What makes people want to believe in the afterlife?

Never heard of Iris Dement @Sunny, and don't know her songs I don't think, what is it?
 

It's hard for me to be 100% objective due to Southern Baptist and Christian influence. It has taken years to question parental authoritative validity to learn I was duped by what was determined best for me. Guilt and remorse is big factor in religious recruitment, one must regret present life to desire change. If Christians before they were Christian were happily satisfied with their life a desire for change may not occur.

I can only speak for myself but perhaps members can relate to being led astray by people you trust. I didn't have closure with my dad. If I could have talked with him I hold him accountable for his actions.
 

senior chef said:
I agree. People believe in an after-life simply out of fear of dying. To my way of thinking, death will "feel" exactly like before birth. I was born after Pearl harbor, I have absolutely no idea of what that felt like , much less having been aware of it. I honestly believe that after death, I will feel/think/be aware of … absolutely nothing.
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You are only an authority on your own thoughts and feelings. What you think motivates other's beliefs has no real authority.

As for nothingness after death, i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who wished that were true, but learned it isn't. But time/space different out of these bodies and those who cling to 'nothingness' hypothesis will likely experience nothing for awhile--not that they'll remember experiencing it when they come to awareness again.
 
Pepper said:
It's all wishful thinking. We know from childhood we will die. The origin of All Neuroses is our own fear of certain death. I wish people would stop having imaginary friends and concentrate on reality, 'cause that's all there is.
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Yeah, but reality isn't all that real, because it depends on the person. Eyewitness testimony, for example, isn't reliable. You can have several eyewitnesses to a shooting and they will give different responses to what they were all in the position to see or hear -- like an accurate description of the shooter.

My husband took on an impossible case once, that he investigated himself. A man had been shot outside a bar. There were many people there who knew the client. He was not there that night. He'd been in prison for 16 years, and there was no hope of another appeal. Based on the new evidence my husband had discovered, he was allowed to appeal and the client was set free. The police had basically done a very poor job investigating the case and they pinned it on this Black guy.
 
Mr. Ed said:
Perhaps as a reward for good conduct? Based on a promise? Heaven not Hell. Comfort in dying. Hope? Belonging? Higher consciousness and awareness?

What makes people want to believe in the afterlife?
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It is no secret that religion is often the opiate of the masses, a solace for all the world's ills. The state uses religion in order to control people - it tells them to behave, conform to its rules, and do not succumb to the temptation of taking what is not yours so that you may be given an eternal Reward. That through this compliance, order and conformity are maintained in a given society. Historically the state used the idea of a Valhala [the Hall of the Valiant] as an incentive for people to defend and willingly die for it. For millennia, people were fooled into fighting and dying for their country because they expect to get rewarded with a Stairway to Heaven. Biggest myth, biggest lie anywhere. But it has always worked to fool people. After all this time, it still does.
 
For me it is just hard to believe that all the thoughts and learning experiences I have accumulated throughout my life will just cease to exist. Seems like a waste to me and nature seldom wastes anything.
 
I think there are lots of reasons people believe in an afterlife:
  • Its a part of their religion.
  • As others say to reduce the fear of dying.
  • The chance to be reunited with loved ones.
  • Punishment of people who get away with hurting others in life.
  • I am sure I missed a few...
For me, I don't believe in afterlife, but being agnostic and sometimes optimistic I am hopeful...
 
Are people prone to believe in an afterlife or is the afterlife something that is taught?
 
Does believing in the afterlife make this life better or more tolerable? Most religious beliefs support the idea of an afterlife by separating a good afterlife for obedience and a bad afterlife for disobedience and suffering.
Desired behavior is encouraged by reward and punishment. Have you ever done something that caused you to feel remorse? Was it your conscience that made you feel guilty or from fear of godly punishment?

Growing up I was more concerned about God’s wrath than anything my parents could have bestowed upon me. But I don’t I have a firm grasp of an afterlife so all I can say is I’ll know when I get there.
 
I know there is an after life and that I will see my loved ones that have passed. I have always known I am an old soul. Cannot explain it but I just know. Was raised in church all my life but always knew there was something more. Every body has their own truth and I respect it. Please respect how I feel and don't think you can change it. I don't go to church very much any more but I observe Lent and the other traditions of The Episcopal Church. I do my daily devotionals and pray daily. God has brought me through almost dying after a massive stroke and three attacks later. His Grace allows me to live day by day through my physical limitations.
 
I used to believe in an afterlife. Now I don't. There wasn't a "before life" so why should there be an "after life?"

Oddly enough, I take comfort from this. I can't say why. I want to live till I die and no longer. I'm good with that.
 
I understand we came from nothing, well, nothing we can recall but returning to nothing is just very difficult for me to accept. If that is true, then what was the point of this exercise? Don...
 
Macfan said:
I understand we came from nothing, well, nothing we can recall but returning to nothing is just very difficult for me to accept. If that is true, then what was the point of this exercise? Don...
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Exercise, you mean LIFE? My son once told me "good or bad, I'm glad I got a shot" at living. That's the point,...........you had your chance at Life with all the highs and all the lows and all the in-betweens. Do you wish you were never born?
 
Pepper said:
Exercise, you mean LIFE? My son once told me "good or bad, I'm glad I got a shot" at living. That's the point,...........you had your chance at Life with all the highs and all the lows and all the in-betweens. Do you wish you were never born?
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No, Pepper, I do not wish I was never born. My hope is to discover there is something on the other side, that we can take the memories and the Love with us to the after life or, that there is something rather than nothing when we get there. Don...
 
When I was about 2, I "wrote" a song! I can still hear the tune, and the words, in my head. I can't replicate the tune here, but I can "sing" the words.

"I wish I were never born. Born. Born be born born. I wish I were never bo-rn, Born born born born born"

Why would a two year old make up such a song? I have two reasons. 1. I remembered where I came from in the cosmos and wanted to go back rather than live on earth; or, 2. (The one I think most likely): SOMEONE told me they wished I were never born. My sister and mother are the likely suspects, IMO.

The tune is really swell, I've always been proud I could compose it at two years of age.
 

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