Here is an honest question, if you take away the afterlife

[Eko]

would you still believe in your religion? If you died and that's it would you still believe? It's not a gotcha, its not a right or wrong. It's just something thought of.
Thanks,
Eko.

[lapfog_1]

1. yes... but then I belong to the "Laugh along with God" religion

and no afterlife would be just one last ironic joke on everyone.

[Eko]

2. Seems like a really bad joke.

Hey!! Your get to live forever!!! Kidding!!.

[Meadowoak]

3. I would say, most wouldn't believe in religion if they knew there was no afterlife.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I don't know if I can answer that.

I am an Atheist and have been since I was 11. My family and friends are Atheists too but my mom had my sister and me Christened (the "thing to do" at the time, apparently) and I went to the Catholic Church on the big holidays until I was given a choice about this at 11 years old and said, "Nope". 99% of the people I know who were raised as a Catholic, for a little while, became Atheists.

But.....

Most of my friends believe in the possibility of ghosts, after life experiences that are non-religious, reincarnation, aliens, etc.

So...

If you take away religion, would you still believe in the afterlife?

I do. Personally, I have had too many "odd" experiences on my own to at least acknowledge that we don't have all the answers at this time (science/religion). Hamlet was right.

[Scrivener7]

5. I'm not religious, but I believe there is some kind of afterlife.

I guess we prove the reverse of the OP's question: if you take away religion, some will still believe in an afterlife.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Oh good, you got my point.

I didn't know if my intent was clear or not.

[Eko]

9. Interesting argument. Is there a religion out there that doesnt make the afterlife a major part of

its beliefs? You are saying something that you have no proof of, that if you take away religion there will still be some who believe in a afterlife. We just have to take your word for it that you are not religious. How are you not religious?
Thanks,
Eko

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Judaism downplays an afterlife.

It emphasizes doing well in this lifetime.

[Beastly Boy]

16. Islam is also more about worship and deeds in this life rather than afterlife

Like in Judaism, afterlife is a more esoteric aspect of Islam. It has more to do with deep studies, best left to the most learned among the believers, than living your life in the present.

In Hinduism, on the other hand, there is no difference between life and afterlife. It is one continuous experience, with souls traveling from one body to another. Essentially, it is one long continuous afterlife, body or not.

[Scrivener7]

22. Lol! You just have to take my word for it? Do you fear I am lying?

[NewHendoLib]

7. I am firmly agnostic. I am happy to realize I have no idea what any of this is about

there is likely nothing - there may be something - and either way , it is of no consequence.

My wife, my dogs, my daughters, my hobbies, music, the beauty of nature - that is more than enough for me.

[pandr32]

8. I lost my Christian beliefs gradually.

The more I asked questions and researched the more I realized that the concept of God (or Gods) is a mixture of mythology, tradition, certainly patriarchy, and ignorance. We socialize our children into our belief system.
Giving up the idea of a judging God, the fear, and an afterlife is freeing. We are stardust and that is pretty awesome.

[czarjak]

10. "You can swear there ain't Heaven, pray there ain't no Hell. You'll never know by living...

Only your dying will tell" B/S/T

[Hestia]

11. Yes, whole heartedly would still be a lifelong student of Hermetics

[keithbvadu2]

12. Some believe that we recycle through reincarnation.

Some believe that we recycle through reincarnation.

Not sure if that counts as an afterlife.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. I don't believe in any formal religion, but I have a very strong belief in

the afterlife. I cannot imagine dying and there's nothing. I realize I could be wrong, that there may well be nothing after this life, but since I believe in an afterlife, I'm fine.

Oh, and I strongly believe in reincarnation. I've had a number of past life regressions. They have made this lifetime make a lot more sense to me. One and done makes no sense.

[Beastly Boy]

15. No afterlife is a belief as much as afterlife is.

My religion is more grounded in this life than in an afterlife. It is about how you live, not so much about what happens after you die. Of course, there are elements in it that address the afterlife, but they are also closely tied to this life.

So afterlife or not, my religion still endures.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

20. Same with leprechauns and unicorns and psychics

Not believing in those is just a belief, on exactly equal ground as believing in them would be.

Right?

[Beastly Boy]

21. Yeah, exactly.

Belief is not a reflection of something tangible, but a strategy for coping. This includes search for meaning. Depending on our needs, leprechauns and unicorns, afterlife and no afterlife, religion and atheism, appear and disappear from our conscience.

[EmeraldCoaster]

17. Religion

Isn't it just someone telling you they know what happens when you die? Pay me and I will protect you. Snake Oil

[usonian]

18. You come back. AS SOMEONE ELSE.

Be kind to everyone! Strive to make the future better. (well, that's a low hurdle to jump)

Strive anyway.

[keithbvadu2]

19. Various forms of the afterlife. I like #2 as a qualifier..

https://reformjudaism.org/beliefs-practices/lifecycle-rituals/death-mourning/do-jews-believe-afterlife

[UniqueUserName]

23. Eko, I always enjoy your posts

Although your post isn't specifically directed at my beliefs, my ego responds.

It's been 5 years since my friend's stepson died. He was 24. My friend asked me to remember her spouse, and this idea came to me. My spouse has been dead for 4 years. And this is what my brain thought I should know:

"I think of John as a raindrop on a pond. John's life still creates a wave that ripples through time. We are all brief raindrops on the surface of time. But even as the drops disappear, the waves left interact and form beautiful patterns on the surface of time.

We are all part of that pattern and it is beautiful."

This differs from "Gone But Not Forgotten" because that phrase puts the impetus on the person remembering to remember. Thinking of the past person as a wave gives them more agency. Those gone still act on the living.

However, what comes after life is not the same as our current consciousness. If that were the case, having 100 billion people lived before us, at least one of them would have manifested themselves in a meaningful way and not as a dream, or "something in the side of your peripheral vision", or a fleeting thought. At least one person would have communicated at least as clearly as I'm communicating with you.

There is a reason we call dead "dead". Whatever happens after death is as different as what we call life is (as living-and-breathing) is different from being a zygote or a blastocyst.

I apologize for fighting the hypothetical. But I don't accept the paradigm. We can't know the divine but we can touch it from time to time.

[Eko]

24. Thanks for commenting back.

I agree with the raindrop on the pond. Our lives create ripples through time.
You might like this also.

Thanks!
Eko.

[UniqueUserName]

25. That was beautiful!

Thank you for sharing

[LeftishBrit]

26. I don't know..

not all religious people believe in an afterlife. Many Jews don't, for example.