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A discussion about death and what may follow.

Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
The thread "Who wants to live forever? Kushner does" inspired me to start this thread. However, my thread isn't about living forever but rather asking others what they think about death in general, whether they fear dying, and what they believe happens after death.

I posted my thread in a non-debate forum rather than the religious debate forum because I dislike debating others about my beliefs about death and what I believe happens after death. I'll respond after a few replies. Please remember that this isn't a debate thread.
 

PoetPhilosopher

Veteran Member
I don't currently fear death, but I haven't been put in a position where I must consider it greatly.

In regards to what happens after death, I'm open to an afterlife, or no afterlife. Just one thing I've changed my belief on recently is believing in gods according to the definitions I've read. I saw that Wikipedia listed gods as "entities you consider divine and sacred", and if I do end up believing in anything, I don't think I'll ever get the necessary proof in this lifetime that, if I do follow the proof, rather than things like feelings, that I'll be able to say there's something divine or sacred I should worship.

I now think the universe is a bit more complex than that, even. And I'm attempting to stop thinking in such binary terms, even though it's hard.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
The thread "Who wants to live forever? Kushner does" inspired me to start this thread. However, my thread isn't about living forever but rather asking others what they think about death in general, whether they fear dying, and what they believe happens after death.

I posted my thread in a non-debate forum rather than the religious debate forum because I dislike debating others about my beliefs about death and what I believe happens after death. I'll respond after a few replies. Please remember that this isn't a debate thread.

I don't currently have my hopes up for any sort of life after death. I don't really fear death though I hardly relish the thought, lol.

If there is an afterlife, I suspect it's much more complicated and messy than any religion, particularly the fundamentalist ones, have laid out. I suspect that purely because, well, this world is significantly more complicated and messy than our simplistic religious (or other ideological) narratives lay out.
 

URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
The thread "Who wants to live forever? Kushner does" inspired me to start this thread. However, my thread isn't about living forever but rather asking others what they think about death in general, whether they fear dying, and what they believe happens after death.....................
To me ' death in general ' is the absence of life.
I say this because of what I read in the Bible that Jesus believed death is like 'sleep' at John 11:11-14
What Jesus taught I find agrees with the OT that the dead are in a sleep-like state.
- Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18 and Ecclesiastes 9:5 that the dead know nothing.
So, after death the only hope is a future resurrection back to live life again - Acts of the Apostles 24:15
Back to life again on Resurrection Day meaning: during Jesus' Millennium-Long Day of governing over Earth.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
The thread "Who wants to live forever? Kushner does" inspired me to start this thread. However, my thread isn't about living forever but rather asking others what they think about death in general, whether they fear dying, and what they believe happens after death.

I posted my thread in a non-debate forum rather than the religious debate forum because I dislike debating others about my beliefs about death and what I believe happens after death. I'll respond after a few replies. Please remember that this isn't a debate thread.
Looking at the fact I was dead before birth, indicates to me this is a process without end.

What happens afterwards is likely the same that happened with this life. The eyes just open and information starts pouring in as another living being.

I don't fear death givin how life goes online all around us as much as going offline when we die. We are just atoms, and none of it ever really gets destroyed at the fundamental level, assuming there is a fundamental aspect to it all.

Otherwise it's infinite dimensions and layers where life gets sandwiched throughout the layers in a micro and macro continuum.


In the coffin, out the coffin.....
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
If there is an afterlife, I suspect it's much more complicated and messy than any religion, particularly the fundamentalist ones, have laid out. I suspect that purely because, well, this world is significantly more complicated and messy than our simplistic religious (or other ideological) narratives lay out.
I believe that the afterlife is more complicated than the simplistic Christian version of heaven and hell, but it is not more messy.

The book entitled The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die is my favorite book on the afterlife, and it offers an alternative to the typical religious view. Interestingly, it is similar to the Baha'i view, although the Baha'i Writings don't elaborate on what we will actually experience in the afterlife.

In a chapter entitled Many Mansions, the author describes the seven spheres where people gravitate to in the spiritual world (afterlife). There is a lot more but the book is not online, so I had to type what is below.

"Hare's disincarnate father further explained that a spirit goes to a sphere for which it is morally and intellectually adapted; thus the first sphere above the terrestrial one, i.e., the second sphere, is the abode of "degraded" spirits, meaning not only evil spirits, but "misdirected" ones as well. He pointed out that there are millions of such spirits in the second sphere, what religions call Hell, Hades, or Purgatory, who are groping and unable to free themselves form the fetters of earthly conditions. This sphere is said to be the abode of as many spirits as all the five spheres above it. Nevertheless, contrary to the teachings of many religions, the spirits on this sphere are not permanently confined there as "onward and upward" is the motto of the spirit world. Sooner or later, spirits from higher levels are able to reach them and help them see the light."
(The Afterlife Revealed, pp. 110-111)

This is congruent with what Baha'is believe about the afterlife, that the soul will continue to progress in the spiritual world.

“Silver Birch explained that progression is constant through the spheres of consciousness and that earth provides a variety of learning experiences not available in the spirit world. “The whole object of earthly life is to have a variety of experiences that will fit the spirit for the next stage beyond earth when you have to pass into our world,” he said, further explaining that progress can be “quickened” by earth experience. Many souls, however, in exercising their free will, make wrong choices, thus failing to make significant progress during their earth experiences.

“You must be sharpened, purged, refined,” Silver Birch continued. “You must experience the heights and the depths. You must have the variety of experiences that earth provides for you.””
(Michael Tymn, The Afterlife Revealed, p. 154)

This is also congruent with what Baha'is believe about the purpose of this physical life as preparation for the afterlife.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
I suspect that time repeats, but I don't know. I wonder how else to explain the small number of paranormal events I recall having.

An afterlife must be without our bodies, because our bodies decay and become part of other life. That means it must be without sensation or light. We may also not have minds, because our brains will rot, too. Our hearts, too, will be gone into other forms. We won't have the facility to feel afraid or happy or sad or to desire. Whatever we feel or see will be somehow connected to the time when we are living. Perhaps the eight ours when we sleep now will become precious to us in the afterlife, and we will revisit that time often to feel and experience, haunting our own selves.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I suspect that time repeats, but I don't know. I wonder how else to explain the small number of paranormal events I recall having.

An afterlife must be without our bodies, because our bodies decay and become part of other life. That means it must be without sensation or light. We may also not have minds, because our brains will rot, too. Our hearts, too, will be gone into other forms. We won't have the facility to feel afraid or happy or sad or to desire. Whatever we feel or see will be somehow connected to the time when we are living. Perhaps the eight ours when we sleep now will become precious to us in the afterlife, and we will revisit that time often to feel and experience, haunting our own selves.
I agree that the afterlife must be without our bodies, because our bodies decay after death. Our brains will also rot and with them will go our minds. However, I believe it is the soul that is responsible for consciousness, in this life and in the afterlife, since the soul animates the body and brain. Since the soul is eternal, I believe that consciousness will continue after the physical body dies, and that consciousness will be expressed through a spiritual body and not a physical body. I explained what I believe and what I believe the Bible teaches on another thread.

Who wants to live forever? Kushner does
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't fear dying. At death, the body and mind will no longer function and will become ash. There is no "after death." Time ceases to exists outside transactional reality.

To me, asking what happens after death is akin to asking your dream character what happens after the dream. For the dream character, there is no "after the dream" in the dream reality. There is only the dreamer that continues to exist outside that reality.
 

Wildswanderer

Veteran Member
The thread "Who wants to live forever? Kushner does" inspired me to start this thread. However, my thread isn't about living forever but rather asking others what they think about death in general, whether they fear dying, and what they believe happens after death.

I posted my thread in a non-debate forum rather than the religious debate forum because I dislike debating others about my beliefs about death and what I believe happens after death. I'll respond after a few replies. Please remember that this isn't a debate thread.
First of all... who wouldn't want to live forever?
I understand if someone has miserable life they don't want it to go on for eternity, but if you pick out only the good things in life, why would you not want them to continue forever? That's what heaven is, only the best things we enjoy about life here on Earth plus much more.
Death sucks, I would think we could all agree, especially those of us who have lost someone important to them to death.
I don't know, it's easy to say you don't fear dying, when it's not an immediate concern. I can say I've never had an overwhelming fear of dying, it's not something I spend a lot of time worrying about. Now, suffering is a different story. No one wants to die slowly, in agony. At any rate in my belief system, those who accept Christ live in communion with him and other believers forever, and those who don't are cast into outer darkness, which I take to mean isolation.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
I agree that the afterlife must be without our bodies, because our bodies decay after death. Our brains will also rot and with them will go our minds. However, I believe it is the soul that is responsible for consciousness, in this life and in the afterlife, since the soul animates the body and brain. Since the soul is eternal, I believe that consciousness will continue after the physical body dies, and that consciousness will be expressed through a spiritual body and not a physical body. I explained what I believe and what I believe the Bible teaches on another thread.

Who wants to live forever? Kushner does
I'll have a look.
 

Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
In all honesty, I don't believe that death is necessarily something to be afraid of, and as I've previously stated, based on my knowledge and experiences as a psychic medium, I believe that a spirit's experience is primarily determined by them and can be either negative or positive, including how they react to death and even what kind of person they were while alive. I have been communicating with spirits for fifteen years, and these experiences have shown me that a person's character in this life can carry over into the afterlife and determine their fate. And as I previously stated, I believe that the afterlife, or the spirit world, is an everlasting existence that is not limited by space or time or confined to heaven or hell. In fact, I don't believe that human spirits are trapped for an eternity in either heaven or hell. As a medium and a former Christian, I no longer believe what the Bible teaches about heaven or hell or what it claims will happen to people after they pass into the spirit realm. I believe that what the Bible teaches about the afterlife is incorrect and very misleading. On the contrary, it is my belief that both human spirits and non-human entities can travel between the spirit realm and the physical world by passing through a spiritual vortex or a spirit portal (such as mirrors, windows, and doorways).

I also believe that human spirits can get stuck in the physical world and will need the help and guidance of a psychic medium to cross over into the spirit world. It's my belief that there are human spirits who refuse to cross over into the spirit world because they have unfinished business or because they don't realize that they are dead. In the paranormal field, it is commonly believed that when a person dies abruptly (like in a car accident or from a sudden heart attack), they are unaware that they have died. These spirits are called "earthbound spirits." Based on my experience as a medium and as a paranormal investigator, this belief has been validated by the spirits I've communicated with, the poltergeist activity that I've personally witnessed, the EVPs that I've audibly heard on a Spirit Box or that were captured on an EVP recorder or digital recorder by other paranormal investigators, and the evidence that I've either captured with my own ghost hunting equipment or that I've personally seen that was captured by other paranormal investigators.

I've witnessed and experienced far too many paranormal events that run counter to what the Bible claims about the afterlife and death for me to continue hanging onto such beliefs. And I came to that realization when I was still a Christian, but it took me a long time to overcome all the indoctrination I had been subjected to, admit to myself that I had doubts, and accept that what I experienced as a psychic medium was contrary to what I had been taught as a Christian. If anyone is interested, I've mentioned further details of what I believe about the afterlife and what happens to people after death in my previous posts, such as these two here and here.

Finally, I'm not afraid to die. Having said that, I was terrified of dying when I was still a Christian. Despite being a devout Christian and a genuine believer in God, I had always feared dying in unrepentant sin and going to hell. However, I'm not a Christian anymore, and that old fear no longer scares me. The afterlife isn't as mysterious to me as it used to be, and I'm not overly concerned about what will happen to me on the other side anymore. After what I've experienced over the last fifteen years, I've decided that death and the spirit world aren't something I should necessarily fear. As a medium and a spiritualist, I no longer have a deep-seated fear of death because I believe that I have a fairly good idea of what happens to human spirits in the afterlife. I do, however, sometimes wonder how my life will end and if I will choose to or be able to cross over into the spirit world. Having said that, I try not to focus too much on my death.
 
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Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
You raised your hand before I got mine up. :D

I don't think living forever would be so bad when I consider how much time I could have spent haunting all the people who tormented me while I was still alive. Of course, I'd have to think about how they'd react if they saw me after they died. In any case, I could travel the world and visit places I've never visited before. I guess I would get bored after a hundred years or so. I'm sure that I wouldn't want to spend my afterlife in this small, rural town I'm living in now. It truly astonishes me to see all the spirits who have been around here for years on end, some for more than a hundred years. If they don't want to cross over, then there's nothing I can do about it. I really feel very sad for many of these earthbound spirits because I know that they are attached to a certain location or even to an object or a living person. I might hang around as an earthbound spirit for a few years after my death, maybe haunt a few people who made my physical life a living hell, travel the world, and then cross over. I'm sure that I'll end up helping other earthbound spirits cross over too.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
When you step outside of fixation in now-time and now-space, or outside of ego perspectives, death isn't really a thing.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Very fast summary: When we drop our physical bodies, we undergo a past life review multiple times seeing what we did and why we did it from different perspectives. After a time we again take a physical body in a new and hopefully wiser incarnation.

I don't fear death but neither do I want to die any time soon.
 
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