What if?

OK, I am not asking any of you to deny your faith. I appreciate that you each have your own individual faiths. I agree that faith can bring good whether or not it is "real". All the bible or any respected text teaches is to basically love one another and be nice! Which isnt a bad thing! Part of me wishes and wants to believe in a God, but my head is saying no!

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true? Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Basically if you found out there wasnt a God (s), How would you feel? (again you wont be able to feel when dead, but just pretend! )

If there was no God.... dead would mean DEAD... Nothing... no feelings nothing to feel.

But religion is not about REWARD for a good life well done.
Faith in Jesus is about following his teachings ...reward or not.

If I wake up to nothing.... I know my slate has been wiped clean of sin but I have nothing positive left to take into God' presence.
Disappointed sure... But God will make some decision regarding my future.

Terrywoodenpic said:

If there was no God.... dead would mean DEAD... Nothing... no feelings nothing to feel.

But religion is not about REWARD for a good life well done.
Faith in Jesus is about following his teachings ...reward or not.

If I wake up to nothing.... I know my slate has been wiped clean of sin but I have nothing positive left to take into God' presence.
Disappointed sure... But God will make some decision regarding my future.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your response, but you have completely misunderstood me!

Firstly I know dead means dead - hence I said pretend you would be aware!

Secondly I know the teachings are good, and the moral side is great and if it were me, it wouldnt worry me because I would know at least I have been a good person. However I am talking about the religions that say you have to pray 5 times a day, pay tithing to a church - things that have nothing to do with "being good".

Thirdly, the hypothesis was that God didnt exist so you couldnt take anything into his presence!

laws28186 said:

OK, I am not asking any of you to deny your faith. I appreciate that you each have your own individual faiths. I agree that faith can bring good whether or not it is "real". All the bible or any respected text teaches is to basically love one another and be nice! Which isnt a bad thing! Part of me wishes and wants to believe in a God, but my head is saying no!

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true? Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Basically if you found out there wasnt a God (s), How would you feel? (again you wont be able to feel when dead, but just pretend! )

Click to expand...

Not a regret in my life. Even if God was a judgmental BEing and cast judgment on my life I wouldn't trade any of my life experiences for anything.

laws28186 said:

If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

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13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)

faith = trust, and freedom from anxiety and worry

hope = hope, that we are never separated from our loved ones, that peace and love is triumphant

love = participating in the healing of the world

laws28186 said:

say you die and nothing happens

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I would be somewhat surprised I had survived such fatal circumstances.

If I found it was simply oblivion when I died, I wouldn't be disappointed.

lunamoth said:

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)

faith = trust, and freedom from anxiety and worry

hope = hope, that we are never separated from our loved ones, that peace and love is triumphant

love = participating in the healing of the world

Click to expand...

Not a bad way to live one's life.

lunamoth said:

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)

faith = trust, and freedom from anxiety and worry

hope = hope, that we are never separated from our loved ones, that peace and love is triumphant

love = participating in the healing of the world

Click to expand...

lunamoth said:

Not a bad way to live one's life.

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Exactly Luna (beautiful definitions btw)


The best theologies help you make the most of this life while preparing you for the next.

That way even if there is no "next" what have you lost? At the very least your beliefs have kept you out of hell in this life.

laws28186 said:

Thanks for your response, but you have completely misunderstood me!

Firstly I know dead means dead - hence I said pretend you would be aware!

Secondly I know the teachings are good, and the moral side is great and if it were me, it wouldnt worry me because I would know at least I have been a good person. However I am talking about the religions that say you have to pray 5 times a day, pay tithing to a church - things that have nothing to do with "being good".

Thirdly, the hypothesis was that God didnt exist so you couldnt take anything into his presence!

Click to expand...

I understood what you said...
however I can't stretch my imagination that far.
I do not even need to believe that God exists... For him to be There.

laws28186 said:

OK, I am not asking any of you to deny your faith. I appreciate that you each have your own individual faiths. I agree that faith can bring good whether or not it is "real". All the bible or any respected text teaches is to basically love one another and be nice! Which isnt a bad thing! Part of me wishes and wants to believe in a God, but my head is saying no!

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true? Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Basically if you found out there wasnt a God (s), How would you feel? (again you wont be able to feel when dead, but just pretend! )

Click to expand...

If I found out that there is no God, I would know that I am being duped (or maybe being tested by God).............

Been greatly surprised, sometimes disappointed, many times in life already. Getting used to it in a way. Right now if I died and there turned out to be a God or not to be a God I'd be surprised either way.

Well whadayaknow?

laws28186 said:

OK, I am not asking any of you to deny your faith. I appreciate that you each have your own individual faiths. I agree that faith can bring good whether or not it is "real". All the bible or any respected text teaches is to basically love one another and be nice! Which isnt a bad thing! Part of me wishes and wants to believe in a God, but my head is saying no!

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true? Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Basically if you found out there wasnt a God (s), How would you feel? (again you wont be able to feel when dead, but just pretend! )

Click to expand...

In some ways, you're already "dead" so to speak. And the most popularized religious beliefs have only aided the Matrix-like effect keeping most people in a deep sleep state. Upon the death of your body now, you will, most likely either experience a different existence or the current/same existence many times over. Time is not a problem. You are speaking from the level of the Maya (i.e., illusion). Think of a huge biomass of consciousness with poke holes where it/consciousness peeps through a particular mask to experience a singular reality that you call your existence. The intention/teaching of the sages/gurus is to alert people that they must realize their kaleidoscopic reality beyond this form before reaching another level of "death" so to speak. Otherwise, you'll stay in a repeat cycle (i.e., like reincarnation). The Bible and other respected texts have placed a great deal of importance on "waking up." That is a very good analogy to explain the need for understanding the difference of this illusionary world and the greater mass of consciousness that people are currently hosted from.

Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true?

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No, I don't think I would. I don't live my life by "it's good because my religion says it is."

laws28186 said:

OK, I am not asking any of you to deny your faith. I appreciate that you each have your own individual faiths. I agree that faith can bring good whether or not it is "real". All the bible or any respected text teaches is to basically love one another and be nice! Which isnt a bad thing! Part of me wishes and wants to believe in a God, but my head is saying no!

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true? Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Basically if you found out there wasnt a God (s), How would you feel? (again you wont be able to feel when dead, but just pretend! )

Click to expand...

i'll tell you in my next reincarnation.

Hi.

All I can say is, I'm reminded of the saying of a wise person:

"Given the choice between a real evil and a hypothetical evil,
always choose the hypothetical one!"

(IOW, IMHO the question doesn't compute.)

Peace,

Bruce

I see the natural/atheistic death of nonexistance as a very nuetral way to die. I would not be sad or happy about it. Its neither a punishement or reward.

I don't practice my religion because of or in spite of death. I follow my religious path because for me, it is a better way to live life.

Which means that I don't need to know the gods exist. Thus far, the basis of what I've been taught and what I've learned for myself is based on observation without expectation. Taking that mindset into death, it wouldn't matter if a deity was there to greet me or not.

laws28186 said:

What I am asking, is hypothetically, say you die and nothing happens (now obviously you wont really know, but pretend you do just for now ). Would you be disappointed? would you feel like you have wasted your life following something that isnt true?

Click to expand...

I'd probably feel "oh, I guess I was right when I was an atheist. Well, at least I was right part of the time. "

Besides, if we continue to exist after physical death, I would fully expect to find out there were plenty of things I thought were true that actually weren't. It's not like I'm omniscient or anything.

Obviouslly as I said the moral bit is fine, but I know some religions expect prayers five times a day (this must be difficult to abide to? ), some expect you to pay the church some money etc. If it isnt true, this would all have been for nothing?

Click to expand...

Actually, praying several times a day is no more difficult or time consuming than brushing your teeth after every meal. But I suppose that's fodder for another thread.