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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:
BertrandRussell · 15/09/2018 16:47

Loads of people have set up tests like that-including, interestingly, Houdini- and nothing has ever come of them. Sad, but true.

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 15/09/2018 16:47

Its a special phrase that we already say to each other (and the kids too) so already known. A bit like 'ditto' in Ghost. Maybe we'll try up to 3 mediums before admitting defeat.

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 15/09/2018 16:48

what was Houduni's test Bertrand?

Figgygal · 15/09/2018 16:49

Nope I wish I did it must be very comforting. I'm terrified by the idea of oblivion which is ridiculous I know as I'll never know it's happened.

Feel panicky and tight chested just thinking of it

sweethope · 15/09/2018 17:40

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!

My DD did actually do this with my mum, they were very close. They didn’t do it as a test, more to bring comfort to my dd. All i will say is, it worked. It’s given my dd a huge amount of comfort. Nothing will dissuade either of us that my mum is in heaven.

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 15/09/2018 17:46

Wow sweethope and what an appropriate user name!

sweethope · 15/09/2018 17:46

bertrand I’m sure there’s loads of instances of similar type stuff that isn’t publicised.Its not the sort of test that has to conform to any expectations.

QueenoftheNights · 15/09/2018 18:09

My gran and I used to joke about this. She died many many years ago now.)

She promised that if there was an afterlife, she would come back somehow and talk to me or there'd be a 'sign'. Well, 40 years on and I'm still waiting.

BertrandRussell · 15/09/2018 18:32

sweethope- I wouldn't dream of trying to convince anyone with a username like yours any different.

theOtherPamAyres · 15/09/2018 19:17

The 'afterlife' was a way of coping with death in times past, when death was ever-present and lives were short.

Your 'reward in heaven' was a way of coping with poverty, disease, grief, suffering and unbearably harsh lives.

The concept of Another Place has been was used to control, frighten and oppress people. Conformity resulted in 'heaven', disobedience or 'sin' meant an eternity in hell. In other words, it was social control of the population.

I have nothing against the idea when it gives people a shield, or some strength, when facing adversity. It doesn't work for me though.

sweethope · 15/09/2018 20:13

theotherpameyres I suppose you can look at it that way if you’re an atheist.
I’ve found things to be the opposite, many people come on these threads and speak of how they don’t believe, because of all the suffering.
Bertrandrussell glad to hear it, i wouldn’t take any notice anyway.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/09/2018 20:29

Conformity resulted in 'heaven', disobedience or 'sin' meant an eternity in hell. In other words, it was social control of the population

To be fair I think there's something in this, in that it probably suits some to try controlling folk for their own purposes. They might be more effective, though, if they concentrated more on guidance than dogma, since real progress relies on free will rather than being browbeaten

Salvation lies within ourselves

PurpleFlower1983 · 15/09/2018 20:35

@Blobby10

I dont know if I believe in an afterlife but I find it impossible to believe that a human being can just stop existing. We aren't just blood bones and skin, we have electricity and all sorts in our bodies and our brains and emotions and I dont see how that can all just stop!

I think it’s the fact that humans are aware of all this that makes so many people believe. How can such ‘amazing’, ‘extraordinary’ creatures just cease to exist? Unfortunately, I think the reality is they do.

I think people live on in memories and the friends/family they have influenced along the way.

HermaphroditePug · 15/09/2018 23:17

Frankly, hearing people say things like “Jesus said xyz so that’s evidence” does nothing to convince me that those people aren’t stupid because that’s just a stupid thing to say.

sweethope · 16/09/2018 00:06

Herma I haven’t seen any post as you describe, but if people mention Jesus because they believe in Jesus Christ please don’t call them stupid, as you wouldn’t about any other religion. Mocking people for their religious beliefs isn’t in the spirit of this thread which so far has been rather good.

HermaphroditePug · 16/09/2018 02:08

I think all religions are equally stupid.

HermaphroditePug · 16/09/2018 02:10

Jesus brought people back from the dead (Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter) and then came back himself. He promised that he would prepare a place for us, and that we would follow him there.
That’s a pretty powerful demonstration of the existence of an afterlife

This is the remark I was referring to.

Senseless on so many levels.

moredoll · 16/09/2018 02:11

I think we die and that's it, but I also believe our spirit lives on if that makes any sense.

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 16/09/2018 10:03

on the Jesus coming back to life thing, I heard that he actually went into a coma after being crucified and as they had extremely limited medical knowledge in those days, presumed he was dead. He then came round from the coma and thus was seen as him coming back to life.

JustAnotherPoster00 · 16/09/2018 12:57

on the Jesus coming back to life thing, I heard that he actually went into a coma after being crucified and as they had extremely limited medical knowledge in those days, presumed he was dead. He then came round from the coma and thus was seen as him coming back to life.

There's no evidence he ever existed other than 2 sources that have already been debunked

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 16/09/2018 13:03

Justanotherposter yes but if he had and was just a normal person, as opposed to the son of god, the coma theory could explain why he was deemed to have come back to life.

Gersemi · 16/09/2018 19:40

We aren't just blood bones and skin, we have electricity and all sorts in our bodies and our brains and emotions and I dont see how that can all just stop!

The same applies to many animals. Should we assume they all have an afterlife? Including even the most basic forms of life like plankton? If not, where exactly are we drawing the line?

Lynne1Cat · 16/09/2018 19:43

I don't believe in anything after death - I think that you live, you die, you're buried or cremated, that's it.

Alicatz66 · 16/09/2018 20:31

I don't believe in the afterlife .. but I'd like a tree planted on me so I'm a human gro bag and I can nourish something else

sweethope · 16/09/2018 20:55

I think all religions are equally stupid.
Maybe so, but that’s a cop out. I’ve noticed that when people get pulled on criticising a certain religion, they often say “i think all religions are stupid” just to cover themselves. But it’s a racing certainty they wouldn’t have spoke about a specific religion other than Christianity. It’s only Christianity they feel safe to knock. I wonder why that is.