Life After Death...

[Aloquaciousgirl]

So I was thinking about life after death last night and nearly worked myself up into a panic attack.

I started thinking, ‘ What if this is all there is? What if we die and all there is is black? No thoughts, no memories, no existence. Just…darkness. What if I die and never see my friends and family or my boyfriend again? What if I my body just rots in the ground and that’s the end? What if there is no heaven or hell or even reincarnation?’ I'm very attached to my life, and terrified of losing it and the people in it.

Suddenly, I feel very terrified of death and what happens after.

I’ve always considered myself a Christian and truly believed in heaven, though hell, in my opinion, is still up for debate. I’ve been active in youth groups and never stopped believing, but suddenly I find myself questioning what really happens after. And I’ve never been more scared. =S

Can anyone provide some encouragement…a little helpful insight…anything at all?

 

[LuisDantas]

I believe that death is final, myself. That doesn't bother me, among other reasons because it is clear that we live on on the minds and hearts of others, as well as in the teachings and examples that we may have cultivated.

 

[Aloquaciousgirl]

I believe that death is final, myself. That doesn't bother me, among other reasons because it is clear that we live on on the minds and hearts of others, as well as in the teachings and examples that we may have cultivated.

I'm really not okay with that. I just don't want to be done.

 

[*Anne*]

Can anyone provide some encouragement…a little helpful insight…anything at all?

No one can tell you for sure what happens when we die. There is one thing that is certain though: This is something that is beyond our control.

IF I could control how/when I die or where I will go afterward, I would worry about it. However, I cannot control these things, so I don't bother worrying.

I do think and worry about other things in regards to death, but my final destination isn't one of them.

 

[Rael]

Look at it like this: If you die and you cease to exist, there is no one to know that you are not existing and therefore no missing of existence. And if you do happen to live on, great! I find that people are only missing existence when they are still existing, thats sad. Why think about death and whats going to happen when you dont know? Just be happy right here, right now, and when death arives look in its eyes with absolute positivity and accept it. Take it as the next part of your individual story.

 

[Breathe]

Well, the concept of hell is debatable within the Bible; often it uses "Sheol" and its translations, which mean "The grave".

I believe in life after death; I believe in reincarnation. I'm sure there are a myriad of websites attempting to prove the existence of life after death in various ways. I don't worry about it. If I do worry about it, what could I change? Could fearing bring an afterlife? Could fearing an afterlife meaning there would not be one? Of course not.

It's normal to wonder about life after death and occasionally fear it. It's like taking a divine into the big unknown after all. But hey, of the billions who've died, nobody has come back and complained, right?

 

[Aloquaciousgirl]

Wow. That's so helpful guys. I feel a lot better already. I don't like the idea of no longer existing, but I don't feel soo terrified now. =)

 

[DeitySlayer]

Personally, as a former Catholic, I used to be not at all scared of death. Because I was sure that Mr.Magic would be there and it would all turn out fine in the end. However, once I concluded that Catholicism, Christianity, and theism in general was false, I was ****-scared. Until I did some thinking.

Do you know how long eternity is? Imagine a billion planet-sized ball of steel. A fly lands on one of the balls every million years. When the friction from the fly landing and taking off has worn away each of the billion steel balls to nothingness, eternity will not even have begun.

How much does that devalue this life?

Look around you. Look at the incredible beauty of this world; the burnished gold of the rolling savannahs, the mysteries of the deep, the colour, the voices of the wind and the birds and Nature. Look at the beauty in others; look at friendship and love. Look at all the knowledge there is to collect; look at all there is to find out about the elegant mechanisms of this Universe.

What you have to realize is that the nothingness in the hereafter is not to be feared. The nothingness in the hereafter is precisely that which makes this life all the more beautiful. It is what makes the smiles of your loved ones all the more precious; it is what makes you appreciate the crimson waves of light rolling over the horizon as the sun rises in the morning that more special. It is that which throws this world into sharp focus, and what illustrates to us what a rare and wondeful gift we have been chanced with.

Do not yearn for immortality; for when you have acheived everything there is to acheived, done all there is to be done, are flooded with constant happiness; there is no fulfilment, no sense of completion, no new thing to taste or sense or feel.

Make your mark in the time you have. Do not waste your days in trying to prolong them.

-----------------------

Well that's my philosophical musings over Hope this helps.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I can tell you what happens when you "die"...and I know this from speaking with those who have 'died". It is merely up to you as to whether you can believe it or not....

There is no 'death"...only change.
We reincarnate....
We are Energy forms...and as such can neither be created, nor destroyed, only change form.
You can choose what family you are reborn into, but you cannot choose whether you will come back as male, female, healthy, or sick.
When you cross over you will indeed be able to see previous pets, loved ones, friends, etc...providing they have not reincarnated (crossed back over) yet. Yes, even animals reincarnate. It is just the natural thing for energy to do...change.
You cannot be reincarnated into an animal or plant or insect. Our energy level is different than other forms. A dog for instance does not have the energy level to sustain a human spirit.
There is no God that is known to exist in the spirit realm. As far as spirits are concerned, there is no God, no heaven, no hell. There is however something like a purgatory.
There are spirit helpers that will greet you when you cross-over. They will help you find your way in the spirit realm and to the next life.
When in the spirit realm you will have access to knowledge of all your previous past lives...you will know who you were in your past lives. What good you have done, what bad you have done. What goes around comes around...whether good or bad.
They say there are very many confused spirits...people who either did not believe in an afterlife, or people who were expecting more...like expecting they were going to be greeted by God in heaven. They wander around endlessly looking for something that they may never find, or just plain confused all this is happening.

Anyways, there is probably more that I am forgetting to mention, but that is basically how the afterlife works. Like I said, it is up to you whether you believe it or not.

I will give you a link to a thread that I had started a while back conscerning this very topic. You might find it interesting.
Here's the link...
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/general-religious-debates/76837-messages-dead.html

 

[Slo_Motion_BC]

Hi:

What happens when people die. Lets see what the bible says. We must be careful because the bible sometimes speaks about parables like Luke 16th chapter. So lets see what really happens at death.......................

Psalms 146:4,KJV,
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

But wait what does Jesus say.............

John 5:28,29,NLT,
28 Don't be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God's Son,
29 and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to judgment.

Jesus says he is going to raise from death both the good and not good. So what shows the difference between good and not good?

1 Samuel 16:7,NLT,
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person's thoughts and intentions."

Matthew 12:35,NLT,
35 A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart.

Jesus then says something very important..........

Matthew 22:37-40,NLT,
37 Jesus replied, "`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 A second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

So then where will the approved from God live?............

Matthew 5:5,NLT,
5 God blesses those who are gentle and lowly,
for the whole earth will belong to them.

What will the earth be like?

Revelation 21:3-5,NLT,
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
4 He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."

Isaiah 65:17-25,NLT,
17 "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth-so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more.
20 "No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only sinners will die that young!
21 In those days, people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
22 It will not be like the past, when invaders took the houses and confiscated the vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees and will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.
24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
25 The wolf and lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Poisonous snakes will strike no more. In those days, no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

So although our thoughts perish at death God will raise people through his Son Jesus Christ. The only thing is which will we be, the good or the not so good.

The next time one of Jehovah's Witnesses comes to your door ask them to show you more wonderful things that God has in store for people that he approves of.........

1 Corinthians 2:9,NLT,
9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him."

Respectfully,

Slo.

 

[Noaidi]

Make your mark in the time you have. Do not waste your days in trying to prolong them.

Liked your post, DeitySlayer. Very eloquent.

If one considers the number of possible combinations of sperm and egg, the fact that it's YOU sitting here reading this should give pause for thought. Death is inevitable - but life is there waiting to be grabbed by the nuts and shaken until all the good bits fall out! It's our job to pick those bits up.

 

[Rael]

Wow. That's so helpful guys. I feel a lot better already. I don't like the idea of no longer existing, but I don't feel soo terrified now. =)

YAY!!! Im happy for you.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

If this is all there is it doesn't bother me, because as someone already said, I wouldn't know it anyway, I'd be dead. I do believe personally there must be something else beyond this, like a golden pure land, or heaven, or netherworld, or whatever you wish to call it, but I can't prove that. I also believe that people can reincarnate if they're too attached to this world.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Id imagine the afterlife will be quite indistinguishabe from the before~life.

 

[Zeroa]

I used to be afraid of there being no afterlife, but then I had an experience that made me less afraid-- I fainted. I was only out for a few seconds, but I was completely unaware of that time. There was no blackness. There was quite literally nothing. I remember saying "I feel dizzy," and then I remember nurses all over me trying to bring me around (since I conveniently passed out in a hospital), and absolutely NOTHING between those two events. Afterward, I thought, if that's what death is like, that's not so scary. You don't perceive the nothingness of not being because there's no you and nothing to perceive.

I actually do believe in an afterlife of some sort, but I am pretty determined not to spend my life worrying about being dead, and now I am not afraid about being wrong because if I am, there's quite literally NOTHING to be afraid of.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Well the way I see it, fearing death is pointless, you can't stop it. That's quite as pointless as fearing that winter will come, because it indeed will come. Regardless of what happens after, death comes to all. Realize this in certainty and all fear of death will end.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I used to be afraid of there being no afterlife, but then I had an experience that made me less afraid-- I fainted. I was only out for a few seconds, but I was completely unaware of that time. There was no blackness. There was quite literally nothing. I remember saying "I feel dizzy," and then I remember nurses all over me trying to bring me around (since I conveniently passed out in a hospital), and absolutely NOTHING between those two events. Afterward, I thought, if that's what death is like, that's not so scary. You don't perceive the nothingness of not being because there's no you and nothing to perceive.

I actually do believe in an afterlife of some sort, but I am pretty determined not to spend my life worrying about being dead, and now I am not afraid about being wrong because if I am, there's quite literally NOTHING to be afraid of.

I guess that's one way to look at it. Good for you!

 

[jaareshiah]

There was an ancient group called the Epicureans that had the motto, "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die."(1 Cor 15:32) The Epicureans contended that life came into existence by accident in a mechanical universe, and that death ends everything, liberating the individual from the nightmare of life.

At death, a person does cease to exist. God told Adam, following his disobedience: "In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you shall return."(Gen 3:19) Hence, after Adam had died, he became "dust" again. And as for the condition of the dead, Psalms 146:4 says that when a person dies, "his spirit (or life force, like electricity in an appliance) goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish." And another Scripture that enlightens us as to the condition of the dead, is Ecclesiastes 9:5, which says that "the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all."

Thus, a person is not tormented in a "hellfire" as the churches claim, but instead no longer exists, not having any more thought processes. Though a person is no longer alive, the Bible lays out the hope of returning from the dead because of being in God' s memory. An example of someone who returned from the dead was Lazarus. At John 11, after Lazarus had died, Jesus referred to him as "sleeping".(John 11:11) Why ?

Because those who have died are like in a deep sleep and like a deep sleep, can be awoken. These can be resurrected (literally "stand up again" to life) from the grip of death, to live again, just as Lazarus did.(John 11:43,44) Jesus said: "Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out."(John 5:28, 29)

Job, a righteous man who lived some sixteen hundred years before Jesus came to the earth, asked: "If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait, until my relief comes."(Job 14:14) Hence, Job realized that he would die, and while in the grave or his "compulsory service" he was required to "wait until his relief " came by means of a resurrection from the dead at God's appointed time, during the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ.(Rev 20:13)

In the last book of the Bible, at Revelation 21, it describes life on a paradise earth in the near future. The apostle John saw this in a vision: "With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”(Rev 21:3, 4)

 

[xkatz]

Aloquaciousgirl,

Before I begin, I wish to say welcome to RF

I have felt your pain before. I thought that way for sometime. As others have said, we cannot be certain what happens to us after we pass away from this world so to say. Many people believe many different things about it. Some believe we "return" to god, some believe we are reborn, others believe nothing happens. The point is we cannot be certain. Death however, should not be a concern. If one just lingers on the thoughts of death and the afterlife, they waste their lives away doing so. They worry about death and cannot think of anything else and just waste their time essentially. I know this might be a bit hard to understand, but the best thing you can do is not giving a damn about what happens when you die. Learn to enjoy life. Face death when it happens.

 

[Suzanne]

There’s life after death, it continues, at least what I experienced and then wrote about it in Mommy’s Writings. The experience changed my life forever and, of course, my perspective about it. In the Holy Bible there are references, some of which might be of comfort are St. John 14:2 and 3; I John 1:5 and I Corinthians chapter 15.

*Edit*