What its like after death

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

 

[football5680]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

I believe in an afterlife but if there wasn't one then it wouldn't really matter. If I no longer exist then I cannot care that I am in this state. This idea is difficult to comprehend but there is no reason to dwell on it. If you contemplate the idea for a long time, you will eventually get to the conclusion that life doesn't really matter and it would be difficult to motivate yourself to do anything because in the long run it doesn't matter.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

I have children so it could never not matter. All the needs you ask god to meet wouldn't go away if you changed beliefs.

 

[Albion]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

Why don't you just say it without the attempt at philosophizing. So, it's "At death, there's nothing...forever."

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

Because that's hard to comprehend untill you compare it to before you were born.

 

[Albion]

Because that's hard to comprehend untill you compare it to before you were born.

Can you compare it to before you were born? I don't know what it was like before this life.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

Good question but not existing starts making sense now

 

[Joshua260]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

It's irrelevant to me. I did not become a believer because I felt there needed to be something after we die, but rather because of the numerous philosophical arguments for the existence of God and because of the numerous Christian evidences.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

It's irrelevant to me. I did not become a believer because I felt there needed to be something after we die, but rather because of the numerous philosophical arguments for the existence of God and because of the numerous Christian evidences.

I wasn't questioning it's existence.

I was asking how if thinking about how we were before we were born means anything to you concerning our existence after we are dead.

 

[Joshua260]

I wasn't questioning it's existence.

I was asking how if thinking about how we were before we were born means anything to you concerning our existence after we are dead.

Yes, I totally got it and my answer was that the concept of "about how we were before we were born means anything to you concerning our existence after we are dead" is totally irrelevant to me because I base my beliefs on reason, and I have been thus persuaded that Christianity is true. Therefore, I accept what the bible teaches on that subject. Before I became a Christian, I never considered the question.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

Joshua

You really don't need to keep telling me how reasonable and true your beliefs are... I didn't challenge them.

Thanks for responding.

 

[Joshua260]

Joshua

You really don't need to keep telling me how reasonable and true your beliefs are... I didn't challenge them.

Thanks for responding.

I was explaining why your question is irrelevant to me. If you ask a question, I would assume that you would want an answer. Why do you criticize me for responding honestly and accurately?

I'd like to also point out that *you* made the remark that prompted the way I responded and made the explanation necessary.
You said:
"I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there *needs to be something after we die*... "

So that's why I was answered the way I did. I never felt like there needed to be something after I die. Many atheists make comments like this and I believe they do so because they believe that's why Christians become Christians...just so they will feel better about where they will go after they die. Maybe that's the case for some, but it was not so in my case. So if I agreed with you or disagreed with you, both of those answers would have been dishonest. The answer for me concerning your choice was that it was irrelevant to me, and because you included the comment about Christians "needing something after we die", I was compelled to explain why I responded as I did.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

I was explaining why your question is irrelevant to me. If you ask a question, I would assume that you would want an answer. Why do you criticize me for responding honestly and accurately?

I'd like to also point out that *you* made the remark that prompted the way I responded and made the explanation necessary.
You said:
"I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there *needs to be something after we die*... "

So that's why I was answering in the way I did. I never felt like there needed to be something after I die. Many atheists make comments like this and assume that's why Christians become Christians. Maybe that's he case for some, but it was not so in my case.

I didn't criticize you for one.... maybe you're being a bit more defensive than you realize?

My usage of the word "might" in my sentence you quoted proves it wasn't an assumption of you, again you're being defensive without a reason...

You provided your answer more than once and both times you felt like you needed to tell how true your ideas are... just seemed redundant and unnecessary to me. Anyway, thanks for chatting.

 

[Joshua260]

You provided your answer more than once and both times you felt like you needed to tell how true your ideas are...

Why do you keep twisting my words? I was not trying to impress upon you how true my ideas were...but rather explaining why I felt your question was irrelevant. It makes it hard to have a productive conversation with you if you're going to keep twisting my responses. Can we not have a respectful exchange between us?

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

No I don't think we can

 

[ViaCrucis]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

I don't know that it's that difficult to conceive of something not existing. We live in a world where things come into existence and then no longer exist quite regularly. My sandwich didn't exist until I made it, after I ate it it no longer exists.

As far as the idea of the "afterlife" goes I prefer the way N.T. Wright puts it, Scripture--and by extension Christianity--isn't concerned with life after death and doesn't have much to say about it at all, instead it is far more interested in life after life after death.

The fact of the matter is that if one reads through the Bible one will very quickly notice that at no point is there "going to Heaven when you die" statement. The closest Scripture ever gets is to say that to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. And in the Apocalypse the saints and martyrs are portrayed as being before God's throne. Instead Scripture is far more interested in not what happens after we die, but in the ultimate state of creation--that the creation will be made new, restored, set to rights, and that means not "going to Heaven" but being raised, bodily, from the dead.

If one looks at what the Church has historically taught, especially in the Creeds, consistently the emphasis is on the resurrection of the dead and everlasting life in the age to come. It is not zipping up into an ethereal plane called "Heaven" but the renewal and restoration of all things, and God setting our world to rights.

It is for this reason Christ came into the world, was crucified, buried, and dead, and was raised up, ascended, and coming again. That is, this is the point of the Gospel, the point of the Christian religion. That God is, in and through Jesus, setting things right.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[drich0150]

I know that Christians believe in a heaven and hell and they might also feel like there needs to be something after we die... how could we simply stop existing? What would not existing be like?

I have begun to think that after I die I will go back to the way I was before I was born. That is to say that the way I was before being born is the way I will be after I die. This makes not existing understandable to me. This makes it easier for me to comprehend what I think not existing means.

How do you guys feel about the idea that we don't really need and afterlife, there doesn't have to be anything, we don't need to continue existing because we didn't need these things before we were born either?

Just because you can't remember anything before this life, does it mean nothing could have existed for you? Like wise just because your current understanding of life ends with death it impossible for consciencous to carry on after?

Proof?

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

Just because you can't remember anything before this life, does it mean nothing could have existed for you? Like wise just because your current understanding of life ends with death it impossible for consciencous to carry on after?

Proof?

I don't believe in life before being born or life after death. So to help me understand what it be will like to not exist at all I use the idea of how I was before I was born to help me mind understanding it.

I was wondering what you thought about it. If you think we might have existed before being born then alright. That is a very supernatural oriented question and so I don't regard it as useful. I don't believe in those things. I can't give proof that I existed or not before I was born and I don't think that's a reasonable or logical request to make.

 

[Kiritsugu Emiyah]

I don't know that it's that difficult to conceive of something not existing. We live in a world where things come into existence and then no longer exist quite regularly. My sandwich didn't exist until I made it, after I ate it it no longer exists.

As far as the idea of the "afterlife" goes I prefer the way N.T. Wright puts it, Scripture--and by extension Christianity--isn't concerned with life after death and doesn't have much to say about it at all, instead it is far more interested in life after life after death.

The fact of the matter is that if one reads through the Bible one will very quickly notice that at no point is there "going to Heaven when you die" statement. The closest Scripture ever gets is to say that to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. And in the Apocalypse the saints and martyrs are portrayed as being before God's throne. Instead Scripture is far more interested in not what happens after we die, but in the ultimate state of creation--that the creation will be made new, restored, set to rights, and that means not "going to Heaven" but being raised, bodily, from the dead.

If one looks at what the Church has historically taught, especially in the Creeds, consistently the emphasis is on the resurrection of the dead and everlasting life in the age to come. It is not zipping up into an ethereal plane called "Heaven" but the renewal and restoration of all things, and God setting our world to rights.

It is for this reason Christ came into the world, was crucified, buried, and dead, and was raised up, ascended, and coming again. That is, this is the point of the Gospel, the point of the Christian religion. That God is, in and through Jesus, setting things right.

-CryptoLutheran

Very interesting! Do you think it's harder for you to comprehend yourself not existing than it is to comprehend a sandwich not existing?

 

[ebia]

I don't know that it's that difficult to conceive of something not existing. We live in a world where things come into existence and then no longer exist quite regularly. My sandwich didn't exist until I made it, after I ate it it no longer exists.

As far as the idea of the "afterlife" goes I prefer the way N.T. Wright puts it, Scripture--and by extension Christianity--isn't concerned with life after death and doesn't have much to say about it at all, instead it is far more interested in life after life after death.

The fact of the matter is that if one reads through the Bible one will very quickly notice that at no point is there "going to Heaven when you die" statement. The closest Scripture ever gets is to say that to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. And in the Apocalypse the saints and martyrs are portrayed as being before God's throne. Instead Scripture is far more interested in not what happens after we die, but in the ultimate state of creation--that the creation will be made new, restored, set to rights, and that means not "going to Heaven" but being raised, bodily, from the dead.

If one looks at what the Church has historically taught, especially in the Creeds, consistently the emphasis is on the resurrection of the dead and everlasting life in the age to come. It is not zipping up into an ethereal plane called "Heaven" but the renewal and restoration of all things, and God setting our world to rights.

It is for this reason Christ came into the world, was crucified, buried, and dead, and was raised up, ascended, and coming again. That is, this is the point of the Gospel, the point of the Christian religion. That God is, in and through Jesus, setting things right.

-CryptoLutheran

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