Funny thing I can actually be more objective in a thread about after life than in a thread about the probition of alcohol. Let's get to it!
The satanic church certainly do some mass from time to time, but they also provide contacts between believers. So, if you look for a witch they will lead you to one. But that witch doesn't have to cooperative at all, you're on your own to convince her doing whatever you want from her (still she can't do everything, e.g. she can't make you a witch). So to say, there is no sense of community.
I like satanism for the responsibility everyone has for himself/herself, but don't like it's "we are all damned anyway" attitude.
Actually, if god would reveal himself ("him" as in "the Lord", I'm not implying anything), I think this is what most people would think :D
Proof: Imply you believe in an afterlife and there isn't one. Well, you will never knew and therefore you can live relieved. Even if you were wrong by objective standards, you always "knew" you were right, so in the end, you win. That is also in accordance in case there is an afterlive and you wouldn't notice (such as reincarnations without memories).
If there's afterlife you can experience and it matches your belief, you win.
If there's afterlife you can experience and it really doesn't match your belief, as in you go to hell and burn for all eternity, you finally loose.
But you loose as well if you don't belief anything at all, because hell or similiar isn't supposed to be fun.
If there's no afterlife (you can experience) and you don't believe in any, then you just die. But even if you were right by objective standarts, you will never now. And maybe some day in your live really, really terrible things will happen to your kids and they die afterwards (as teenagers or younger, for the sake of this szenario). So as an atheist, you just believe they were painful unlucky and do exist no more. That's sad. … After all, I wouldn't call the atheist-and-no-afterlife a total loose situation, but it is way more negative.
As shown, if you believe in an afterlife, you gain more without loosing anything that could even scratch the win. Which such a result given, I can only call the decision a logical one.
Disproof me ;)
Inb4 I'm a terrorist. I can't force them to their luck, just like I can't force any of you. What remains is hope.
But I have to say, on the other side, hell-burning for others can be a good thing for yourself as believer. From an Atheistic point of view it was probably "invented" to give the believers the security wrong-doers and criminals won't simply get away for not doing as (a) god says. Wouldn't you feel good thinking of the murderers of your parents burning in hell? Wouldn't you feel very good thinking of the rapist of your kids burning in hell? Well, neither my parents got murdered nor I ever had children to be raped, but I believe it would be some kind of relieve. On a personal note again, I remember one time last year someone REALLY made me angry (and I'm not soo easy to anger) and I was mad at him and all, but then I just thought "you'll probably end in hell" and I felt relieved, the anger almost completely vanished. So, I think the "burn-in-hell" consequence is actually good for a peaceful behavior: You don't really need to punish somebody (violently) because god will give him the ultimate punishment. Works for me :)
(And yes I know there are these idiotic religious extremists, in the dark age and now. If you ask yourself for a moment you will probably agree these people got something (or almost everything) entirely wrong, so please don't use these as an argument against my hell-makes-you-peaceful thesis.)
By the last quote answered, I think my personal believes of afterlive are covered in general. As the Koran stated, it will be great ;P
But there are some things I would like there to have which aren't mentioned so far or exactly. I would like to be freed of my (bad) desires – you could summon these up as the characteristics of the seven death sins – and I should be able to get anything I want (due to be free of bad desires, what about a cup of warm chocolate and a conforming house to live in?), beige would be a nice color for the place in general, I would like to be still able to watch the living world and a detailed book of my life would be nice (because I forget very much. Guess what, I just edited this parenthesis thought because I forgot it before). (Besides the last part, that's how I adopted Afterlife in my stories, still being not the final afterlife after all, so I don't say any religion would be wrong.) But if I wouldn't get all that I would still be happy.
By the way, the seven blunders of the world from Ghandi seem worth to be read for a second :D
Another thing are the Deja Vus. I have the theory (but obviously don't believe it) that your whole life is already determinated and "written" into your brain. When you are dreaming, you may catch a glimpse of it (known as Deja Vu) and remember it later when you experience the moment. That said, our life itself has to have some purpose for a greater thing and so there wouldn't be a point in afterlife anyway if you already did your part for the greater thing. Well, maybe you will be revived in some form to witness it.
On a side note, I define destiny by that what you are doing. So writing these words now is my destiny, as it is your's to read them and probably doubt my theory. If you think life has no meaning if there's such a destiny, thinking that is your destiny too. You can't escape it as you can't escape death. And it's all written into your brain, you're just unable to get the key. (And that would be some kind of mind f*ck since you would read how you read how you read how you read *brain melting* Well, probably that's why everyone who unlocked his destiny chamber is dead by now. Oh, and of course that was his destiny, derp.)
Sad, but not true. There are beliefs that doesn't depend on the believer (such as Hinduism) and there are these who does. All Abrahamic religions belongs to the latter.I know that every religion has their own view on what there is after death, but I'm not sure if that what we believe in based on our religion, is what is gonna happen (theoretically speaking of course). What I mean is that I don't think that someone who for example is hinduistic, would be more likely to re-incarnate than someone who is christian, because death is equal, and I don't believe that it's based on what we believe during our lives. So also, whether we believe in Jesus or not, I think all that isn't relevant eventually.
Please don't mix Bible and church together so carelessly. If you think of yourself as a Christian for a moment, you have the bible as your bas. But the church was still invented by mere humans. Nothing in the bible says anything about churches as such.Sorry, but it isn't that simple, you also need to live in as less sins as possible, according to the Bible, and therefore the church.
For the record, that's not what real satanists believe in. They believe there's neither heaven nor hell, so you are free to do anything you want to. (But they kinda despise anyone who believes in god, so you could say they despise a god himself.) But you have to accept anything you do could happen to you as well, so e.g. if you murder someone you could die very soon too. It has a flair of anarchy and I like that.unless they're something along the lines of a satanist whom believe that hell's more desirable than heaven to them oddly enough.
The satanic church certainly do some mass from time to time, but they also provide contacts between believers. So, if you look for a witch they will lead you to one. But that witch doesn't have to cooperative at all, you're on your own to convince her doing whatever you want from her (still she can't do everything, e.g. she can't make you a witch). So to say, there is no sense of community.
I like satanism for the responsibility everyone has for himself/herself, but don't like it's "we are all damned anyway" attitude.
If you imply there is an almighty god, then he is the ruler and the one who defines good and evil, as he is the supremum and so the objective itself. If you, aware of his existence, don't think of him as objective, then you are subjective by definition. Because if this almighty god wouldn't be the measurement for objectiveness, what else should it be?What's good and evil is subjective, not objective; so I can't believe in any form of heaven or hell either.
Actually, if god would reveal himself ("him" as in "the Lord", I'm not implying anything), I think this is what most people would think :D
I have to disgree with you right there. It IS logical too believe in an afterlife.The afterlife is entirely faith, born out of fear and hope; no facts at all. It's just not logical to try and think there is anything after death.
Proof: Imply you believe in an afterlife and there isn't one. Well, you will never knew and therefore you can live relieved. Even if you were wrong by objective standards, you always "knew" you were right, so in the end, you win. That is also in accordance in case there is an afterlive and you wouldn't notice (such as reincarnations without memories).
If there's afterlife you can experience and it matches your belief, you win.
If there's afterlife you can experience and it really doesn't match your belief, as in you go to hell and burn for all eternity, you finally loose.
But you loose as well if you don't belief anything at all, because hell or similiar isn't supposed to be fun.
If there's no afterlife (you can experience) and you don't believe in any, then you just die. But even if you were right by objective standarts, you will never now. And maybe some day in your live really, really terrible things will happen to your kids and they die afterwards (as teenagers or younger, for the sake of this szenario). So as an atheist, you just believe they were painful unlucky and do exist no more. That's sad. … After all, I wouldn't call the atheist-and-no-afterlife a total loose situation, but it is way more negative.
As shown, if you believe in an afterlife, you gain more without loosing anything that could even scratch the win. Which such a result given, I can only call the decision a logical one.
Disproof me ;)
I agree that's a difficult side. As FreakyLocz14 said, everyone is free to believe want he/she wants and has to take responsibility for it, even if she said it in an inappropriate way. From a Christ's or Muslim's point of view (and maybe some others too) that's just unavoidable. Because they know they can't convert everybody. Personally, for me it was the greatest obstacle hindering me converting to the Islam, because it would mean my parents would end in hell, as they were back then (and are still now, sadly). But after some time, I accepted it.Right, but if you're thinking outside of yourself, are you comfortable with the image of others meeting their torturous fates in Hell, while you get to go to Heaven?
But I have to say, on the other side, hell-burning for others can be a good thing for yourself as believer. From an Atheistic point of view it was probably "invented" to give the believers the security wrong-doers and criminals won't simply get away for not doing as (a) god says. Wouldn't you feel good thinking of the murderers of your parents burning in hell? Wouldn't you feel very good thinking of the rapist of your kids burning in hell? Well, neither my parents got murdered nor I ever had children to be raped, but I believe it would be some kind of relieve. On a personal note again, I remember one time last year someone REALLY made me angry (and I'm not soo easy to anger) and I was mad at him and all, but then I just thought "you'll probably end in hell" and I felt relieved, the anger almost completely vanished. So, I think the "burn-in-hell" consequence is actually good for a peaceful behavior: You don't really need to punish somebody (violently) because god will give him the ultimate punishment. Works for me :)
(And yes I know there are these idiotic religious extremists, in the dark age and now. If you ask yourself for a moment you will probably agree these people got something (or almost everything) entirely wrong, so please don't use these as an argument against my hell-makes-you-peaceful thesis.)
By the last quote answered, I think my personal believes of afterlive are covered in general. As the Koran stated, it will be great ;P
But there are some things I would like there to have which aren't mentioned so far or exactly. I would like to be freed of my (bad) desires – you could summon these up as the characteristics of the seven death sins – and I should be able to get anything I want (due to be free of bad desires, what about a cup of warm chocolate and a conforming house to live in?), beige would be a nice color for the place in general, I would like to be still able to watch the living world and a detailed book of my life would be nice (because I forget very much. Guess what, I just edited this parenthesis thought because I forgot it before). (Besides the last part, that's how I adopted Afterlife in my stories, still being not the final afterlife after all, so I don't say any religion would be wrong.) But if I wouldn't get all that I would still be happy.
By the way, the seven blunders of the world from Ghandi seem worth to be read for a second :D
Ghandi said:The seven blunders are:
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.
Another thing are the Deja Vus. I have the theory (but obviously don't believe it) that your whole life is already determinated and "written" into your brain. When you are dreaming, you may catch a glimpse of it (known as Deja Vu) and remember it later when you experience the moment. That said, our life itself has to have some purpose for a greater thing and so there wouldn't be a point in afterlife anyway if you already did your part for the greater thing. Well, maybe you will be revived in some form to witness it.
On a side note, I define destiny by that what you are doing. So writing these words now is my destiny, as it is your's to read them and probably doubt my theory. If you think life has no meaning if there's such a destiny, thinking that is your destiny too. You can't escape it as you can't escape death. And it's all written into your brain, you're just unable to get the key. (And that would be some kind of mind f*ck since you would read how you read how you read how you read *brain melting* Well, probably that's why everyone who unlocked his destiny chamber is dead by now. Oh, and of course that was his destiny, derp.)
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