The Afterlife... How Does it Work?

[ghostestwiththemostest]

Forgive my ignorance but I am thinking of believing in the afterlife and have a few questions about the logistics....

In my mind, the afterlife consists of a nicer version of life on Earth. No death, no having to go to work, sunny with a gentle breeze, verdant, relaxing, no housework, and surrounded by loved ones. In essence, my life now only better.

However, I realise that I have oversimplified things. Assuming that I reach (fingers crossed) old age, does this mean that I will be trapped in eternity in the mind and body of an 80+ year old? Does this mean that I could potentially be sat on a sofa with my elderly mother, my elderly grandmother and my elderly children all bickering and shouting "you what??" for all of eternity. Will Heaven turn out to be akin to one of those god awful retirement communities in Florida, all golf carts and incontinent pads?

So, my biggest question is will we be the age that we die with or do you think they will let us pick our own age?
If the latter, do you think that it will be full of idiotic 15-18 year olds at a perpetual disco? If so, who is going to clean up all their shite? Will they end up irresponsibly procreating and who will be stuck dealing with it all?

What would happen if my mother decided to come back as a baby and I ended up stuck looking after her. She would deliberately be as difficult as possible by way of revenge.

Can I choose my own house and plot do you think? If pets go to Heaven (which I've always believed that they do), will I suddenly be greeted by 7 cats, 8 dogs, 11 rabbits, 4 hamsters, 100+ fish and a horse, all elderly and incontinent! That's a big commitment, particularly for an 80+ something.

Even if we are ghosts without bodies (which would be a real shame as I'd miss the cuddles), surely our spirits/personalities would remain and we would largely be fairly world weary and cantankerous. Or could we chose our spiritual age?

What if I end up with crap neighbours? What if Jeremy Beadle or Paul Daniel's live next door? There's nothing to say that you can't be both sufficiently pious to get into heaven, but also seriously annoying. In fact, most pious people I know are exactly that!

The more that I think about this, the less heavenly the dream.

Can someone please help explain the logistics of all of this. No cynics please. I want to believe. I want it to be nice and fluffy, so please don't shatter my delusions. I just need help visualising the reality of it.

I think in the Christian tradition only the pure spirit version of yourself goes to the afterlife and then you are free of all the squidgy hormonal matters that your flesh body imposed on you (aging, lust, pain etc). Also God is right there if you get to Heaven, so nothing else matters except worshipping at that point, so you don't get caught up in an eternal awkward situation between your first husband who died young and your second husband who you spent 50 years with.

Imagine a young bride, Zoe, marrying her childhood sweetheart, boy next door, Andy. He buggers off to WWI and doesn't come back. She mourns, heals and marries Bob. They have a daughter Cathy. Bob dies in WWII.

Cathy becomes a hippie and can't stand her conservative mother.

By the year 2020 they are all dead.

So there's Andy waiting for the love of his life. So is Bob. Zoe can't wait to be with her daughter again. For Cathy, being with her mum would be hell.

Who ends up with who?

I believe very strongly in the afterlife. I'm a Christian. But I'm very confused about what form it'll take, and my theology is in a constant state of flux!
I look forward to it though, and genuinely no fear of my own death 😊

What's the series on Netflix?
The good place.
Excellent fun.

Age is a constraint of this human life. Our bodies are just a vessel and when we die we transcend our bodies and we are ethereal, souls. Whatever it is that makes us human is what goes onto the afterlife, that's what I believe. Our bodies are just cells and bones and tissue that we leave behind so no we won't be old in heaven if we die when we're old. Just to throw a spanner in the works I believe we live multiple lives and our souls will come back again in a different body lol

There are some really good afterlife options here for me to explore. If I mash a couple of them together I think that I might have something to work with. But before I do, I'd like to explore one more preposition.

What if we are not actually alive right now? What if it is all make believe? For example, we are suddenly hit by a car or attacked by a giant flock of birds and, as we find ourselves on a conveyor belt moving slowly towards the bright light ... Suddenly Jeremy Beadle pops out, dressed as a parking attendant and clutching a 'Gotcha Oscar' and smugly declares 'Ghostest, you thought that this was your real life. But your husband is an actor, your mother isn't your real mother and there is no death. That whole cancer thing was a joke. Oh how laughed! That out of control sausage making machine was fake and you didn't really get all those parking tickets! Then he pulls back the backdrop and behind is the start of your real everlasting life. Do you think that this could be a thing? Ok, so I'll admit that the presence of Jeremy Beadle might be pretty hellish, but if all else was well, I could cope with that. I could call this new belief of system 'Beadleism'. I could have an 0800 number and a bit of merchandise and perhaps a course with a set of books. Who's in?? Any takers?

@bombastix

🤣

I have always had the same theory and it's largely based on deja vu... that moment when you get the feeling you've been somewhere or said something before - it's because you have! When you die, you just start your whole life again, everything exactly the same and then you get the flashes of deja vu. Who knows right now I made me on my 5th trip round 😂 And that's why when they say 'you should make the most of everyday' - you really should as you'll be repeating it at some point 😂

I don't think we are in a position to conceive of what the afterlife would be life. Eternal life is a beautiful idea for some.....until you try to get your head around what it would actually mean.

Just imagine it: you arrive in heaven and are greeted by an angel. 'Welcome to Heaven. Make yourself comfortable on your cloud. Here's your halo and harp, and there's eternity stretching out ahead of you. Enjoy'. I can't think of much worse.

Also, some of the people who might be in Heaven too aren't necessarily people I would want to spend eternity with.

So if there is one thing scarier than oblivion, it is eternal life. But of course that is all looking at it from our human perspective, ultimately I don't think we are in a position to understand it. If Heaven is real (and it is very likely that it could be) it won't be at all like we imagine; eg it may be outside and not limited by time, rather a state of being.

@ghostestwiththemostest there's a very nice, if seriously cheesy, 1991 film called 'Defending Your Life' that you might enjoy. It's about a man who dies in a car crash and finds himself in Judgement City where he's on trial for how he lived and dealt with fear. Some it's really funny and other parts give you something to think about, but mainly, if you like cheesy films, it's highly entertaining.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101698/

I think I know why you're lonely Julie 💐

I only read a fraction of that!

It is too big of a question. When you die you will find out and if it doesn’t exist, you are not aware as you died and nothing else happened.

People who say they know- they don’t, religious leaders, nobody, no human can possibly know, when people speak about any of that with certainty, I just think, why would you know? You deluded big head.

That's the thing with heaven and hell isn't it. The logistics don't work. We'd have Roman soldiers, cave men King Henry VIII and all sorts mixed in with us 21st century people and there's be trillions and trillions of people. It just doesn't work as a concept.

Your atoms literally do become part of other stuff, though. All organic matter rots down and becomes minerals and gases. Earth becomes rocks (in one way or another). The water from dead organic matter evaporates and becomes rain and falls to become rivers or parts of other living organisms.

This is how we are eternal. That, and, more immediately, in the memories of those who love us and in the artefacts we leave behind.

'The Great Divorce' by CS Lewis is an interesting read which speculates on the difference between heaven and hell and how people who ended up in each place. It describes Hell as a dreary, rainy town; not a place of torment but just one where people make themselves and each other miserable.

It is quite a reassuring read because it suggests people have to work really hard at staying in Hell.

'The Last Battle' by the same author (last of the Narnia series) refers to this theme too. Brief summary (spoiler): everyone dies and they all live happily ever after. Apart from Susan.

Mini summary of some Christian theology on this (obvs very broadbrush):

From earliest times Christians have believed in a bodily resurrection. This was very important during early Christian persecutions because your body might get torn apart and eaten by lions so there was quite a bit of discussion of the depth of God’s love for you as your bodily self (down to the individual hairs on your head; they would have said atoms if they knew about them).

Have a look at Stanley Spencer’s Cookham Resurrection for an imagining in art of how this would look in relatively modern times.

BUT as Spencer and the early Christians knew it couldn’t really be that simple. Jesus was resurrected in a physical body - a body whose wounds you could touch (without hurting him) and who could eat and drink real food. But he was also resurrected as a body that wasn’t always recognisable (Road to Emmaus), could do things bodies normally can’t (appear in a locked room) and which ultimately ascended into heaven.

So there are lots of bits of the New Testament that talk about it being like our earthly body is a seed and our heavenly body a tree or flower - connected but different. Our heavenly body is ourself in our fullest flourishing for example.

In my head , my soul tribe , re grouped , sitting round a round table , wine open , might take up smoking, so, says one beautiful being , look , last time I was a complete arse , I cheated on you poppet , was a crap dad to you … gestures to Devine souls playing cards with feet up , but good point is that Iv now ticked the utter wanker box . So I’m now going to go back as …. This is where my plan falls flat … does XH come back as a doctor or a dung beetle ?

On the question of multiple marriages, Matthew’s gospel says Jesus was asked this and quite directly said there won’t be any marrying or marriages in heaven. Sounds a bit upsetting but it’s also very strongly emphasised that heaven is all about love because God is love. How does that all work? We don’t know. All we have are images, metaphors and (for some of us) spiritual experiences (I don’t mean out of body experiences - just some sense of a connection to that eternal love and life).

Haha very amusing.
Do you believe in God/ Heaven??

Recommend that you read "Journey of Souls" by Michael Newton, which explains all of life after death in a logical, heartfelt, inspiring way, and was a life-changer for me personally. Everything happens for a reason (because we planned it to be so). We plan our lives before we are born. How we react to what we planned is where free will comes in. We are comprised of two parts: the soul, and the personality. The soul remains with us throughout time; the personality is interchangeable with each incarnation, but still contains our essence. We learn and grow with each incarnation. It's a fascinating subject.

And there have been lots of different Christian views on the kind of progress you can make in heaven (not just talking about purgatory here). Like how you can be remade into a person who doesn’t hurt anyone - does this happen all at once or is there change for us in heaven?

Then there’s Christian universalist ideas that say everyone goes to heaven and hell is “where” the parts of us that are empty, nothing, just about pain for ourselves and others “go” (not as an actual place but as an idea).

Are you Boltish OP??

@Livingtothefull I’ve always been annoyed about that (Susan but more the presentation of death as an overall positive). A friend of a friend once told me she “couldn’t wait to meet Jesus” - a healthy 30-year-old - which has horrible implications.

I rather hope the Life Review that some Near Death Experiencers report doesn't happen. I'm cringing at the thought, even if it's non-judgemental. Mostly I think that, if there is something, it's not something we can imagine with our limited brains.

Not sure I believe it in but if I did, it’s like a gentle eternal sleepy bliss where you float around with loved ones. Nothing happens per say.