what do you believe? is that belief worth dying over?
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Nothing is worth dying for.\n\n\n\nPS> Hi huntjames. How are you?. You are still my friend.
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did it ever occur to anyone that what they believe will happen to them? i mean, if an atheist thinks that when they die, that's it, then that is probably what will happen to them. i'm just saying, if i die believing i'm gonna be a frog in my next life, it's MY belief, so it will be MY idea of the afterlife or heaven. it's the same as christians interpritation of heaven. some people think it's gonna be angels in diapers playing harps others think it's gonna be one big kegger...it's all depending on what you believe.
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What makes you think you have to have a firm decision of what awaits you after death?  Unless you ask someone who has died, you aren't going to know, so why agonize over it?  You'll find out when you get there.  Right now, you're here, so pay attention to one thing at a time.\n\nVarious religions have different beliefs about the afterlife that they hold firmly as hope for a better world and compensation for the suffering they've endured in this one.\n\nPeople without religious beliefs, or those who have chosen to spurn their family's faith, often believe that there is nothing after death.  Those thoughts often begin with a basis in not wanting to believe there is a hell to punish them - the rest just falls into place.\n\nDeath is the big unknown, so naturally there is a lot of speculation about it, and has been, down through the ages.  That's why most religions offer something of an answer.  Some have a heaven (of various names), some have repeated cycles of life on Earth to offer more learning experience, some - oh you get the drift here.\n\nIt's natural for humans to fear what they don't know, and since we don't know what follows death, some are afraid.  Others have religious guidelines to follow, and fear is alleviated, often replaced with anticipation or even joy.\n\nWhichever category you fall into, the fact still remains that we won't know until it happens to us, individually.  Why waste your energy worrying about it?  Make your own decision about what you believe, let everyone else alone to make theirs, and get on with your life.
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LONG POST.  Skip if want to.   I have been there once.  I am agnostic.  I am not sure how much weight that will carry in helping you but hope my few words might get the thought process in you motorizing.   Just let me talk about my personal experience.\n\nI don't worry abou the afterlife aspect.  I have pretty much made peace (tho, not 100%...more like 85% to 90%) that my soul will rot along with my body.  My soul is made purely of synapses that happen in my brain matter.\n\nYES, I do still wonder at times what death will be like, and how I might die.  Just natural curiosity and a small fear of simply "not existing" anymore.  That fear or wonderment is perfectly natural.   It is not eternal bliss or eternal damnation or reincarnation that I look forward to to establish my selfish "immortality".  (Imo, it is selfish to me)\n\nI am of the belief that it's the HERE and NOW that matters so much.  I am thinking that my self-assigned purpose is to affect as many people as I can during my --and ours-- lifetime as possible.   I have made others laugh, learn to respect humanity's differences, to be more compassionate.  I attritube some of that success to my being deaf.  In turn, perhaps SOME of them might teach others --their children?-- what they learned.   THAT is my "immortality", Heron.  THAT is my "eternal bliss".  I know in my heart and head that SOME people actually passed it on to their loved ones about being compassionate.  \n\nHeron, Love, I have already had a hard childhood and a hard life.  Part of me is actually looking forward to death as the final escape and a welcome relief from my pains and sorrows of this life.  When I am OLD, when I am OLD!!!!!  :-p  I don't want to committ suicide!  :-p  Relax, peeps!  ;-)\n\nI am also no longer as afraid of simply blinking out of existence.  It's inevitable.  The future that Star Trek espouses, I so badly want to be there, but know I may not live to see it.  I accept that reality.  I just turn my fear of the non-existence into a focus on the HERE and NOW.  I just gape in wonderment of TODAY's science and my imagination SOARS on where it may lead......\n\nA smile at a sad child at Tim Horton's can brighten her whole day.  Years later, when Child is a old woman, she may remember this friendly stranger with the loving smile long after I turned to dust.  In turn, she may return the favor to another sad child she sees at a restaurant.  It's the MEMORY of me that I know will establish my "immortality".  I am hoping in the future, my second cousins or future unborn nieces/nephews will take my poetry (1,000+ already!) and try to publish some of them.  That is also my hope for immortality---just like my beloved poet, Emily Dickinson.\n\nCivilizations come and go.  A thousand years hence, our civilization may not be here anymore.  Religions may no longer exist.   We will no longer be remembered excepting for our own pottery and "ancient items".   Heron, my love, everything comes to an end, just as everything has a beginning.   Both the good and the bad.\n\nWhat is important is to accept your fear as natural....and to gain courage from that fear to take a leap where this may lead you.  All people of faith go through this.  Who knows, Heron, I may "return" to Wicca in the future.  Or be drawn to another religion.  Unpredictability is the magic of life.  :-)   The sooner I accepted that reality, the less I was afraid.  \n\nI was wiccan.  I believed in some of the gods/goddesses.  One day, I was doing the Full Moon ritual.  A thought just popped up out of nowhere that kind of shocked me----"If you are not getting anything out of this praying, hon, STOP doing it.  You are disrespecting the "god" if you pray and don't feel anything out of it!"    After that, I stopped if I felt it would be a "hollow ritual", void of feeling.  Eventually I had to question my wiccan
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Is it fear? For me, no. As a matter of fact believing, for me, brings out more fear than not. If I believe, I am afraid I will be someday tested on that belief, where as if I didn't believe, there would be nothing to be scared of. \n\nRandomness of life? No. I still feel as if life is random, just a long series of events sometimes subject to change on a whim. Sure, I believe that is all attributed to God, but it doesn't make it less stressful, or meaningful to me.\n\nMy Parents? My parents were not of the same religion, and it was never practiced in our home. I knew my mom talked about God in times of trouble, and that my dad hated the idea of church, but other than that, I didn't learn it from them.\n\nAlways believed? For me, like I said above, no. I actually had heard VERY little of God until I was 15, and my parents put me into a Christian school, because I was a bad kid, and had behavioral problems in Public School. Thats where I first hear about religion, God and Salvation.\n\nGod gave me a shot, and when I'm dead, I'm dead? Yep. I believe all that I do based on faith. but I have no proof, and it is possible the scenario you stated could be true. If thats the case, what do I have to lose anyway. I'll be dead, and it wont matter what I thought anymore.\n\nHelp me sleep at night? Sure, a little. But I worry about so much as it is, and I have more to think about than just falling back for comfort on my belief. Thats not what real belief is. It should not be a crutch we use only when we want, or need it.\n\nBeliever to non, or reverse? yes. I was a non-believer, and now I am a believer. For me, all the proof I needed was how my life changed when I came to believe in Christ and have faith. I was a terrible kid, no conscience, no guilt, no shame. I was abusive to my little brother, our animals, I routinley made my parent cry. I lied, I cheated, I stole, you name it. And I felt nothing about it. When I became saved, it all stopped. And it didn't stop just because suddenly people said I had to, but instantly, it ended, through no effort of my own. I changed into a new person in a moments notice, with no effort, no work, no conviction on my part. That alone was proof to me, I had found something real, and it was given to me freely. THATS why I believe in God. From that moment, my life has never been the same, it has only gotten better, and I could not have done that alone.
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First of all, MAN wrote the bible based on his interpretation - not God.  So how do we really know what the truth is??  Everyone can have their own opinion on where you go after you die, but bottom line is, you'll never know until you die.\n\nI personally believe in reincarnation to some extent.  I also believe that we create our own heaven or hell here in this existence, by being as good as we can - otherwise known as KARMA.
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Imagine how scary it must be to not believe in God, or in an afterlife.  Imagine how scary it is...if you are wrong.  I would imagine that many people that claim not to believe in God must have a nagging doubt, some underlying suspicion that they may not even be aware of.  If you live your life in whatever way you choose, claiming not to believe in an afterlife, in heaven or in hell, then what happens if you are wrong?  I would think that must be terrifying...and what do many people do when they are afraid of something..they attack.  They attempt to fight, to disprove, to make themselves feel better, to feel safer, in any way that they can.  That is just my opinion.
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The first question you need to answer is: do you believe in a life beyond death?\n\nIf not, then the purpose of this life is truly something that is limited to this life. Which means, there is no greater purpose behind the scenes, so whatever goals you set for yourself in life, they're it.\n\nIf you believe in something greater beyond death, there are many beliefs around the world. Many people believe in an eternal soul that goes through many different stages of learning, beginning at very basic consciousness, learning as a living being, like here on Earth, then moving on to more complex matters. If this reflects your own way of thinking and believing, then you may consider your current life as a single lesson (or more) in this evolutionary process of your soul.
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I agree... what is it they believe and what possible good reason could they have for believing?  And why would they stick with it for so long?   Good question... no answer.
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those who believe in god ....believe that there is someone up there looking after them.those who don't ....want to believe that they assume power over their own fate....they control their own lives.\n\ni think that it doesn't matter whether u believe in god or not...the loss is still too big....the only answer is to help someone else...not to feel such pain you have experienced...maybe we can make a difference and maybe we can't but at least we have tried.\n\nif there is a god....maybe he'll be merciful\nand if their isn't ...at least we changed someone's life and gave him control
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Your question assumes that I have a life now.  People keep telling me to get a life, so I might have a problem answering you. :-P\n\nSeriously, whether you believe there is life after death depends on what you believe about religion.  If there is a God, then there is a good chance that we have a soul that survives after death.  If there is no God, then it's less certain.\n\nIt's hard to tell whether there is a spiritual world around and beyond us that we can't see.  Despite a lot of testing, no scientist has ever found a ghost, or confirmed a miracle.  But, there are many stories told by people whose bodies have died for a short time and then been brought back to life by doctors.  All of these people tell the same story, even though they've never met.  They all went through a sort of tunnel of light, moving upward to a place of great peace and joy.  Some describe reaching that place briefly and encountering God.  If you are interested in these "near-death experiences," I recommend that you read the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who took down many such stories.\n\nYou also have to take into account all of the reports of miracles and visions that people have experienced throughout history, and continue to experience today.  Scientists have found non-spiritual explanations for some of these things, but not all of them.  They all point toward the existence of God (or many gods), and many of the visions describe an afterlife.\n\nYour question leads to another important question: Since we do not know for certain whether there is an afterlife, how should we live in this life?  Should we live in the way we think is "good," even if it's sometimes hard; or should we go ahead and do whatever we want to do?\n\nThe brilliant French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, looked at your question hundreds of years ago.  He came up with a solution, which is known as "Pascal's Wager."  ("Wager" is another word for "bet.")  Pascal, who was a Christian, believed that the Bible contained God's advice for how to live.  He figured that if there was a God, then God's advice for how to live must be "good."  He also figured that, if there was no God, then there probably was no afterlife, either.\n\nHe said: "Okay.  Let's say that I live my life in a good way.  If there is no afterlife, then my life on Earth will be okay, but uncomfortable at times.  If there is an afterlife, then I will go to Heaven.\n\n"Now, let's say that I don't live in a good way.  If there is no afterlife, then I've had an okay life with no discomfort, because I've done whatever I wanted to do.  But if there is an afterlife, then I will go to Hell.\n\n"So, if I live a good life, the best thing that can happen is that I'll go to Heaven.  At worst, I'll have an okay life with some pains in the butt.  If I live a 'bad' life, the very best thing that can happen is an okay life with no pains in the butt.  At worst, I'll go to Hell.\n\n"No matter what, if I'm good I'll come out way better, or at worst only a little worse-off, than I will if I'm bad.  So, I'll be good."\n\nThat's how Blaise Pascal figured out that, regardless of whether there's an afterlife, it's better to live according to a set of good rules than to go around doing whatever you want.  People all around the world still follow his advice today.
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To an extent. When death is imminent or appears imminent, even the staunchiest athiest among us may for a second wonder about his fate and what will become of him or her. That's where the God aspect comes in. I would think it would be kinda hard to, say, lie alone dying somewhere and not ponder anything in those last moments except your fading breathing and slowing heartbeat. I mean, if you don't believe in a higher power, what do you do when you lie there dying if there is no one around? Lie there and think, "gee, I wonder if I left the oven on?" Of course, I haven't been in that position so I nor anyone else typing here would know.
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If God exists he/she/it is all knowing & is so not going to care if in your life you picked the wrong religion.  If you are a good person & do your best in your life any God worth believing in would understand.\n\nBelief in God gives me a sense of peace & helps me deal with the pending death of my family as well as my own mortality without fear.  Either way it's a winning situation.\n\nWhat would be sad is if you lived your life being a total jerk & then discovered God in the afterlife... something to think about :)
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of course not what do you think?  How long have you believed this?
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No. I am not a really big religious person but i still believe that if someone is, that is a major life decision and they should believe in what they think is best. Not believe in something just because you do.
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Isolation. I don't know what to believe, so this isolates me. People are telling me left and right that I need to believe in something, and that I don't have much time to choose. 'Choosing.' It's such a strange term for such a thing as spirituality. They make it seem like you're at a fast-food drive-thru. Like you're picking an item off of a menu.\n\nThis is something I take seriously, just to let you know. One shouldn't 'choose' religion in haste. A person should make an educated decision based on where s/he is in life. Does this decision make you comfortable? Will you be more isolated? Rejected? Hated? Will you be satisfied with your decision later on in life on your deathbed? Will you regret everything you know?\n\nIt hurts. You don't know what path you should go down. You never know if you can travel back, or if the path will be covered by leaves, or if there's a big gaping hole where there was once your path. It's up to a person to responsibly walk down whatever path they 'choose.' Choose wisely. Or be your own person. That would be better...
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I think it is important to believe in SOMETHING. Whether it is Jesus, Allah, the Jewish God, gods, or no God or gods at all. I think it is very important to make an informed decision on your belief rather than say "the world sucks, there is no God" or something similar.