what happens after we die?

Post Reply New Topic

And yet there is also no:

Forgiveness: if I have damaged the lives of others, there is not going to be anyone there to pet me and reassure me that I'm really a good person. I just go to the grave knowing what I have done and realizing that this is part of how I have defined my entire existence.

Eternal justice: nobody is there to set things right for anyone that I hurt. I go through life knowing that, if I throw another person's life off-course and that person meets a terrible end, that person will not be given some compensation "at the end." Most likely, that person will die a lonely and bitter person, and in many cases, that person's grave will be spat on by people who have misjudged him. Dad is not there to come in behind me to fix my mistakes. That which is broken stays broken.

Afterlife: I can't take anything with me to oblivion. I have never seen a hearse being followed by a Brinks truck. Even if I earn billions during my lifetime as a Bernie Madoff who Got Away and I went to the grave laughing, here is someone else who will go to the grave laughing: a beach bum who never really cared about anything.

And Hell? Here is the dilemma:

If I am a good person, I could never tolerate the disproportionate suffering of anybody, even very nasty people. Even with people that I would do some pretty mean-spirited things to, there is a point at which I would think, "okay, that's not cool." Therefore, what good is "eternal bliss" to any morally decent creature when needless cruelty is done unto others? A truly moral person could never rest.

If I were a truly evil person, then I would think that the ideal sort of person is someone who, like me, exercises a Machiavellian lack of concern for others, and I must believe that Hell is full of all those "sissies" who get all sad-faced over the "little guy." Believe me, I have known people who are like this. They believe that, if you take your eyes off of the pursuit of personal gain for one instant, then you are a loser and an insect, and they despise you for it. There are criminals who break into people's houses, and they think that their victims are terribly stupid people who deserve to lose their belongings because, out of trust toward their fellow man, they didn't get a home security system. There are rapists who think that men who would not take advantage of a woman on a dark night in a certain situation is a "fag" and deserves to burn in Hell.

The only good people I have known are those who have been exposed to an example of honorable conduct and learned to want to emulate that example. For some of them, it has been Jesus. For others, it has been Socrates. For a few, it has been Mr. Spock.

This is why God has revealed himself in the subtlest of ways rather than proving his existence.

A truly good person will be good even if there is no belief in God or reward in an afterlife, whereas a bad person might pretend to be good out of fear if he believes in the Catholic interpretation of Hell.

The way God has done it is exactly right to separate and judge the good from the bad.
And you dont go to "hell" just for not believing in God:-
Revelation 20 v12
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,[c] and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

At the resurrection at the end of the thousand years everyone is judged, incidentally Hades is another name for Hell which just means the Grave, it is full of good and bad.
People are judged by how they acted, not by if they believed in the right God.

The advantage to being a Christian and accepting Jesus death is that you don't get judged as Jesus has already paid for your sins.
John 3:18
“He who believes in Him is not judged;

seriously, i'm wondering what do you think.

is there any kind of afterlife, and if so what does it look like? is there such a thing as a soul? do we all go to the same 'place'?

whether you're religious or not, this thread is for sharing your opinions about the absence or existence of heaven/hell/paradise/purgatory/reincarnation, and any and all other ideas or theories you may have about what happens after we die.

keep the conversation civil, folks. this should be interesting.

The few times I have gotten into arguments with atheists over this subject (since at one time, I came under influence of atheism as an undergraduate), I usually propose Pascal's Wager.

I don't know, but I'm certainly scared by the "nothing after death". How come atheists deal with that by the way?

Agreed. Be a good person because it's the right thing to do, and it feels good to do good. Not because of an unfounded, disproven childish concept of eternal rewards in an "afterlife" . . .

No data exists regarding this issue.
I know of no epistemologic way forward on this issue.

I don't know, but I'm certainly scared by the "nothing after death". How come atheists deal with that by the way?

Since there's probably no hell you might as well be selfish and evil

Your answer is in the Quran. I'll let you read it yourself to witness the truth from Allah, the Lord and creator of the 7 heavens and the earth and what is between them.