I want to believe in heaven

I like the idea of heaven, because I am scared of dying.

I rather believe than be this scared.

Have any of you felt like this before?

There was a thread on here, "are you afraid of death?", and a lot a lot of you said no.

I think about it a lot and I do not like the thought of nothingness. ;_;

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

I'm An Atheist, I'm not sure Atheists can fear death. You would need to believe in an afterlife to fear death. Sure i don't want to die and i'm worried about how slow and painful the process of dying could be but as for death itself i don't see how i could fear it. If i believed in heaven and hell then the concept of a final judgement that could send me to hell would terrify me, But for me death is just the end, i go back to doing whatever it was i did before i was born.

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

XileLord

The list of things that I dislike about the universe is pretty extensive, and death is just one of them.

The list of things that I dislike about the universe is pretty extensive, and death is just one of them.

Barbariser

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

tepni

[QUOTE="tepni"]

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

XileLord

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

tepni

Well i'm still holding out hope that i will live forever (or atleast for as long as i choose). Some scientists say we may actaully be the generation to achieve immortality.

All i know is that there are 1 Billion stars in our Galaxy and 1 Billion Galaxies in our Universe, We live on but 1 planet and it took 13.5 Billion years since the big bang and 4 Billion years for life to evolve and for Humans to walk the Earth, I then had to beat another billion sperm for a chance to be born. I find it very hard to think that God would go to all that trouble just for us and a life expectancy of 80 years is better then nothing and better then most people get so i'll take it and be happy.

"I want to believe in heaven"

Then believe in it.

If you are afraid of death you dont have to believe in heaven, you can believe loads of different options.

[QUOTE="tepni"]

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

mattisgod01

Well i'm still holding out hope that i will live forever (or atleast for as long as i choose). Some scientists say we may actaully be the generation to achieve immortality.

All i know is that there are 1 Billion stars in our Galaxy and 1 Billion Galaxies in our Universe, We live on but 1 planet and it took 13.5 Billion years since the big bang and 4 Billion years for life to evolve and for Humans to walk the Earth, I then had to beat another billion sperm for a chance to be born. I find it very hard to think that God would go to all that trouble just for us and a life expectancy of 80 years is better then nothing and better then most people get so i'll take it and be happy.

In the event that some biological solution to mortality is found, there's no guarantee that it will be readily accessible to the general population. In any case, common immortality isn't necessarily a good thing for a society. Social progress is possible because older generations die off, allowing newer generations to implement new ideas. Geriatric individuals are remarkably resilient to idealogical changes. Also, a longer lifespan also means a lower death rate, which means that the net population growth and hence the consumption of resources increases.

No matter what, we will never be able to achieve true immortality, because even if we are not killed by our bodies breaking down, we'll be killed by things like diseases, cancer, wars and natural disasters - and the chances of us falling to these things increase with the amount of time we live. Statistically speaking there is a 13% chance of a person dying of cancer, and the average lifespan is 67 years. I'd express this mathematically by saying that the chances of contracting a fatal cancer per 67 years per person is 13%. Add 67 more years and the chances go up to 24%. Add 67 years on top of that and the chances hit 34%. By the time you've hit 1000 years of age, your chances of being killed by cancer have exceeded 87%.

Supposing an individual somehow managed to survive all of these threats for his entire life, he'd still be killed by the universe becoming too cold to live in or contracting back into a singularity and crushing him into oblivion. Not to mention that he'd have seen so many friends and loved ones die from the aforementioned causes that he'd be a walking emotional wasteland.

[QUOTE="mattisgod01"]

[QUOTE="tepni"] I just think that is so scary ;_; I don't want to not exist, like before I was born. Why would God or anyone tease me with this life when it is taken away so quickly? *crais*

Barbariser

Well i'm still holding out hope that i will live forever (or atleast for as long as i choose). Some scientists say we may actaully be the generation to achieve immortality.

All i know is that there are 1 Billion stars in our Galaxy and 1 Billion Galaxies in our Universe, We live on but 1 planet and it took 13.5 Billion years since the big bang and 4 Billion years for life to evolve and for Humans to walk the Earth, I then had to beat another billion sperm for a chance to be born. I find it very hard to think that God would go to all that trouble just for us and a life expectancy of 80 years is better then nothing and better then most people get so i'll take it and be happy.

In the event that some biological solution to mortality is found, there's no guarantee that it will be readily accessible to the general population. In any case, common immortality isn't necessarily a good thing for a society. Social progress is possible because older generations die off, allowing newer generations to implement new ideas. Geriatric individuals are remarkably resilient to idealogical changes. Also, a longer lifespan also means a lower death rate, which means that the net population growth and hence the consumption of resources increases.

No matter what, we will never be able to achieve true immortality, because even if we are not killed by our bodies breaking down, we'll be killed by things like diseases, cancer, wars and natural disasters - and the chances of us falling to these things increase with the amount of time we live. Statistically speaking there is a 13% chance of a person dying of cancer, and the average lifespan is 67 years. I'd express this mathematically by saying that the chances of contracting a fatal cancer per 67 years per person is 13%. Add 67 more years and the chances go up to 24%. Add 67 years on top of that and the chances hit 34%. By the time you've hit 1000 years of age, your chances of being killed by cancer have exceeded 87%.

Supposing an individual somehow managed to survive all of these threats for his entire life, he'd still be killed by the universe becoming too cold to live in or contracting back into a singularity and crushing him into oblivion. Not to mention that he'd have seen so many friends and loved ones die from the aforementioned causes that he'd be a walking emotional wasteland.

Not if we had something like Battlestar Galactica, Our brains are backed up by computers we are constantly connected to and if we die we just have our consciousness downloaded into a new body. I wouldn't want to live for millions of years but it would be nice not to have to worry about some internal clock ticking away that determines when you die.

I'm not saying that i think my chances are high but its an interesting thought of having the chance to cure death. It could happen in the next 50 years or it could take centuries or maybe never, Either way its something else to live for.

Not if we had something like Battlestar Galactica, Our brains are backed up by computers we are constantly connected to and if we die we just have our consciousness downloaded into a new body. I wouldn't want to live for millions of years but it would be nice not to have to worry about some internal clock ticking away that determines when you die.

I'm not saying that i think my chances are high but its an interesting thought of having the chance to cure death. It could happen in the next 50 years or it could take centuries or maybe never, Either way its something else to live for.

mattisgod01

And what happens if someone hacks into your uploaded personality and messes around with it? The problem with living on a computer that can transmit data anywhere is that you're extremely vulnerable to a whole bunch of viruses that operate so quickly and so quietly that you would have trouble detecting and responding to them. As you live longer and longer in your digital form the chances of something bad happening also go up. Not to mention that your personality doesn't evolve as quickly as viruses do, meaning that your relative ability to defend yourself weakens over time.

No matter what we do, our chances of survival are always going to be dictated by things completely out of our control, and they are always going to shrink as we get older. If it's not telomerase in control of your life it's going to be something else.

Ok, but if all that's behind that belief is the desire for it to be true, it's empty. Wanting something to be true does not make it true. I do believe in Paradise/Heaven, but it's not because it makes me feel good-- it's because my conviction is that the Qur'an is the verbatim word of God and that He offers Paradise because of his own kindness. He doesn't have to offer anything, but He chooses to.

If you're genuinely curious and you're hungry for answers, I invite you to learn about Islam and it's way of dealing with some of the stuff you have doubts about.

People need to die in order for our planet to sustain itself, for our species to sustain itself and for our children and their children to live. I'm not against expanding the years of our lives slightly, but getting rid of death all together would be catastrophic. There's a reason we need to die, there's a reason why everybody and everything on this planet will die along with our sun. Overpopulation is going to be a major issue in the future, we need to maintain a balance in order to survive.

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

XileLord

People need to die in order for our planet to sustain itself, for our species to sustain itself and for our children and their children to live. I'm not against expanding the years of our lives slightly, but getting rid of death all together would be catastrophic. There's a reason we need to die, there's a reason why everybody and everything on this planet will die along with our sun. Overpopulation is going to be a major issue in the future, we need to maintain a balance in order to survive.

XileLord

[QUOTE="mattisgod01"]

Not if we had something like Battlestar Galactica, Our brains are backed up by computers we are constantly connected to and if we die we just have our consciousness downloaded into a new body. I wouldn't want to live for millions of years but it would be nice not to have to worry about some internal clock ticking away that determines when you die.

I'm not saying that i think my chances are high but its an interesting thought of having the chance to cure death. It could happen in the next 50 years or it could take centuries or maybe never, Either way its something else to live for.

Barbariser

And what happens if someone hacks into your uploaded personality and messes around with it? The problem with living on a computer that can transmit data anywhere is that you're extremely vulnerable to a whole bunch of viruses that operate so quickly and so quietly that you would have trouble detecting and responding to them. As you live longer and longer in your digital form the chances of something bad happening also go up. Not to mention that your personality doesn't evolve as quickly as viruses do, meaning that your relative ability to defend yourself weakens over time.

No matter what we do, our chances of survival are always going to be dictated by things completely out of our control, and they are always going to shrink as we get older. If it's not telomerase in control of your life it's going to be something else.

People need to die in order for our planet to sustain itself, for our species to sustain itself and for our children and their children to live. I'm not against expanding the years of our lives slightly, but getting rid of death all together would be catastrophic. There's a reason we need to die, there's a reason why everybody and everything on this planet will die along with our sun. Overpopulation is going to be a major issue in the future, we need to maintain a balance in order to survive.

XileLord

I'm all for everyone else dying, Just not me. Simple solution is stop having children. If we no longer had a need to increase our population then what purpose would children have. Spawning children is a primitive biological process natural selection has failed to fix.

When i say live forever i don't mean until the big crunch but for an indefinite period. Maybe 1000 years.

Ok, but if all that's behind that belief is the desire for it to be true, it's empty. Wanting something to be true does not make it true. I do believe in Paradise/Heaven, but it's not because it makes me feel good-- it's because my conviction is that the Qur'an is the verbatim word of God and that He offers Paradise because of his own kindness. He doesn't have to offer anything, but He chooses to.

If you're genuinely curious and you're hungry for answers, I invite you to learn about Islam and it's way of dealing with some of the stuff you have doubts about.

dracula_16

People need to die in order for our planet to sustain itself, for our species to sustain itself and for our children and their children to live. I'm not against expanding the years of our lives slightly, but getting rid of death all together would be catastrophic. There's a reason we need to die, there's a reason why everybody and everything on this planet will die along with our sun. Overpopulation is going to be a major issue in the future, we need to maintain a balance in order to survive.

XileLord

Practice some hakuna matata by thinking about the circle of life and heaven will be what you make of it from there.

Come on people. Humans as we are, we cannot deny the fact that we ponder what will happen the aftermath of our deaths and we want more than just the pitch black emptiness. Who wants to accept that there is NOTHING. Total blackness?? Think what happens when you weren't born- same thing.

If I am the supreme being/creator, there will definitely be a heaven to shelter the unfortunate souls that once walked the earth. The ultimate prize.

Come on people. Humans as we are, we cannot deny the fact that we ponder what will happen the aftermath of our deaths and we want more than just the pitch black emptiness. Who wants to accept that there is NOTHING. Total blackness?? Think what happens when you weren't born- same thing.

If I am the supreme being/creator, there will definitely be a heaven to shelter the unfortunate souls that once walked the earth. The ultimate prize.

pitchblack3

Well, not every one was raised to believe this or open minded about it. Usually my stance on it is there are over 300 different images of heaven portrayed by man, which one is real? However most of society knows of heaven so it has to be real. But then again, that's like a rumor spreading of a river in the desert.

No one knows or ever will know until they finally pass on but you know, they won't care because it's impossible for you to even know what's up without a brain.

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

People need to die in order for our planet to sustain itself, for our species to sustain itself and for our children and their children to live. I'm not against expanding the years of our lives slightly, but getting rid of death all together would be catastrophic. There's a reason we need to die, there's a reason why everybody and everything on this planet will die along with our sun. Overpopulation is going to be a major issue in the future, we need to maintain a balance in order to survive.

tepni

Nah. I think Xilelord and your brother are on different wavelengths unlike us. It more like we are seeking the fountain of immortality from what they're saying. lol.

You're gonna die, that's for certain. It's not like you can change that fact by worrying about it, so you might as well not think about it. Actually, it's fairly remarkable the way us emotionally fragile humans are all able to deal with it so easily.

And yeah, it's nice to believe in heaven. The same way it's nice to believe that the lottery ticket you just bought is going to win you a million dollars.

I like the idea of heaven, because I am scared of dying.

I rather believe than be this scared.

Have any of you felt like this before?

There was a thread on here, "are you afraid of death?", and a lot a lot of you said no.

I think about it a lot and I do not like the thought of nothingness. ;_;

tepni

i'm not afraid of death anymore, if it happens, it happens

I am scared of death happening before its natural occurrence, but other than that, no....

I don't. There's a Bender quote I really like, "if I thought there was a whole nother life after this one I'd kill myself now!" To me, there really wouldn't be all that much of a point, who cares about a finite existence when you have an infinite one waiting for you (although, the description of heaven many religious people give sounds blaise enough for me to want to avoid it at all costs. If you spend your life singing songs of praise to god every sunday, then you get to sit around EVERY day for an ETERNITY and sing songs of praise to god, blech!)

Also, I'm a person who believes we have a small window into the operation of the universe through science, and that window shows the universe to be one of contradiction (equal and opposite reactions and so forth). I therefore transpose these natural truths into the metaphysical, and realize that without death there can be no life. It was when I came to understand this that I really stopped being afraid of death. Sure, to contemplate non-existence is unsettling, but I realized that it was the inevitability of losing everything that made me not want to lose everything in the first place. Our lives are given value in part because of their brevity, and even though all that I am will eventually cease to be I was lucky to have this experience of human cognition, an experience that I could not have if not for the inevitability of losing it. In my opinion, the idea of heaven blinds us to that beauty. People who can't see such beauty flock to this manufactured idea of metaphysical beauty, which is often simply an exaggeration of physical beauty, a manifestation of that which they admire most and/or are afraid to lose. Real metaphysical beauty needs no such relation to the physical, it needs to relation to the physical at all. It is its own beauty in and of itself, and instead of drawing reference from physical beauty it points us back towards physical beauty and reminds us of the preciousness of everyday life.

Well it won't matter either way once you're dead because, well, you'll be dead.

Why worry about what is inevitable? Use your time to do what appeals to you without pushing yourself into a depression over the thought of dying.

I hope it is real as well, blind faith, and I don't care I'm not afraid of death though, if it's my time to go, it's my time to go. So I am going to make the most of every second I have cause you never know when that time may be, don't live in fear, live knowing you enjoyed the life you had

[QUOTE="XileLord"]

I want to exist after death too! But then I realized.....if I was dead I wouldn't really care anyways because I would be dead thus not existing thus it wouldn't matter. What's wrong with not existing anyways? It's not like you could hate it.

tepni

No one realling knows. All it takes is to believe in something to feel safe and comfortable.

Live to the fullest and die happy.

The idea of nothingness is kind of appealing to me, its just like sleep without the dreams.

I don't like this topic. Bringing out my worried side.

I want to know what happens! Will everything just stop? How can that happen - what's it going to feel like? Not physically, but psychologically, if that's applicable.

Ugh. ****.