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Which "afterlife" stories makes the most sense?

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
It's a bit different than a traditional view. No idea where you were and no idea where your going. Just knowing what this life entails.
Actually, as Baha'is that is how we are enjoined to live, focusing on what we can do in this life to make this world a better place for everyone, all the while knowing in the back of our minds that there is a life beyond. I try to do what I can do for others in this life, but I probably focus more than I should on the next world. That is probably because my life in this world has not been a bowl of cherries so I need hope for a better life in the future. The following passage speaks to my heart and my mind, because I fully believe it.

“O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 329
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
I hate this attitude, even if it is supposed to be from God. I am nobody's servant. He should be a little more civil. Look at Hindu Gods. They always talk in a very civil way. Bow to sages and elders. I am nobody's servant. And promising us heavenly delights without any proof thereof.

What is 'hereafter'? What proof does any God or his messenger provides for it? When will this wonderful world that he is talking about will unfold? People have been waiting for it upward of 2000 years. Good snake-oil selling. These people might have been very successful as advertising blurb writers.

@9-10ths_Penguin , I too do not see any reason to believe this type of promises.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
So I take this to mean that there's no objective evidence for souls. Do I understand you correctly?
Correct, there is no direct objective evidence for souls, only indirect evidence by way of those who have experienced consciousness outside of the body after being declared clinically dead. I believe that the soul is responsible for that continued consciousness.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Correct, there is no direct objective evidence for souls, only indirect evidence by way of those who have experienced consciousness outside of the body after being declared clinically dead. I believe that the soul is responsible for that continued consciousness.
What evidence is there of anyone "experienced consciousness outside of the body after being declared clinically dead"?

I mean, I know of people claiming this, but I think it's better explained by the physiological effects of having one's brain starved for oxygen than it would be by assuming that someone really is floating around the room in some invisible but conscience form.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
What evidence is there of anyone "experienced consciousness outside of the body after being declared clinically dead"?
What people report regarding what they experienced. For one such example:

I mean, I know of people claiming this, but I think it's better explained by the physiological effects of having one's brain starved for oxygen than it would be by assuming that someone really is floating around the room in some invisible but conscience form.
You are free to believe what you want to about this, but try to explain why a brain starved of oxygen has a clear thought process and a clear memory of what happened while in that state, and reports that it was a more vivid experience than anything they had ever experienced in their life. How likely is it that all these similar accounts can be wrong?
 

Skywalker

Well-Known Member
Regarding the after life. Me personally, I only accept as true whatever the Prophets of God have stated. All else i consider to be man made imaginations. Why? Because I believe the Prophets of God are pre-existent. That is, They were not born at conception, but in another world before appearing here in human attire and that Their knowledge is infallible and innate. There is no greater spiritual knowledge than what They have given us. That is my personal belief.

Jeremiah 1:5 talks about the foreknowledge of God, not predestination.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Meeting God has nothing to do with stories of people who went to heaven and came back. Jesus said in John 1:18 that nobody has seen God.
I do not believe we will ever "see God" in the afterlife but we will meet Jesus and Baha'u'llah and/or whatever Prophet of God we believed in.

"We will have experience of God's spirit through His Prophets in the next world, but God is too great for us to know without this Intermediary. The Prophets know God, but how is more than our human minds can grasp. We believe we may attainin the next world to seeing the Prophets. There is certainly a future life. Heaven and hell are conditions within our own beings."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 14, 1947)
Lights of Guidance (second part): A Bahá'í Reference File
 

Skywalker

Well-Known Member
I do not believe we will ever "see God" in the afterlife but we will meet Jesus and Baha'u'llah and/or whatever Prophet of God we believed in.

"We will have experience of God's spirit through His Prophets in the next world, but God is too great for us to know without this Intermediary. The Prophets know God, but how is more than our human minds can grasp. We believe we may attainin the next world to seeing the Prophets. There is certainly a future life. Heaven and hell are conditions within our own beings."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 14, 1947)
Lights of Guidance (second part): A Bahá'í Reference File

Why do you believe that Bahulllah is a prophet? What historical evidence is there that supports that?
 

King Phenomenon

Well-Known Member
The nature of the soul is that it is a part of God aka infinity in my book
Thanks for sharing.

That is another view I came across, when studying Hindu Scriptures

I know one thing for sure, and that is that "I do not know for sure how all works in this vast Universe"
maybe we can know all
Maybe we’ve heard we can’t know all for too long
What’s the big deal if you knew it all
The Bible disagree with reincarnation.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).
Not talkin bout reincarnation
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Why do you believe that Bahulllah is a prophet? What historical evidence is there that supports that?
There is much more historical evidence for Baha'u'llah than there is for Jesus, by a very wide margin.

For example, the events surrounding Baha'u'llah's life and mission on earth were documented in the following books:

God Passes By (1844-1944)

The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volumes 1-4, which cover the 40 years of His Mission, from 1853-1892.
 
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