GrandDesigner

I have to wonder exactly what is so grand about life after death

Dont worry, this life, especially near the end, will seem like forever. I think there's a hint there..hmmm..

If someone is bored in this life, it's quite possible they're plain boring. People sometimes reflect their surroundings but likewise they effect their surrounding.

Life can be interesting or boring. You can see right or wrong. You can do right or wrong. People who see things as boring see it that way by choice. This possibly, not really, may be the only life experienced. Live!

But have no fear. One day, the interest will be there.

Grand ol' Designer

SimplyAtheistic

I suggest reading "A Prime Intellect" , it is a great online novel that describes how what people become like after they can't die. Basically a computer is able to save all human beings from death at all times, and most humans then try to die because they are soooo bored. Stimulation is the key to sanity, and heaven would get waaaay too boring, no matter WHAT you could do. Death is a great thing, and it is sad people view it in such a negative light. That isn't to say killing should be accepted as an everyday practice, as pain really sucks to experience, but a normal death isn't all that bad.
Jake

GeoTheo

I really don't see what is so boring. If I had more time I would like to learn every human language and become fluent in it. I would then like to study all the literature of each language. Then I would like to study the evolution of mankind and just how this occured. I would like to study the evolution of religion and see how it related to our evolution and survival as a species. I would like to understand the human genome. I would also like to know the genome of every organism that ever existed. I would like to understand exactly how the universe formed.
I would like to learn to play beautiful music and learn just waht makes it so beautiful and how the notes are interpreted by our brain waves. I would like to discover what memory is and what cause creativity. I would like to sculpt and Paint.
I would like to understand economics and know enough about all the complex intracacies of the world to the point that I could accurately predict when stocks will go up or down.
I would like to explore the universe and discover other worlds and then when I learn all there is to know about them I would like to move on to more. I could go on....

theIPU

Ah yes, there is much to explore, but here's the problem with an eternal afterlife; after you've done all of which you described above, you will still have an ETERNITY left. THAT would get boring.

SimplyAtheistic

Exactly.
Jake

Amaranth

I can't seem to find a way to reply without coming across as insulting, so simply put: I disagree. Completely.

spurly

The afterlife. Living in a world that has been restored to with every creature (at least those living in an eternal relationship with God) serving its original purpose without being affected by the disease of sin and the disastrous effects it wrought in this world.

The afterlife is much more than just playing harps on clouds or sitting around looking at God. It is all about living in a relationship with God that lasts forever. A relationship like we were intended to have in the beginning.

Of course, some will choose to live without a relationship with God for eternity. I hope no one here will make that choice.

Kevin

Philosoft

See, this kind of language inevitably leads to absurdity. Nothing God intends can ever fail to obtain. That's what it means to be omnipotent and act through force of will.

Amaranth

Jake: I'll see if I can't find that book. It sounds interesting. One of my larger reasons for disdaining the idea of eternal existance is Asimov's "The Last Answer".

IPU: Thanks for fielding Theo's reply on interests to keep on occupied for eternity.

Emotional: I, like b_f_i, have to contest that this life only has meaning if there is nothing after it. If existance is eternal, then even living to be the oldest human in all of history in this life will be as a single second in the next, eventually. Most people have problems remembering too very much about their lives from 10 years ago...How much worse would this be after 1,000 years?

You also mentioned reincarnation - What is the fascination with this belief? People I talk to always say that they like the feeling that they will continue on, but if you think about it, they won't. I don't recall any past life, nor does anyone I've ever spoken to about it. The "evidence" for such things is extremely bad, at best. How, exactly, is it continuing on if you cease to exist in all forms except for some "spirit" that apparently carries none of your memories with it.

Vilatij: While that's an interesting conglomerate of beliefs, I'm more interested in *why* people believe in the afterlife. Knowing exactly which afterlife they believe in is certainly helpful, but only if the other "w" is included as well.

spurly

You and I will never agree here. Being omnipotent doesn't mean that he forces his will on his creation, it just means he could do so if he wanted to.

Instead, God allows us to make choices as to how we will spend our eternity - loving him, or not loving him.

Someone who acted through force of their will would be a dictator - that is not the God of the Bible.

Kevin