Believe in Life after Death?

[Lady Avalon]

Saz, I believe the same thing. Have you read any Sylvia Browne and/or Shirley MacLaine? A very interesting subject and yes, I did kind of hesitate about putting it on here, but I figure we all have different opinions and ideas about this and good to hear everyone's viewpoint.

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Seeker of Truth

[Moiraine]

Fljotsdale, may I ask what had you change your mind so radically ? If I don't intrude in too personal stuff, that is.

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The world is my oyster !
And now I have the knives to open it ...

[250]

i am not religious, however, it is really HARD, DIFFICULT, RUTHLESS to believe once you die, you cease to exist. I mean, why you are you? why you have concious knowledge of who you are and that you are not any other man? how in the world that you became what you are right now? I mean, does this only happen once every billions of billion years in the history that you are what you are now? so after you die, this part of you, your conciousness fades away and never exists! how hard it is to imagine that! think about it, how can one describe something does not exist? I mean, that is YOUR CONCIOUSNESS!

people say, live every day like you are going to die tomorrow. this comment is certainly true only when you have an after life. i mean, why does it matter how you have lived if once you die, you cease to exist? that part you would never know what happened and what you did! it is cruel to think of life that way, you know? that is why people have faith, and people with faith tend to live a better life than people without it!

there got to be after life!

[John D Harris]

Yes I believe in life after death, no I do not believe in rencaranion.

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[This message has been edited by John D Harris (edited 05-09-2001).]

My mother (a witch) came from a long line of "witches" who believe in re-incarnation.
When I was three years old, I had a vision of being a grown up and drowning in a pond or small lake as a man I knew and loved stood on the edge of the water and watched me struggle to raise my face above the surface of the water. I knew his name and I knew what it was like to be grown up, to be in love.
My grandmother witnessed me having this vision, brought me back to reality with a touch to my shoulder as I was losing the ability in my vision to hold my breath any longer, and coaxed me into telling her about it in private.
She explained re-incarnation to me in her own terms in that being born again through Jesus Christ is to be given another chance at life, getting it right before you die. She warned me that I would meet this man later on in life and that I must keep myself pure for him in order to keep history from repeating itself.
My mother made us attend a Baptist church every Sunday (without her going with us) and Baptists as you may well know preach Heaven and Hell, one life, one chance, that's it.
A few years later I tried to share it with my mother who had just bought me a new dress to attend my younger brother's birthday party in. The dress was made out of the same shiny material as the dress I was wearing in my vision. She yelled at me telling me I was trying to take attention away from my brother and sent me to my room telling me as I left that I was wicked and crazy and didn't deserve any cake or ice cream for what I had just tried to do.
I never tried to talk to her about it again but tried to do as my grandmother had told me and "keep myself pure" until I met this man again.
I gave up believing in him when I was 15 years old and ready to take a shotgun to my family (they were/are some really wicked people). I thought I should have been "rescued" from them already and was pissed off that I had not yet seen him in Ohio, although I had felt his presence once when I visited my grandmother in Arizona.
Well, I met him, in Arizona, when I was twenty four. He had the same face, the same name, I knew him inside and out and I loved him deeper than I have ever loved. I had not however taken my grandmother's advice and had a child and was into my second marriage. I got him alone after a party once and told him everything. I asked him straight out if he knew me before we met and he confirmed that he did but when I asked him to tell me how he knew me, he choked up and begged me not to make him answer. To this day I still don't know.
I stayed with him while I could but life demanded more of my attention than he was willing to allow me to have and I had to let him go. I met up with him again years later and we got back together, staying together for a number of years until he got hooked on crack and got violent. I honestly believe that he would have killed me had I stayed with him since the last time I saw him, he knocked my front teeth out for not giving him my grocery money for crack.

I do believe in re-incarnation, I do believe in heaven and hell and I believe that my grandmother had it right. I also believe that with the forgiveness I have been given and the things that I have learned that this is the last life I will live, at least as a human on earth. According to the Hindu religion, which I never studied, but happened across on day on PBS, I have attained their goal in having a "recognized soul".

I also believe that my mother is headed to Hell in a handbasket and is thoroughly enjoying the ride!

I have also seen the soul of an owl, hit by a truck on the highway, a friend of mine and I stopped to take the corpse for feathers. She volunteered me to go pick it up off the highway and when I did, I felt life in it. I dropped it saying out loud (as if it would hear me lol) "Hey! You're supposed to be dead!"
As soon as I finished speaking, a bright blue flash shot out of the bird's body headed in an easterly direction. I picked up the body a second time and this time it was lifeless. My friend was in her car filing her nails while she waited on me and missed it.

I believe that animals and humans alike have souls or at least living energies that go on to live and learn more.

I don't know for sure what is going to happen to me when I die though...heaven seems so permanent. But then again, it seems like the best place way to spend eternity. Maybe I could be a guardian angel to children and animals. That would be great!


Moni




P.S....if any of you who have read the thread where I had previously mentioned that man and his having knocked out my front teeth, the thread re: the accident I was in where I broke some teeth at the roots, or (lol) a description I posted somewhere of myself where I stated that I am a not too bad looking 39 year old hag, and were wondering just how ugly my smile must be...here is proof that it is as pretty as can be lol...thanks to dentistry and a full set of dentures.



Lady Avalon, neat question! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to further "spew" LOL!

Moni
Self-Appointed Champion of the Sebastio Awards!

[This message has been edited by Moni (edited 05-08-2001).]

[Fljotsdale]

Originally posted by 250: . i mean, why does it matter how you have lived if once you die, you cease to exist? that part you would never know what happened and what you did! it is cruel to think of life that way, you know? that is why people have faith, and people with faith tend to live a better life than people without it! there got to be after life!

Not so, 250. If you believe this life is all there is, then you HAVE to make it mean something! Non-believers, I think, are just as likely, if not more so, to live worthwhile lives, care about other people and do their best to preserve the environment.
Think about animals. Most people do not believe animals have souls, (though some think they do), but animals enjoy life, they procreate, and they do not ruin the environment - they instinctively act in such a way that their offspring can live as well as they do themselves. Human beings - with their 'souls' and belief in 'the afterlife' do not do that!
Think about it!


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Smile! Life is too short for bitching!

Fljotsdale

[250]

Originally posted by Fljotsdale: Not so, 250. If you believe this life is all there is, then you HAVE to make it mean something! Non-believers, I think, are just as likely, if not more so, to live worthwhile lives, care about other people and do their best to preserve the environment. Think about animals. Most people do not believe animals have souls, (though some think they do), but animals enjoy life, they procreate, and they do not ruin the environment - they instinctively act in such a way that their offspring can live as well as they do themselves. Human beings - with their 'souls' and belief in 'the afterlife' do not do that! Think about it!

just why should anyone care if there is no after life? all effort is futile because of the inevitable demise.

[Fljotsdale]

Originally posted by Moiraine: Fljotsdale, may I ask what had you change your mind so radically ? If I don't intrude in too personal stuff, that is.

It's a long story Moiraine! I'll try to keep it brief!
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Dad & family were Catholic, Mom became a convert from Protestant. She liked the 'Mystery' aspects of Catholicism, but I don't think she ever really believed in it deeply.
I read anything and everything that came my way - including the little religious story booklets that were kept for sale in the church. They made a deep impression on my young mind. I went in fear of god, fear of the devil, fear of sin... you name it!
Anyway, I was sent to Catholic schools, where the indoctination continued - it was even in my mind to be a nun. Then I went to a secondary school (age 11-15) that was attatched to a Catholic orphanage. The orphanage children were not encouraged to play with the 'day' children. I noticed that the orphanage children also seemed either subdued or downright naughty. I noticed but did not understand. I was only a kid. I noticed also, that the orphanage children were stupid in class. I noticed that the teachers (mostly nuns) treated the orphanage children in a very different way than they treated the day children. I saw orphanage children beaten by the nuns. I saw them bleeding... I mean it.
This also had a powerful effect on me.
Both my parents, whilst being churchgoers, also firmly believed in evolution; therefore so did I.
My brother was an alter-boy. He sexually abused me.
I was confused.
When I was 15 I left the church, quite deliberately. I had decided that if there was a god, he stank, and I didn't want to know him.
I met and married a man who was both verbally and physically abusive. I firmly believed that it was wrong to break up a marriage, and that it was wicked to take his children away from a father, so I stayed with him in utter misery. I think I was living a nervous breakdown for many years. I used to dream longingly of a nice quiet padded cell that I could curl up in... At this point, I met Jehovah's Witnesses. They were incredibly kind and loving, and I wanted that. I NEEDED that!
I tried hard to believe there was a god and that he was good. I almost convinced myself! But, Jehovah's Witnesses study the bible. I mean REALLY study the bible! So I did too. And the more I learned the more I came to realise certain things:
1) The gods that people belive in, including the bible god, are not nice people. They are jealous, vengeful, unreasonable (I'm not talking Jesus here - he seems to have been a nice guy!), contradictory, petty and HUMAN! Not at all the way the Creator of this astounding universe would have to be.
2)And - this shocked me to the core - the god of the bible claims to be incapable of lying, and that the devil is the father of lies. BUT he lies himself! One day I found this in the bible:
"And god proceeded to say 'who will fool Ahab?'..... 'Finally a spirit... said "I shall go forth and I shall certainly become a deceptive spirit in the mouth of all his prophets...".... So (god) said "You will fool him... go out and do that way." And now here god has put a deceptive spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours..'" 1 Kings 22:19-23 I could not believe what I was reading!
I struggled on for years, trying to believe. After all, I still needed the love of the Witnesses and was prepared to accept a lot to retain it.
However, I eventually, at the urgent demands of my children, divorced my husband. I still stuck with the Witnesses (I was one for 25 years) for several years, but in the end I could not tolerate the hypocrisy of my position, going from door to door telling people about the goodness of a god I actively disliked. So I left.
Bible study made me realise that I did not like nor believe in god. (No wonder Catholics always used to discourage it! )
Looking at people made me realise that there is no such thing as 'good' and 'bad' people. That it is unjust to condemn some people to eternal torment and others to eternal delight. None of use deserve either extreme.
From there it was but a short step to total atheism.

I have never been happier in my entire life than I am now.

Well, it's pretty long, but I left tons of stuff out, lol!




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Smile! Life is too short for bitching!

Fljotsdale

[Lady Avalon]

Moni, that was a very interesting story. I love discussing this subject and there's nothing wrong with people having different beliefs than you have. Would love to have a deeper discussion with you about this.

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Seeker of Truth

[Lady Avalon]

Fljotsdale, thanks for your story. I was also raised Catholic and can understand what you are saying. I abandoned the Catholic religion some years ago. I believe that everything we go through, it's for a reason and something we chose to do because we need to experience that and also to learn something from it.

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Seeker of Truth