More on the afterlife

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Inspired by a comment by NOG. What (if anything) do YOU think the afterlife will hold?

Clouds, Angels and Harps? (Or a devil with a pitchfork?)
72 Virgins?
The company of dead relatives? (how does that work if you remarried after your first wife died, do you get two wives?)
The ability to become a "god" of your own universe?
The chance to explore this Universe (but apparently not interact given the lack of anything noticable to date)

What happens to feelings and emotions? Do we lose all interst in the cares, needs and desires that affect us now (and makes us individuals)? Do we lose all interest in sexual relations?, If so how does this affect our personalities?

 

72 virgins sounds good at first, but think about 72 women nagging you - 1 is more than enough. Here is an interesting article on the 72 virgins.

As for whats in/what is the afterlife, I have no idea.

 

TBH, I've never liked the idea of the Christian heaven. I don't find the idea of dead relatives looking down on me at all comforting. Can't see the point in existing forever either; I believe the value of life comes from its transience, so an eternity of existence seems worthless. I'd rather just rot in the ground (as I think happens).

 

I don't think there is such a thing.

 

Death is the end of life. There is nothing after that, it's over. Why has the human race always struggled to come to terms with that concept? The end. Nothing else.

 

who knows. either there is nothing and i will never know. or maybe there is something, then ill take it from there. as far as i can see we cant proof anything of it, so why bother. when someone dies all we can see is that the body stop to funktion and the brain dies (and by all that we know thereby our very person die). but honestly who knows

 

If there is an afterlife, I would wish that it was a personal one, i.e., it is shaped and contains exactly what you want it to. So, if I want to sleep with a bunch of hot women, it would be so, and if I want to play war in the forest, it would also be so. That is paradise to me.

 

I will depart from this world, but I will never be dead. My life will continue on a higher level. Just like there is life after birth, I believe that there is life after death. I will first understand little of it, I guess, but I will learn and learn more about heaven.
I guess I'd recognize some people when I get there and get to know a lot more.
At some point, God will create a new world and a new heaven and with God we will rule over the world. And everything will be how God intended it to be at first, before we screwed up the masterplan.

 

If there is an afterlife I will burn in Hell forever since I don't believe in God, angels Heaven, Hell... It would be very strange to burn in a place that I don't believe.

BTW I would prefer Hell to 70 wives.

 

While it would be nice and jolly to think that there's life beyond life in some sort of paradise, I have yet to see any proof of such a thing and the notion is highly improbable.

When you die, that's it. Everything ceases - no senses, no thought, no anything.

I think the whole idea of afterlives was just another attempt at religion to control the lives of people "We might not be able to know what you do twenty-four hours a day, but God does and if you don't live by these rules you'll be punished for it!". I don't know of many religions where there isn't a good afterlife for good people and a bad afterlife for bad people.

 

The 'Christian concept' of heaven, sitting around on clouds playing harps with angels, is totally inconsistent with Christianity and its teachings on the matter. I have no idea where it came from, but it isn't Christian at all. Here's more or less what the Bible says, and what I believe:

When you die, your spirit 'sleeps' until the day of judgement. That's right, according to Christianity, no humans are in either heaven or hell at the moment. On the Day of Judgement, the spirits of the dead will rise and be judged, thus the name of the day. There are a number of judgements, and I won't go into them, but suffice it to say, a lot of people will go to hell, as will the demons (that's right, they don't rule in hell, they get punished there, too). Satan gets thrown into a pit for 1,000 years, but not hell, not yet. A lot of other people, however, will live in Christ's 'Millennial Kingdom' on earth, which lasts for 1,000 years, thus the title. I won't get into who goes where. It seems that the people living in this kingdom will be able to have children, but won't die, I think, maybe. Everything will be provided for them, though. At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is released for one final crack at humanity, to give everyone one last chance to choose sides. Presumably, this is for the people born during the Millennial Kingdom, and maybe those that were allowed in even though they didn't accept the name of Christ (never heard it and the like). After that, there's one last judgement where Satan and his followers are cast into hell, and then we get this:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, of the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'"-Revelation 21:1-4

It goes on to say that the New Jerusalem is 1,400 miles wide and long and high (3D?), but this may be symbolic. As you can see, it doesn't really say what life will be like, but you do get a general picture of perfection.

Over the years, and from a number of sources, both Biblical and extra-Biblical, I have come to believe that on some level we will become as gods ourselves, given power and authority to create and destroy. I believe that God exists outside of time, looking at time as a comic strip or the like, able to go forward, backward, and view long stretches 'simultaneously'. It is possible that the new heaven and new earth may likewise be outside of time. The most important thing to remember, however, is that at that point we will be perfect ourselves. There will be no greed, nor jealosy, nor anything of the like, so giving such power so such beings would not be a risk, and all glory would still go to God in the end.

It is also possible that this is all symbolic (Revelation is filled with symbolism) and in the end we will join with God in a more litteral meaning, expanding the Trinity into a Multiplicity, all perfect, but each unique and in total meshing with all others. This would explain Christ's statement that at the ressurection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage.

There are any number of other possible explanations, including the ever-present 'something great that only God could possibly think up, so we'll never guess it'. I guess I'll find out when I get there.

 

Personally, I believe that I don't know what death holds and neither does anyone else. Given that I won't know until I die, I can honestly say that I don't think about it much.

 

I'm with Drew. I have no idea if there is life-after-death. And to be honest most of the theories expounded either bore me or I find very chauvinistic. 72 Virgins! What about us women? I want 72 toy boys waiting on my every whim at every moment!

Hokay-seriously.

My theory is that this is the only life I have, even if reincarnation is true I certainly don't remember any prior lives. This is the one I live and my responsibility is to live it to the best of my ability. Which I have tried to do. Should there be a life-after-death and my heart is weighed on the scales against the feather I am content.

Little side note: I already walk in the Shadow of the Valley of Death. So the above serious reply is very serious.

 

It is impossible to know. IMO, there is no reason to believe that death is not the end forever - no afterlife whatosever.

I think belief in an afterlife is primarily a defense mechanism used to cope with the transitory nature of life.

 

I don't think it is possible for the human mind to comprehend non-existance, but at the same time you can switch 'non-existance' with 'eternity' and it is still true. I believe there has to be a balance of such in order for it to work out.

 

As there isn't any good reason to believe that an afterlife exists - I don't.

 

The potential for godhood and the potential for a reunion with your families in the eternities if you have lived properly.

If you were good, but not properly obedient, you'll go to nice kingdoms but there's not family or progression.

If you were an evil bastard and would not repent, or your sins were too great, then there is no glory and you are subject to Satan forever.

 

The concept of an afterlife was created by man's fear of the unknown. And, lets face it, death is the biggest mystery of them all. Whether or not there is an afterlife, I will worry about that when I die.

As to what I'd like in an afterlife, I'd say the ability to watch everything in the universe, read all the books I want, and create creepy internet messages and accounts that the police can never trace.

 

Me, I hope there wont be an afterlife. The very thought terrifies me beyond words.

 

All afterlife myths stem from the common fear that all humans have about dying. When I die I die...