The Afterlife

Honestly, this is sorta my way-out-there belief. I think (hope) that when we die, we will go to what we most believe to be paradise. Whether its Equestria, the cliched image of Heaven, or some other paradise specific to only you, we will live there for eternity. But not in reality, in a sort of dream state. Everything is designed by our minds in the last seconds before we die.


But realistically, i think its just like being unconscious forever. fun.

 

Well Sparkypony and I have the exact same beliefs so I have to agree on his theory.

Another thing is that hasn't anypony noticed how perfectly nature has been crafted?

I mean everything just falls in perfectly and there are no mistakes. If you ask me a few particles simply colliding with eachother won't and can't do that.

However...If there was a God (Which I believe there is) He/She/It would have been there and made the big bang and he was there to make sure everything is perfect.

The problem comes when Satan Tempted the first humans into eating the forbidden fruit. that is why the earth isn't perfect and is such a mess.

Heaven was created for us so we could go there when we died. Hell was created for Satan, Satan was once a beautiful angel and then he got cast down into hell.

The last thing god wants is for even one person to perish in hell. But because we are all sinners We should all go to hell but that is where I believe Jesus came in he died for us so we don't have to go to hell. We simply have to ask forgiveness and follow Jesus.

That is my view on the whole matter. If this offended you in any way I'm sorry. I was just stating my beliefs. If you don't like what you read then you can ignore this post. There is no need to argue because I do think that we can all have a gentlemanly conversation on this topic.

 

Yeah, sorry, I was just stating my opinion without actually thinking about it.

 

*peeks back into thread*

 

Clearly atheism is not a religion.

While we're on the point of religion, I have to say, why do you think that religion is the only incentive we have to not do foul deeds? Morality is in fact something people have, regardless of religion. It is taught to us through it in some cases, true, but in many cases now, that is not true. Yes, religion is a good tool for enforcing sociological norms, which include some behavioural code, it is not necessarily the only or even best way to do so.

I personally believe that whatever you can convince yourself happens when you die, that is what happens as your last concious instant is stretched through eternity. Thus, why not envision a paradise? Or a place of infinite chaos, where one is sure to never remain bored?

Does this stop me from following the law and in general not being a heinous delinquent? No. Am I one? Also no.

 

I don't entirely know what to say to this post in a summary of my joy. Amazing? Philosophically astute?

As for the final line: My mixed morals/ethics tend to lead to the guilty pleasure of stealing. An incentive does not result in an absolute or perhaps we would have a more peaceful world.

 

I think.

When we die, our souls, our life energy returns to 'the Force' it came from. Because basically any non-monotheïstic religion has it's own version of this scenario. And it makes sense to me.

This Force could be interpreted as God or heaven, a peacefull cloudy place, but I don't think it's that limited. The Force is limitless, it can be anything.

And whenever you have need for another experience of individualism, you can take on the adventure and live in a physical body again. To once again experience the struggles and limitations, but also the beautiful moments that come with it.

Personally I think the concept of 'hell' was just invented to scare people into 'doing the right thing'. There may be penalties for those who've strayed too far; 'karma' if you will.

But I think these penalties serve as a learning process, not a punishment. The concept of eternal damnation just doesn't make sense to me.

And I agree, people don't necissarily need the image of a watchfull god above their heads to tell right from wrong. We all have inbuilt morality, and personally I think this is the voice of 'the Force' speaking through you.

 

Well, yeah, but, I know myself. Had I not had a religious influence on my life, I would've turned out a lot different. I would've began asking things like, "If I'm gonna die in the end, anyway, then why be moral? Why allow myself to be limited by law?" And my entire life would've been based on the answers to those questions. And knowing me, I would've answered them a lot differently, if I hadn't had religion. I would've considered myself way too smart to be following laws, and above morality. Yes, I could have worked for a common good, but I would've figured, why bother? As long as I'm on top, why should I care about anyone else? If I were raised Atheist, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Anyway, that's my perspective on it. If you want to reply to this particular post, please do it in PM, so we don't crowd this topic.

 

Sorry for going a bit off-topic, but...

This thread (and its posters) is a wonderful example of how great this community is. It derailed a bit to a religious discussion (which was natural because of its matter) but everypony managed to respect everpony and their opinions and calmly discuss things that usually generates a great polemic. Do not think me of a hyppocrite, but if there is something such as more "advanced" spirits, that's definitely bronies. :derpe:

Funny you saying that. Aside from everything DETDOG said, I'm going to add my own knowledge about it.

Those are the exact thoughts of a existensialist. The Existensialism is a branch of Philosophy that basicly thinks that everything is absurd and we're free to do ANYTHING at all. Although most of them are extremely pessimists and people that study them believe they are as well, there are few (like me) that actually gets it. Sartré mentions it, I think. That that's the whole point in life: wow, I'm free. Completely free to do all the *squee!* I want. But what I want? Who I am? What is my place in this absurd world? Do I actually have one?... And the list goes on. You're free to choose everything. And the funniest thing it is that not choosing is also a choice! :derpe:And also, basicly it is conformating that you're in a crazy, deep and terrible pithole, and manage to overcome it in the little and spare time that is your lifetime. Going deeper, for instance, they believe that religion was created as excuse to limit ourselfs, as well as laws. You ARE free to do what you want, but it is society that punishes you for doing something "wrong", not the world itself.

That's another discussion I like as well. Right and wrong, good and evil. That's all actually relative. It depends on who you're asking, and as such, it is something human, created by the society, not part of this world. This basically means that if there's truly nothing good and nothing wrong, we're all essentially perfect, and allow me to say, AWESOME. Each of us in our own way, of course, but still. As I plan to tell my son one day, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who know they and everypony are awesome, and those who don't. Think about it :derpe:. Also, some other phrase, not really related, but I also felt the need to share: Equal where the differences would inferiorize us, and different where the equality would descharacterize us.

Kind of like I said. In my ideal heaven each of us would be our own God, and we could propably do something like: "Man, back on earth I really liked MLP. Maybe I could incarnate as Rainbow Dash. - Oh hey, I liked Twilight Sparkle! Let me be her in your universe then. " Then they go, and start their lives from birth, and when they sleep they return to the godly realm, and perhaps enter another universe before going back to that one. Such as Naruto and Sasuke for instance.

... Maybe that's happening right now :derpe:

Whew, that was a long post. Sorry for derailing a bit, and I don't mean any offense, don't forget that :derpe: (In case you didn't noticed, I love Derpy's emoticon.)

 

I would love to live in Equestria, and if the afterlife is shaped by your own consciousness, I believe that is possible.

Though, many of you believe that there is nothing after death, I just ask, how do you deal with that? How to accept nothingness with calm and without fear. I see many can, how are you not afraid of the void? I sure am, probably because I would never get to meet those I love most, people and ponies beyond this realm of existence.


Yet, energy and matter can't be destroyed, it can only change. That should also apply to life, nothing can be truly destroyed, that would indicate some kind of afterlife.

 

I agree Prince. And the people who believe there's nothing afterwards use that as an excuse to make life more precious. I guess it works for them. I believe my life is precious regarding of having an afterlife or not, so I'm fine as well :derpe:

 

Ok so like you said, Matter cannot be destroyed right? exactly! Some people say that There is no Afterlife as it cannot be scientifically proven. In my belief, the world was created, Science is the study of this world and all things around this world and the things that can be done in this world (thats my view on it), so basically Science is simply explaining in great detail what we can do, what we see, what we can't see, and what is too far away to see. Basically explaining the physics of in my opinion what God did and what he made.

and if matter can't get destroyed...then there must be an afterlife and in my opinion it is Heaven or hell...

Wow I truly have never got so involved in a discussion like this :derpe:

 

Well if you think about it like others have said. Matter cannot be destroyed but only changed. In my belief when you die your body rots away but your soul carries on into Heaven or hell depending on your judgement. So your body went back to it's original form (Dirt/organic material) and your soul moves on. Get what I'm saying?

 

I view myself and spiritual but not confined to a religion. I believe in three fundamental things though and don't hold an faith in any religious views that don't follow all 3 of these views: 1. There is a spirit and/or soul that lives on after the body dies, 2. No one person or religious leader knows what the exact truth is, and religion that claims that theirs is the only 100% correct view and all others are wrong or evil is instantly invalid in my views. 3. We ultimately get what is coming to us. Rewarded for the good, punished for the bad, in exactly the amounts we deserve. Summary: Karma.

The only one of these 3 views that applies directly to this discussion is life after death. I call it in whatever form it takes, reincarnation. To me any physical life after death is reincarnation regardless of if it is in a human body, animal, or cartoon pony. Perhaps it is in a completely different form as a spirtual being that you are for eternity. I don't think this is the case, but it may be. Either way it is still life after death and could still be viewed as reincarnation. In the end though I guess I will find out when the time comes and will try to do the best I can. I do not accept that a "loving all powerful god" would send people to be tortured for eternity simply because they didn't know what religion to pick and happened to pick the wrong one without any way to tell which one was the correct one. A god that would do such a cruel thing would be an evil god anyway and not worthy of my worship. (This statement is not meant to bash on any given religion if this doesn't apply to your religion then it doesn't apply and was not aimed at you or your god. If this is true of your religion then do not try to justify it, I won't read it.)

 

Well let me tell you what happens with my religion if you want to read.

I get asked a lot "If your God is such a loving god then why would he send people to perish?"

My answer is that sending people to hell would be the last thing that my God wants to do. He wants no one to perish. But because we are all sinners we deserve to be sent to hell. But God loves us and so he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we would not have to go to hell, all we have to do is accept Jesus as our Saviour and we will be saved. Obviously we sin every now and again (Heck I screw up every day) But the awesome part is that if you ask for forgiveness my God will forgive my sins. I then go about my day trying not to make the same mistake again.

Here is a Quote from my Bible. Romans 5:8 "God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were all sinners Christ died for us"

People then say well how do you know you worship the right God?

For Starters the Bible was written by many different people who mostly were eye witnesses or experienced what they wrote themselves. Another thing is that I have had encounters and experiences with my God before. And lastly it al boils down to faith, and it is my job as a Christian to make sure that everyone hears that word of God so that they can have a choice of whether to follow him of not.