# What religion has the most appealing afterlife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 26, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684 "2009-09-26T22:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/1 "2009-09-26T22:46:22Z")
What religion has the most appealing afterlife? Even better if you have something ‘fresh’ that hasn’t been used yet. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/2 "2009-09-26T23:07:49Z")
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has the best afterlife, no question. Pastafarianism ftw. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/3 "2009-09-26T23:17:32Z")
Probably it depends on the person. Everyone has a different idea of what appealing means. What i’d be interested in would be people who do believe in some form of afterlife who would actually prefer (or find more appealing) a different one. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/4 "2009-09-26T23:39:37Z")
LDS You get to be a God with your own universe along with your multiple wives populating worlds you create with your divine cosmic progney. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/5 "2009-09-26T23:51:29Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > LDS > > You get to be a God with your own universe along with your multiple wives populating worlds you create with your divine cosmic progney. Been there, done that. Looking for something with a little more kink… ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/6 "2009-09-26T23:56:37Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > LDS > > You get to be a God with your own universe along with your multiple wives populating worlds you create with your divine cosmic progney. I’ve been known to joke that I hope the LDS is right, as I’d surely go to their hell, but so would everyone else worth knowing. Yeah, the Mormon hell version of the New York Dolls would need to find a new bass player when they finally get together, but that’s about it. On the other hand an eternity of no booze, no coffee, no gay sex, and a whole lot of Mormons sounds like my idea of hell. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/7 "2009-09-26T23:59:26Z")
What exactly do you _do_ in the Christian afterlife? I’ve heard all sorts of claims that All Your Wildest Dreams Come True, but all I can gleam from the Bible is that you get to worship God a lot. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/8 "2009-09-27T00:02:49Z")
I’ll go with [Zoroastrianism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism#Distinguishing_characteristics), where in the afterlife everyone will be either fifteen or forty years old. What an amazing eternity, to spend surrounded by young nubile girls! 😃 > [@Icerigger](#): > > LDS > > You get to be a God with your own universe along with your multiple wives populating worlds you create with your divine cosmic progney. I thought they just become the masters of planets? In any case, ruling your own universe (plus a harem of multiple wives) sounds like it would quickly become too great of a burden – nothing but work, work, work all day long. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/9 "2009-09-27T00:10:37Z")
Not a religion really, but considering how easy people get bored, and how long eternity is, atheism, or maybe Buddhism. Yea Buddhism sounds better. Mind wipe every 70 years, or longer depending on your karma, till you figure out the illusion, then you become one with everything, and your boredom inducing ego disappears. No chance for boredom. Atheism would be good too, oblivion beats boredom. ---
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/10 "2009-09-27T01:07:11Z")
I would personally like some kind of a permanent happy dreamland, with some voids in between. Actually I would like --\>lifetime,happy dreams, void, lifetime, happy dreams, void,… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/11 "2009-09-27T01:08:46Z")
I’m with **Tao**. I cannot imagine anything interesting enough to do it forever. So I’m in the Presence of the Almighty. Isn’t he the same guy we were totally enamored with yesterday and last year? Does anybody have a deck of cards? Human minds aren’t designed for an eternity of anything. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/12 "2009-09-27T01:48:07Z")
The Wiccan concept of [Summerland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summerland) seems pretty cool. Basically after you die you get to kick back in a nice peaceful place with your loved ones. Then, when you feel ready, you get a mind-wipe and are reincarnated to have another earthly adventure. I also find the general Hindu concept of the afterlife appealing. Although it’s hard to pin down any single set of beliefs as “Hindu”, many Hindus believe in reincarnation with the ultimate goal of realizing enlightenment and some sort of dissolution-of-self or merging-with-god/the universe. I like Hinduisms concept better than Buddhism’s concept because Hinduism gives some purpose to our life on Earth. In Buddhism, life is suffering and that is that. Our human lives, basically, are already hell. And the goal is get out of there ASAP. So reincarnation means you might live a slightly less painful human life, but it’s still just meaningless pain on the way to enlightenment. Seems kind of nihilist to me. But in Hinduism the drama of human life has some meaning and purpose to it. Yeah, enlightenment is the ultimate goal. But you are expected to enjoy the pleasures of family, love, sex, wealth, etc. along the way. It’s an important and expected step of the development of a soul. Furthermore, human life has cosmic significance in Hinduism. Our human dramas create part of the energy that keep the universe going. A universe of disembodied enlightenment would quickly experience heat death. But humanity keeps things interesting. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/13 "2009-09-27T13:20:46Z")
Afterlife? Life Is. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/14 "2009-09-27T20:37:02Z")
I just posted in the other thread… well, I’ll say it again. There’s a very ancient, mainstream Jewish tradition that heaven is like one long perpetual orgasm, turned up to eleven. There’s a bit in the Talmud where it talks about things that are a taste of the world-to-come, and sex is one of them. I’ve seen this expounded in books, where they make a lot of comparisons and parallels (but I have no experience in that area and so can’t vouch for it myself). Also, you don’t have to worry about boredom, because there’s no time there. No, I’m not quite sure what that means (but I don’t think anyone does, including the theoretical physicists who talk about how there was no time before the Big Bang). Also, you understand the reason for everything that happens, which eliminates a lot of angst. More good news: Hell is temporary. It lasts twelve months at the very worst. Mind you, those twelve months are no picnic, but it’s not like people get eternally damned. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/15 "2009-09-28T07:00:52Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > I’ve been known to joke that I hope the LDS is right, as I’d surely go to their hell, but so would everyone else worth knowing. Yeah, the Mormon hell version of the New York Dolls would need to find a new bass player when they finally get together, but that’s about it. On the other hand an eternity of no booze, no coffee, no gay sex, and a whole lot of Mormons sounds like my idea of hell. Actually from what I understood from my time in the church, non-believers don’t go to hell. They go to purgatory/paradise where they will be taught the discussions and if they accept the gospel they get to hang around there until somebody on Earth gets baptized in their name at which point they can proceed to one of Heaven’s lesser (the Mormons have a 3-part heaven) kingdoms. The Mormon “hell” is known as outer darkness and is reserved for those who join the church and then betray it by denouncing their beliefs. On review, it would seem that’s where I’m going! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/16 "2009-09-28T07:27:04Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > …There’s a very ancient, mainstream Jewish tradition that heaven is like one long perpetual orgasm, turned up to eleven. … Actually, Hell is the poor souls who have to perpetually clean that shit up. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/17 "2009-09-28T10:13:39Z")
Dunno if mine belongs in the “most appealing” list or the “least appealing” list. Kinda depends. The upshot is, you don’t get to remember your past life and you get reincarnated in a future that you, along with the other members of your species who were your cohort during this life, helped to build. So in this life you’re designing the circumstances you’ll experience in the next one. You dont get to just be nice and get rewarded while the nasty people go to hell, sorry, doesn’t work that way. if the whole works is on a downward spiral due to the behavior of other members of your species, you better get cracking. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/18 "2009-09-28T15:14:04Z")
Spending eternity singing the praises of god sounds pretty crap. Valhalla sounds pretty crap as well. I think heaven has got to have infinite variety,you spend so long in a permament orgasm then explore the universe,after a while you spend so much time in an opium dream then take part in a fantasy adventure,then you explore the universe some more and experience total love(The none carnal kind) for a while. And so on,the universe IMO being infinite you should never have to duplicate pleasurable experiences though no doubt you’d choose to but if eternal ennui comes upon you then you have your memory wiped and then rerun but as new experiences. (As far as you know) Also the classical Greek afterlife is particulary crap. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/19 "2009-09-28T15:31:31Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > …but if eternal ennui comes upon you then you have your memory wiped and then rerun but as new experiences. (As far as you know) Yes! This sounds great. I’d always leaned toward the atheist afterlife before (_eternal ennui_ is the perfect way to describe my dread), but a periodic memory wipe would make eternity seem much less eternally long. If there exists an eternal soul, then clearly we’ve already experienced one of those memory wipes, supposedly to increase our reliance on faith but more likely just as a break from the mind-numbing feeling that we’ve been around forever and it ain’t never gonna end. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684/20 "2009-09-28T16:11:12Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Actually, Hell is the poor souls who have to perpetually clean that shit up. Ahh the bukakki of the saints. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-has-the-most-appealing-afterlife/511684.md?page=2)