OFFLINE

I am conducting a spiritual survey and I would like you to contribute your pearls of wisdoms. It is kind of a challenge and I know you are all up to it! So, let's get the boat moving! Thanks! 8)

Whether we like to think about it or not, the fact is that someday we will have to say good-bye to this wonderful planet and our beloved friends, family, and what-have-ya. I have been doing some spiritual research and one of the things I am interested in finding out is what each religion and non-religious philosophy has to say about the AfterLife. So, if you feel up to it, start posting your jewels of wisdom about it in the comments. To start with,

Do you believe in the AfterLife? If so, why? If not, why not?

(BTW, Answers like "because the Bible, Koran, Quran, Vedas, or any other religious book tells me so" are definitely NOT good enough! What if those books never mentioned or promised an AfterLife, would you still honor your faith? )

Why do we, human beings, have to cling to the idea of life after death? Where did the concept come from? Did it come from the Egyptians whose culture was centered around the idea of an AfterLife?

What would happen if there weren't an AfterLife? Would it affect your choices and lifestyle?

A friend told me that AfterLife is endless, forever, never ends! So, I wondered, what if it is dull? Why would I want to live forever in an AfterLife I have no idea or guarantee that it will be better than this life? Why do we have this obsession with immortality? What if the AfterLife exists and it sucks high time, what do we do next then? Invent a new one?

Yes, I am sort of challenging you to put your faith to test.

Is your faith strong enough to ponder these questions?
Is your faith strong enough to survive without the idea of an AfterLife?
Shouldn't being good for the sake of goodness be enough of a reward?
Are you good because you fear you will have a nightmarish AfterLife if you are not?
What does truly define your character, who you are, the way you live your life, the way you interact with others (including non-humans), the choices you make, your beliefs, your relationships, your essence?

And, these are questions I am making to myself as well. Let's get on with this journey together! (It's far more enjoyable than going it alone and, if there is an AfterLife, we can all have a good laugh together about this when we meet again on the other side. lol)

OFFLINE

I do believe a lot in afterlife. That's what gives me relief that I'm not going to lose anything after dying. It is very well known that ghosts/spirits do exist. There have been a lot of real-life stories which justifies this. Watch "A Haunting" show on Discovery Channel if you don't believe. So...there is life after death, which can be discovered only after dying.

OFFLINE

Thats deep @Barbara
I am going to answer that in detail later

OFFLINE

Good question Barbara. I was raised Catholic, but I'm recovering. :-) As a youth, up until maybe 12 or so, I was appropriately devout and all was well, but after that, doubts surfaced. By 18 I was pretty much past formal religion and with theist beliefs in general. I don't believe in a god or an afterlife, and I'm really quite ok with that. I think of myself as a good person in that I choose to be kind, polite and tolerant, but most of all because I try very, very hard to mind my own business. I find it easier to be tolerant because I shed a lot of the theocratic bias that made enemies and evildoers out of those that believe differently. I find it easy to mind my own business because I don't have a god-given right to judge others or try to impose my beliefs on others. Having lived in both worlds, believer and non-believer, I like this one a lot better. If I'm wrong, so be it. Choices have consequences, and I'm prepared to pay the price.

OFFLINE

Belief in the afterlife can be dangerous if you think this existence doesn't really matter and that all will be forgiven in the hereafter.  By living for today, and for this life, I'm more apt to be compassionate, understanding, open to new ideas, and able to embrace others' lifestyles.

OFFLINE

Don't stop reading this at the beginning but really listen because I am not the average of those who claim to partake in the same faith as mysef. I am a Christian woman who is 24 years old and I can honestly say I am no perfect little angel and have sinned in my life. Jesus came and died for our sins so that we could live the lives God already knew we were going to live with sin. God in the Bible is mainly described as Love namely GOD=LOVE which is what leads me to this as my general life's status and what I live by:

Live your life by the ways of happiness and show love to all even if it is difficult to show love to those that are a negative piece of your life. Do not be judgemental because nobody is so much more of a perfect little saint than the next person and we have all or will have sin in our lives at one point or another almost inevitably. The end times is something that I feel will come about either by our own foolish actions more so then some extreme flipping of mountains craziness caused by a higher power. Look at the weather lately, look at all these tsunamis and earthquakes what do you think is causing it? A higher power or our own inability to care for the earth? Lets look at this for two minutes how many billions of tons of garbage do we shove into landfills every day, week, month year? How much toxic waste is in the air, water and ground? How many pieces of radiation releasing technology do you see in any given day of the week? We have killed our home of Earth and have nobody but ourselves to blame. Enough said. Live your life to the fullest every day as we have created so many things that can cause death on a daily basis that nobody is guarunteed tomorrow. Let those you love know that you love them at least once a day or week because of that. Take care of yourself and the world around yu because though a small difference seems insignificant it could mean the difference between a world that is livable tomorrow and a world that is dead tomorrow. Live, Laugh, Love and enjoy it while you can but try to actually use critical thinking before acting on serious decisions and situations.

http://jsinclar.avonrepresentative.com/