Beliefs on the afterlife

[jrandom]

You are over thinking my statement

No, you are under thinking it.

[oldrider]

So I am sitting here, contemplating life in general and was wondering what are your beliefs about the here after??? I’m sorry if this offends anyone, I am not out to do that at all.

The reason for this thread … in the last 3 weeks I will have attended 4 funerals, and I don’t think that this will be the last in the near future but crossing fingers that it will be.

All had an effect on me in different ways, ages ranged from 45 to 70, none were really religious and I wondered, what do you think is out there?? And what brings you comfort? With the diversity of people on this site it got me wondering about what you all think….

Now I was brought up in a catholic family and know the basics from that religion…and I have my own non religious thoughts on what happens when you go, and some people that I have spoken to call me morbid as I don’t find death a taboo subject… actually I am probably the most organised if anything does happen to me, its all written down… just interested to see what people believe.

So help me out peeps, what are your thoughts/beliefs and please try to keep it on topic I genuinely want to know!

Do you think it would help you believe in the here after, if you really knew what I was here after? (lol) John.

[Number One]

No, you are under thinking it.

unlike your user name that response was completely predictable. I see where you are coming from and I don't disagree however in this instance you are overthinking it

I should be clearer when I said 'you are overthinking my statement' you clearly didn't pick up on the subtlety of the statement that I was making...let me bold the bits I felt were key in this message...

it astounds me how some posters seem to be almost rabid about their views being accepted as 'true and right' and anyone not agreeing gets ridiculed for not seeing 'sense'

...does it really matter what any of us think...personal choice is best owned in our thoughts and what anyone else 'thinks or knows' is almost irrelevant

If I have to be blunt what I was saying was...who is anyone to judge someones elses opinion just because it doesn't match with theirs.

But I have taken your bait sir, which I know is your game and I have other things to get on with so I say Good day

[EJK]

Is there a refund policy if you miss the flight?

The flight will wait for you.
One way ticket to hell anybody?

[MisterD]

Of course it does.

This is not a game.

Thoughts motivate actions.

Actions affect all humanity.

Actions motivated by thoughts that are not based on reason lead to very concrete problems.

Most of the world has spent the last half-millennium painfully and bloodily struggling up out of the darkness and into the light.

It behooves us to fight the shadow wherever it appears.

Belief without reason is the first step on a road to fear, hatred, oppression and slaughter. I will never fail to raise my voice in dissent against it.

Someone translate that into Yoda-speak...it's crying out for it.

[Max Headroom]

This is a big topic, one which will more than likely get moved to PD before long.....

As jrandom suggests, this isn't a game. Nobody Gets Out Alive.

Our "world view" (our take on life in general) is our internal guide. Regardless of how well defined or fuzzy it is, we all have some idea of how life should be for us as individuals, as members of society, and as part of a global community. We might not be able to define our values clearly let alone explain them to someone else, but those values are how we measure whether our own actions or those of another person's are acceptable or not, help us decide what we want out of life and how we're going to achieve those things. It encompasses our "outlook on life" and includes our moral code. As such, it also includes what happens to us when we die.

Ultimately we sift through our life experiences, relationships, media messages, books, movies, friends, enemies, and various other external influences and weigh up for ourselves what's important. We adopt our take on life after death according to how it fits with our world view.

None of us knows for sure what will happen to us when we die, because none of us has died and come back. (And I'm not trying to sound clever or cynical here.)

I'm rapidly approaching my 50th birthday in the next few years, so I suppose I've had plenty of time to reflect on this stuff. I've developed a view based on quite a bit of reading and personal observations. The position I've come to is that for me it would require more faith to believe in random chance/evolution theory than to believe in a Creator.

Unfortunately, these days admitting publicly that one is a Christian is a bit like admitting to an STD. There's so much crap that's been done in the name of God that He had nothing to do with. There's also the belief by many that those who claim to be Christian are insecure, unstable, weak, untrustworthy or deceived. Apparently we're just looking for a crutch because we can't handle reality. And unfortunately for some, that would be true. Equally there are many misconceptions about Christianity that the media enjoy expoiting, and clowns like Bishop Tamaki don't help one iota. I for one resent the media referring to Tamaki as though he's the national spokesman for all Christians in NZ. Many of us have had a bad experience with a particularly annoying religious freak ramming it down our throat, and obviously that experience affects or influences our view of religion. My personal experience suggests there's a gulf of difference between "religion" and "christianity".

So, who's right about God/life after death and who's wrong? And how would we know? And even if we did know, would we change our position? Heck, there's plenty of evidence to suggest smoking has no medical benefits and plenty of drawbacks but folk still do it......

See, we rationalise our position to suit our world view, and it often takes a personal crisis to challenge that view. So just because a belief is commonly held by the majority doesn't make it true or correct. It wasn't that many centuries ago that the generally held belief was that the earth was at the centre of our universe, and before that, it was that the earth was flat.

[Grub]

.... I heard it on the radio ....

Rowan Atkinson: “Devil Sketch”

Hello, nice to see you all again.
Now, as the more perceptive of you have probably realised by now, this is Hell, and I am the Devil. Good evening. You can call me Toby, if you like – we try and keep things informal here, as well as infernal. That’s just a little joke.

Now, you’re all here for eternity, which I hardly need tell you is a sod of a long time, so you get to know everyone pretty well by the end, but for now I’m going to have to split you up into groups. Are there any questions? Yes?

Um, no, I’m afraid we don’t have any toilets. If you’d read your Bible you would have seen that it was damnation without relief. So, if you didn’t go before you came then I’m afraid you’re not going to enjoy yourself very much … but then, I believe that’s the idea.

Right, let’s split you up then.
Can you all hear me still?
CAN YOU HEAR ME AT THE RACK?

All right, off we go …
Murderers, over here. Looters and pillagers – over there please, thieves if you could join them. Ah yes, Lawyers and bank managers … princes among thieves, you can join them as well thank you. Fornicators, if you could step forward – my God there are a lot of you. Could I split you up into adulterers and the rest? Adulterers if you could just form a line in front of that small guillotine there.

Okay …
Americans, are you here? Look, I’m sorry about this, apparently God had some fracas with your founding fathers and damned the entire race into perpetuity. He sends particular condolences to the Mormons who He realises put in a lot of work. That’s the way the wafer crumbles. The Iranians, I’m afraid, can’t be with us – someone’s been holding them in purgatory for about nine months. Seventh Day Adventists? Look I'm dreadfully sorry to tell you this but there's been a bit of a mixup. It wasn't the chosen 144,000 it was .144 thousand. Someone got thier decimals mixed up and you're from 145 and up.

Sodomites, over there against the wall.
Atheists! Atheists? Over here please. You must be feeling a right bunch of charlies. Okay, and Christians! Christians? Ah yes, I’m sorry, I’m afraid the Jews were right. Now, Moonies, maniacs, marmite eaters, male models, masochists, mass murderers and masseurs, if you could take a pew at the back - yes yes, there with the Methodists.

Now, where's that lot who used to kill whales? Ah, yes, I must remember - I’ve got some strips to tear off you bastards later. Everyone who saw Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” – I’m afraid He can’t take a joke after all. Firefighters? that should be all of them ... what on earth could you have been thinking!

Alright now, one final thing. We’re trying to implement some kind of exchange scheme with the Lord God Almighty, or Cliff as we know him. Some of you will travel up and have a decade in heaven and we’re having some angels down here. Now, I hardly need tell you that in heaven you will be expected to behave in an exemplary manner, so I hope you will do the exact opposite – tear off their wings, use their haloes for frisbee practice, that sort of thing.

Well, I have to go now unfortunately, but Beelzebub here will show you the ropes ... and the chains, and electrodes.

I’d just like to leave you with a favourite joke of mine, if I may. Quite apt to the circumstances, I think, which goes something like:
“Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Death.
Death wh…”

[1 Free Man]

Yes I believe in the after life and reincarnation.
When I come back I'm going to be a girls bike seat

[Sully60]

Yes I believe in the after life and reincarnation.
When I come back I'm going to be a girls bike seat

Be careful what you wish for!

[1 Free Man]

This is a big topic, one which will more than likely get moved to PD before long.....

As jrandom suggests, this isn't a game. Nobody Gets Out Alive.

Our "world view" (our take on life in general) is our internal guide. Regardless of how well defined or fuzzy it is, we all have some idea of how life should be for us as individuals, as members of society, and as part of a global community. We might not be able to define our values clearly let alone explain them to someone else, but those values are how we measure whether our own actions or those of another person's are acceptable or not, help us decide what we want out of life and how we're going to achieve those things. It encompasses our "outlook on life" and includes our moral code. As such, it also includes what happens to us when we die.

Ultimately we sift through our life experiences, relationships, media messages, books, movies, friends, enemies, and various other external influences and weigh up for ourselves what's important. We adopt our take on life after death according to how it fits with our world view.

None of us knows for sure what will happen to us when we die, because none of us has died and come back. (And I'm not trying to sound clever or cynical here.)

I'm rapidly approaching my 50th birthday in the next few years, so I suppose I've had plenty of time to reflect on this stuff. I've developed a view based on quite a bit of reading and personal observations. The position I've come to is that for me it would require more faith to believe in random chance/evolution theory than to believe in a Creator.

Unfortunately, these days admitting publicly that one is a Christian is a bit like admitting to an STD. There's so much crap that's been done in the name of God that He had nothing to do with. There's also the belief by many that those who claim to be Christian are insecure, unstable, weak, untrustworthy or deceived. Apparently we're just looking for a crutch because we can't handle reality. And unfortunately for some, that would be true. Equally there are many misconceptions about Christianity that the media enjoy expoiting, and clowns like Bishop Tamaki don't help one iota. I for one resent the media referring to Tamaki as though he's the national spokesman for all Christians in NZ. Many of us have had a bad experience with a particularly annoying religious freak ramming it down our throat, and obviously that experience affects or influences our view of religion. My personal experience suggests there's a gulf of difference between "religion" and "christianity".

So, who's right about God/life after death and who's wrong? And how would we know? And even if we did know, would we change our position? Heck, there's plenty of evidence to suggest smoking has no medical benefits and plenty of drawbacks but folk still do it......

See, we rationalise our position to suit our world view, and it often takes a personal crisis to challenge that view. So just because a belief is commonly held by the majority doesn't make it true or correct. It wasn't that many centuries ago that the generally held belief was that the earth was at the centre of our universe, and before that, it was that the earth was flat.

Too deep Max!!! I'm coming up to 55 going on 30 next month.
When ya number comes up you take your ticket and go. No drama! Here one minute gone the next. That's how my Dad went and I hope to follow in his footsteps in that regard.
The other option is how my older brother went with cancer of the apendix. 1 in 15,000,000 chance of getting that. Long slow death over 7 years. Eaten away from the inside. If any one out there has been and come back please start a thread to let us all know what lies beyond.

[Grub]

Be careful what you wish for!

On the other hand....

[Grub]

If any one out there has been and come back please start a thread to let us all know what lies beyond.

Yes, please post it in http ://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/Forums/Meetings_and_Events/The Ride_Tour Report

[1 Free Man]

Be careful what you wish for!

WHOA FUCK That's scary ain't it. Might have to rethink on that. Might be better being worm fodder LOL

[1 Free Man]

On the other hand....

See I told you that there could be a good life after death. Now ya got me wanting to go early

[Forest]

I believe that when a person dies, their mental existence ceases and there is no afterlife.

However I also believe that the decisions and actions we make during our lifetimes have a profound influence on the people around us, and that this is a part of us that will live on after we die.