Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you believe in the afterlife?

232 replies

recklessruby · 14/09/2018 13:08

My dm and I believe when you pass there is another better place you go to. Df disagrees and says when you are gone that's it.
I nearly died giving birth to ds (complications and pre eclampsia) and I know I was drifting somewhere lovely but was told I was too young and it was not my time and turned back. I awoke to chaos and pain and was very disappointed.
Some people will say it's the drugs you get in labour but I have had a few woo encounters over the years when I have been in a clear mind.
So what do you believe? Aibu there is something more after we die?
And that dearly loved pets will be there.
(Maybe not heaven but something).
Sorry this is long and weird.

OP posts:
Severide08 · 15/09/2018 09:51

DM not DD

sweethope · 15/09/2018 10:05

@BertrandRussell there’s two contradictory statements going on there then isn’t there. I know which one I’m going with. But if he IS an atheist or even an agnostic it seems that he might sometimes swing between the two.

My point being then that if renowned physicists have periods of doubt and also obviously physicists that have absolutely no doubts, bearing in mind that these are the people who we look to for answers and explanations about the origins of life, the universe and practically everything else in the scientific world, then i think it seems reasonable to assume that we as “ordinary folk” should perhaps also have the odd doubt. It does seem very arrogant to take things such things at face value when they don’t? itms.

Jb291 · 15/09/2018 10:23

I believe in an afterlife. On my darkest days I am sustained by faith that after I die I will be with my loved ones again in a peaceful beautiful place with no pain or suffering or illness.

Fibbertigibbet · 15/09/2018 10:27

No, I don't believe in an afterlife where we carry on as who we are.

What I do believe, is that we mould and shape and build bits of everyone and everything around us, and leave traces wherever we go, that if powerful enough go on to live forever. My grandad will never meet my future children, but I know he will live on in them in stories, in summer strawberry picking adventures, in the silly jokes of his that are now just part of the language my family speaks.

JustAnotherPoster00 · 15/09/2018 10:41

Christians believe that was God’s act of creation. Science can’t prove it wasn’t.

God of the gaps argument, I dont undestand this so MAGIC!!! did it Hmm

sweethope · 15/09/2018 12:26

Where do all our emotions come from, why do we, from a very early age have an inherent sense of right from wrong. Our strong feelings of love, pity, sorrow, joy.... we are so profound. How can we as humans pass on consciousness into our babies. To me, all these things and many many more point to a creator.

BertrandRussell · 15/09/2018 12:41

Just because we don’t know why something happens yet is no indicator of the existence of a creator! It just means we don’t know yet.

HRTpatch · 15/09/2018 12:42

No. Not at all.

tillytop · 15/09/2018 13:11

StopCloudSeeding what do you mean "we are living through biblical end times"? (if you don't mind me asking)

PaddyF0dder · 15/09/2018 13:14

Nope. No afterlife in my opinion.

We were dead before we were born. We’ll be dead after we die. There’s no reward or punishment or whatever. Just an off switch.

I’m fine with that. It means every day of our life matters in and of itself.

Belief in an afterlife is basically people operating under the delusional belief that humans are separate and special. We’re not. We’re just part of the ecosystem, part of the universe.

sweethope · 15/09/2018 13:18

paddyfodder I don't agree that humans are not special. God created us and marked us out as special to Him.

PaddyF0dder · 15/09/2018 13:19

Cool cool.

Prove it.

sweethope · 15/09/2018 13:28

You know I can't do that paddy, that is what faith is all about. But humans are most certainly special.

Credit: Dreamstime
Without a doubt, the human trait that sets us apart the most from the animal kingdom is our extraordinary brain. Humans don't have the largest brains in the world — those belong to sperm whales. We don't even have the largest brains relative to body size — many birds have brains that make up more than 8 percent of their body weight, compared to only 2.5 percent for humans. Yet the human brain, weighing only about 3 pounds when fully grown, give us the ability to reason and think on our feet beyond the capabilities of the rest of the animal kingdom, and provided the works of Mozart, Einstein and many other geniuses.

This and much much more.

echt · 15/09/2018 13:58

There is no afterlife. Seriously, think about it. Nice idea but zip evidence.

If there was, it would already have been co-opted as a TV show.

jellymaker · 15/09/2018 14:07

this might help with explaining a Christian perspective for anyone that's interested. The Bible project is great for explaining Christianity in short easy to follow animations.

thebibleproject.com/explore/heaven-earth/

BertrandRussell · 15/09/2018 14:25

I do wonder why Christians always seem to assume that non Christians don’t understand Christianity, and if it was only explained to them properly they would be Christians too.........

PaddyF0dder · 15/09/2018 15:59

Afterlife is wishful thinking.

The mind is a function of the brain. Damage the brain and you can change a personality.

There is no separate soul.

I think there’s something toxic about the idea of an eternal afterlife. It makes life merely a test, and yet means that a few decades of behaviour are sufficient to judge an eternity of pleasure or torment.

QueenoftheNights · 15/09/2018 16:11

No don't believe in it at all.

I am not religious. I don't believe in anyone 'up there' who looks over us or a place we go when we die. It's a fairy tale to give comfort to believers and is also a way of controlling people - ie behave or you will go to Hell.

Having seen a parent die, slowly, and see them dead then cremated, I know that death is the end.

You can remember people you loved and have memories so they live on in our hearts, but that's it.

QueenoftheNights · 15/09/2018 16:16

The idea of an after life is a construct of religion to make people conform to certain behaviours. The entire Catholic religion is based on fear and damnation, confessing and cleansing yourself of 'sin' so you will go to Heaven and not Hell.

I have nothing against people who believe in religion of the after life but the risk is you don't make the most of life as it is, and think something better is there once you die.

BertrandRussell · 15/09/2018 16:19

Yes-and heaven is a good way of keeping the underprivileged quiet -"the last shall be first" - all they have to do is wait compliantly.

Gronky · 15/09/2018 16:22

I think it's a lovely and comforting thought in dark times but everything I currently understand about nature leads me to believe that there isn't an afterlife. Against this, while we may not be around after our death, we all leave some form of a mark on the world. How meaningful, widely felt or long lasting the impact of that mark varies but I do feel that our potential to leave an influence after we have gone is a far greater motivator to treat others well than any proposed, immeasurable, supernatural judgement by a higher power.

FinnegansWhiskers · 15/09/2018 16:26

I always believed when you die that's that. No afterlife.

However, the past year I have been with 3 people when they passed. All 3 called the name of a loved one, and reached out, just before they died. And then they died.

I'd like to think that their loved ones had come for them and escorted them on the journey to their eternal life.

Who knows? 🤷‍♀️

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 15/09/2018 16:37

Me and DH have a test all planned. whoever dies first, if there is an afterlife will make contact via a medium and say a little phrase that only we know The other person is to tell the medium nothing, no clues. If the medium says DP /Sunshine is here and says (the special phrase) then that will be proof!

Gronky · 15/09/2018 16:44

LittleMissedTheSunshine

You can make the test even more fair by doing it blind. If you and your partner writes the message they're going to send and seals it in an envelope then the survivor can record what the medium tells them and confirm afterwards by reading the contents of the envelope. That way, you'll avoid giving subconscious signals to the medium.

Unfortunately, even if the wrong message is received, you'll still face the argument that you employed a poor medium so you may have to try a few. However, doing so means there's a possibility one will get the message right by sheer chance. Might I suggest getting more people involved in your plan? Wink

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/09/2018 16:46

Nice idea but zip evidence.

If there was (evidence) it would already have been co-opted as a TV show

I'm not sure about "evidence", but TV shows have certainly happened Wink

www.themoviedb.org/tv/66439-life-death-and-reincarnation?language=en-US
www.imdb.com/title/tt3689174/
www.imdb.com/title/tt3107588/