Do you believe in the afterlife?

[Gameface]

Hmmm, I've never been called that before. FWIW, I don't believe in my own religion, but I have my own personal feelings about my creator.

For what it's worth, I've never met a person who completely believes their own religion. Every religious person I've ever had a religious discussion with expresses a personalized view of what God must be based on their own sense of morality and justice.

A powerful argument in favor of a supreme being is that it makes possible absolute morality and gives that moral code the necessary authority to drive people to behave accordingly. The problem I've seen is that even "older" religions like the Catholic church evolve and they do so in accordance with mortal ideas of what constitutes right and wrong. But while the large religious institutions change more gradually individuals are constantly inventing and reinventing their own notions of who God is and who He must be.

To be on topic a little, the idea of an afterlife is the byproduct of the fear that comes from our awareness of our own mortality, the grandest of all self delusions that allows us to face reality.

 

[leftyjace]

So where is the "I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WANT TO!" option?

 

[Bronco70]

Honestly I think that 90% of the father want their kids to succeed for the reason that they assisted them doing it.

Are you a father, BTP?

I agree with you, a little, in an indirect way. I want to do whatever I can to help my children be happy and successful, but not for any sort of credit. I find immense satisfaction in being able to teach them things, but the satisfaction comes from their accomplishments, not my role in them.

 

[The Midnight]

I am a church organist. Love playing for services and enjoy hymns, liturgy, readings, and all that stuff. Interestingly, I'd consider myself to be in the 'don't care/don't think about it' category.

Could you please elaborate on this?

Is going to church for you kinda like just "going through the motion" type activity?

 

[Gameface]

Could you please elaborate on this?

Is going to church for you kinda like just "going through the motion" type activity?

Sounds like he goes there to play the organ.

 

[The Midnight]

Sounds like he goes there to play the organ.

Yeah but what for? Just for fun?

Then why not do it at a rest home? Or at an orphanage, etc.

 

[BTP]

Are you a father, BTP?

I agree with you, a little, in an indirect way. I want to do whatever I can to help my children be happy and successful, but not for any sort of credit. I find immense satisfaction in being able to teach them things, but the satisfaction comes from their accomplishments, not my role in them.

I'm not. But actually I felt comfortable putting myself into the situation and tried to cover a lot of angles through experiences I have on that matter.
I truly believe you if you say you're happy for what they do. But I think the human perception works in a way that it plays down the role of the ego.
I don't know how many of your friends who have kids are divorced and if you ever paid attention to how they talk about their kids compared to fathers living in the same household. But the experience I do have from friends in my youth who grew up in such a situation is that their fathers(since I don't know a single one who lived with his father) are way more distant and feel less included, since they're less involved into the learning processes of their kids.
Maybe you would be a positive exception even in that case, and I don't wanna talk badly about anyone whom I don't know, but that was my observation in general.

 

[CitizenofCapua]

I am a church organist. Love playing for services and enjoy hymns, liturgy, readings, and all that stuff. Interestingly, I'd consider myself to be in the 'don't care/don't think about it' category.

I believe most people are in your case. Being part of a community or feeling a sense of belonging is enough reason to participate in religious platforms for many people even though they dont consider themselves bonded with it spiritually.

I think believing the existence of an afterlife is got a lot to do with socialization process(family, school, friends etc.). As some posters pointed out here if you grow up in a religious environment (same with nonreligious environment) its easier for you to believe afterdeath or other notions about religion. But in todays world some people is not contending with the things that pass them from their social surroundings and starts to question its unwritten rules and find out what to believe themselves.

Also that is a pretty valid point;

To be on topic a little, the idea of an afterlife is the byproduct of the fear that comes from our awareness of our own mortality, the grandest of all self delusions that allows us to face reality.

 

[Zulu]

Vmat2

 

[The Midnight]

Vmat2

Please elaborate.

 

[colton]

Yeah but what for? Just for fun?

Then why not do it at a rest home? Or at an orphanage, etc.

I imagine he gets paid. Most churches pay their organists, although LDS churches do not.

 

[Revolution 9]

First thing I'll do after death in order. Dunk a basketball, hang with John Lennon, watch Natalie Portman take a shower, invade the Jazz locker room to see what really goes down, up my rep count, then float around Turley Barracks and haunt people.