Atheists: Heaven

[Scarlett Wampus]

My me is quite important to me. I'd like to preserve my me as long as possible. Wouldn't you like to be you after you die?

I honestly don't know because I don't know what an afterlife would be like.

What I know is that my me is adapted to this life and would want to stay for a much longer time if it possible. However, whatever made up my me preceded me and if there is an afterlife I entertain the idea it might be like some sort of prelife. That's still a big unknown. I can't remember any prelife of course yet I find the thought helpful somehow. It highlights how little I know. I just don't know what I am, or why I am or much of anything in fact.

 

[Necessary_Control]

This is not entirely relevant to the question specifically. However, I do wish to hear some opinion on something. Does it not frighten some people to believe that there is one single person, being a deity or not, it is unimportant, that has control over whether we are thrown into heaven or into hell? Our entire life after life (if such a thing existed) would be in the hands of a single being's judgment. Is that not a terrifying thought?

 

[jtartar]

In my opinion there is a metaphorical afterlife in the sense that half my DNA is in my children, so when I die a part of me , my DNA, lives on in the kids. In that sense I consider I have an after life that could continue eternally given they successfully breed eternally. There wouldnt be much of my original DNA in the final mix but still there may be some. Unfortunately I would never be a conscious element in this afterlife, so I would be totally unaware of it.

As far as heaven and therefore hell is concerned, if I treat my children with respect and bring them up well then their survival and therefore breeding chances increase. My half DNA will be in Heaven. If I treat my kids badly beat and mistreat them then their world is more likely to be worse. My half DNA will be in Hell.

Cheers

Tiapan,
There is one huge problem with your reasoning about the future and your DNA passing on to future generations.
The Almighty God who inspired the Holy Scriptures says that He is going to bring this system to an end in the very near future. Since about a third of the Holy Scriptures is prophecy, which has inerringly come true, or in the process of being fulfilled, we are putting ourselves at great risk if we do not pay close attention to God's purposes for this earth.
The scriptures tell us that God does not want to destroy anyone, that we should take His patience as salvation, 2Pet 3:9-15.
There are 39 separate prophecies in the Bible that prove conclusively that we are living in the last days of this system. For all these things to happen on one generation is not possible, unless this is the one Jesus was speaking about, Matt chapter 24, Maek 13,Luke 21, 2Tim 3:1-5. Also there are several prophecies in Daniel that point to our time. This is not by accident. All alive today MUST pay attention to God's word, because when Jesus comes back to earth it will be to change this world into a paradise. Our problem is: We must know God NOW, and we must be obeying Jesus' commandments or we go away to everlasting death, and we will never get to see the paradise, 2Thes 1:6-9.

 

[tumbleweed41]

Tiapan,
There is one huge problem with your reasoning about the future and your DNA passing on to future generations.
The Almighty God who inspired the Holy Scriptures says that He is going to bring this system to an end in the very near future. Since about a third of the Holy Scriptures is prophecy, which has inerringly come true, or in the process of being fulfilled, we are putting ourselves at great risk if we do not pay close attention to God's purposes for this earth.
The scriptures tell us that God does not want to destroy anyone, that we should take His patience as salvation, 2Pet 3:9-15.
There are 39 separate prophecies in the Bible that prove conclusively that we are living in the last days of this system. For all these things to happen on one generation is not possible, unless this is the one Jesus was speaking about, Matt chapter 24, Maek 13,Luke 21, 2Tim 3:1-5. Also there are several prophecies in Daniel that point to our time. This is not by accident. All alive today MUST pay attention to God's word, because when Jesus comes back to earth it will be to change this world into a paradise. Our problem is: We must know God NOW, and we must be obeying Jesus' commandments or we go away to everlasting death, and we will never get to see the paradise, 2Thes 1:6-9.

The same claims have been made for over 2000 years.

 

[logician]

Just a reminder that this is supposed to be an atheist only thread.

I always like it when Christians insist Jesus "ascended" into heaven, like heaven is up in the clouds, or in outer space. It's obvious that the writers of said scripture had no idea what was "up" there, so assumed it must be heaven.

 

[Danmac]

Just a reminder that this is supposed to be an atheist only thread.

I don't believe that :sorry1:

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

Why are so many Christians so vague about the physical nature of Heaven? Like whether the streets are paved with gold or not. They just keep preaching it is a place of eternal bliss and that is about it. No travel brochures, nothing like that it is just like some kind of magical mystery tour where no one has the foggiest idea about its details.

 

[bobhikes]

No heaven, I really can't conceive of it an any form. For me this is satisfying.

 

[Krok]

Do any of you think it would be magic if there was some sort of afterlife?
I'd quite like to be surprised on that matter.

There's no evidence for any kind of afterlife. When I die, I'm gone, except for the memories the then living would still have.
Having said that, when I die and there's an afterlife, it would be interesting to find out which god is actually the one true god. Imagine me, on my knees, going, Zeus, sorry, nobody really believed in you during my lifetime. Please forgive me.
If there is some kind of heaven, I would just die anyway. What on earth would I do or even want to do for all eternity? Must be boring after a while. I mean, I'm useless at music. Maybe learn to play a guitar properly? That might take me a million years.What happens after that? Playing Bee-Gee songs for another million years? After that? :faint:

 

[Revoltingest]

Do any of you think it would be magic if there was some sort of afterlife?
I'd quite like to be surprised on that matter.

It's fairly clear that if there is a god, then Heaven would be the reward for those it deemed interesting during their brief sojourn on
Earth....or Omicron Persei 6 & 8. Upon death, the god would bring your consciousness into its realm, & enhance your intelligence &
ability to enjoy the pleasures of the place. (Think of it as a promotion with a big increase in pay & power.) There would be limitless
interesting pastimes & challenges, including setting up your own universe, over which you could reign supreme. Heaven would be a
society of gods & demi-gods, all existing within a universe created by an uber-god. And, you guessed it, the uber-god would be analogous
to a mere mortal relative to his uber-uber-god. Everyone in these various levels of Heaven would be eligible for promotion when they
become interesting enuf to management. And so it goes.

Caution! These gods find it uninteresting (insulting even) when their charges invent untestable truths to believe in. They give us these
big chess club sized brains to use in understanding our elegantly complex natural world. Make up expedient & comfortable myths instead,
& they'll let you wither away into oblivion upon death. So to you doubters of my faith, I say that Pascal got it wrong....I recommend that
you play it safe by being agnostic. My wager trumps his.

 

[LuisDantas]

Do any of you think it would be magic if there was some sort of afterlife?

I'd quite like to be surprised on that matter.

I am completely certain that there is no afterlife as such. That is, other than the existence of people who will be alive even after I die. I know, duh.

 

[Autodidact]

Do any of you think it would be magic if there was some sort of afterlife?

I'd quite like to be surprised on that matter.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "afterlife." If you mean that my consciousness survives the death of my brain, as of today, based on the evidence, yes, I think that would take magic.

 

[Meow Mix]

Wouldn't surprise me since I don't believe energy ever dies but just changes in and out of form. I think m- theory makes it even more interesting since it would conclude that all matter is energy.

No, M-theory concludes no such thing and furthermore can't. Nothing "is" energy, energy is an attribute. Asserting that matter "is" energy is about as nonsensical as saying my keyboard is made out of black or a ruler "is" length.