Do you believe in an afterlife? If so what is your beliefs as to what happens when you die?

Lara said:
This makes it abundantly easy and clear to understand. It's brilliantly explained and meets everyone where they're at. "If you believe there is no life after death, for you there won't be one. If you believe there is, for you there will be". And your phone/cloud/backup analogy is also excellent.

I've always thought about how our brain records our data (memories, thoughts,images,sensations as you said). Which explains dejá vu maybe. The brain goes into rewind and then forward at rare times. It's all data backed to "the cloud". Which is an archaic way of looking at it as compared to what's really going on but is certainly a valid way to express it on Man's level of understanding.

I do believe I will be given a new spiritual body in eternal life. I'm intrigued and confused by one sentence, Hoot... "My personal opinion is that the process is triggered by prayer". Hmm, I don't know exactly what you mean. But I do feel prayer is a way to have a deep personal relationship with God through prayerful conversation.

Elsie, I also believe in the Trinity :) The data of our lives is what will be reviewed by God on Judgement Day. It sounds scary but it's not. Because God will not punish believers for the bad things, but rather reward them for the good things (Christ paid the punishment for the bad things already).

Star Song, babies will have an afterlife. They are too young to have heard or read the Gospel. All children, up to an unknown accountable age will be given an after life. Anyone who has never heard or read the Gospel will be given an afterlife because they never had the chance to choose to believe or not to believe.
Click to expand...

I'm just expressing my idea that we can't know all the details, at least yet. Does the "backup" occur continuously or in some "batch mode", and what about bad memories that we would just as soon forget? I dunno. But, since we are supposed to pray, I'm suggesting that the act of prayer, no matter how briefly we pray, may be what creates the "data transmission" - it isn't just our words, but God also hears what's in our heart and mind and stores it.

And as for children and babies - the default position on your phone is for the backup to occur, and only stops when you tell it to stop. Same with ourselves. Infants and children are not old enough to have changed the "factory settings".
 

The existence of "life after death" is self-fulfilling. If you believe there is none, for you there won't be one. If you believe there is, for you there will be. And as for the "soul" or "spirit" surviving after our mortal death, it is really simple, too. For example, if you have a smart phone, you know that its data will automatically be backed up "to the cloud" unless you change the settings to stop it. Even if the phone is destroyed, the data is still out there. Our soul/spirit is the sum total of our life experiences and thoughts here on earth. Those we still remember and those we have forgotten. Those memories/thoughts/images/sensations (data) are "backed up to the cloud" by some process as yet unknown, unless you have selected to turn off that process. My personal opinion is that the unknown process is triggered by prayer. So, I will have an after-life, not bodily, but my spirit will live on, and I will be reunited with the love ones that have preceded me in earthly death.
Click to expand...

And exactly how do you know that, Hoot N Annie? What if the exact opposite is true? What if (as I believe) it's all nonsense? We could just as well say, "For those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, and click their heels together
three times, she will be waiting for them after they die. But only if they truly believe in her."

Your analogy with The Cloud is hilarious. So maybe it turns out that Steve Jobs was God?
 
Sunny said:
And exactly how do you know that, Hoot N Annie? What if the exact opposite is true? What if (as I believe) it's all nonsense? We could just as well say, "For those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, and click their heels together
three times, she will be waiting for them after they die. But only if they truly believe in her."

Your analogy with The Cloud is hilarious. So maybe it turns out that Steve Jobs was God?
Click to expand...

You and I must be different religions, Sunny. I never could believe in Apple products and therefore expect Bill Gates will be in charge...
 

"....For those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, and click their heels together
three times, she will be waiting for them after they die. But only if they truly believe in her...."
Now that would really be funny if I clicked my heels together now while still alive and some tooth fairy dentist came and repaired my teeth.
 
I am not religious. I do believe in a Creator, living things and the Universe is simply too complex to have ''just happened''. BUT, I think they we are born from nothing and end up in nothing. I don't believe in the bible, either, it was written by men, but even the bible says "dust you are and dust you will become'' (something of the sort). So, why do ''religious people'' ignore the bible and believe in a hereafter? As to the soul, has anyone ever seen a soul or has any soul ever come back to tell you about that hereafter? I try to be a good person only because it makes me feel good, not because I will roast in hell or fly about with wings in heaven when I die.
 
"....For those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, and click their heels together
three times, she will be waiting for them after they die. But only if they truly believe in her...."
Now that would really be funny if I clicked my heels together now while still alive and some tooth fairy dentist came and repaired my teeth.
Click to expand...

Elsie, if she charged less than my current dentist, I'd become a believer! ;)
 
Sunny said:
And exactly how do you know that, Hoot N Annie? What if the exact opposite is true? What if (as I believe) it's all nonsense? We could just as well say, "For those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, and click their heels together
three times, she will be waiting for them after they die. But only if they truly believe in her."

Your analogy with The Cloud is hilarious. So maybe it turns out that Steve Jobs was God?
Click to expand...

The thread is about what we believe, and I have no desire to convince you I am right. This topic comes up a lot on these sites, and I have noticed one glaring fact - non-believers seem to be driven to try to humiliate/make fun of believers with comments about tooth fairies and Santa Claus and Sky daddy (Steve Jobs was a new one), while believers make no such attempt to belittle non-believers, and are typically respectful. I wonder why that is....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top