Question For You Believers Out There

[QueenOfCalifornia]

I am an atheist - when I die, I am gone. period.

Out of curiosity, as believers, where will you go and what crazy thing will you be doing with your out of body, body?

[mikelgb]

1. yay for burning man!

i miss him

[Hydra]

2. I'm looking at applying for animal heaven- Summerland

Normal Heaven and Hell seem not to have all the amusements I want. I'm looking forward to having a gourmet chef and doing lots of rock climbing.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

3. For eternity?

rock climbing for eternity seems like overkill.

pardon the pun.... and pass the grey poupon

[Hydra]

:D

Of course not forever. After I get bored, maybe I'll come back and ruin the fun for all of you by being a doomsayer again. I might even see you there!

[Xipe Totec]

4. I will reincarnate as a pirate monkey

[bill for obama]

5. If you die and its lights out - well, it doesn't matter then what

anyone thinks - it is what you think after all.

For me - heaven is where ever my dogs spirits went when they died. I am following them.

[hlthe2b]

6. Like Mark Twain, I'm going to "doggy heaven"

"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's."
-Mark Twain-

Or, more to the point:

"If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."
-Unknown-

[QueenOfCalifornia]

7. A lot of

dog lovers want to go to dog heaven.

What about the rest of you born again people out there?

I NEED to know.

[Hydra]

9. Who's born again on this site?

Here's my perspective on the afterlife:

A Pagan dies and, to his great surprise, he finds himself standing before some pearly gates.

The Pagan asks, "Where am I?"

Peter says, "You're at the gates of heaven."

The Pagan says, "But I don't believe in heaven."

Peter frowns at him. "You're one of those Pagans, aren't you?"

"Yes. I believe I'm in the wrong place; I'm supposed to go to Summerland."

Peter says, "Sorry. We took over Summerland, and it's temporarily closed for remodeling."

"What should I do now?"

Peter says, "Well, since we don't allow Pagans in heaven, you have to go to hell. Sorry. Just follow that path that leads downward and to the left."

The Pagan walks down to hell, where the gates are standing open. He walks in and finds beautiful meadows, happy animals, and clear streams of water.

He walks on in and begins exploring, and after a few minutes a courtly gentleman walks up to him and bows politely. "Hello, I'm Satan. You must be the guy that St. Peter phoned me about. Are you a Pagan?"

"Yes, I am. What's going to happen now?"

Satan says, "Well, the fishing's pretty good, if you enjoy that sort of thing. There's a little refreshment stand down the road. And I believe the Pagan meeting grounds are right over the next hill."

Suddenly, a hole opens up in the sky above, and a yawning chasm opens directly underneath it. The stench of sulphur fills the air. Hundreds of screaming, tortured souls drop down into the flaming pit, which immediately closes up with a thud.

The Pagan, hardly believing what he just saw, asks Satan, "And what was THAT ???"

Satan rolls his eyes. "Oh, just ignore them. They're Christians; they wouldn't have it any other way."

[QueenOfCalifornia]

11. Sort of long

but it has a good beat and I can dance to it.

I don't know if or who the born again faction of the DU are. There must be at least one or two????

[Hydra]

12. Maybe

I can't think DU is conducive to their taste, though. As much as some of us advocate values that Jesus espoused, most of the born agains I've met are more obsessed with the fact that YHVH talked to them and spend their time trying to convince others to prostrate before the burning bush.

YHVH talked to me too- that doesn't prove that he's the only spirit being out there.

[trotsky]

21. There are indeed a few.

They'll pop up here and there.

[OwnedByFerrets]

15. LOLOL that is great!!!!!

[hlthe2b]

13. Like, my beloved doggies.... I was born, but once

That seems to have sufficed... (but I still want to go to doggy heaven, along with the other dog lovers! LOL)

[DrDan]

8. so . . . you don't believe there is some form of energy - or some form of life

that continues on after your physical body is gone?

I am cetainly not referring to any type of Christian heaven - just a continuance of "life energy".

I consider myself more agnostic - like does it make a difference. But I do believe that a part of "me" will continue.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

10. That is what

people want to believe since grasping the idea or thought of death being gone forever is unfathomable to us humans who are ego driven.

I think it is okay to believe that there is an energy of some kind that continues as long as it doesn't cost to much to fill up the tank.:rofl:

[DrDan]

14. no - I have certainly considered that - that it is just fear of non-existance.

But I have always been of the opinion that one should let people believe in what they want to believe in - when it comes to religion and/or after-life. Never did make much sense to me to second-guess the beliefs of others. None can be proven . . . or disproven. And to try to analyze the beliefs of others just seems so . . . arrogant.

oh well - to each his own.

[trotsky]

22. Where did this energy come from when your life began?

And if it came from "nothing," why can't it return to nothing? Why must it continue forever?

A lot of folks get the idea of conservation of energy mixed up with a "soul" being energy in and of itself, therefore it cannot be destroyed, etc. The soul is more of a product of your mind, which is consuming energy to maintain it. Once your body is no longer using energy (i.e., it dies), your "soul" is no longer maintained and that's it.

I believe the part of "me" that continues is the part I leave behind to my friends, my family, my children. Circle of life - I don't believe that I am so special that I must exist forever.

[lildreamer316]

16. Considering that energy can be neither created nor destroyed,

I'm sure my energy will be doing something!!!

[DrDan]

19. yep - I am in your camp

[uberllama42]

23. What energy are you talking about, specifically?

What form does it take? Is it chemical? Kinetic? Thermal? If you're going to bring in conservation of energy into it, you should be willing to answer scientific questions like that. If you can describe what this energy is you're talking about, we might be able to determine what happens to it when you die.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Well, I don't think we can really have any idea

My best guess is that we're not talking about a bodily resurrection (sorry to all my Catholic school religon teachers!), but rather are joined in spirit with the divine, and with all who have already passed. I think giving up some of our strong attachment to our individual selves might be part of it - in favor of union with God.

But truly, I have no idea. I'm content to wait a while to find out, too!

[Meshuga]

18. Like you, when I die, I am gone. period.

I don't believe in an afterlife.

[Dorian Gray]

20. I guess we'll find out when we die.

[Zebedeo]

24. Heaven

Amazing Grace
(John Newton)

Yea, when this heart and flesh shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

The world shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun refuse to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.

As we now lay our garments down
Upon our beds to rest,
So Death ere long disrobes us all
Of what we now possess.

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear.


Wayfaring Stranger
(traditional)

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
While traveling through this world of woe
Yet there’s no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright world to which I go

I’m going there to see my father
I’m going there no more to roam
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather around me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me
Where God’s redeemed their vigils keep

I’m going there to see my mother
She said she’d meet me when I come
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home


We cannot know precisely what Heaven will be like. We have some information from the Word of God, but the answers to many questions remain unknowable while we are on Earth. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Cor. 13:12

I am looking forward to being with Christ, learning from Him, praising Him and expressing my gratitude to Him for all He has done for me.

[notfullofit]

28. Thank you for a beautiful post. nt

[Zebedeo]

29. You're welcome

and thanks for your comment.

God bless you.

[notfullofit]

30. You made my day and Blessings to you too. nt

[Igel]

25. Uh ... I'm with you and not with you.

When you die, that's it. You're dead. Worm food. No body, and nothing to be "out of body". Well, except maybe my innards, I guess they could be out of my body; if so, I'd rather that be after I'm dead.

However, I also believe that there's a resurrection for the righteous. (I actually also believe in resurrection for the unrighteous and for the ignorant, but those are different topics, now aren't they?)

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and unless there really is something that keeps on living after death, I'll never know. I'll die expecting to wake up, and simply not wake up. Then again, I'm not really concerned anybody'll prove me wrong; if I'm wrong, at least I'll be spared the embarrassment of having been shown to have made such a monumental mistake. (No falsification, simply because it's an unfalsifiable hypothesis--which is stipulated by saying "believe" in any event).

[knitter4democracy]

26. If God has mercy on me, as I pray for, I'll be with Him in Heaven.

As for Hell, who am I to say? I haven't read the Book of Life, and I cannot judge anyone, sinner that I am. It's up to God.

[HamdenRice]

27. It will be like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day

If time is merely a fourth dimension, there is no "now," no "past, no "future." All coexist, and we merely experience our movement through time as a one way journey. As Kurt Vonnegut speculated, perhaps in four dimensions, I look like a giant caterpillar with baby legs at one end and old man legs at the other.

What that means experientially is a mystery, but sometimes I think that the moment I die, I'll experience coming out of my mother's womb (or maybe some earlier moment in utero).

The big question is, if there are many dimensions, do I get to live my life over in a different way? Will I have acquired any (unconscious) insight, analogous to Bill Murray's conscious insight in Groundhog Day, to try to live "better"?