(Poll) Alternate Death Systems

[Trailblazer]

Whatever happens, I want to know the "why?" at the end. Why did my life happen the way it did, why did things happen, why was I born with certain traits and not with others, etc.

In a very general sense I believe that the reason why our lives unfold as they do is because it is fate. God decides our fate and I don't think that we have much control over many things that happen. I believe we have free will but it is very limited. We can make moral choices and some life choices but we cannot do anything we might want to do. I believe that we are constrained in many ways because of our childhood upbringing and our genetics, which determine our temperament and intellectual capacities.

I believe we might know why our lives were as they were after we die and go to the spiritual world, because that is the World of Lights, but I don't think it will really matter what happened in this life after we die because I do not think we will be thinking of the past after we have a life review.

 

[shivsomashekhar]

In a very general sense I believe that the reason why our lives unfold as they do is because it is fate. God decides our fate...

What criteria would God use to determine our fates? For instance, how does God determine that infant A is fated to be born healthy while infant B is to be born with serious ailments?

... and I don't think that we have much control over many things that happen.

I agree. The older I got, the more this became clear. Life could not have been anything other than what it is. Life cannot be anything other than what it will be. There are no "If only" alternate scenarios.

 

[gatehrdy]

Currently, there are only about four systems of what happens after you die:

No Afterlife: You die, your body rots. There's no such thing as soul
Rebirth: Usually Buddhist, your body rots and souls are destroyed. However, the self is like a candle able to be passed to a new vessel (which usually winds up making the same stupid mistakes)
Reincarnation: The soul is immortal and transfers to a new body.
Afterlife: You go to... wherever, depending on the religion. People often think all religions are this category and all believe in Heaven and Hell, which reveals their extreme ignorance. The Norse for instance believe in Nine Worlds where things live, and some of these are part of an afterlife.

However, this is not the limit of all systems that can exist.
Resetting: Similar to how an RPG works. You repeat the "game" at the last "save point" until you get it right
Reiteration: People you know come in and out of your life through death but they get to "echo" as different people with similar features.
Recycling: You die, and your soul converts into energy. Your body, on the other hand converts into raw materials for new life.
Immortality: You, assuming you earn it, rise from the dead as a sort of invincible solid superghost. All lesser souls become petty ghosts until their goals are resolved, in which case, an afterlife or reincarnation occurs.
Other: There's probably other ideas.

For this exercise, don't tell me what you feel as part of your worldview, you "should" believe, but what type of system you'd prefer. This should get more varied answers than atheists all jumping on the bandwagon of no afterlife.

I chose other: I believe that after death, the soul does what the person believing wants (this includes people who want to punish themselves).

I prefer what is written in the Bible which is the dead are sleeping, and when the Lord returns the dead in Christ will be raised and rewarded immortality.

 

[Trailblazer]

What criteria would God use to determine our fates? For instance, how does God determine that infant A is fated to be born healthy while infant B is to be born with serious ailments?

I do not know because I am not God. Only God knows.
There are many things about God I do not know, much more than I do know, not the least of which why God allows some people to suffer through no fault of their own, while other people are happy most of their lives.

I agree. The older I got, the more this became clear. Life could not have been anything other than what it is. Life cannot be anything other than what it will be. There are no "If only" alternate scenarios.

Thanks for saying that. If that is true, I think God had something to do with our fate.

I am a lot older than you and getting older so I have been thinking about this much more lately. There are things I want to change related to my lifestyle but I feel completely helpless to change them. I have plenty of money so that is not the reason. I just cannot make a decision to change my lifestyle and act upon it. I do not know if this is because this is my fate or it is because I am afraid and indecisive or because on some level I am not as unhappy with my lifestyle as I think I am. Is the grass always greener on the other side? Confused is what I am.