Poll: Do you believe in the afterlife?

[FC Groningen]

I'm a freewill Baptist and I firmly believe in a heaven and a hell

Just a sec. There are non freewill baptists?

To throw in my 2 cents:
- I don't believe in an afterlife (humanist/atheist)
- There doesn't have to be a "why".

 

[Guffe]

I want to believe but then again I don't really believe and if there is then I have done nothing exceptional in my way of living but I try to live a moraly good life and the afterlife would be a nice thing... Yeah, I am confused too

 

[Frankster]

Agnostic here. I'd like to believe in the afterlife and kinda envy the religious types who are so sure of a life after death, but alas i dont share that faith.

But I do know that once people die, they don't come back or GO ANYWHERE ELSE, so I'll stay with that till proven otherwise.

How do you know about the "go anywhere else" part? Seems to me we have no clue one way or another.

 

[Rule Britannia]

Yes I do (I'm agnostic though). It's fun to believe

 

[everythingbeeps]

If there is one, it's a state of consciousness we can't really comprehend.

The only state of consciousness we can't comprehend is non existence. The mere idea of not being around anymore scares us so much that we turn to fables and old tales to avoid the fact that once we are dead, it's over.

Haven't you ever heard the phrase "You don't know what you don't know"?

But I do know that once people die, they don't come back or go anywhere else, so I'll stay with that till proven otherwise.

They don't come back or go anywhere else in a form that YOU can observe. And what you can't observe you could just about fit into virtually all of the known universe, to say nothing of the unknown universe(s).

My point is, we're a step above monkeys. Universally speaking, we're a pretty dumb and extraordinarily limited species. We don't really understand the universe, we only think we do.

 

[Jonluw]

I see no reason to, so no.

 

[Vern5]

I subscribe to the idea that the afterlife is only as real as you believe it to be, which is an idea that is based upon my belief that anything beyond this physical world is defined by a persons willpower and imagination. Thus, those who have imagination and drive live on to express that while those who believe in nothing become nothing. In short, we all get what we want without having to stumble around in the idea of getting "what we deserve" because, truly, who can decide that sort of thing?

For example, I believe that my personal afterlife will be something akin to the matrix mixed with the internet. Basically, its a mental reflection of myself floating around with access to infinite amounts of information from other, possibly dead, parties.

Sure, it sounds crazy and it probably is. But, the way I see it, there's no one alive who can prove my ideas wrong.

 

[RedKurtain]

I believe in an afterlife as well as in a true God. And it annoys me when people refer to my beliefs as fairy tales...

Imagine two robots. They are discussing where they came from. One robot believes that he was made by a intellectually-higher being capable of thoughts and emotions that he could never dream of fully understanding, and was made for a purpose; whereas the other believes that he was burped into existence from nothingness for no reason and that his organized intelligence came about against all the natural laws of physics.

I think the real fairy tale is believing that somehow, all of what we perceive as existence came about by... nothingness. How does nothingness accomplish anything? It's just absurd.

Now you could ask, "Well where did God come from" and I will securely answer I don't know and I don't think our feeble minds can fully comprehend the totality of a being that exists outside the limitations of time and space since He created it in the first place.

"I'd rather live my life believing there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life believing there isn't a God and die to find out there is"

 

[DanielBrown]

No, I don't. Don't think I ever have either.
So glad I grew up without being indoctrinated... Not that my grandmother didn't try though.

 

[Cazza]

I believe there is nothing. I hope there is something though. I find comfort in believing it's like a dreamless sleep. I know the energy that is me will be passed on Im apart of a large chain in the cycle of life. I know that energy won't be me. Still makes me feel a little better.

 

[4RM3D]

"I'd rather live my life believing there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life believing there isn't a God and die to find out there is"

If there is no God, you are not going to find out about it, because by that time you will have ceased to exist and thus also ceased to care. So, the first part of your statement is a bit meaningless. As for the second part, I don't know why that would be an issue. Unless believing in God is a requirement to experience the afterlife. Otherwise it would just be something like winning the lottery without having bought a ticket.

FYI, I am not discussion your believes here, just the logic of that statement.

 

[the rye]

Nope, the idea of an after life does not appeal to me, to live forever would make living trivial. I would envy the living.

 

[necromanzer52]

Well, I'm an atheist, but I quite like the idea of reincarnation.

 

[everythingbeeps]

If there is one, it's a state of consciousness we can't really comprehend.

The only state of consciousness we can't comprehend is non existence. The mere idea of not being around anymore scares us so much that we turn to fables and old tales to avoid the fact that once we are dead, it's over.

Haven't you ever heard the phrase "You don't know what you don't know"?

But I do know that once people die, they don't come back or go anywhere else, so I'll stay with that till proven otherwise.

They don't come back or go anywhere else in a form that YOU can observe. And what you can't observe you could just about fit into virtually all of the known universe, to say nothing of the unknown universe(s).

My point is, we're a step above monkeys. Universally speaking, we're a pretty dumb and extraordinarily limited species. We don't really understand the universe, we only think we do.

I never said we do, just that the idea of non existence is so difficult to understand that we come up with explanations that validate the idea that we keep on living after death in some way or form. This "we cannot know anything therefore there must be something after death" validates my point just as well as religion does.

Your comprehension skills leave much to be desired, unless you're just misrepresenting me on purpose to pathetically flail your point.

It's funny you poke at my logic, because you're at least as guilty. A few minor word substitutions, and we have YOUR point: "we cannot see anything therefore there must be nothing after death". Which, considering that I'm not actually firmly on one side of the fence or the other, is actually worse than my point, which was actually "we cannot know anything, therefore we cannot even guess as to whether there's something after death". My point was in response to your point, which was "i've never seen a ghost, therefore there's nothing after death!"

Which, as I pointed out, is hilariously foolish.

 

[dvd_72]

well, for there to be an afterlife, there would have to be a component of you that goes to said afterlife, yes? It seems to me that there is indeed something more to us than electrical impulses in the brain and hormones (this comes from someone who hasn't done a medical degree, so yea). That creative spark, that is what I believe to be the "soul", if you will. It is the energy that animates our bodies, and as we all know energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Energy indeed can't be destroyed, but it is transferred. Our bodies are absolutely full of life when we die, and once that bothersome immune system of yours breaks down, the billion strong legions of bacteria you've been fighting off your entire life will feed on every last soft tissue in your body, thus transferring your latent energy, into them. They then release it into the earth, and we all wind up being the bottom of the food chain.

The circle closes.

does this happen before or after you die? Or are you saying the energy remains within the body after it gives up to be consumed by the bacteria? Can the bacteria break down and assimilate the energy that is the soul? Questions lead to more questions, but that's what makes this sutch an interesting topic

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm not ashamed to admit that I do not know.

 

[KrossBillNye]

I'm Agnostic, so I'm undecided (like I am with pretty much everything to do with religion, or everything full stop). I would lean towards there being no afterlife, but I don't know, we can't really prove anything one way or another. Logic and reason can only really apply to things we can experience or measure.

I am Agnostic as well. I believe in Positive and Negative energy out there in balance.

My interpretation of an after life is we just join that energy.