do you believe in heaven?

If you go to Hell, you still have a chance of getting out. The Lake of Fire is the final place for sinners. Hell is just a waiting room until Judgement Day.

I must just add that i don't believe in any of it. :eek:
 
Globul said:
...I am pretty sure God doesn't like a lot of the **** thats done in his name though and probably focus' on really good people rather than really religious people (as they don't automatically mean good)
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I agree.

Rainmaker said:
...as you seem to be referring to the Abrahamic God, who created humans in his own image.
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I know Islam says nothing of the sort, I am quite sure Judaism doesn't either.
 
Spit said:
Why do people have to believe in an afterlife. We are just a big bunch of cells that after millions of years developed self awareness and intelligence. You were not aware of anything before your birth and the same will be after death.
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This kind of thinking is just as bad as those who are 100% certain God exists as does Heaven. Of course there are no wrong opinions, but I think the mindset of that opinion to being the ultimate truth is completely wrong.

People don't have to believe there's an afterlife, but it's human nature to try and discover our origins and ultimately our demise.

I like how you state we're just a bunch of cells which have developed self awareness, as if that's nothing incredible. Ignoring the fact of what space actually is or where it is, I think the very idea that swirling clouds of stardust eventually lead to the formation of cells, to organisms, to complex organisms, to sounds, tastes, emotion, and then awareness to actually comprehend all the aforementioned is enough to blow your mind.

Taking the previous paragraph into consideration, I don't think it's far fetched at all to consider the possibility we can't fully comprehend or understand anything, especially life and death, we only 'think' we can, but of course we're limited to how we think.
 
No, heaven was made to keep people in line, dont be bad, steal etc. and you will go to heaven, be bad and you go to hell?

Its that simple.

Throughout the world we have religions what have the same ethics, Muslims blow someone up you get 72 virgins in heaven.
 
cheets64 said:
No, heaven was made to keep people in line, dont be bad, steal etc. and you will go to heaven, be bad and you go to hell?

Its that simple.
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Yes, heaven is pretty much a fabricated story. But then again, some might say that so is religion in general.

As noted earlier, we live, we die and that's it I'm sorry to say.


Do you ever wonder whether religion is slowly dying out in Britain? Surely there must be fewer and fewer people going to church in this day and age and the number of athiests must surely be on the rise. I know people have their children christened when they are young and I guess are automatically classed as Christian, but they may grow up viewing themselves in their own mind as athiest?
 
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Deiwos said:
This.
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but the whole concept of breaking it down to this saddens me in a way and it's because of this; even if you live your entire life on your own, never meet your soul mate, get married, have your own family etc unless you are very unfortuanate (and i know that this does happen but would not dare to comment on it any further than my acknowledgement of it) one is raised by parents who love them and would do anything for them to give them the best they can in life through love and providing. do you not find it very sad that you should only be attached to your parents in this way for such a comparitively short space of time? my mum was 28 when i was born, my dad 32, say they both live to 90, that's only 60 years i would know them (there or there about) and then once life is over - is that it? how can one be expected to accept that? surely if that was what one truely believed then there would be no real point in forming a bond? i can only use the example of parents as i have no children myself but if i did i would feel a little dissapointed to accept that maybe i may really only be with them for 60 years (as an example) and then .... nothing? i think there has to be more to it than that, that's what i like to believe anyway
 
cm1179 said:
but the whole concept of breaking it down to this saddens me in a way and it's because of this; even if you live your entire life on your own, never meet your soul mate, get married, have your own family etc unless you are very unfortuanate (and i know that this does happen but would not dare to comment on it any further than my acknowledgement of it) one is raised by parents who love them and would do anything for them to give them the best they can in life through love and providing. do you not find it very sad that you should only be attached to your parents in this way for such a comparitively short space of time? my mum was 28 when i was born, my dad 32, say they both live to 90, that's only 60 years i would know them (there or there about) and then once life is over - is that it? how can one be expected to accept that? surely if that was what one truely believed then there would be no real point in forming a bond? i can only use the example of parents as i have no children myself but if i did i would feel a little dissapointed to accept that maybe i may really only be with them for 60 years (as an example) and then .... nothing? i think there has to be more to it than that, that's what i like to believe anyway
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Say there is a heaven, in what form do you 'exist' in heaven? The form you died? Everyone is 25? Everyone chooses what form they take? The entire notion of 'heaven' baffles me, which is why I choose to accept life as what it is and make of it what I do. If it happens there's a heaven and hell at the end of it, woopy-dee-doo. If not, I've already accepted what happens after death.
 
cm1179 said:
i think there has to be more to it than that, that's what i like to believe anyway
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And its precisely that way of thinking which is why religions all over the world have been as successful as they have been. People are so desperate to believe that there must be more to it that it makes them very easy to manipulate. All because some people need it in order to make them feel better.

We're just animals, that's all. Granted we are quite intelligent animals, advanced in some ways (well, some humans are anyway) but we're still just animals , some people really do need to get away from the arrogant belief that we must have something more, something better than all the other species on the planet. Just like the other animals, we live, we reproduce,, we die, we go extinct. That's all. It's not something which makes me sad in the slightest , I live my life like every other animal on the planet, enjoying my day to day existence, in time , like the pets in my house and the plants in my garden I will die but I will have fulfilled my base aim in life by reproducing to support my species continuation
 
Deiwos said:
Say there is a heaven, in what form do you 'exist' in heaven? The form you died? Everyone is 25? Everyone chooses what form they take? The entire notion of 'heaven' baffles me, which is why I choose to accept life as what it is and make of it what I do. If it happens there's a heaven and hell at the end of it, woopy-dee-doo. If not, I've already accepted what happens after death.
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i agree. i personally cannot get my head around the idea of heaven. what about people who are born with birth defects, people who spend their entire life in a vegative state? what would heaven be like for them? ''hi, welcome to heaven and your fully functioning body'' hmm can't quite get that one. i do though feel a little uneasy with the fact of having no attachment to my loved ones once my number's up ..... i think
 
Tombstone said:
And its precisely that way of thinking which is why religions all over the world have been as successful as they have been. People are so desperate to believe that there must be more to it that it makes them very easy to manipulate. All because some people need it in order to make them feel better.
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but is it not the human way of ''feeling better'' about this concept that seperates us from animals (well, that and the fact we don't kill for food or a mate anymore) i feel it's a very positive and just thing to believe in, afterall why would anyone want to lose the attachment/bond whatever to the people who created them, forever?
 
physichull said:
Yes, heaven is pretty much a fabricated story. But then again, some might say that so is religion in general.

As noted earlier, we live, we die and that's it I'm sorry to say.


Do you ever wonder whether religion is slowly dying out in Britain? Surely there must be fewer and fewer people going to church in this day and age and the number of athiests must surely be on the rise. I know people have their children christened when they are young and I guess are automatically classed as Christian, but they may grow up viewing themselves in their own mind as athiest?
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Its not as popular but when you look at what people need in life from religion, British Christians its, children being christened, attend Christian schools, Marriage and Funerals, thats its and Christianity will last in this country simple because of how much money they make, from such events,
not cheap.

I remember back in my youth early 90s my mother was Christian and brought up strict and took my to my local church every Sunday at 6pm but their was a problem my favourite show was on at 6pm, The Simpson's, did a few years but tbh once you let children have the non religious life its hassle, I am not religious but am respectable of it and others and can understand why its lasted as long as it has, its a meaning to life for some and help is always on hand.
 
cm1179 said:
but is it not the human way of ''feeling better'' about this concept that seperates us from animals (well, that and the fact we don't kill for food or a mate anymore) i feel it's a very positive and just thing to believe in, afterall why would anyone want to lose the attachment/bond whatever to the people who created them, forever?
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There are a lot of things which make us stand out from many other animals, but nothing which separates us from them because we are animals. As for the bond or attachment... well you are dead so you have lost nothing as you are dead and thus cannot experience a loss in order to have the feeling of loss.
 
I read a book back in the 70s that explained a few things in the Dead Sea Scrolls and one of them was that the Essene church had 3 levels to it.
There was a lower level where only certain people could pray, a second level where most went to pray and a top level where the Holy men prayed and that was called Heaven.
Of course the word and meaning was bastardised into something else.
It would be interesting to know if I'm talking BS.
 
I do not believe in 'heaven'. I believe that, given the information we've discovered regarding our universe, it's unlikely that it's creation was a product of divine design.
 
Tombstone said:
well you are dead so you have lost nothing as you are dead and thus cannot experience a loss in order to have the feeling of loss.
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this is what i'm getting at. in the grand scheme of things, to break it down like that is quite a sad realisation to me. it's almost like you may aswell break all attachments with your folks and go your own way as soon as you can cos you're only here once and once your numbers up, that's it, it didn't really matter who they were anyway be it good or bad because you've lived your life and now that's it, afterwards, there is nothing. not only parents either but siblings. are you telling me i'm supposed to accept that i live my life with these people through the connection of blood and then there's nothing after? bit hard to get my head around
 
cm1179 said:
this is what i'm getting at. in the grand scheme of things, to break it down like that is quite a sad realisation to me. it's almost like you may aswell break all attachments with your folks and go your own way as soon as you can cos you're only here once and once your numbers up, that's it, it didn't really matter who they were anyway be it good or bad because you've lived your life and now that's it, afterwards, there is nothing. not only parents either but siblings. are you telling me i'm supposed to accept that i live my life with these people through the connection of blood and then there's nothing after? bit hard to get my head around
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Pretty much. Each of us will see ourselves as the most important thing in our lives, it's natural, survival instinct. What you should consider is how insignificant we really are though; consider space, the vast and comprehensible size of it, and then all of time, never ending by our standards. So in all reality, no matter how important something actually seems, in reality, it's irrelevant/

What does matter, is that when it's finally your time to go, you can look back and be satisfied with what you did with your time.

Edit - Wow, that's a bit solemn. I guess that's what I get for posting at 2am.
 
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