Ellis14

It has been said before by someone on here but I can't remember who:

"if there is no afterlife, what we do doesn't matter"

becomes

"if there is no afterlife, all that matters is what we do."

Dying scares me, the thought of non-existence scares me, and unfortunately I was brought up with the belief that I would never have to die or have the prospect of resurrection if I did. It is a very unpleasant realisation that such dreams are not truth.

What I am left with is the acceptance of the world and my life as it is, and to make the most of it for myself and others whilst I am alive.

No it's not fair; mortality is a sad truth of our existence, but it is the truth all the same.

BioBeing

I think you mis-understood. Your OP made it seem as if the opions were Christian heaven or hell; or nonexistance. In other words, you have set up the false dichotomy of Pascals wager. 77 virgins are the reward promised to muslims, in their heaven.

Many different belief systems have different afterlife options. The only shared feature of all of them is that there is no evidence that they are real.

Fear of death is real - we have a vested interest in being alive. But no amount of wishful thinking can change reality.

Eudaimonist

Not really, though I don't want to die any time soon. I'm satisfied with a fulfilling finite existence. I don't need an infinite existence in order for my life to have meaning.

mjbeam

My questions are not meant to be glib or unfair they were meant to illustrate how backwards I feel your question is.

For example, suppose I tell you that behind the planet Jupiter there is a hidden planet named Zoron that is made entirely out of ice cream. And when I die I will go to that planet and live forever and be able to eat all of the ice cream I want forever and ever.

Then I ask you, "So Kurt, how does it feel knowing that you will have to go on for eternity without ice cream because you don't believe in Zoron?"

How can I miss something that I don't believe in?

I appologize if you feel I was trying to be insulting. The question just doesn't make any sense to me. Try and listen to your question from my perspective.


-Mike

Rhea

Exactly.


So - does it bother you to believe that there is a hell?
Doesn't it bother you to NOT believe in the same way as the people who think all afterlife is only good?



So yeah, if your question is based in primal desires, doesn't it bother you to believe in Hell?

In other words, if you're curious about "how it feels to be" us, then I think you can imagine it quite well with the tools that you already have:

Just imagine, that, like Hell, it's something you won't care about when the time comes. You think it won't be something that you experience. It becomes a non-issue.

Shadowy Man

I am more bothered that I can't teleport.

mjbeam

This is exactly what I was trying to say but a thousand times more succinct. You rock Shadow Man!


-Mike

Titanpoint

Why should I be bothered about the lack of something which doesn't exist? Should I be bothered about the lack of invisible pink unicorns in my garden?

The question to theists should be: aren't you embarassed to believe in ludicrous concepts like the soul which has no objective reality? How did you swallow this ethereal camel and why?

brighid

In a sense, it is disappointing that I find no proof of an afterlife. It is comforting thinking that I could someday rejoin my loved ones and spend eternity in a blissful state of existence.

However, it is quite disturbing that a moral perfect God would deny my place in the blissful afterlife for nothing MORE than disbelief, while child rapists, genocidal maniacs, serial killers, robber barons, et al WILL gain admittance to this afterlife simply because he/she BELIEVED (and presummably asked forgiveness.)

If Heaven is occupied by the likes of Hitler, Jerry Falwell, Strom Thurmond, David Duke, Tammy Faye-Baker, GW Bush, et al I would much rather reside in Hell. At least the company will be intellectually stimulating with the likes of Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Robert Ingersoll, Carl Sagan, all the witches and heretics murdered during the Inquisition .... etc, etc.

It would be really nice if there were some place of eternal respite for a "living" soul, where one could laugh and love endlessly. It seems unlikely this is the case.

I realize someday I will no longer exist, and that my death, like the death of all things, is a natural part of life. My body will serve to bring forth new life that will sustain other life. Hopefully I will have left a positive legacy that will carry on while I am gone, and people will think fondly of me after my passing. In this sense I will live on and part of me will continue to exist in my children and grandchildren.

I think the realization that there is no afterlife is motivating. One realizes THIS is all there likely is, and therefore one must do all he/she can to make the most of this life. It makes me hold my son and husband a little bit closer, love them a bit more, cherish the time we have together because realizing that someday this WILL all end causes me to love and cherish everything good I have all the more. It also motivates me to change the negative aspects of my life and world because it is an utter waste of precious time to spend it unhappy, angry, bitter, isolated and lonely or so caught up in my judgment of others that I fail to see the commonality of the humanity we all share. We are all basically the same - everyone wants to be loved, safe and happy. We all breathe the same air, bleed red blood, we all come from the womb of an earthly mother and we will all return to the "womb" of Mother Earth, to be food for the insects and worms, who will become food for another .... and so is the cycle of life.

It's nothing to worry over, nothing to be scared of ... it simply IS.

Brighid

kciredor reprah

It bothers me about as much as not having wings.