"When your dead, your dead. Thats it."?

Question

This is a quote by Marlene Dietrich. I thought it would probly bring some debate if i posted it on here. To some, it may be offending. To some, it may just be a belief. To me, it means that we do not need to worry about what happens to us after we die...simply that we do die. I am not Athiest, and I do not believe we just disapear after we die, but I do not really belive anything in particular. All the beliefs of this matter are possible in my eyes, and I am not trying to shut out excess oportunities.

Tell me what you think.

Answer 1

Sounds to me like you'd classify yourself as more of an agnostic than anything else.

Me, I believe in an afterlife. I could go into a long dissertation on religion and all that, but I'm sure that if you're asking the question, you've probably already heard all that you care to on that subject. So allow me to take a more pragmatic approach...

It all boils down to two main possibilities. Either there's some sort of afterlife (or reincarnation, etc.) where your station is determined by some ranking of what you've done in your current life, or there isn't.

Let's pretend, for a moment, that there is. Then it stands to reason that people will want to "earn credit" towards their afterlife. Most religions that believe in an afterlife will tell you that acting with love, performing good deeds, having positive karma or whatever will earn you those "points." If there is an afterlife, then individuals will likely want to achieve the "good" outcome. (i.e. going to heaven instead of hell.) So we do good deeds. We earn positive karma. And we enjoy the afterlife.

Now, let's pretend that there is no afterlife. When you die, your existance ends. (Or somethign else happens that is entirely unrelated to the actions you took in your current life.) Then our actions in the current life have no cosmic consequences. So do whatever you feel like and accept the temporal consequences.

Now for the pragmatic part... If there isn't an afterlife where one's outcome is determined by his actions, then no matter what I do, I get the same result. (Whatever that may be.) But, if there is an afterlife where my outcome is determined by my actions, then I'd better have that positive value for my afterlife score. Otherwise, I'm going to "suffer" the consequences rather than enjoy them.

Humans can debate about the afterlife question until their blue in the face. But from my experiences, what most agnostics (not necessarilly you) really want to know is, what's going to be my outcome? The best way to hedge your bets is to assume that there is an afterlife. If you do that, then the worst case scenario is that you end up living a life full of good deeds and helping others. Not a bad way to be remembered, in my opinion.

:)

Answer 2

It doesn't matter what you "believe" (I mean myself as well). What matters is what is true. Go stand out on the freeway and say you don't believe in big trucks. Why do we all have a conscience? Why do we think that stealing and lying are bad, as well as the rest of the world? When the fundamentals of the conscience are not utilized in a society, it either never prospers, or it goes down. I'm not talking about wealth, I'm talking about the moral functioning and overall satisfaction in a society.
You were given a conscience to guide you to Jesus. It's a fact: 100% of all people will die. So what happens afterwards is important and you better not wait until it is too late. It will come like a thief in the night. Without warning. You will stand before God as someone who broke His laws. And as a lawbreaker, you deserve the sentence for breaking that law. We all deserve Hell.
However, as we stand before the judge, guilty, someone comes in and offers to pay our fine. All we have to do is accept it. Believe in him. I know that I am grateful that someone has done something for me that I can't do on my own. He paid the fine that I couldn't afford. I am sorry for all that I have done to offend Him, so I will show it by not doing it anymore. I will probably fail, because I am not perfect, but I will do my best from here on out and put my trust in the savior, Jesus Christ. I believe in you, Jesus. Thank you.

Answer 3

Just because you do not believe something does not make it true or false. The only way anyone will be SURE is to die. Problem is, that is when you find out that God has no sense of humor, and sorry is actually too late. Believe what you want, I will spend eternity in heaven for I know the truth.

Answer 4

When you sleep, you dream. The body just lays there, but you are somewhere else. Same thing with death. Your mind never ceases to exist. It goes on. How can belief in an afterlife be explained by the living? It can't. We as humans know it all, and if it isn't logical, it doesn't exist. But an afterlife is something you just feel inside and know it's there. Remember, science can't explain love either. Where does love come from? We don't know, but we know it's real.

Answer 5

Marlene was right. After death there's nothing. Heaven and all the other places our 'souls' are supposed to go to are man made because we fear death and it's man's way of reassuring himself. Bet you can't remember life before birth can you, even though you'd been alive for nine months. It's like sleep. You don't remember that either do you?

Answer 6

grateful lifeless - working guy's lifeless & American elegance (thanx for itemizing this large band) Creedence Clearwater Revival - green River the Band - music From massive pink Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield & Buffalo Springfield returned Moody Blues - Days of destiny previous Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline Janis Joplin - Pearl Jimi Hendrix - electric powered Ladyland the Bryds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme Joni Mitchell - females of the Canyon Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

Answer 7

It is impossible to prove whether or not there is an immortal soul i.e. what happens when you die. If you go to heaven or another plane of existence, Yay! If you don't, you won't be around to be upset anyway. It's faith of not, no proof for either argument.

Answer 8

more or less...I agree...

I think there are so many religions and beliefs out there...and they're probably all wrong in one way or another. However, I'm not one to question someone else's faith, just my own. Other people's beliefs are none of my business. It's good they have the faith that I lack.

Answer 9

When a person dies he leaves this plane of existence and moves on too another. Of course, each person has their own beliefs.

Answer 10

People's belief systems are complex. Usually how you are brought up is what you believe. Whatever it is, it is.