If life was eternal would religion be justified as more necessary or unnecessary?

Answer 1

I’m assuming that by asking as to whether life was eternal that you’re not talking about the ‘eternal life’ many religious followers believe in and I’m not a great believer in either (the Christian version of eternal life that is).

That said, I think that if physical life could be extended so that physical death was nonexistent people would still eventually have some sort of a belief in a God because it’s part of the nature of being alive that intelligent beings ask themselves “Is this all that I am?, Is there nothing more?” Perhaps their views wouldn’t be quite as rabid as ours but I’m quite sure that they would have them and they would probably be quite elegant. Within an immortals lifetime one would inevitably start to seriously contemplate the deeper and more fundamental aspects of being, especially as the universe got older, stars died, galaxies drifted further and further apart and the universe slowly became cold it would become apparent that even though they could live as long as the universe there would still come a time when the universe would cease to be. “What will become of me?” would probably be the most common question for these immortals, for this universe has always been the only thing they’ve ever known. Personally I think that the contemplation of the existence of a higher being from this angle would only increase the strength of their beliefs because they’d get the opportunity to watch God’s plan, ‘The Universe’ unfold in all its glory and splendor.

Answer 2

Thing is, the soul is eternal. Soul is life.
Matter, this body will grow old and rot. The transcendental soul will not die, the gross body will.
Religion is therefore the natural duty of the soul. And the religion of soul is Love. This is the ultimate purpose of religion. To love God. Religion is good and necessary for this reason alone.
To only worry about our external bodies is a real crime. Like having a beautiful bird in a golden cage, but not taking care of the bird, only cleaning and polishing the cage. That's foolish.

Answer 3

Religion is the denial of evil.

Death is an evil, but eternal life would also be an evil.

What would be good, if life had been designed by a good God, is that life would last as long as you wanted it to last.

So, if life were eternal, it would be an evil, and thus something requiring religious denial.

Of course, religion does ultimately deny all evil, so religion denies that eternal life would be an evil. It could be good, if God were good - but what reason have we to suppose that God is good? Which is why religion also ultimately denies reason.

Answer 4

Awesome question! That is a hard one to answer. I think everyone has a valid point. I think that religion would be more necessary, as more problems in the world would arise, therefore, everyone would be looking for some kind of comfort that there's an end. However, I think that religion would become non-existent. I personally don't believe in God (I'm agnostic, but I do believe in the power of belief people have in God), because I've never seen any proof that's solid enough in my eyes. And due to the fact that people don't have death to look forward to (I'm so curious), they'll be searching for another way for God to prove to them that He exists. And when no proof shows itself, the people's belief will start to fail. And from then on, we're screwed. We'd find a way to destroy ourselves. Thanks for the question!

Answer 5

If no one ever died religion would still serve a purpose, like someone else as already pointed out. There would still be the question of purpose to ponder.

But no one ever dying would be a bad thing. First it would get pretty crowded. Second nothing would ever get done, no point, there would always be later to do something.

The more plentiful something is the less value it has. A never ending life would be worthless. I like it the way it is with a time limit.

Answer 6

Religion...don't know so much. God, however, would definitely be necessisary. Think about it this way: would you want to live forever with no clear direction, no one to look to, no higher power to pray to or to ask for help when you need it? Imagine eternity in this world, where hatred and crime are increasing everyday, and the environment is getting worse and worse. Of course you would live forever without any fear of death, but at what cost? Your health would be shot, you would be miserable, and many would likely wish for some sort of release from this world (death, but if life were eternal, no one would know of it, so they'd wish for it without knowing what it was), yet they would never receive it. Everyone would be stuck in a miserable world where everyone looks out for themselves. I don't know...maybe to some that doesn't really seem bad, but I wouldn't want any part of it. That's just my opinion, though. If you feel differently, that's up to you. Hope this was what you were looking for.

Answer 7

By our knowing of life's being eternal, I assume that you mean we are privy to a life after the death of the flesh.....

Whether religion would remain necessary would depend upon the nature of the afterlife, whether pleasurable of painful. If the afterlife was to be pleasurable despite our earthly morality, religion would be as absolutely useless as **** on a boar hog. If, as is now thought, there exists two realms in which one may spend his eternity, and that in which he spends it depends upon his morality, then certainly religion will always have a place.

If you mean that life on earth, within the flesh, were eternal, religion would have very little necessity as I believe now that it is primarly maintained by providing for the source of fear (HELL) and for escaping that eternality(Jesus, Mohammed,etc.) It also provides for a pleasurable eternity, but I think fear is a greater motivator. If people knew they would never die, then why would they be motivated by fear of death?

Answer 8

Life is eternal and religion is necessary while man is blinded by material existence. Only through the teachings of religion and the slow building of conscience will man pass through his current stage of spiritual evolution.

Answer 9

Most religions say that life is eternal. This makes them even more necessary-if we've got forever we better be doing things right now when we've got the chance.

Answer 10

That depends on if God exists.

Assuming God exists then immortality is a gift from God to man. Religion teaches man to honor that gift.

If God doesn't exist and man cannot die then man will probably go nuts trying to figure out what to do about overcrowding, rampant violence and starvation.

Try watching "Zardoz". Absent death, man sooner or later craves death to end his problems of living a human existence.