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Thread: What do athiests belive happens after death.

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    ne obliviscaris The Jackle's Avatar
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    Question What do athiests belive happens after death.

    As a christian, I have a strong belive in heaven and hell ect. Yet I'm rather curious to know what athiest's belive happens after death. To me its unimaginable to think that when our bodies cease to sustain us upon the world, thats it. If you do belive that life ends with death then isnt that rather sepressing and what are your thoughts about death. All replys welcome. Thank you for reading.
    The Jackle

    "Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.”- Napoleon Bonaparte

    "Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory."- Chairman Mao Zedong

    "Veni, Vidi, Dormivi" (I came, I saw, I slept)

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    As some one who is a firm believer in God, though you probably wouldn't consider me a Christian, I think it is rather arrogant to believe that we are so important that there MUST be something after death. However, for your second point, I don't understand how believing that there is nothing after death suppresses one's thoughts on death. Coming to the conclusion that there is nothing after death, at least for me, was something I came to after several long sessions of thought on the subject. (Most likely having largely due to the fact I live in a heavily traditionalist Christian area... the south.)

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    now then ;)
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    We die. We decompose. The nutrients produced by our decomposition are used by trees/bacteria/plants and we all go on as part of this circle. Why is it necessary to believe that there is anything more? Is there anything more when any other living organism dies? Do amoeba go onto anything else? How about flies? Trees? Cats? Dogs? elephants? fish? Why should we be any different?

    It doesnt depress me because I have no worries/fear concerning death. It is completely natural, and I prefer to focus on living.
    Last edited by kilted exile; 02-14-2007 at 11:52 PM.
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    Registered User aeroport's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kilted exile View Post
    We die. We decompose. The nutrients produced by our decomposition are used by trees/bacteria/plants and we all go on as part of this circle. Why is it necessary to believe that there is anything more? Is there anything more when any other living organism dies? Do amoeba go onto anything else? How about flies? Trees? Cats? Dogs? elephants? fish? Why should we be any different?

    It doesnt depress me because I have no worries/fear concerning death. It is completely natural, and I prefer to focus on living.
    Likewise...

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    Fingertips of Fury B-Mental's Avatar
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    Oh man, Kilt you got me thinking about this book I read called Stiff (can't think of the author) Its all about what they do to your body after death. They have this process where you can be freeze dried, then crushed, and composted. I want to be nutrients for a sequoia that will live for thousands of years
    "I am glad to learn my friend that you had not yet submitted yourself to any of the mouldy laws of Literature."
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    now then ;)
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    that sounds like an interesting book.....
    There once was a scotsman named Drew
    Who put too much wine in his stew
    He felt a bit drunk
    And fell off his bunk
    And landed smack into his shoe
    ~(C) Ms Niamh Anne King

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    Infinitly ignorant
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    I would agree with kilted exile. I couldn't imagine a life after death as a real possiblity, it would be so boring, unless off course there was a life after that..
    I could live with that.

    I'm just going through life happy in the knowledge that my last thought could possibly be a dirty joke.
    My eyes are golden

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    Cur etiam hic es? Redzeppelin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Liarue View Post
    I would agree with kilted exile. I couldn't imagine a life after death as a real possiblity, it would be so boring, unless off course there was a life after that..
    I could live with that.
    Depends on what you think "life after death" consists of. If it's simply more of this current life, then yes - why bother? But what if it is Life to its fullest, most enjoyable extent? What about that?
    "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis

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    Quote Originally Posted by B-Mental View Post
    Oh man, Kilt you got me thinking about this book I read called Stiff (can't think of the author) Its all about what they do to your body after death. They have this process where you can be freeze dried, then crushed, and composted. I want to be nutrients for a sequoia that will live for thousands of years
    The book is indeed entitled "Stiff" and it's by Mary Roach. She is a professional writer and is funny in the vein of Dave Barry, P.J. O’Rourke, Bill Bryson, Florence King, etc. You can get it used for about seven bucks on Amazon. It sounds morbid but it is awesomely funny.

    For a more edifying book on being dead vs. the "soul" I would recommend "Brain and Belief" by John McGraw - a used copy from Amazon is about eight bucks. It goes into the various western concepts of the "soul". Quite interesting - I had never thought about it, but he shows that the bible gives two conflicting variants of life after death - soul sleep and resurrection as one type, and immediate transfer to heaven or hell upon "bodily" death as the other type. IOW, it turns out christians can't even come up with a consistent theory of what a spirit is, how it functions in relationship to the "physical" world, etc.

    Belief in some continued existence after obvious death is obviously a childish wish-fulfillment fantasy belief. People are scared of non-existence, they are unhappy with this life and desire a better one, they like this one and wish it to continue indefinitely, etc.

    If a person didn't exist before he was born, then why would he believe he MUST continue to exist after he dies? The eastern reincarnationists get around this illogic, but westerners are just unsophisticated children when it comes to conjuring up fantastical scenarios of eternality for themselves. The Hindus and Buddhists have been blowing christians out of the water for millennia on this one.

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    Registered User Wintermute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Jackle View Post
    As a christian, I have a strong belive in heaven and hell ect. Yet I'm rather curious to know what athiest's belive happens after death. To me its unimaginable to think that when our bodies cease to sustain us upon the world, thats it. If you do belive that life ends with death then isnt that rather sepressing and what are your thoughts about death. All replys welcome. Thank you for reading.
    Hi Jackle,

    As an agnostic I'm uncertain about everything. Yet, I'm rather curious to know what Christians belive happens after death. To me its unimaginable to think that when our bodies cease to sustain us upon the world, that something called our soul continues to exist for infinity...I mean, that's a really long time. What do you think heaven is like? Specifically. Will you remember your time on earth--your loved ones--your pets--anything? My grandma imagined beautiful green hills with pretty houses and all of her kin around her. To me this may be closer to hell--particularly after the first billion years or so. Can you define, in really specific terms, what you think heaven will be like? What will hell be like? All replys welcome. Thanks for reading 8-).

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    Illiterati manyreddevils's Avatar
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    There's only so much we can really say/know about life after death (and it's not much), because if there is any kind of eternal existence it would exist outside of time. It's not so much an infinite progression of years, days, etc. as an infinite present. You can see where the problems arise. It's not exactly something within our experience. Personally, I tend to think that as a Christian a person's focus should be on God's kingdom in the present, since it is all humanity is guaranteed. It is more important that heaven should exist than that man should ever get there.
    "We are unknown, we knowers, to ourselves..."
    -Freddy N.

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    Bonafide...Savage. Neo_Sephiroth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kilted exile View Post
    We die. We decompose. The nutrients produced by our decomposition are used by trees/bacteria/plants and we all go on as part of this circle. Why is it necessary to believe that there is anything more? Is there anything more when any other living organism dies? Do amoeba go onto anything else? How about flies? Trees? Cats? Dogs? elephants? fish? Why should we be any different?

    It doesnt depress me because I have no worries/fear concerning death. It is completely natural, and I prefer to focus on living.
    No, no, no...You're missing something. We die. We decomposed and...Sometimes our dead rotten carcass is eaten by...Umm...I don't know...Something? Hey, there's gotta be something that eats us after we're dead! I just don't know all the details. At least, that's what I've heard.

    Sorry, Jackle. I ain't an atheist. Just wanted to point out something about dead bodies.
    "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people and then they take themselves out of the slums. Christ changes men, who then changes their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." ~ Ezra Taft Benson

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    Registered User metal134's Avatar
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    I'm not an atheist, but here's my opinion on it. I just don't know. Maybe there is some kind of afterlife, I just don;t think there is any real way to know if there is one or what it is until you're dead. I'm not sure how I feel on the possibilty. On the one heand, it is kind've a nice thought to have some kind of paradise upon death. On the other hand, as Wintermute said, eternity is a long time, and I'm not sure I want to exist forever and ever and ever, paradise or no.

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    Beautant Lily Adams's Avatar
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    There's this part in my physicks book that talks about how we don't "own" our atoms. As said before, we just die and "become" something else through natural recycling. We're nothing special. We just die and that's it.

    If you want to talk about souls, they don't really exist, either. It's just a part of our complex brain, which is a physical thing, and that means it dies along with us.

    Depressing!
    Last edited by Lily Adams; 02-16-2007 at 08:13 PM.


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    Maybe there's a life after death that is a take-off on MST3K. (Say there is an infinite number of bad movies, and you get to sleep a thousand years between each one.)

    That would be cool.

    I may need some South Park, though. And something like Steven Colbert.

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