I have a feeling that the afterlife doesn't exist

[lewisnotmiller]

Interesting.
Still I don't understand why the people who don't believe in an afterlife, make children.
What is the point of creating a ephemeral, finite existence?

What is the point of creating an eternal, infinite existence?

 

[joelr]

Your ego didn't , as well as mine ill give you that.

But....everything you are is entirely atoms and atoms fall apart and recombine continuously. None of it can be destroyed in any real sense.

You and me as well as anything else is actually timeless and those lights come on and off all the time under the right conditions.

Your consciousness can be destroyed. If the atoms in my cell phone all scattered, it's no longer a phone. It cannot make a call. A brain without atoms cannot think.

 

[joelr]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

Even the Bible didn't have an understanding of an afterlife until it encountered older religions that "informed" it. Notice the last line.
Just because they adopted a myth and it was taught as true, doesn't make it true.


-During the period of the Second Temple (c.515 BC – 70 AD), the Hebrew people lived under the rule of first the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then the Greek kingdoms of the Diadochi, and finally the Roman Empire.[47] Their culture was profoundly influenced by those of the peoples who ruled them.[47] Consequently, their views on existence after death were profoundly shaped by the ideas of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans.[48][49] The idea of the immortality of the soul is derived from Greek philosophy[49] and the idea of the resurrection of the dead is derived from Persian cosmology.[49] By the early first century AD, these two seemingly incompatible ideas were often conflated by Hebrew thinkers.[49] The Hebrews also inherited from the Persians, Greeks, and Romans the idea that the human soul originates in the divine realm and seeks to return there.[47] The idea that a human soul belongs in Heaven and that Earth is merely a temporary abode in which the soul is tested to prove its worthiness became increasingly popular during the Hellenistic period (323 – 31 BC).[40] Gradually, some Hebrews began to adopt the idea of Heaven as the eternal home of the righteous dead.[40]

 

[joelr]

My thoughts on an afterlife are that there is one and that there is also a spirit realm. I believe that there is an afterlife because I am a spiritualist and a veteran paranormal investigator with 16 1/2 years of personal experience researching and documenting paranormal phenomena. To be honest, I've had far too many personal experiences with what I perceive to be paranormal phenomena during my lifetime to ever doubt that there is an afterlife.

Sounds like confirmation bias. But by all means, give your best single piece of evidence. Lot's of bad evidence doesn't equal good evidence. So you must have at least one good example?

 

[PureX]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

You feel there isn't. They feel there is. Believers believe their feelings are their reality. No one knows much of anything. But we sure like to think we do.

I think if believing in a glorious afterlife helps you to live this life better, then by all means, believe. Because there is no one that can prove otherwise.

And the same goes for believing in God.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Your consciousness can be destroyed. If the atoms in my cell phone all scattered, it's no longer a phone. It cannot make a call. A brain without atoms cannot think.

Obviously a destroyed consciousness can be enabled.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

Sounds like confirmation bias. But by all means, give your best single piece of evidence. Lot's of bad evidence doesn't equal good evidence. So you must have at least one good example?

I guess you're not familiar with my posts on this forum over the last two years, in which I've repeatedly stated that I'm not interested in convincing skeptics that the paranormal is real or that I won't argue or debate with them. I have long since resolved not to argue and debate with skeptics about my personal experiences with the paranormal. In fact, I don't believe it is my responsibility to convince them that what I've experienced is real. I mean no offense when I say this, but it doesn't matter to me if they choose not to believe in the paranormal because their skepticism doesn't change my belief in it or nullify any of my experiences with it. As I've stated many times on the subject, skeptics can decide for themselves whether or not to believe me. I've never once tried to persuade any skeptics that I converse with online or in person to believe in the paranormal, and I don't intend to start now. I just let it happen naturally.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

I'ld say that evertying we currently know about being "alive", biology in general, the brain and how neurology works, tells me that any talk of "afterlife" is wishful thinking at best.

After you die, there is no "you" anymore, just like there wasn't a "you" before you were born / conceived.

To say it bluntly: a living human is a walking complex chemical reaction. At bottom, humans are no different from any other animal, plant, fungus,...

I didn't exist for 13.7 billion years. And "I" will return to that state when I die. There won't be an "I" anymore when I die. That's what dieing is....

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Interesting.
Still I don't understand why the people who don't believe in an afterlife, make children.
What is the point of creating a ephemeral, finite existence?

What's the point of watching a movie or reading a book - both will end anyway?
What's the point of waking up, you're just gonna go to sleep anyway?
What's the point of cutting the grass, it's just gonna grow again?
What's the point of engaging in anything at all, since every single activity you start is going to end after it's finished?

All of these are pretty stupid questions.

Because we enjoy the experience while it lasts.


IN FACT: I would even say that it's the ONLY reason why it's interesting and / or valuable: because it's finite.
If the movie would last for infinity, would you start watching it?
There would no point.

Things are valuable because they are finite.

 

[YoursTrue]

To keep it as short and simple as possible, we have the non-destructable matter and energy of our universe that we know "recycles."

Then there's the soul, our "God's image." The Christian Bible alludes to many effects that can only be coherently true if our soul remains on its journey to salvation through however many physical lives we need to make. For me, that is the message of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. The Good News is we all can follow Jesus through learning truth, growing closer to the Father, rebirth after rebirth, until we attain "our" final resurrection. And eventually Heaven on Earth will be a reality, perhaps in another dimension, as "hell" is remaining in the continuing cycle, refusing God's invitation to come home. (Mt 12:31, 32 the unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit)

My short and simple begins to grow long.....

You aren't going to tell me that when you or I go back to dust, our dust particles think, are you?

 

[YoursTrue]

Yes, but unfortunately the bible was written by a bunch of men 2000 years a go.

Can we get a more recent, updated version, please.

If you really want to understand it, and more than that, you have to pray.

 

[Spice]

You aren't going to tell me that when you or I go back to dust, our dust particles think, are you?

No, not at all.

My belief is as the Scriptures say, our bodies return to the earth and our souls to God. However, then I believe we are judged for the life lived, and consecrated to another, maintaining all the progress towards heaven, being forgiven for all our failures, and reborn to another body-mind-ego combination to "pay the last copper" and progress further towards salvation.

I believe the soul works through the new physicality as it did with the previous to build upon the progress, but it still has to contend with the human manifestation of this new "person." Free-will still determines the conscious decisions made, but the soul is the cheer-leader with "You know what's right! Come on now, you've been up against something like this before." LOL

I believe the wrongs you did towards another without retribution prior, you will account for in the rebirth. And the wrongs you commit in this rebirth, if not rectified, will be accounted for in the next. And so it will go until your soul has conquered the world as Jesus did, and leave the world in heavenly resurrection to return no more.

 

[The Hammer]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

I'll be right back here, sort of. As a believer in reincarnation. My body will decompose and feed the earth as it always has.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I'm religious but I don't believe in souls, or consciousness and identity beyond being other than analogous to software run on physical platforms. So most afterlife concepts don't hold much appeal to me. Beyond that I'm just generally against living this life as a weigh station to the next. I'd rather engage with it as if it were finite and precious than a test or stage.

 

[The Hammer]

Beyond that I'm just generally against living this life as a weigh station to the next. I'd rather engage with it as if it were finite and precious than a test or stage.

I like to treat it as both!

If I'm coming back here, I would like there to be something to return to.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

To keep it as short and simple as possible, we have the non-destructable matter and energy of our universe that we know "recycles."

Then there's the soul, our "God's image." The Christian Bible alludes to many effects that can only be coherently true if our soul remains on its journey to salvation through however many physical lives we need to make. For me, that is the message of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. The Good News is we all can follow Jesus through learning truth, growing closer to the Father, rebirth after rebirth, until we attain "our" final resurrection. And eventually Heaven on Earth will be a reality, perhaps in another dimension, as "hell" is remaining in the continuing cycle, refusing God's invitation to come home. (Mt 12:31, 32 the unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit)

My short and simple begins to grow long.....

That is interesting. I've never heard of this viewpoint before.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

I've had my experiences that convince me that we go on. But beliefs don't really matter, moreso keeping an open mind. We're all going to get there in the end.

 

[Spice]

That is interesting. I've never heard of this viewpoint before.

I don't take my thoughts/beliefs nearly as far into the speculative details as Rudof Steiner. His are just way too far out there for me, down to how many days you stay in judgement, etc. But I have found some kinship reading The Burning Bush, by Edward Reaugh Smith, a Bible Commentary using Anthropology based on Rudolf Steiner's works.

Up until I recently discovered these essayists, my theory of the afterlife grew from an inner feeling I've had all my life along with biblical texts that didn't seam loving and fair. Then from reading essays and documents of 1st century Christians, and other religions/philosophies as well, I became more secure and my scattered thoughts began to solidify. I'm still very open-minded and love to adventure into ideas.

 

[YoursTrue]

No, not at all.

My belief is as the Scriptures say, our bodies return to the earth and our souls to God. However, then I believe we are judged for the life lived, and consecrated to another, maintaining all the progress towards heaven, being forgiven for all our failures, and reborn to another body-mind-ego combination to "pay the last copper" and progress further towards salvation.

I believe the soul works through the new physicality as it did with the previous to build upon the progress, but it still has to contend with the human manifestation of this new "person." Free-will still determines the conscious decisions made, but the soul is the cheer-leader with "You know what's right! Come on now, you've been up against something like this before." LOL

I believe the wrongs you did towards another without retribution prior, you will account for in the rebirth. And the wrongs you commit in this rebirth, if not rectified, will be accounted for in the next. And so it will go until your soul has conquered the world as Jesus did, and leave the world in heavenly resurrection to return no more.

Do you know what the word 'soul' is translated from?

 

[YoursTrue]

I've had my experiences that convince me that we go on. But beliefs don't really matter, moreso keeping an open mind. We're all going to get there in the end.

That is why I trust and believe the Bible and not experiences that say something in contradiction of its teachings.