Afterlife

How many theists who believe in some form of afterlife do so because they are afraid of death? Afraid that when they die they will simply cease to be and they can't accept that as being true, or can't handle the thought of it. And be honest please, after all "Honesty is the best policy" (as well as being forbidden in the ten commandments for all you Christians out there).

 

So what you're saying is you think that theists who believe that there is an afterlife are cowards? =/

 

Not cowards, just scared of something they don't understand. Death isn't something to be scared of anyway. Death is what gives your life meaning, living forever would make everything pointless.

And anyway, you didn't exist for billions of years before you were born. All you are doing is returning to the natural state =]

 

I may not be a theist, but I do have a notion that we may go somewhere when we die. I have no effing CLUE where, maybe our mental processes have something to do with it, maybe parallel dimensions, heck, maybe we DO have something akin to a soul that survives us. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure that no religion has gotten it right yet. Maybe they all have pieces of the answer, but none have the one answer. All in all, my notion is not based on a fear of death, hell, I don't even think about it much (either the afterlife OR death), and it's not really a belief since I'm not too sure about it myself. I would say it's based mostly on my Christian heritage more than anything, and the fact that the energy of our bodies have to go somewhere. And it is still very possible that I am completely wrong, and we just disappear when we die. I still have to look into it scientifically.

 

To be honest, I prefer the idea of reincarnation to any form of afterlife. Recycling seems like an efficient and logical idea to me ;D

 

I do believe in the afterlife, because there can't not be one in my mind. I think one's soul has to go somewhere. Maybe heaven, hell, purgatory, or get reincarnated, I don't know. \(o.o)/

 

I'm not scared of the fater life cause I belive I know where I'm going.

What I'm scared of is not living my life on earth before I go there.

 

No not necessarily. People who believe in an afterlife can simply be trying to figure out what happens when they die and where they go. No one really knows, so its a completely "valid" behavior I guess. Being afraid of death can be one reason to think about/believe in an afterlife but not the only one, or not the reason at all, depending on the person.

 

I don't really think I believe in an afterlife. Would be nice if there was, but if there isn't, well, that's why I'm trying to make the best of the time I have here.

 

I'm not afraid of death and can say that I don't bother to try to come up with what happens after I would die. I figure there's peace of some kind, whether it's an end or a beginning after an end. I can leave it up to mystery but since I've nearly died a couple times and felt there was nothing to fear in it, I don't worry about it.

 

I actually dislike that you imply those who believe in something after death are cowards or lacking in intelligence of some form.

I don't believe in god, not in the Christian sense and I don't believe in heaven and hell.

I do think there is something that comes after death though. What that something is I don't know, maybe it is reincarnation maybe we just wander forever aimlessly or maybe it is down to the individual to choose the "afterlife" they have.

That doesn't mean I am scared though, and that doesn't mean that I "don't understand" that life is important and that we should make the most of what we have. There may be something, there might not be anything, just eternal nothingness.

Just because someone has a different belief doesn't mean that they are a coward or stupid, it means that they just think differently.

 

I never said that anyone was a coward or stupid. I was simply asking a question. I was curious as to whether the fear of death was a factor in people's belief in an afterlife.

I'm not sorry if I've offended anyone.

 

I don't have a religion, so I'm not sure what happens to us when we die. I think, and this is just from stories and times spent thinking at night, that when we die our souls might get put into a new body (reincarnation). So, I'm not afraid to die. Being afraid of death shouldn't make someone believe that there's something more out there. We're living here and now. THAT'S what we should be thinking about: enjoying what we can, while we can. My answer to your question: No. I'm not afraid of death, so fear cannot contribute to my belief in something after this life.

 

Why would that have anything to do with it...?
I'm not really afraid of dying...I'm more afraid of not finishing the things that I would like to in this life.
I'm afraid of not being ready.
But not of dying.

And I do believe that there is something after this.
I refuse to believe that we just randomly end up here, die, then nothing.
I just personally believe we HAVE to go somewhere.

Heaven, Hell, Limbo, or just wandering I don't really know.
I just don't think it'd be right to just not exist after.
And I don't think there's nothing to this. We have to be here for a reason, in my opinion.

It has nothing to do with fear at all for me. ​

 

yes, its great to have religious beliefs but to have every single one of their rules control your life because of blind ignorant faith. death should never be something to fear; its part of natural life, honestly, and we need to be happy and not afraid of any aspect of living.

 

Wow. To be honest, I am scared of dying.
I do believe in another life though.

 

Death is just an inevitable part of life, the only thing frightening about it is the duration of the pain from which you are dying from. And hey, if there's an afterlife, isn't that just a bonus for us? Besides, there's nothing wrong with returning to oblivion after a game over. We can choose ponder now, but we'll be finding out eventually; why not just enjoy the ride while you're still on?

 

I used to be frightened of dying when I was very young(around 6-7). So scared in fact, that I refused to go outside for a period of time due to my fear of having a fatal accident of some sort.

But then again, if you think of the notion of death of old age, it's actually quite a good thing. It makes us want to make the most out of life, before our time comes where we may have to leave into a second life(not that I'm saying I believe afterlife, however I would most certainly hope that there is).

Sorry for being slightly off-topic.

 

Well there cannot be a net gain or loss of particles post mortem so the recycling part is certainly true.
However seeing as not all particles are recycled to the advantage of the same (new) creature I refuse to believe in reincarnation in the strict sense of the word.

I do not believe in a soul either. Believing in it would of course raise the question of what it's made of, how exactly your actions affect it, and how it would reach the afterlife. Questions that, as long as they are unanswered, are reasons aplenty to keep both feet on the ground.

I'm not afraid of dying by the way. I've actually asked myself "what if I dropped dead this instant?" and I concluded that I had a good run and that there's no use lamenting everything you still wanted to do. Of course thinking about it is very different from actually experiencing it so I won't be too bold here.
There are however people whose death draws near and that I don't want to lose. So in a way I am afraid of death, just not my own. But this is of course no reason to believe in an afterlife.

 

as a christan, I believe their is two places you can go after death Heaven or Hell. So I don't believe in a afterlife.