From my broad range of posts I have read I see religion to always pop up in a thread (my favorite debates). I estimate that there are a considerable number of non-christians on the SDMB. So (addressed to all):
What do you believe will happen to you after your death?[sub]feel free to elaborate…I will try to keep a tally going…[/sub]
I believe that I will be sent to be judged by God to determine if my faith and life’s works make me worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven. If I don’t get in to heaven, I will go either to Purgatory to be cleansed for my entrance in heaven,or I will go to Hell for eternity. And if I go to heaven, when the end of the world comes, my body will be raised and my soul reunited, and I will spend the rest of eternity praising God for His grace of salvation.
The body framework decomposes or is cast to ash (the latter, in my case, if my nearest and dearest have been listening to my list of last requests). The essence of the person, the soul or whatever, I believe is eternal. I’m into the strong belief that my ancestors watch over me, so I’ll end up with them if things work out.
I feel a real need to believe in reincarnation – mainly because in this existence, I’ve missed a lot of boats. There’s gotta be something other than this.
The spirits from the Kingdom of Heaven will open up the gates and welcome me in where I can meet Him in all his glorious creation, share His knowledge, understand all through the magificence of omnipotence, and finally be at peace and one with my mind, body, soul, feelings, and the universe as a whole.
Dude, I’m just kidding. I’m so totally going to Hell.
I feel that I will just cease to exist. I don’t recall anything before I was born, and it seems reasonable to expect the same after death. No torture, no Hell nor demons, just a click and the lights go out (as 1kBR Kid) said.
I thought Purgatory had been discounted as a stopping off place. Be that as it may, it seems harsh that we get a relatively short life, but can be damned for all eternity if we don’t get things exactly right during whatever life span we might have. If we do get things right, we get to spend that same eternity praising the diety that gave us the better than even chance of being damned. If we happened to be born in the wrong time and place, we don’t get any chance at all for salvation.
I think you don’t care in the least what the rest of us think. I think you opened this thread in order to “witness” to the rest of us and just maybe in order to give yourself a chance to feel superior.
Since you asked, IMHO, when we die, we die and that’s that. YMMV but I don’t particularyl care if it does.
While the idea of an afterlife appeals to me, I’m not getting my hopes up. As much as it may suck, I believe that when my time comes, my mind and consciousness will just click off, and all that will be left is a body.
The only thing I’m pinning my hopes on is that the whole thing will be quick, painless and preferably during my sleep. While death itself doesn’t really scare me, the idea of suffering throughout does. I’ve seen it happen too many times to family members, and don’t want my last days to be like theirs.
“Who are you” can be answered in ways other than as the first person singular self. If by the time of your death that’s the only “you” that’s real to you, you’re dead meat. If, on the other hand, there’s a lot more to “who are you”, through your connections with other people and the causes and ideas to which you have given your energy, the loss of the individual self is not the end.
We are all manifestations of God, and the individual “you” (the first person singular self) is akin to a book that God is reading. When God finished one book, God picks up the next book and continues. But this will mean little to you until and unless you can comprehend yourself as God having your individual self as an experience.
Figure they’ll burn me, to make sure I’m dead. Then I’ll rot.
I recall an image from a bbok, where the guy wanted to be buried in a cardboard coffin bavoe an acorn, which he would fertilize, thereby coming as lose as possible to eternity.
I’m a fan of reincarnation. I’d really like it if that did happen. Forget living in paradise next to God, I just want to get back on the ride again, and keep going, over and over and over.
Wouldn’t be too keen on coming back as a worm. I’ll limit my reincarnating to humans in first world countries.
Reincarnation.
Life is the only thing we have knowledge of, so for me it seems like more of a leap to say nothing happens and we just rot.
Absolute nothingness? superstitious poppycock if you ask me.
I already know what I think you think will happen to me when I think that you believe what you said you believe will happen to me.
…
So yes, I will be reincarnated as an Owl.
