Death.. Then what?

[EpicPhailure]

Knew what, Lucifer?

[Scotty]

Oh pitiful Humans...
If only you knew.

If you tell me that it's a chippendale club behind the pearly gates, I will beat you senseless with a stale waffle.

This is how I feel, as I rather keep to my own opinions when it comes to religions and thoughts of afterlife.  I can be considered a man of religion, I do believe there is a God, I do believe that if I do well in my life, and live a good life, I will be rewarded, and that is what I go off of in my life.  If someone tries to take that away from me, and say that I am completely off whack by such assumptions, so be it, they can ramble on.  Doesn't mean I'll change my views on anything, I'll still live my life the way I want to, knowing that if I continue down a good path in life, I'll be rewarded.  Others may rather to tend towards logic, feeling that there has to be a logical explanation, and faith has no logic to it, so be it, that is their views.  While I understand their desire to know the truth, I also understand that they will end up hitting a brick wall every time (ultimately giving up in the end and say f it, there is no afterlife, therefor no reason to live a "good life" by religious standards), so I will stick to my faith, knowing that I have to live a good life, and die happy to get what I want, as it gives me something to work towards, not like it's a hard thing to shoot for.  If you're a man of faith, go for it, if not, go for it, whatever it takes for you to live a life of happiness trying to get everything out of it that you can without regrets.  If anything, think of your family standing over you when your time comes.  Do you want them pissed off, angry, disappointed, or would you rather they are happy and proud to see you become who you were.  I'd rather have a family that be sad by the loss, but more so proud to know that I did everything I could to live a life worth appreciating.  If I have their respect, made them proud, and lived a long prosperous life fulfilled to the best of my abilities, I'll be a happy man.

My recommendation, watch the movie: "The Bucket List".

[krele]

Damn scott, chaos and mr.pwnage ... Broke me totally, +karma

I really don't know what to say... I share the same point of view with some of you. I think about this alot. I really don't have an idea what awaits in the future. I'm just 16 anyways, and I cherish every moment life gave me by now. Mr.Pwnage, I know how you feel, atleast I hope I do. My life has put some tough tasks on me too. I won't say anything about my parents, because no matter how stupid they sound at times, I know there will be times when I would do anything just to see them smiling again... It'll be too late though...

I can only hope my mind, and my body won't be just the crumbled skeleton, but will reside in people that believed in me while I was alive, supported me for what I do, and respected me for what I am...

[Cactuscat222]

Life is nothing more than what you want it to be.

Life itself is illogical; we will never understand its beginning.

[Jake]

I have a mixed view on death. At times, I will see the logic in there being no second wind after we die, because it's easy to conclude that when our brain dies, so does our consciousness. Then again, our consciousness is based on energy, and energy changes forms but never truly dies, so I can see the scientific logic in believing in the after-life. That's not to say we can't still use other forms of logic to believe in forms of life after death, because science (as we know it) is extremely limiting to use as the answer to life's truths. Self-evidence is something people use to believe in the prospect of living on after one has kicked the bucket. The simple definition being "what we experience for ourselves as evidence for an idea, that cannot be dis-proven by anything or anyone".

A Christian uses self-evidence to conclude that there is a God waiting for us when we die. To say anyone's belief is illogical based on lack of evidence is silly because what exists as evidence is different in every viewers perspective.

I have two personal beliefs that are the foundation for what I believe.
-Unintelligent life cannot create intelligence.
-Science cannot logically explain the existence of the universe.

My first belief is straight forward. I don't believe energy can mindlessly form itself into an intelligent species without an original intent. This belief does not contradict evolution because evolution is based within it's confines. To explain this better; evolution uses a rule set to form life. A rule set needs intent. Therefore, evolution needs intent to exist.

My second belief goes hand in hand with the first. The universe needs intent. It's illogical (in my mind) to think that it could simply exist although I would understand if you disagreed. I'm sure half of you are now screaming "the same could be said for a higher being". The difference between the two is this; a higher being doesn't need to have a beginning because the rules that apply to the universe don't need to apply to it.

I'm not saying that the universe couldn't have been around forever, or that random energy somehow created intelligent life. All I'm saying is that I don't believe it did. In fact, if you believed the complete opposite of me I would not consider it illogical in the slightest until after reviewing the reasons for your belief. To me, logic points in the direction of intent instead of chance.

Where will I go when I die? Who knows. I would like to think a higher being will take me away to happy fields of happy happiness, but I simply don't know. It's ignorant to be 100% sure about your beliefs, but then again, ignorance is bliss.

[Soup]

When I die I'm going to be reincarnated into a stick figure on SO. :)

[Aqua]

What if we had a consiousness without a brain?
This is a Spirit. Every person, animal, and even some other things have one. And there are spirits without bodies, ghosts for example, and ...
There's a lot to be said. I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong, just trying to say how it is. I'll try to give a story:
Robert was born with AIDS in 1948. He was one of the "Baby Boomers" - His father had come home from war, got happy with women, contracted HIV, and passed it to his son. Difficulties fought through Robert's life, as AIDS slowly overwhelmed his immune system. In 2001, AIDS had destroyed his body, and Robert died in a hospitol. After his death, he became more aware of what was around him, because he was not limited by his human body, brain, or senses. Three days he was around his body, then Robert left it.
From there, there is so little that I know that I do not want to explain what I have no understanding of. I will put what I am sure of though:
Robert's Spirit is no longer contained within his body (left at death, and stayed around the body for 3 days), which enhanced his senses. Robert's Spirit is now in the Spiritual Realm- the real realm. I  imagine it as a place where you can watch Earth until judgement day. Those who have lived with God (The Father, Yeshua/Lord/Adonai {neither male nor female, mother too, in a way}, Jesus, Holy Spirit) on earth maybe would be spending their time with him, or worshipping him rather than watching the earth. However, all Spirits (excluding the demons, fallen angels, I believe) will worship him at some point.  Upon Judgement day, Robert's spirit will be judged by its works on earth, and its relationship with God. Robert's name will either be written in the Book of Life (book with 'pre-destined' names of those who will/had lived with God on Earth), or it will not be. If his spirit's name is not written in the Book of Life, then he will be thrown into Hell (The lake of burning sulfer- not some drunken party, eaten by worms and torchered day/day {no night}) with all others whose names are not recorded into the Book of Life. This brings to question Destiny/Fate. It does exist- but that doesn't excuse you to do whatever saying that you're destined to go to Hell. Rather, it was destined that you would use destiny as an excuse for your actions (confusing). Anyways, there will be many whose names are written in the Book of Life (Not 144,000, as Jehovah's Witnesses say, if you disagree, PM me). This is also where I do not know much. They will spend all of eternity with God (Once again, three persons. They are not combined, just complete eachother to be known as one person), doing his bidding, and worshipping him. The presence of God gives much more joy (not just happyness) than any lust or toxin (alcohol) can give. Yes, these things do please our earthly bodies, but I strongly believe that they will not be in Heaven.
A side note is Lucifer. I am not talking about the member of the SO community which many of you have come to love, I am talking about the real Lucifer- whose name our member took (which I disagree with, always have, always will). Lucifer is the root of evil. He is much involved in the End of the World, and at the very end of Earth, he will be thrown into Hell.
If I was to truely explain everything, I would be quoting the entire bible, and many hundreds of books that followers of God have written.
Regarding that story of a man who'd been 're-incarnated' multiple times, there are several options. A) It happened. He was 're-incarnated' by Spirits (Which would be demons, as I strongly doubt God would do that), and was spreading his Satanic story. B) This person is decieved by the Devil (Satan/Lucifer/Devil are most common names, but any name of a god which isn't the 'I Am' is Lucifer, or one of his Spiritual servernts) into actually believing that he has been re-incarnated. C) It is just a story that he made up for whatever reason- to get attention or something else.
I am willing to answer questions to the best of my knowledge and time.
When I say time, it isn't that I have a budget I want to fit, it's more than that. Sometime soon I will leave Stick Online, hopefully never to come back.
~Aqua

[EpicPhailure]

That's...deep.

[Aqua]

Which reminds me- all you looking for something true you can understand for the Afterlife: It doesn't exist. You cannot understand it with your human mind- your Spirit may, but very few people actually have direct connections with their Spirit. Once you die, you will understand (and cry 'holy holy, thou art God Almighty' or something like that), but until now you won't. That's where faith comes in- you can't understand, so you have to believe that it's true.

Edit- while on a related topic, I'm wondering if anyone understands the riddle in my signeture. I wrote it describing a person, tell me if you know who it is ;). But don't post just for it- that'd be off topic. Just mention it in the post you've written for this topic.
~Aqua

[Lingus]

My first belief is straight forward. I don't believe energy can mindlessly form itself into an intelligent species without an original intent. This belief does not contradict evolution because evolution is based within it's confines. To explain this better; evolution uses a rule set to form life. A rule set needs intent. Therefore, evolution needs intent to exist.

What you're talking about here does not relate to evolution. You're talking about genesis. Evolution does not explain how life came to be; How organic matter was formed out of inorganic matter. It simply explains how new species arise from old species. So the two topics are not really related. There are certainly some different scientific theory on the genesis of life. Some of them are extremely plausible. They have actually created organic matter out of inorganic matter in labs, and have seen it happening in nature under extreme conditions (extreme hot/cold/no light). This is just a first step though (Organic matter is not necessarily life). But it certainly brings some plausibility to the fact that Intelligent Design is not necessary (I'm not saying it's true or untrue though.)

The existence of the Universe is a similar topic. There are theories about its creation (the Big Bang theory is not one of these. It is similar to evolution in that it does theorize on how the Universe was created, just what happened after it was.) If anyone is interested, I believe string theory is one of the more accepted ones. Very heavy theoretical physics.

The point to all of that though is that there are theories, but nothing definite. There is enough to say, "Hey, it's possible that everything is just random... but it's also possible that it's not." The equal plausibility of both extremes makes me think that it's really not worth it trying to find out. As I mentioned before, it's easier to keep your options open and not tie your beliefs down to one thing or another. I think Jake has the right idea in that he believes certain things to be the case, but that the opposing belief is not completely implausible. I'm probably the same (though my beliefs tend toward his opposites). I don't say for certain that the Universe is random and that life was created out of randomness, and I don't say that God does not exist. To do so, with anything, would be presumtuous and unnecessary.

[Jake]

Actually, the only reason I brought up evolution in that first paragraph was to make sure people didn't misunderstand my ideas, and think I was trying to debunk evolution. When I stated that evolution was based within the confines of my beliefs on "genesis", it meant the exact same thing that you said.

[Lingus]

Got it. Then what you said is a little different I think. It's hard for me to accept statements like: "Unintelligent life cannot create intelligence". But given that you stated it as a belief it's a bit less harsh. It's certainly not a proven fact, but it's something (similar to evolution) that is hard to refute at this point. What scientists have found makes it completely plausible for life to develop out of inorganic material through many billions of years of time. It's not exactly the same as people disbelieving in evolution (in itself not entirely ridiculous since evolution is not a proven fact, though it is the most plausible theory by far for the evidence we have) but it's close.

Btw, I think I need to repeat that I am in no way saying that anything anyone believes is wrong and that what I believe is right. I just heavily side with scientific evidence, but I still don't trust completely the theories that have been placed forth. Unless evidence comes forth that proves those theories, I still admit that any other theory is entirely possible. I in no way intend to put down anyone elses beliefs or opinions.

[Jake]

Science shows how unintelligence can create intelligence within the confines of life as we know it. Sure, the rules of the universe might point towards inorganic material creating living, breathing beings. That's entirely within my beliefs.

I'm thinking of this in a much broader scope though. Something at some point created the rule set that all science follows. Even the idea of something from nothing follows the rules of our universe. The message I'm getting from you is that science can refute the idea of original intent, when it's my belief that anything we can possibly fathom is simply the product of that intent. Do you get where I'm coming from?

[Lingus]

Oh no, I don't believe that science can disprove a higher power. In my view science and religion are unrelated. Science tells us about the world around us while religion is for looking within ourselves. The two are mutually exclusive. It is my opinion that religion should not attempt to theorize on areas of science, such as the origin of life or the universe. If there is a higher power, it is behind everything, regardless of the means that were used to bring about the universe as we now know it. My personal opinion is that it shouldn't matter to religion how the universe came about; the physical processes involved. The only thing you should be concerned in terms of religion is morality... But then that's my own opinion.

Again, though, I'm not saying that science can ever prove that there is no higher power. Science can potentially prove that life can be brought about through random chaos. That inorganic material, after billions and billions of years, was able to come together and form organic material, and through similar processes life emerged. That the universe was formed simply by "branes" of a higher dimension touching to form matter. And so on and so on, out to beyond the physical universe... All of these things are possible of science. What is not possible for science to do, ever, is for it to say that all of what has been explained is not something orchestrated by a higher power. There is never any possible way to logically prove that.

So I think we agree on a certain sense. It's the scope that we might not agree on. Even the rules that the universe was created with could be explained by science. There are theories that our universe is one of an infinite number. That the rules or laws of our universe is simply one set out of an infinite number of sets. The reason why our rules are the way they are is completely random. Had we been born into another universe, they would potentially be different. But at the same time, it's also very likely that there is a limited set that allows life to be born at all. There are certain requirements for life to immerge, and so it's also plausible to say that we are here because the conditions were within those requirements. But it happened because there are an infinite number of universes.

In any case, my point is that original intent or what I'm calling a higher power (in my mind) has nothing to do with the beginning of the universe or the laws of physics or any of that. That can all be explained by science. Not that it refutes the idea of a higher power, just that it's possible to explain. You have to get into metaphysics, beyond the physical, to speak of a higher power.

[Delicious]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ElnQUVkWsQ&feature=related
Found this. perhaps it is just an illusion of his mind and what he wanted to believe while dead. Though, he would be usually mindless, so perhaps this is real? Or perhaps he made the whole thing up? But it gives you hope of a peaceful ending other then unconsiousness.  :)