What do you think happens after you die ?

[Ella2001]

I’m waiting on “you’ll be dead and that’s that“ 🤣
but genuinely curious as to what everyone else thinks happens , I know it’ll be like before you were born , you won’t know but what if after life/recantation is a thing ? I’ve come to terms with the fact tomorrow isn’t promised but what if there’s afterlife and we get born into a horrible abusive family ? In that case I think I’d rather just be nothing ? What you all think ? Love to read these threads thought I’d make one myself 😆

I guess I'd say I'm agnostic.

It is a strange feeling, knowing g that every thought, memory, accomplishment, etc will be lost into atoms when you die. But conversely, why atoms have this ability to start with!

I really don't know. I've lost family, and there's nothing I'd like more than to see them again.

There is a painting by Stanley Spencer called The Resurrection. It depicts people rising from their graves in Cookham Churchyard. They are dressed as if in ordinary life in the 1950s.
I think it is in the gallery in Cookham. Worth a visit. Or get a good book of his work.

I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of the guy who made the video, but Dr Bruce Greyson has done a lot of research on this - www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/near-death-experiences-heres-what-researchers-have-found/3464461/. IANDs has a lot of videos from people who have experienced them. There's a host of YouTube channels focussing on this area too.

@BunnyLake @AgileGreenSeal

AgileGreenSeal · Yesterday 07:46
Is this the sort of thing you would like?

“The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father…”

. .. .
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Just because He is giving everyone time to turn to Him doesn’t mean He isn’t going to act at all.

This is the time to turn to Him.

>>>No that’s just some gobbledegook written by humans.

This makes no sense. How could a kind a loving god leave for example Hitler to carry out mass attrocities and truly horrific cruelty on millions and justify it on the basis of 'giving him time to turn to God"??? Besides Hitler probably thought he was already doing Gods work.

What about people who cause repeated cruelty over time - like Geoffrey Epstein, Fred West or Harvey Weinstein? Time to turn to God? Really?

God is giving all of us time to repent, because we all need to.

That what the Apostle Peter meant when he wrote -
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9

because there were people in His day saying “why hasn’t He put an end to all of this yet?”

You and I and the rest of humanity are the reason why. God is giving us a chance to turn to Him before it is too late.

There will come a day when He will say “enough” and bring this age to an end.

He will hold evil people to account.
He will pour out His wrath on wicked people.
Judgement Day is coming.

Our problem is we all are (to varying degrees) those people!
we have all done wrong.
And that means all of us will be on the receiving end of that justice, that wrath.

To spare us from experiencing that fate, because He loves us, God gave us a gift- His Son, who willingly took our place, receiving all the wrath that was due to each one of us, when He died on the cross.

Like any gift it only becomes the possession of a person who receives it.
He does not force His gift on us.

We can choose whether or not to accept it.
When we receive Jesus, we receive everything He has done for us - including the forgiveness of all our wrongdoing.

Those who receive Jesus by faith are not required to face God’s wrath in the future, since God views the death of Jesus as their own death. Jesus bore their punishment.

Those who reject Jesus will have to face God and His judgement alone.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
John 3:36

I do have hope and faith, I suppose, that there is no afterlife and my dh is not existing any more - that the pain of his existence is over for good. There is no theology of mental illness and suicide that I find even slightly convincing - the nearest I have ever found to something that makes sense in terms of how it affects a person is the Biblical explanation that those with severe mental illness are possessed by demons. It sometimes looked like that, though certainly not always. But I just don't believe that demons exist in a real sense or that possession is an explanation that I'm supposed to take seriously in 2024, and i know the kind if appalling cruelty that that idea can lead to if promoted by humans. So theology is not up to explaining psychosis, as far as I can see.

I recently read Unapologetic by Francus Spufford, who points out that Christians like him no longer believe in Hell or spend time on theology about it. Unfortunately he didn't explain why we would not therefore extrapolate that to all afterlife states.

God is giving all of us time to repent, because we all need to

Repent for what? I hate the idea that some judgy pants being is keeping score and will cast us out if we don't say sowwy. How stupid does that sound?
I'd rather have nothing than an eternity in his presence.

"On the hereafter topic, there are no animals in heaven because they do not have a soul. According to many academics."

And academics know this because? I don't see the point in trying to apply any academic rigour to religion.

Academic analysis of what has been written by some devout people through the years is IMO exactly what is required. How else do you exclude the tricksters. Like the ones who would sell you indulgences (pardons).
On the one hand it was science that exploded the creation myths. But it is theology that offers alternatives where conscience makes it difficult for some to embrace 'Darwinism'.

I would argue that all the analysis of Christian writing and the Bible has strengthened Christianity. Contrast that with another religion where to question makes one an immediate outcast.

I am not interested in any heaven without animals. As far as I am concerned they are pure soul. The church got it wrong!

An afterlife without animals??
That’s Hell.

Repentance (Greek - metanoia), means a change of direction or a change of mind, a u-turn. It’s more than saying “sowwy”.

As I said, the gift of God isn’t forced on anyone.

You don’t want to be in His glorious, joyful presence? You don’t want His forgiveness?

You don’t have to, you have free-will.

Well I know from watching futurama that Jesus doesn’t return until 2443, and the only thing to be wary of is if you collect videotapes, I have no idea if he resurrects people!

“Most videotapes from that era were damaged in 2443 during the second coming of jesus.”

Professor Farnsworth

You don’t want His forgiveness?

Nope. Why would I want or need forgiveness from someone I don't believe in? What would he be forgiving me for?

Re animals some beliefs/spiritual people believe that if an animal has consciousness then it will go onto an afterlife- now there’s scientific debate that insects have consciousness it’s gonna be a busy place - but better with cats than without I think 😀

I’m not sure that giving a bit of time for repentance and believing in Jesus is adequate or fair as what about other faiths/never heard of a faith places? I guess a kind of purgatory could cover that shortcoming but seems that’s not available? I would struggle to be happy in heaven with a god who just dismissed the vast proportion of humans on no real grounds to do so I think - there seem to be flaws in this system of heaven entry.

I swing to the other side here - many aspects of religious practice are good for humans, and that definitely includes the act of naming things we did badly (is anyone honestly saying they're right all the time?) and also a process whereby we stop constantly reliving them and move forward to try to do better - forgiveness. Likewise prayer is a good thing to do for the one who prays, and a religious focus tries to move prayer from self focus to a more outward-looking viewpoint. All that is good, surely?

Animals do have souls, they are different from ours, though. Animals have not sinned as humans have, if anything they've been subjected to brutality from many humans. God would have known from the start of creation that humans would form strong bonds with animals, so I believe they will be in Heaven.

Also Isaiah 11:6-9 says: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Revelations 5:13 "Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’"

I fully believe that God will save all his creatures as well as us.

Have you never done anything wrong, ever? No matter how minor?

Frankly, if God is responsible for half the things people think he is, he owes us an apology.

CrunchyCarrot, Is your God saving all the bacteria and viruses? What about centipedes, fleas and tapeworms? Your idea of heaven is starting to sound very crowded and annoying.

More academic research like this please.

😂Well I could argue what about God's finely balanced ecosystem? What happens if He just removes part of it? Remember, no sickness will be there so I expect no illnesses caused by viruses/bacteria/parasites. Don't know what they will be doing instead but I'm sure God has got that planned! To be honest I'm more worried about spiders but maybe I will make friends with them. That might take an Eternity!😂

A finely balanced ecosystem doesn't matter if nothing is killing and consuming anything else though, does it? And human overpopulation has really messed up your God's system. Too bad about all the religions preaching against birth control.

The only thing messing up 'my' God's system is humanity itself! You and me and the rest of us. I don't have all the answers - no-one does, but I believe God will put right all that has gone wrong once and for all. It's up to each individual whether they want to be part of that or not, by accepting Jesus as their saviour.