Death.. Then what?

[Cactuscat222]

I wasn't talking about that... I mainly meant the "it is most definitely not connected to your brain". Obviously you are subject to your own beliefs, but I would have to disagree. Nothing is to say your soul can't be connected with your physical body/brain. Sure, your brain is the one that conceives and holds the ideas, but you can't say for sure that your soul wouldn't be part of your brain, and that upon death your physical beliefs are no longer part of that soul.

Of course, it all comes down to what a 'soul' is to you. I just don't like how you would your soul holds nothing of your physical self; because then I wouldn't even consider that soul 'you', because to me, a soul would be the thing that defines a person more or less.

[Lingus]

...a soul would be the thing that defines a person more or less.

This I completely agree with. I do not think that someone's physical body completely represents who they are. Once you die, if you are anything at all, you are no longer that physical self. You would only consist of a meta-physical soul. Any connection to that dead husk of a shell would be severed. If you are still connected to your body, like in my example, I would be truely frightened to die.

I understand what you are saying, and I think that it makes sense to think that you will retain some semblance of your physical self when you die. But I truely think that one would only think that because they would have difficulty imagining themselves separate from their physical self. And maybe it's true that if your mind was so tied to your brain when you were alive that there would be some resistance for them to be separated upon death. But I don't necessarily believe that. What you have to consider is that all of your thoughts, emotions, feelings... they are all physical manifestations. If you can't even imagine those things gone, then you can't really comprehend a more abstract concept of the mind/soul...

This is a good example of why many people throughout history have taken a more literal interpretation of the metaphysical world. They have trouble abstracting their thoughts. They can only perceive the world as physical, and so they can only perceive the metaphysical portion of the world as physical analogues. Which is okay. Like Aqua said, you will only be able to perceive it once you get there. In my opinion, that's very likely (even for myself) and it's even likely that at that point we still won't be able to fully perceive things as they truely are.

[Forum]

 8)

[God-I-Suck]

Hm, what an interesting subject. I don't really know what to say, only that we're all going to die one day and then we'll know what it's really like to die. You could get reincarnated, go to Hell or Heaven, or maybe be stuck as a ghost on Earth for all eternity. The world may never know.

[Forum]

The world may never know.

The world would know if someone died then came back to life with their memeries :P

[Mystery]

The world may never know.

The world would know if someone died then came back to life with their memeries :P

But we'd dismiss them as insane or mentally ill, most likely. At least, most people would.

[Cactuscat222]

Ah okay Lingus. I understand now; I didn't think about it properly, but I understand completely what you are saying.

I didn't grasp that at first, but what you said just made the light bulb turn on. The emotions/feelings/thoughts that I felt would still be contained in the soul after death (probably) wouldn't be there... because like you said, emotions/feelings/thoughts are just physical manifestations. Not your personal ones, but the literal idea and existence of those wouldn't necessarily exist in the 'soul world'.

Okay, I gotcha now. But now you've put me in a weird state - I gotta think about this more before I can say what I believe now.

[LeGuy]

I can actually remember being born it was all black then i just came into the world. I'm just going to go with going to heaven or hell :(.

Evidently you remember it being black. Also, your going to hell...better start packing now.

No i go to a catholic school, i'm nice, i havn't done anything that's really bad theres no apparent reason id go to hell...And when your non existent everything is black.

Edit: Everyone posting on this topic has alot to say about Death...Then What. I guess everyone has an opinion.

I just thought I'd point out that Christians (Catholics included) base their salvation on acceptance of the gift of grace from Jesus Christ, not going to a certain type of school or refraining from doing bad things. So you might want to reconsider your hell-avoidance strategy.

[Jake]

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.

Yeah I agree with pretty much everything you said. The only thing I differ from you on is that I don't think science can explain the beginning/origin of the universe or how things came to be or always were. I believe that everything within our comprehension needs to have a beginning. Spirituality exists outside of our comprehension, and therefore does not need a beginning and the factor of eternity is completely plausible. Again, this is my view point. I'm sure many others would completely disagree and that's fine (I'm trying to keep a little neutrality here).

How can someone be condemned for doing bad things or being a mean person if that is caused by a chemical imbalance or other malady of the body.

A Christian's answer would be that God looks at their intentions, their state of mind, all of that. If somebody has a chemical imbalance, God would know that better than anybody else. There's no point in people judging other people on their sins or even their actions, because we don't know what's going on within their brain.

If you have a soul, it is most definitely not connected to your brain.

Why can't the soul be connected to the brain as some kind of bridge between the spiritual and physical world? I was reading through some of your posts and you seem to take the view point that the soul needs to be disconnected from any part of the brain, and therefore would not retain anything from it. Could you explain to me how this is more logical than believing in a connection between soul and brain? I'm just interested in why you take this particular stance because I don't think I've found a straight answer yet when peering through the topic.

Oh, and I just wanted to point out that not wanting to spend eternity in heaven once your their is assuming that you carry with you emotions like boredom, sadness, depression, etc. If you're truly happy all the time, living for eternity would be a good thing, regardless of how you feel towards it now.

[Pat]

Umm... You're like how old? I used to think about it a lot too, now I know that everyone dies sooner or later, and since I'm young, I'll probably die later. When your time comes you should have lived your life and be ready. I don't believe in an afterlife no matter how much I want to. It just seems illogical to me.

[Jake]

Umm... You're like how old?

Not really sure what you mean by this. Was it an insult, a question, or a compliment?

[Forum]

I just thought I'd point out that Christians (Catholics included) base their salvation on acceptance of the gift of grace from Jesus Christ, not going to a certain type of school or refraining from doing bad things. So you might want to reconsider your hell-avoidance strategy.

Seriously we'll just have to see i'll bet ur goin to hell lmao..

[LeGuy]

I just thought I'd point out that Christians (Catholics included) base their salvation on acceptance of the gift of grace from Jesus Christ, not going to a certain type of school or refraining from doing bad things. So you might want to reconsider your hell-avoidance strategy.

Seriously we'll just have to see i'll bet ur goin to hell lmao..

Well, I disagree with your beliefs. If you, as a Catholic, believe in the bible, then these couple of passages should be interesting to you.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

This one is fairly self explanatory. If humans were capable of being good enough to go to heaven, then why would God send his son to make a way?

John 6: 44

I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but by me.

That's Jesus talking. He's saying that HE, Jesus, is the way - the way to heaven, to be exact. You might say, "Oh, but I'm better than most people, I've never killed a baby or raped anyone or stolen from a bank. Well, that's great, but if you've ever lied, cheated on a test, or called your mom a stupid idiot (and be honest - everybody's done SOMETHING) then you have sinned. And since God is perfect, he won't acccept anyone into his heaven unless somebody else who was completely perfect (Jesus) died for all the imperfect people on the planet so their sins could be forgiven.

Now the only step is to accept the gift that Jesus is holding right in front of you.

Look, I say this completely as a concerned friend. I'd rather that anybody not go to hell. So, seriously, go talk to your priest or your parents or somebody and ask them how you can accept Jesus' gift of salvation - it's as easy as praying (and meaning it, of course) a prayer. And if you still have doubts about this "saved by grace" thing, Just read John or Romans in your Bible, and you'll findthere's pretty much no way that you can be good enough to get into heaven.

So, yeah, that's pretty much it.

[Forum]

I just thought I'd point out that Christians (Catholics included) base their salvation on acceptance of the gift of grace from Jesus Christ, not going to a certain type of school or refraining from doing bad things. So you might want to reconsider your hell-avoidance strategy.

Seriously we'll just have to see i'll bet ur goin to hell lmao..

Well, I disagree with your beliefs. If you, as a Catholic, believe in the bible, then these couple of passages should be interesting to you.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

This one is fairly self explanatory. If humans were capable of being good enough to go to heaven, then why would God send his son to make a way?

John 6: 44

I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but by me.

That's Jesus talking. He's saying that HE, Jesus, is the way - the way to heaven, to be exact. You might say, "Oh, but I'm better than most people, I've never killed a baby or raped anyone or stolen from a bank. Well, that's great, but if you've ever lied, cheated on a test, or called your mom a stupid idiot (and be honest - everybody's done SOMETHING) then you have sinned. And since God is perfect, he won't acccept anyone into his heaven unless somebody else who was completely perfect (Jesus) died for all the imperfect people on the planet so their sins could be forgiven.

Now the only step is to accept the gift that Jesus is holding right in front of you.

Look, I say this completely as a concerned friend. I'd rather that anybody not go to hell. So, seriously, go talk to your priest or your parents or somebody and ask them how you can accept Jesus' gift of salvation - it's as easy as praying (and meaning it, of course) a prayer. And if you still have doubts about this "saved by grace" thing, Just read John or Romans in your Bible, and you'll findthere's pretty much no way that you can be good enough to get into heaven.

So, yeah, that's pretty much it.

Ever heard of reconciliation it's a way of forgiving sins.. I also pray every day dud..

[EpicPhailure]

Praying only makes your belief stronger in my opinion. It doesn't make you more guaranteed to get into Heaven, but it makes it stronger, and gives you less chance to develop doubt.