Why is there an association between a deity and an afterlife?

[anotherneil]

This is how it is in many versions of religion & from what I understand, there are some forms of religion where there is a deity, but the idea behind an afterlife isn't a thing. Supposedly there are some branches of Judaism where there isn't a belief in an afterlife, or something to that effect.

Perhaps there are some religions that have a belief of an afterlife but no deities of any kind, including angels, demons, etc. If there is, I wonder why people don't just convert to that; it seems like it would be easier to believe something like that.

 

[Link]

Salam

Belief in the type of afterlife depends on what you see as the purpose of this life. I also don't see this world as a meant to be world, but a back up plan of a back up plan. And the situation we are in, is layered deep in back up plans.

I think anything short of forever infinite never ending journey to God as a reward makes this life vain. We get different ranks in this ascension which will be different type speeds and also depends on what treasures we had in our souls from God. I believe also, if God treats good and evil alike, it makes him unjust and life test vain. I don't think what is drastically negative in value should be treated what is treasurable and in positive value by God. I believe in justice though I know @Bird123 sees this belief as petty vengeance.

The fact I believe I'm created here in this human form with a purpose, makes me believe in other things automatically, like unseen dimensions which includes Angels and light forms of God's chosen leaders.

I believe those who are envious of God's chosen can't be put on equal plain of those who love God's chosen. Some people never make that choice and don't hate nor love, and they have different judgment paradigm, but those who oppose God and his signs out of envy, cannot be equated and dealt the same as those who believe in them and set to bring balance in this world and set things aright.

I also think reincarnation would in time makes fallen souls more worse, and better souls better in time, but it won't reform all evil souls to better just as it won't make better souls fall. It's not very useful also to give that much time, we need a pressure cooker and this would reform more souls.

 

[SalixIncendium]

If there is, I wonder why people don't just convert to that; it seems like it would be easier to believe something like that.

Because most people, in my experience, do not pick and choose what they believe.

Also, why would you assume the chief reason one picks a religion is because it's easy? I went on a two-and-a-half mile walk a short time ago. I didn't go because it was easier than sitting and staring at a screen. I went because of the health benefits and the scenery.

 

[PureX]

I think we humans have been perceiving a realm of existence that we cannot directly interact with or fully understand for a very long time. And we have been perceiving it in ways that we tend to relate to both invisible divinities and a spirit of the afterlife, equally.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

How might primitive peoples understand dreams?

 

[siti]

I don't know where the association (between the existence of deity and the afterlife) originated but they are certainly linked in the idea of God as a "perfect being". The argument goes something along the lines of (and bear in mind I am scribbling very quickly from vague memory not attempting to construct a consistent theological argument):

Absolute perfection is metaphysically possible in all the respects in which God is supposed to be "great"

If God exists, then God can be absolutely perfect in knowledge, power, wisdom...etc...and, importantly, benevolence

If God is perfectly benevolent, God would desire the very best for his human creation...and that would certainly include an afterlife because the cessation of existence after just 70 or 80 years seems a massive curtailment of our ability to enjoy life.

My point is God and afterlife go together (in Abrahamic type religions at least) because the conception of that deity requires that "he" would do everything to maximize human enjoyment of life.

Of course I don't believe a word of it (before anyone gets upset at me presenting an argument in favor of the afterlife).

 

[Quintessence]

Why would I want a non-theistic religion just because it tells stories about an afterlife? That's not who I am. Beyond that, why would anyone do something that is so contrary to their nature? What changed in their lives to fundamentally alter their nature, or what force coerced them into pretending to be something they are not?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Perhaps there are some religions that have a belief of an afterlife but no deities of any kind, including angels, demons, etc. If there is, I wonder why people don't just convert to that; it seems like it would be easier to believe something like that.

Why would it be easier?

IMO, the idea of an afterlife is pretty outlandish. It needs something like a god to make it plausible.

 

[Vinayaka]

There is? I see the two as independent concepts.

 

[Stevicus]

This is how it is in many versions of religion & from what I understand, there are some forms of religion where there is a deity, but the idea behind an afterlife isn't a thing. Supposedly there are some branches of Judaism where there isn't a belief in an afterlife, or something to that effect.

Perhaps there are some religions that have a belief of an afterlife but no deities of any kind, including angels, demons, etc. If there is, I wonder why people don't just convert to that; it seems like it would be easier to believe something like that.

I suppose we could have no deity nor any afterlife. Or we could have a deity and no afterlife. In the absence of any deity, I suppose one might possibly conceive of an afterlife of some sort, but I'm not sure how or why. Perhaps some natural process takes place automatically, just like the decomposition of our bodies after we die.

A lot of religions ostensibly suggest that there was some actual intended purpose (on the part of some deity or deities) to the creation of humans. Moreover, our well-being, how we lead our lives, and the final disposition of our "soul" are somehow important, special functions of the universe. I think that's an assumption based on an assumption - even if one assumes the existence of some kind of "creator" or deity who made the universe and decided how it would function.

It could be that the creation of humans was an accident and that we're all headed for Hell, regardless of what we do or how we live our lives. Not as a "punishment," but simply the universe's equivalent of a garbage can. It could be that humans are an earlier, defective version which failed and will be ultimately deleted at a later date. Are there are any religions which believe in something like that? I'm not aware of any. They all seem to believe that humans are special, but what if that's not really the case?

 

[siti]

It could be that the creation of humans was an accident and that we're all headed for ... the universe's equivalent of a garbage can.

Yep, that's about it I think...I wonder what day the collection is...wouldn't want to languish festeringly longer than necessary.

 

[Stevicus]

Yep, that's about it I think...I wonder what day the collection is...wouldn't want to languish festeringly longer than necessary.

That's a good point. But I guess the garbage never really goes away. It just gets moved somewhere else.

 

[siti]

That's a good point. But I guess the garbage never really goes away. It just gets moved somewhere else.

As long as its not in my backyard...wouldn't want my putrefying mortal remains littering my corner of paradise...

On second thoughts, I'm thinking of "coming back" as a tree - not just any tree, one of those that lives a thousand years and then gets chopped down to make a fine dining table or the paneling in some baronial mansion somewhere, ultimately to be devoured by termites and fungi and turned into the compost that feeds an entire new generation of plants and animals as temporally remote from me as I am from my pre-human ancestors. No need for a deity with that grand and very realistic view of the "afterlife". I'm perfectly comfortable with that.

 

[Heyo]

This is how it is in many versions of religion & from what I understand, there are some forms of religion where there is a deity, but the idea behind an afterlife isn't a thing. Supposedly there are some branches of Judaism where there isn't a belief in an afterlife, or something to that effect.

Perhaps there are some religions that have a belief of an afterlife but no deities of any kind, including angels, demons, etc. If there is, I wonder why people don't just convert to that; it seems like it would be easier to believe something like that.

Once you are gullible enough to believe one or the other, you are likely to believe both (and a bunch of other things that have the same amount of evidence behind them). That's a typical strategy of religions, in for a penny, in for a pound.

 

[Bird123]

Salam

Belief in the type of afterlife depends on what you see as the purpose of this life. I also don't see this world as a meant to be world, but a back up plan of a back up plan. And the situation we are in, is layered deep in back up plans.

I think anything short of forever infinite never ending journey to God as a reward makes this life vain. We get different ranks in this ascension which will be different type speeds and also depends on what treasures we had in our souls from God. I believe also, if God treats good and evil alike, it makes him unjust and life test vain. I don't think what is drastically negative in value should be treated what is treasurable and in positive value by God. I believe in justice though I know @Bird123 sees this belief as petty vengeance.

The fact I believe I'm created here in this human form with a purpose, makes me believe in other things automatically, like unseen dimensions which includes Angels and light forms of God's chosen leaders.

I believe those who are envious of God's chosen can't be put on equal plain of those who love God's chosen. Some people never make that choice and don't hate nor love, and they have different judgment paradigm, but those who oppose God and his signs out of envy, cannot be equated and dealt the same as those who believe in them and set to bring balance in this world and set things aright.

I also think reincarnation would in time makes fallen souls more worse, and better souls better in time, but it won't reform all evil souls to better just as it won't make better souls fall. It's not very useful also to give that much time, we need a pressure cooker and this would reform more souls.

Why are really good girls attracted to the worst guys? Why do opposites attract? Why does chemistry bond people together? God works on multiple levels with multiple views. Think multi-angular displacement. You think fixing everyone can't work. From what I see, it can't help but work!

Look closer. There is a lot going on that most do not even notice or see. There is Genius behind everything. That's what I see. It's very clear!!