# Survival After Death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 1999, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908 "1999-11-03T20:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/21 "1999-11-04T02:59:00Z")
I’ll go to my own personal garden of paradise in which I’ll play saxophone for an all-girl cabaret… ---
**Author:** ![Momotaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Momotaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momotaro)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/22 "1999-11-04T04:23:00Z")
I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/23 "1999-11-04T05:10:00Z")
When I die I will have no more opportunity to affect the lives and well-being of the people I love. That means I better do it now. If I knew for certain the truth of the afterlife, and it was negative, it would have no effect on my morality or my behavior. If the answer were positive, IT DAMN WELL BETTER change my behavior and my morality. It would be a radically different new fact to consider, and if I did not adjust my views accordingly then I am either self-delusional or irrationally closed-minded. * * * _The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity_ ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/24 "1999-11-04T08:13:00Z")
I honestly don’t know (Duh!), but also, I try and spend more time on living than dying. All too soon, I’ll find out… * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/25 "1999-11-04T14:45:00Z")
I subcribe to the Christian view of an afterlife and, as a result, I live my life under the conviction that Dex’s option 2 is reality. Assuming option 1 was proven as fact and there is nothing after life, I cannot think of any major lifestyle changes that I would make. There would certainly be some minor changes - ie: like Polycarp I would no longer talk about God and I would no longer attend church. But I _choose_ to live as I do. Nobody forces me to be moral now. I can’t imagine that no afterlife would change those choices. Now, what if we were born with absolute knowlege that there is no afterlife, no eternal reward for good behavior, and life is truly survival of the fittest? Would that change anything? Anyone care to argue the innate morality of humans? * * * The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/26 "1999-11-04T17:49:00Z")
When I die, I will awaken in Heaven, with a new body, and live forever? I sure hope not. If that happens, I’ll be damn suprised. What would you do forever? I’ve only been here 30 years, and I’ve had about enough. Hopefully, when I go, that’ll be it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/27 "1999-11-04T17:52:00Z")
If the Christian belief is true, would every living thing be guaranteed an afterlife, like cats and dogs? That could make for an awful lot of cockroaches in heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908/28 "1999-11-05T06:01:00Z")
Monkey Boy: C.S. Lewis, a wise and witty Christian writer, once said: “If God is economical, he could profitably combine a Hell for humans with a heaven for mosquitos.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survival-after-death/16908.md?page=1)