...You know, minus the waking up.

[techno915 408]

i see that there is yet another religious topic on the forums. my belief is that everyone goes to a realm for afterlife. depending on how an individual live his or her life in the eyes of God, (I'm Christian...Roman Catholic, to be exact, so that's the basis for this) a person goes either to Hell or to Heaven. once again, based on how pure and holy of a life the person lead, he or she may go straight to Heaven or have to go through a purification process (Purgatory) beforehand, kinda like a checkpoint.

[Xanatos 162]

If you look at the stories of the Bible, you see a constant forgiveness...

 

No. No. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong and stupid. But this isn't a Biblical debate so whatever. Just feel like you should know that is wrong and stupid. He regularly kills or curses entire generations (hell, the entire human race even) for petty bullshit.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Xanatos

[Scootadress 361]

...Float? Who mentioned floating? You mean the whole "nothing after death" thing? It's like being asleep. Just...You know, minus the waking up.

Someone mentioned floating in a purgatory    Then my MLP dreams are forever I guess XD  I wonder if it feels nice to stay like that forever.

[Xanatos 162]

Someone mentioned floating in a purgatory    Then my MLP dreams are forever I guess XD  I wonder if it feels nice to stay like that forever.

 

Huh. I never picture purgatory as a floaty kinda place...More like a carwash. A carwash for dead people. Idea for a film: CARWASH OF LOST SOULS.

[AS41 100]

No. Wrong. Stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. "I was raised that way" is not believing something. It's buying into indoctrination.

 

I have the freedom to believe whatever I would like to believe.  If a family raises a child on a set of values and that child strays away from them, then that is the childs choice.  I happen to like what I believe, prefer what I believe.

 

On a side note, I gave you some other interesting options to choose from.  Interesting that you felt the need to pick out that specific sentence and expand upon it considering a belief in God or a god is becoming a minority around your country and is becoming discriminated against.  Thank you for the reply.

[akalink 163]

No. No. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong and stupid. But this isn't a Biblical debate so whatever. Just feel like you should know that is wrong and stupid. He regularly kills or curses entire generations (hell, the entire human race even) for petty bullshit.

That was written in the Mosaic Law as things not to do, and you can be forgiven for doing that stuff if your actually sorry for. But when your life F*** you God I'm going to collect wood on the Sabbath, that's when judgement starts happening. Thankfully the New Covenant abolish the need to follow most of the Law.

 

I'm going to try to edit this in because I know I'm going to get quote by Xanatos. There is also time where God doesn't give us a reason (like in Job). There is one, but God is not obligated to tell us what it is.

 

Now the question is is that going to be a debate thread, or should we try to keep this a statement thread.

Edited August 8, 2013 by akalink

[EndtheRaven 161]

Huh. I never picture purgatory as a floaty kinda place...More like a carwash. A carwash for dead people. Idea for a film: CARWASH OF LOST SOULS.

You sir, are mistaken. Car washes are fun to go through. They would be far too good for purgatory. 

 

What would make more sense is getting the last number of the day at the DMV...... waiting in agony sitting on the floor from lack of chairs, the room full of impatient 16 year old potential drivers eyeing you nervously. With only one attendant working. Sitting there, with no concept of time passing. Only to repeat the same thing the next day. and the next. And your number never comes up on the screen. 

Edited August 8, 2013 by TheRavenAviator

[Scootadress 361]

Huh. I never picture purgatory as a floaty kinda place...More like a carwash. A carwash for dead people. Idea for a film: CARWASH OF LOST SOULS.

WITH ALL THAT SOAP?  Poor souls, they never seem to get the easy sentencing have they? So much scrubbing then POP.

 

I wonder if they would ever run out of the conditioners or if someone objects...

 

SEND THEM TO THE BRUSHES OF HELL.

[Xanatos 162]

I have the freedom to believe whatever I would like to believe.  If a family raises a child on a set of values and that child strays away from them, then that is the childs choice.  I happen to like what I believe, prefer what I believe.

 

On a side note, I gave you some other interesting options to choose from.  Interesting that you felt the need to pick out that specific sentence and expand upon it considering a belief in God or a god is becoming a minority around your country and is becoming discriminated against.  Thank you for the reply.

 

Eh, the other options are fine. I hold beliefs in gods myself, not a problem. Just "My parents believed it and told me to." is a really flimsy backbone for any belief. Most just leave it at that and never properly examine anything.

You sir, are mistaken. Car washes are fun to go through. They would be far too good for purgatory. 

 

What would make more sense is getting the last number of the day at the DMV...... waiting in agony sitting on the floor from lack of chairs, the room full of impatient 16 year old potential drivers eyeing you nervously. With only one attendant working. Sitting there, with no concept of time passing. Only to repeat the same thing the next day. and the next. And your number never comes up on the screen. 

 

Now, see, I've never driven so I have no personal concept of the DMV to be tortured with. Sucks to be you all, eh?

Edited October 28, 2013 by DashForever

[akalink 163]

Eh, the other options are fine. I hold beliefs in gods myself, not a problem. Just "My parents believed it and told me to." is a really flimsy backbone for any belief. Most just leave it at that and never properly examine anything.

I'll tell you what, your right (omaigoshwereagreeingwithsomethinginthisthread). Churches in general have been doing a poor job educating their congregation on the content of the scriptures. I grew up in a Christian Family, but don't think I spent that entire time as a faithful believer, it was a process.

[AS41 100]

Eh, the other options are fine. I hold beliefs in gods myself, not a problem. Just "My parents believed it and told me to." is a really flimsy backbone for any belief. Most just leave it at that and never properly examine anything.

 

Never said my parents told me to believe, they walked me through the door, left if open and said `You are free to walk out at any time you would like.`  Although I do disagree with many things the church says, I believe they are slowly getting better.

 

Look, I`m not here to tell you what to believe, all I can say is I do wish you would calm down a little bit if somebody throws a bible quote around or posts what they personally believe in.  It`s really not that big of a deal.  I will leave you an `out of context` quote though, take away from it what you will, or nothing if you would like.

 

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein, "Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium", 1941

Edited August 8, 2013 by AS41

[Changeling_Catalyst 22]

I'm not so sure that there's an afterlife, and that deep down, the evidence we have thus far is what we see for ourselves in the living sense. We know that the body dies and withers away, then crumbles into dust. As far as our thoughts and memories go, I like to think that our consciousness does somehow continue in a form we can't really see or even start to comprehend.

 

Not that it's in a religious way, in that there's a heaven or hell, but a little imaginative dream of an afterlife, if there were one, would be where our consciousness reaches another plane of reality and space and time become easily traversable. It's like watching the whole world (heck, even the galaxy or universe) like on Google Earth; able to fade into places and times, or even make up our own. 

Edited August 8, 2013 by Changeling_Catalyst

[techno915 408]

Look, I`m not here to tell you what to believe, all I can say is I do wish you would calm down a little bit if somebody throws a bible quote around or posts what they personally believe in.  It`s really not that big of a deal.

 I think this goes great with the whole "Love and Tolerance" motto of the brony community. yeah, we all are different, come from various backgrounds, and have varieties of opinions, but we respect these differences to help form this loving community.

[Xanatos 162]

It`s really not that big of a deal.

 

It is when it's disgusting to the core. "You either believe and follow him, or you get torture!" - This is not a god. This is a child on a tantrum. And to try to defend or justify such a tyrannical methodology is (to invoke Godwin's Law) akin to supporting Hitler. If you're asking me to tolerate others' beliefs, I can do that. If you're asking me to tolerate vile filth that makes a sick mockery of the very idea of either love or tolerance, I cannot. But that's the last word I'll have on it.

 

And when you say "They raised me to believe so-and-so.", the implication isn't usually one of "You can walk out any time." Good to see they were progressive with it. And the church gives out cookies on holidays here. I love the church.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Xanatos

[AS41 100]

It is when it's disgusting to the core. "You either believe and follow him, or you get torture!" - This is not a god. This is a child on a tantrum. And to try to defend or justify such a tyrannical methodology is (to invoke Godwin's Law) akin to supporting Hitler.

 

And when you say "They raised me to believe so-and-so.", the implication isn't one of "You can walk out any time." Good to see they were progressive with it. And the church gives out cookies on holidays here. I love the church.

 

Then I apologize for the miscommunication.  On the other note, some people take away different things from the bible than others.  They could be right, I could be wrong, we all could be wrong(The thing was translated and updated how many times?).  I have nothing to support one way or the other, just faith that what I am doing happens to be the correct path, it`s all I can do.  I don`t think any less of you for having a different opinion, I don`t feel you will be judged any harsher than I as long as you have been kind towards others.  You don`t need to volunteer as shelters or go to church every week in my opinion, but if you can go out of your way a little bit, maybe help somebody who slid into a snow bank get their car out of the snow so they can make it home; that`s it.  Be kind, reach out to others when you can, and enjoy your life.

[AegisReflector 886]

I believe we all go to the afterlife, regardless of crime, status, race, etc. It's a never-ending mass that's encompassed by your wildest desires and you have nothing to worry about. I WOULD like to believe that. I don't believe in God but I'm not a pure non-theist where I think I'm just gonna rot in the ground after I die. That would be, well, boring! I want to do something with my soul for many years to come.

 

Who really knows, though? We can only ascertain what happens to us when we meet thy maker.

[Nomadic 210]

I would like to believe that something happens after death, whether it be afterlife, reincarnation, or whatever. Though, the other side of my head screams at me to tell me that there probably isn't anything, and I find this incredibly disheartening. I'm proud of who I am, and find myself increasingly disturbed by the idea of non-existence.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Nomadic

[MelancholicMemory 2,025]

When you die, your conscious experience ends, and your body ceases to function forever. You then decay and continue on the circle of life.

 

No great adventure happens after death. You're simply gone, even though most find this idea scary. But really death cannot hurt you. You can't feel pain or anything. Death can only hurt the living, scaring us, and separating us from our loved ones forever.

[Galen 1,354]

There's various catches with the afterlife imo. The afterlife is an idea propagated by religious leaders, for one reason or another and I'm not gonna say good or bad, to give people hope in the face of death and encourage them, again for one reason or another, to be good people. This counts for all religions, not just the Abrahamic ones. Some believe there's a better, more peaceful world in the skies, so to speak, while others believe in reincarnation. The afterlife is simply a reason people are given to be good in life for the promise of a better afterlife. It has its merits and faults but I believe as long as the outcome is a person being indiscriminately good to others, not judging others for being immoral for deviating from one's personal standards, then it isn't something that should be frowned upon.

 

Personally, I don't believe having faith in an afterlife is a requirement for being a good person, and some of those who do good for the promise of a better afterlife believe that is literally the only reason to be good people for in the absence of heaven or a return to the earth as another being, there is no point in being good. It's a very mercenary pov which I would discourage. It is also a product of over-attachment to our own life that we want to believe in the afterlife when the truth could very well be that we cease to exist as conscious beings. I can understand the fear of such happening but it is a natural part of life. Life cannot exist without the concept of death, so I would rather live as best I can before the time comes.

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

The Afterlife is a human invention created to comfort the still living, it's sad but true. For some people a reward of eternal life is what they need to keep going and do good on Earth but the cruel truth is that it is a human invention and a thought, nothing true or proven.

 

Think of people who get there brains damaged, they lose memories due to parts of there brains being damaged. I am not going to describe how it all works but your brain has certain little bits which are basically memories, if one is destroyed you lose that part of your memories.

 

Now what happens when you die? If you observe a dead body right after they've died, there brain remains active for a bit longer. This part I imagine might be the most meaningful part of your life. It's a transition between life and death, imagine your brain-cells like a colony of ants at this moment being killed with a toxin scrambling for life but they are dropping one by one. At this moment in your life you'd most likely see what you've done in life and your memories, you'd be stuck within your mind for a short moment.

 

Your memories would begin to die due to lack of oxygen to your brain. At-most this experience would last for ten minutes. From person to person this experience would be far different, some might just feel sleep, some might have a grueling agonizing time, and for some it will come in a dream like it could come in a way familiar to you. However, inevitably all these last thoughts and memories will become scrambled and begin to dissipate at a fast rate to where nothing will make sense anymore and there will be this separation. 

 

Now imagine a curtain, on one side is life and feeling. Where things have beginning and ends, and on the other side of the curtain is death where there is no clear start that you will know and there will be no end. There will be no thought and memory, no life, joy, sadness, no friends, no enemies, no imagination or creativity, simply nothing. You will never remember this curtain being parted because you can't remember without your brain, once your brain has its last cell alive you will feel like the most simple basic single celled organism only clinging onto the most minuscule fraction of existence.

 

And when that last cell is gone, you are gone. You will be flung into infinity leaving behind this life forever, you will exist in all times after your death.

 

This sounds sad right? Well it's not. Eternal life has no meaning, you will live forever imprisoned in a constant state. After a certain amount of existence eternally everything you will ever want to be accomplished will be accomplished, soon nothing will be mattered and you will be begging to be dead and not to exist.

 

So we all have one shot, we better do all we can without risking our gift of life too much.