How is it that life has meaning?  Not that my life is empty, or that I lack faith in God, or that I don't belive in an ever expansive universe of which I'm ultimately just a little part.  Maybe I just don't really know where i'm going? Any good ideas on what comes after life?
213456
yes you are a mormon dont lie to me lol.
370383
If there is no God, then I have two things to consider: Either there is an afterlife, or there is not. If there is none, then there is no me to be sad. If there is, then I hope that I will have lived the life I wanted to.\n\nIn any event, I am striving to live a life that I will be proud of when I die. Whether there is or is not some God, Goddess or Deity, I hope that I can be proud of the life I have lived when it is time for me to travel to the summerland.
280634
My belief?  To be honest, I'm uncertain.  I would like to think that there is a God and there is a Heaven, but I can't say that I believe 100% that there is.\n\nMy feeling is that I will live the best life I can, serving others, and generally being a good person.  If there is a God and a Heaven, then I hope that the way I lived my life will be the deciding factor in where I spend my afterlife, rather than whether or not I believed 100%.
24129
Darn you.  You sucked me in with your question, then I get here and I see 42 is already taken.  Now we really have to go on a trip and I'm without a towel.  Well ok, let me see what I can come up with, shooting from the hip as it were.  My best guess is that the meaning of life, the universe and everything is "MORE".  The quest for more seems to be at the center of all living creatures.  All organizations be they organic or manmade seem to be trying to get "more".  The universe itself is expanding, so I am told.  As for "everything" anything that should happen to get created instantly becomes part of everything, so even everything seems to crave more.  Yes I think I'll stick with the answer "MORE".  What?  Wait, just a minute, my wife is yelling something from the kitchen...... (long pause).....Hello I'm back again.  My wife says the answer is "LESS"  She says life is always moving toward death which by it's very nature is less life.  The universe is made up of a limited quantity of everything and it is being used up also, so you have less now than in the past, and as for "everything"  Well since everything gets used, you must have less of everything now than there was in the beginning.  So my wife and I will agree to disagree and say that the answer is:\nMore or Less, or possibly More and Less.  I guess that's pretty much the same as 42 because 4 is more and 2 is less.  I'm getting a pain just behind my left eye from all of this thinking.  What!?  Just a minute, my wife is yelling again!........ I'm back.  She said I'd better get off this Yahoo Answers thing and come to the table if I want any dinner.  I told her that I'll never have to come back to Yahoo Answers again because I just pretty much summed up life, the universe and everything.  I'd better hurry if I want more to eat and less yelling.  So long and thanks for all the fishes.
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I'm sorry to hear about your friend, as well as the others who have died. That's rough.\n\n(We had an incident here a month ago where an 8th grade girl was killed crossing the street at night walking home from a dance. Some of the kids witnessed it, and the community was shaken by the whole thing. It was just so unexpected, and seemingly unfair.)\n\nAs you can see from the earlier answers here, people disagree tremendously on whether an afterlife exists, and what it might be like if it does.\n\nDeath is a hard reality that we all must come to grips with eventually. The fact is simply that, like it or not, we all have to die, and we don't quite know (in any sort of way that can be "proven") what waits for us on the other side until after the fact. \n\nOh, we can firmly believe certain things about life after death, but it's still a matter of faith for everyone concerned.\n\nYour belief about an afterlife really is going to hinge on what you choose to believe about this world, who God is (if you decide he exists), what sort of relationship you could have with him, and how that relationship could come into being. \n\n[Based on my life experience and what I see to make the most sense, I do believe in an afterlife, God, and human souls who will be close to each other after death. Heaven's not a trophy or an amusement park reward like it is often portrayed ("Believe the right thing, and win the big prize!"), it's being close to all the people who have learned how to truly love others and God ahead of themselves... a place where you can be completely open because you know you are safe and accepted.] \n\nI wish I could give you a clear answer. What I can give you instead is a bit of direction: If you're worried about death and whether your loved ones will still be around for you afterwards, I would start with the search for God. The answer to that riddle for you will greatly determine what you believe about death.\n\nDon't be scared to search and explore, and enjoy life as you go in the meanwhile. Death is a hard thing to deal with, true; but when we accept it as simply a reality, we can live life in the moment without worrying about it.
644525
Having faith means you believe that life, truth, and goodness will have the last word. Not only *can* you rely on that in your day to day life, you *have* to. Why else would you be living? So you and the people you love can end up as worm food? So the whole planet will be swallowed by the sun in a few billion years? If faith isn't true, there is no truth and no meaning. Without faith, my life would be a charade. But with faith, the smallest gesture can be full of meaning.
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I wasn't a Christian before I knew God. \n\nLife then was miserable. This is how it was back then.....\n\nWell, even though not knowing God, life goes on as usual. The only thing is that the way I look at things.\n\nMy Perspective:\n1. I trust no one. Everyone is suspicious and could be up to no good.\n2. I love no one but only myself. Because why should I love others or give to others? What good does that benefit me?\n3. I hate and I really hate. Hatred lingers all around. For each time I am being hurt, it is burst out and it lingers for a long as I can remember.\n4. I seek for revenge and destruction. For it is my only means of protection. It is the only way I know how to defend myself for nobody loves me, nobody cares for me and I only have myself to rely on.\n5. Justice and fairness does not exist. There is no honesty and trust. Only I myself can win in all things. For only I can steal and take things away from others but others cannot take away things from me.\n6. Fun means cruelty and at the expense of other's pain.\n7. Peace and love? What's that? Never heard of and I believe it never exist. Only to the imagination of others.\n8. Money and material things reign! If you have money, you are everything. You can even be like God.\n\nAnswers to your questions:\n1. What will happen to self esteem, self worth, self perception?\nNothing happened. Self remain the highest place of existence.\n\n2. Is life worth living?\nYes, life is worth living at the expense of others. I mean life is to make money and to become powerful. So, each time you feel sad, just get somebody to be bullied, to be hurt, to be insulted. Next, get something to numb the senses or the bitterness such as (e.g drugs, alcohol, excessive behaviour like gambling, racing...etc.)\n\n3. will you be depressed and confused?\nYou see, there are those who can actually live life without God. There are religions out there that doesn't have the element of God. Therefore, they deny their senses, deny their pain, deny anything and everything. So, there are those who can actually cope with their without being confused and depressed. There are those who place wealth and wordly achievement as their "god".\n\nBut now that I know about Christianity, I believe that religion is the only means to keep a crazy world sane.
35856
Life – it has a meaning and loving purpose - you just have to find your purpose and live it.\n\nI believe every person is here for a definite purpose. Each person is special and valuable; that refers to me, you, your family, friends, in fact everybody! There is a loving plan for each of our lives here on earth and there is no such thing as coincidence. I don't believe that anything in life happens by chance and that every aspect of our lives points to something deeper.\n\nAs human beings, we all ask the question: Who am I? Who am I meant to become? What is my value or destiny as a human being? Who will become for me the model of my humanity? Pope John Paul II told us that ultimately JESUS CHRIST IS THE ANSWER to these questions. Christ is the living blueprint and pattern for our humanity. Jesus Christ reveals our meaning to us.\n\nThus Pope John Paul II, quoting Vatican II in his Redeemer of the Human Race, wrote: "Christ...fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling." "In Christ and through Christ," the pope added, all are enabled to come to "full awareness of their dignity...and of the meaning of their existence."\n\nYou need to decide now to live for God rather than for yourself. You spend your life on Earth preparing yourself (as best you can) for death. I don't see death as a scary, negative experience, but birth into a bliss filled eternal life with God. I believe that this is something you have to consciously choose or not during your life on earth. \n\nEach of us is called to affirm, accept and develop the talents God has given us.
283261
I think the meaning of life is to have a good time.Don't be a dumba.s.s but have fun,meet new people and learn new things. I'm only thirteen,but,I'm not out there tryin to kill myself and act stupid.Just have a good time!
102052
there is no point. but i'll try to blind link you anyways http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/meaning_of_life
305405
Why do you exist—why were you born? What is the meaning of your life? Were you put here for a reason? You can know—you must know!\nWhy were you born? Is there a reason—a meaning—for your life? Is your existence part of a divine plan?\n\nWas mankind placed on earth by an all-wise Creator as part of a great Purpose—a MASTER PLAN? Knowing the answer is supremely important!\n\nThink for a moment. What could be more important to understand than the purpose for your life?\n\nAtheists refuse to know. Those who do not accept the existence of God certainly cannot accept that He has a Master Plan. \n\nCynics scoff at the possibility of knowing. They see the confusion and wide disagreement over this question and conclude it can never be answered. \n\nScientists cannot discover this knowledge through laboratory analysis. Honest astronomers, microbiologists and others acknowledge that God exists, but this alone does not reveal His Purpose for mankind.\n\nPhilosophers cannot discern it through meditation or discussion. Divinely revealed answers cannot be obtained by centuries of pondering questions. \n\nEducators cannot teach what they themselves were never taught. Those who merely teach from books written by other men cannot teach what those books do not contain. \n\nAstrologers dazzle with tricks that reveal nothing of value. Do any reasonable people seriously think that such “business people” (those who sell fortunetelling as true understanding), supposedly in contact with the “dead” and the “spirit world” (actually demon spirits), hold the meaning of life? \n\nTheologians offer humanly-devised counterfeits. All religions profess to hold the answers to life’s questions, but their ideas pale as cheap substitutes—empty counterfeits—when the awesome truth of God’s Plan is fully understood.\n\nMost people live their entire lives without a clue as to why they are here. They drift aimlessly, unconcerned about the answers to life’s greatest questions—why life and why death? Others enjoy debating the meaning of life, but never arrive at the correct answers. Many conclude that mankind is little more than a product of evolution—blind, dumb luck!\n\nInsoluble Problems\nThe world is experiencing an explosion of knowledge amidst ever greater human suffering, unhappiness, discontent and confusion. Why such ever-worsening moral decline alongside astonishing materialistic progress? Weapons of mass destruction now threaten man’s very survival. \n\nWhy? And where do we go from here?\n\nThe number and severity of problems facing mankind have never been greater—disease, pollution, poverty, ignorance, religious confusion, war, terrorism, crime, violence, hunger, immorality, slavery, oppression, political upheaval and much more—why? \n\nProblems both between and within nations have never brought more division between peoples—why? \n\nWith the passing of time come more problems, not less—why? \n\nAlso, existing problems grow collectively worse instead of better—why?\n\nWhy, at every turn, has man botched, bungled and failed miserably in all efforts to solve his truly great problems?\n\nIndividually, people have never seemed more incapable of addressing and overcoming their personal problems. As with the world in general, the passing of time sees individuals and families drowning in a sea of moral decadence and under seemingly insurmountable difficulties. More and more seem completely incapable of managing their lives—why?\n\nMen have created many amazing technological inventions, but they cannot create solutions to their problems. Mankind has harnessed the power of computers to process vast amounts of information, but human beings cannot correctly process their personal problems. Scientists have discovered much about the size, magnificence and precision of the universe, but they cannot discover the way to peace. Astronomers can find majestic, beautiful new galaxies throughout the universe, but they cannot find
602997
An interesting question to answer as it is by default infinetly unanswerable. Imagine that feeling that you get when you wake up from the worst hangover of your life, you look outside and the sky is lifeless, grey, boring not even the once tedious sound of birds fill the air. Nothing.Silence, you realise suddenly that you are the last human alive. Why? What is my purpose? no purpose... you die.There. No life, no wind, no rain, no music, no shouting, no passion, nothing, a terrible vacuum of nothingness. But...things can only get better...
159810
When I was younger, I was terrified of Heaven. Actually, it wasn't the concept of Heaven that bothered me; it was the thought of eternity. My child's mind tried to comprehend what that would be like, to go on forever without end. What would we do? Wouldn't we get bored? Isn't there SOME kind of ending to it all? Questions like these rattled through my head over and over again. I was unable to completely grasp the concept of eternity, and my inability to do that upset me greatly.\n\nNow that I am older, I am no longer afraid of Heaven or eternity. That isn't to say that I now understand either one of them; eternity is still a bit too big a concept for me (or any human, I think) to truly grasp. Why I am no longer afraid is that I have learned to trust God over myself. Even if I don't understand eternity, God does, and He will know how to run it just fine. With faith in His wisdom, I know that eternity will be something to look forward to, not something to fear.
80489
I totally know what you mean. I used to think about that all the time, but I would just exhaust myself. I think the only sure thing we know is that we know nothing. I am a bit of an agnostic, but certainly don't think that everything just happened by chance. Was there ever nothing? If so how did we ever get something? If scientist say there is an end to the universe, what is it like a wall? Plexi Glass that you just bounce of of? Or is it like Pacman where you just pop out on the other side? There is so much that is just unexplainable in t his world. I am just glad to be a part of it. I have pretty much given up on trying to figure it all out. While I am in no hurry to die, I am somewhat excited at the possibilty of everything being answered once I go. Good luck in your search for answers. We need the Teacher's Edition of the bible, one with all the answers in the margins( I wonder how much that would go for on eBay?)
540852
Here it is folks today's version of "what is the purpose of Life"... I just knew we would get through the day without one.. \nSorry about the tirade...\nOk, The meaning of life is... Drum roll....\n\nEnough being silly..  There is nothing anywhere more important than love. So the meaning of life is to Love and to be loved...   Jim
425837
Sure, why not?  Who is to say with any precision what happens after this life?  I have no personal rememberances of any past life, but then I don't recall what I did in June either.  \n\nMany claim that since the Bible does not endorse reincarnation directly, then reincarnation does not exist.  However, the Bible may imply it, indirectly, in three instances in the Gospels, (if I recall...LOL)  And with hundreds of millions of non-Christians, non-Muslims and non-Jewish people around the world, reincarnation is an accepted fact of life; to Hindus, to Buddhists.  \n\nAny one person answering this question, with a definite Yes, or a definite No, is just parroting what they have been told, since they cannot objectively document it.  \nIt wouldn't surprise me, if God utilized reincarnation.  \nTo say otherwise, is an example of me circumscribing God in my image.  I can't wait to see the end of this excellent movie called "Life".... or is there any end........?
87290
How often do you ask yourself "What’s it all about?"" What’s my purpose?" "Where am I going?" Like most people, many times I would imagine.\n\nIn reality we won’t know the answer to that question while we are alive. We can speculate and guess and make educated hypotheses. We can also learn to listen to our inner voice, telling us that something just feels right.\n\nFor some, being on Earth is to wake up in the morning, do your “thing” during the day and go to bed at night, then repeat it all the next day; with no in-depth meaning of what life is about. For others, being on Earth is about experiencing life, being glad you are alive and looking forward to the next day because it has meaning for you.\n\nThere will always be extremists who believe in one extreme or another. At one end are the people who view life as having no meaning. They don’t believe in God or any form of a higher Being. Its okay when things are going well but they are ill equipped to handle the rough spots. At the other end are the people who have a deep-seated belief in a Divine Being. These people have something to fall back onto when the going gets rough. It may still be painful but nevertheless, they have some form of meaning in their life.\n\nWhy are we here? Those who have no religious or spiritual beliefs won’t care very much. “Maybe its all an accident of nature” say some. “We were cloned and put here from another planet to populate Earth” say others. Fortunately, there are many that believe that we are here on planet Earth to grow in consciousness, to express love and even be a co-creator with God.\n\nSurprisingly, many people who live in tyranny and desperate poverty are able to grow in consciousness despite the absence of outside ideas or help. One would think that the daily challenge of subsistence living would take all of their effort. Nevertheless, many develop a deep belief system –individually or with their local group- and often seem to achieve that growth more quickly than people in more affluent countries.\n\nWe should never lose sight of the fact that the United States is a wonderful place to live. Here we have above all, freedom of speech and belief. Our environment is conducive for learning and expanding our consciousness. However, all the luxuries that we have often make us lose track of the significance of keeping in touch with our spiritual side. To grow in consciousness and be an expression of the Divine Source requires some effort on our part. But, it is well worth the effort.\n\nThink of your life as an expression of God, experiencing a journey on planet Earth. Learning to be a creature of love, still faced with trials and obstacles of everyday life but developing faith and trust in a Divine Plan. Know that there is a reason for your life, and if we all start by trusting the Divine Source, life is less painful, more tranquil, and more rewarding. We all have a choice in life; to be kind and understanding or be cold and uncaring, with no concern for others. You will find that life actually goes more smoothly for you if you follow the path of Loving-Kindness.\n\nEvery time someone does a kind deed or says words of kindness it helps to raise the level of consciousness as a whole. Just think what a wonderful world it would be, if everyday each person consciously committed an act of loving-kindness. It doesn’t take much, just a smile or even making eye contact with someone whom is in need of a “pick me up.” Then think what the world would be like if we all went around self-serving and full of bitterness, each person caring only for him or her self. Not a very pretty picture, surely not what the Creator had in mind, not what its all about.\n\nThe world is made a better place one step at a time by each one of us taking the time to be considerate and caring. It really doesn't take much effort on our part and the benefits are well worth it. Try it, you might like it