The Afterlife
Posted 16th February 2010 at 03:12 PM by Diell Louis
Someone asked if there was such thing as Purgatory, but the thread was closed, so I am starting a new thread.
Since no one that has died permanantly has ever come back to life to tell about his experience, no one knows what comes after, whether it's Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, some other form of conscious awareness or complete lack of memory or conscious awareness. You can believe the Bible is the word of God by faith and therefore believe everything it says is factual, but you can only beieve that by faith, not evidence.
The evidence for what comes after this life just isn't there.
Since no one that has died permanantly has ever come back to life to tell about his experience, no one knows what comes after, whether it's Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, some other form of conscious awareness or complete lack of memory or conscious awareness. You can believe the Bible is the word of God by faith and therefore believe everything it says is factual, but you can only beieve that by faith, not evidence.
The evidence for what comes after this life just isn't there.
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Comments
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The Afterlife
The thread was closed(partially) because neither side is going to convince the other. Some people can poke fun at the religious side and call it a bunch of fairy tales. The religious point out that it's impossible to prove God doesn't exist and maybe offer up Pascal's Wager and we are exactly where we are now.Quote:In Reply to Parent Post by Diell Louis
Someone asked if there was such thing as Purgatory, but the thread was closed, so I am starting a new thread.
Since no one that has died permanantly has ever come back to life to tell about his experience, no one knows what comes after, whether it's Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, some other form of conscious awareness or complete lack of memory or conscious awareness. You can believe the Bible is the word of God by faith and therefore believe everything it says is factual, but you can only beieve that by faith, not evidence.
The evidence for what comes after this life just isn't there. (see http:/skeptics-soapbox.com/ for more on the afterlife from a skeptic's point of view.Posted 16th February 2010 at 04:19 PM by True Position 
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The Afterlife
I don't think it's a matter of whether God exixts or not. God can exist and be the very real creator of the universe and the Bible, which is the only authority on Heaven and Hell, can be completely invented by man. The question is not whether God is real, which I believe because we can see his creation all around us, but whether He inspired the book we call the Bible or Koran if you're Muslim. If He did, then whatever it says about the afterlife can also be taken as God inspired, but if He didn't, then no one knows what comes after this life, because no one that has died (outside the pages of the Bible) has come back to tell about it.
I wish I knew what came after this life; although if I really believed it was Heaven I would certainly yearn for it with all my heart. The possibility I fear most is reincarnation, which is certainly in the realm of possibility, and the one I fear least is the life I (percieved I) had before birth, complete lack of conscious awareness. I guess we all have to wait and see what's in store for us.Posted 16th February 2010 at 04:42 PM by Diell Louis
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The Afterlife
I like to think we are not just a big ant farm here. Poof, you're here, and after awhile ppplt you're gone.
There are so many unanswered questions, such as "Why is there so much injustice in the world?" that some believe religion was developed to address them, like the mythology of old explained thunder, etc. And so the concept of an after life can be a real comfort; and the Hades idea helps keep some people in line.
I don't really know, but I suspect there's more to existence than meets the eye. It seems to me most reasonable notion is that we are on a series of journeys of experience, exploration and learning, and have set out with certain types of life challenges in which to experience this growth.
And, to make things really confusing, it seems to me our circles of people are also here by design, chosen like characters in a play, and that very often what we have to deal with isn't about us - it is more about how we get through it together with these players who are important in our lives. Consider that such would be the case for everyone, and it gets to be quite a tangle of a web...
Going through what I do, and what I see others deal with too (my frustrations are nothing compared to what some people have to deal with) is so much easier to accept when I consider this explanation of things. Even if it's all hooey, it helps me behave myself and play nice with others, so even if it's a case of ignorance I don't think it's all that silly or a waste.
Posted 16th February 2010 at 05:20 PM by Jennifer Kirley
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The Afterlife
Response to Jennifer,
We might be here as one grand experiment by the Creator. Maybe there's no more purpose to our existence than to procreate and mutate (gradually) and the Creator is looking at us, as you say, like a human might look at ants in an ant farm. It's the Creator's ballgame, not ours. We're no more than ants (or perhaps electrons) in his giant universe.Posted 16th February 2010 at 06:12 PM by Diell Louis
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The Afterlife
I'm going
here for a minute, but since Diell is new, I want to point out that 'Controversial Discussion Topics' is not the main focus of the forum. Since we're back into 'Purgatory' / religion type of discussion, I'm going to move this thread to Lewis' blog here where people can comment/discuss.Posted 16th February 2010 at 07:09 PM by Marc
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