What happens when we die?

[cslewislover]

My PM'ing is locked for some reason

You should be able to after seven days. Please see: http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... =1&t=33547

[psr6782]

Oh man, let me tell you...I spent 2 long looooong years with this question on my mind. It all kind of hit me suddenly, I grew up in a Catholic household, went to a Catholic gradeschool, was a member of youth group...then I got to college, and everything changed. I found myself questioning things I learned in the past, and eventually it came to religion, afterlife, and all that stuff. I would literally lie awake for hours, sometimes getting no sleep at all thinking "What if all I learned is wrong...what if there is no God, no afterlife...what if it's just nothingness..." and too be honest I felt convinced for a period that there was no God, no afterlife, just nothingness. Now I can't say that I had some BIG AWAKENING, some big moment where I KNEW there was a God, a Heaven, a Hell, etc...But I did start to notice little things, just small things happen, and some may scoff at this and think of me as some lunatic religious fanatic trying desperately to hold onto a faith that I so desperately needed, but oh well, that's how it is.

I stumbled upon this site by sheer chance (divine intervention...or luck...you be the judge) and it really helped put to bed a lot of my fears and such.

Here's how I look at it: I believe there is a God, a Heaven and a Hell, I believe in the Christian teachings. Now, if I'm wrong, well I live a good life, do some good deeds, and die with hope, only to become nothing...if there is nothing then what you do/don't do doesn't matter. Any legacy you create doesn't matter. If I'm right however, and there is a God, a Heaven and a Hell, then I lived a (hopefully) good life working towards a greater good, will die with hope, and will be rewarded after I leave this earth with His eternal presence. I sleep easier now, and have a much more positive outlook on life (and death).

Good luck man, and I hope for the very best. I hope you find your inner peace. If ya need to talk, PM me.

God bless!

-Phill

[Muttaru]

psr6782, sounds similar to what happened to me .

[psr6782]

Ya I'm sure it happens to a lot of people. Like, ya go through life just aceepting what you hear as truth, then ya get to a point where you question it, and all of a sudden all those Sunday School classes and such don't really seem to help ya out. I think it's healthy though, I can honestly say that through questioning and even doubting my faith for awhile, I am a much stronger believer now than I ever was before. Sure I spent 2 years depressed and scared....but I think that all of those tough times will pay off later on after I die (I HOPE!) ha.

[Gman]

Ya I'm sure it happens to a lot of people. Like, ya go through life just aceepting what you hear as truth, then ya get to a point where you question it, and all of a sudden all those Sunday School classes and such don't really seem to help ya out. I think it's healthy though, I can honestly say that through questioning and even doubting my faith for awhile, I am a much stronger believer now than I ever was before. Sure I spent 2 years depressed and scared....but I think that all of those tough times will pay off later on after I die (I HOPE!) ha.

After all these years of examining the evidence and my personal experiences, I'm utterly CONVINCED that there is a afterlife with God. What actually worries me more than death is judgment... Why? Because I know I've done some real stupid things in my life.. I'm more worried that my life was been a waste.

[roysan78]

Interesting post. Sadly for me I am still struggling with the thought nothingness awaits. I must admit one thing though...

It does not escape my mind when I go to the lake at sunset and smell the air, the beautiful landscape, the gorgeous orange/reddish sunset upon the waters that I am truly seeing something that did not happen from cosmic accidents.

When I see a beautiful girl, she did not come from a common ancestor apes, or of a "primordial soup".

When I look in the mirror, or go outside, and set out my perception of reality - my ability to perceive myself, my feelings, others, the world around me..this did not happen just because the conditions were right.

My feelings - love, hate, sadness, happiness, depression, anger. My senses - hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, seeing. They did not just develop on their own.

A seed. Go outside and plant a seed, then water it and watch it grow. Where did the seed come from? How did it know how to grow how it does? How does it know it needs water, and something else? Information in general..where did information come from? How do things do the things they do, even something as mindless as a seed?

When I look into the eyes of a handicapped person, mentally challenged person, a diseased/cancer patient, a dying person (as I've just recently experienced), a man or woman who's lost a limb, a blind man, a person crying..I see something..I can't quite explain in words...it's a glimmer of hope..a spark that keeps them running...a "brightness" in their eyes that shows me that they may be suffering, but something inside them is not. There is something that has been put inside these people that gives them hope to seize the day, to wake up in the morning and say "I am me and will do my best". When I see the special Olympics, I do not see a person suffering because of a certain setback.

I know all the above did not just happen because it did. I indeed know that a "God" of some sort DOES exist, because there is absolutely no way everything we observe, see, or sense has just happened because it did, without no initial cause or reason, purpose, or unintelligent processes leading the way.

For me, it's a matter of know what this "creator" is. Is it one that answers prayers, does divine healing, gives us life after death (a transition?)..I don't know. I am trying to figure that out.

I must say, I have had some small experiences that somewhat flickered a light in my head. I have had random people approach me about death and dying - really, just real people in real life I have never met just come up and literally talk to me about dying and what it means. I have seen crosses in cars, or on peoples necks..I used to never pay attention to this stuff, but for some reason now I acknowledge what I am seeing.

Sigh..I don't know what to think! I know a God is real, but why won't he help me?

[Gman]

For me, it's a matter of know what this "creator" is. Is it one that answers prayers, does divine healing, gives us life after death (a transition?)..I don't know. I am trying to figure that out.

I must say, I have had some small experiences that somewhat flickered a light in my head. I have had random people approach me about death and dying - really, just real people in real life I have never met just come up and literally talk to me about dying and what it means. I have seen crosses in cars, or on peoples necks..I used to never pay attention to this stuff, but for some reason now I acknowledge what I am seeing.

Sigh..I don't know what to think! I know a God is real, but why won't he help me?

God does help us.... The problem is that we must CHOOSE Him in our lives. I can assure you that God does answer prayer but we must also be careful of our motives... James 4:2-3

We've only got one life (a gift) to live. Before you know it we will be old and near death ourselves.. And when this time comes we will look back at our lives and wonder, "Did I do the right thing in this life? Is it all for nothing? A picture on a wall? Do we value our life and others? Did I truly want God in my life? It's our life (for now), but we have to be careful with what we do with it too... Before it's too late.

[ageofknowledge]

A great many individuals are certainly going to wish nothingness had awaited them when they find out it did not because they rejected Christ and God's plan of salvation. Yet for Christians, interestingly you don't have to feel saved to actually be saved. Some Christians have even struggled with feelings of damnation but thankfully as Paul said to the Romans; even if our [e.g. Christians] heart condemns us God is greater than our heart . The devil uses circumstances in this life to deceive Christians I've noticed. But God is not responsible for what the devil does though He allows these events to occur.

But being saved is a position in Christ before God. Feeling saved is a result of growing close to God and getting to know Him from that position. Really getting to know God in a personal way is like getting to know the most loving forgiving yet pure spirit one ever could know. I'd like to see more of His power in my life in various areas but to date have not. Don't know why. But knowing I'm saved and He loves me? That's a done deal.

[DannyM]

Hi everybody. My name is Dan, been a long time "watcher" of these boards and decided I'd like to join in. It'll probably take me a little while to find my way about. Oh, and I'm British, so forgive the differences in my speeling!Just had some thoughts about "when we die" and I increasingly over here come up against the "argument" that when you die, that is pretty much the end of it. The "argument£ goes ... you live, then you die, and, well, that's it! Hardly very scientific, eh? I feel that death it itself outside the realm of empirical research and cannot be judged scientifically. Shakespeare said "death is the country which has been undiscovered; everyone who goes...never comes back".

So death is not the opposite of life, it is the absence of life, and we cannot even begin to imagine what awaits us. For me, God is the source of everything that is good, and he is just. He must have willed his creation into being for a reason? He must want something? Thus, if God is the source, then God is the end, and we all shall return to the source.

Dan

[zoegirl]

WElcome Dan, glad you decided tojoin us!

[ageofknowledge]

Britain, a country of more mosques than churches on a demographic path to destruction. Dan, you give me hope. I hope many more of your countrymen choose Christ as you have and properly understand the past, decipher the present, and preserve the future. Congratulations and welcome.

[DannyM]

WElcome Dan, glad you decided tojoin us!

Hey Zoegirl, thanks for the welcome. I've been following your posts for a while, and t's good to say hello to you. Hope we speak more in the future.

Dan

[DannyM]

Britain, a country of more mosques than churches on a demographic path to destruction. Dan, you give me hope. I hope many more of your countrymen choose Christ as you have and properly understand the past, decipher the present, and preserve the future. Congratulations and welcome.

Well what can I say, Ageofknowledge? You have summed my beloved country up very well. I hope my cousins on the other side of the water aren't as "ashamed" of their Christianity that many are over here. Do not despair completely friends, a come-back is in process over here. At last Christians over here are starting to debate on an intellectual level - which I see in abundance on this board, which so attracted me - and are not cowering to the atheist.

The church over here is lost. It has moved away from traditional, orthodox Christianity, so membership is *way* down low, but losing faith in a liberalised church does not mean losing faith in Christ, which grows stronger by the day.

Thanks for the welcome, friend.

Dan

[ageofknowledge]

Britain, a country of more mosques than churches on a demographic path to destruction. Dan, you give me hope. I hope many more of your countrymen choose Christ as you have and properly understand the past, decipher the present, and preserve the future. Congratulations and welcome.

Well what can I say, Ageofknowledge? You have summed my beloved country up very well. I hope my cousins on the other side of the water aren't as "ashamed" of their Christianity that many are over here. Do not despair completely friends, a come-back is in process over here. At last Christians over here are starting to debate on an intellectual level - which I see in abundance on this board, which so attracted me - and are not cowering to the atheist.

The church over here is lost. It has moved away from traditional, orthodox Christianity, so membership is *way* down low, but losing faith in a liberalised church does not mean losing faith in Christ, which grows stronger by the day.

Thanks for the welcome, friend.

Dan

You ARE welcome Dan If there's anything that can be done for Britain, I for one would love to be a part of it someday.

[zoegirl]

It is disheartening to hear that a country with so much rich heritage in the CHritian church has left it. There has been much talk about the more emotional, poor scholarship conditions of the church here in AMerica, that has left people open to rather sad aberrant doctrines, like those of Eckardt Tolle.

Must say, would still love to visit England and, of course, the surrounding countries as well. Love to watch some of the Britcoms...