OK.. Rephrase.. For Non Believer's ..Serious Answers only?

Question

OK.. I had my head handed to me and rightfully so.. I worded the last question wrong because I was looking at another post and not thinking it through the right way.. No disrespect was meant.

OK.. I have to ask this because I am really beginning to wonder with all these answers, slams etc..
So, you don't believe in religion... you don't believe in God.. so What do you think happens when you die?
Do you think that you cease to exist?
That your conciousness just evaporates?
Do you believe we are just a bunch of chemicals that just plopped together and formed a very finite existence?
Seriously I want to know what you think.
Rude, Derrogatory answers will be reported.
And I will not slam your answers.. Im just very curious what you really think?
I don't want to know what you think of religion. Thanks

Answer 1

Very good question...I am a believer so I just want to see what people say.

The perfect placement of everything in life makes it hard to see it was random. The placement of the sun to where when we rotate around it the coldest temperatures are barely bearable and the warmest temperatures are also. Any different distance in space and most of us would die off every 7 months. Earth was perfectly placed and there are no other places of its kind anywhere. If life was so random, why aren't other "creatures" living in other places in space?

Answer 2

No offense, but to say "you don't believe in God" is more than a little condescending, not to mention presumptuous. The problem is that the assumption that your god exists is built into the statement. Atheism is a lack of belief in a god or gods. I just thought that I should point that out.

When we die, or consciousness simply ceases to be. This is not hard to imagine if you try; after all, were you conscious before you were conceived? How about a year before your parents met? Your brain had not yet developed, and thus you had no consciousness, and when the brain dies, the same thing will happen.

Your description of the evolutionary theory is poor at best, but yes that is what I believe, considering the absolutely overwhelming amount of scientific evidence, the repeated testing and experimentation, the fact that every real scientists supports this theory, transition fossils, the fossil record, genetics, etc.

Anyway, I hope that this has been helpful.

Answer 3

I personally believe that when we die, we cease to exist, just like before we were born. We are just a bag of chemicals right? I think its a relief to know this because this is the ultimate escape from pain and suffering in all forms. Ahhh peace. Im not even sure what the point of life is, other than to enjoy ourselves as much as possible. We are just chemicals arranged just right to form conciousness. This is what I believe and I dont feel scared or upset that I wont have an 'afterlife' - my belief is very comforting to me and has more scientific evidence than anything else.

Answer 4

I don't think ANYONE can honestly say what happens when we die. Nobody's come back and there's just no proof. I tend to lean more towards a reincarnation theory after death. If there is a God don't you think he'd REALLY be into recycling?? I think people have come up with different scenario's because of our fear of death and the unknown so I think that's understandable. I am a "non believer" in a religious sense. In my mind religion is man-made and I the biggest problem I have with religion is when people claim to be the "only" way to look at anything and spew hatred as well as violence in the name of it. I personally think if we could just be secure in our own beliefs but open minded enough to accept others it would be a MUCH better world to live in. Will it happen?? Probably not but there's always hope??

Answer 5

Yes to all of your questions. Honestly to someone who doesn't believe in god, to a person who believes that the world can be explained by science better than religion, your questions sound naive. The questions also sound awfully condescending. How would you like it if I asked the question:
So what do you believe? Do you believe that some big guy in the sky molded you like playdough and popped you into your momma's belly? When you die do you think you get wings and a harp? Do you think your "spirit" is some kind of ghost that goes on living after you're gone?
Understand that my answer isn't meant to be rude, its meant to illustrate to you others can have beleifs different from your own and if you want to know about them don't ask questions that sound so snotty.

Answer 6

So, you don't believe in religion... you don't believe in God.. so #1. What do you think happens when you die?

Well first as a preface, thanks Heather for your insightful and sensitively thought out way of asking these questions. I mean no disrespect in my response to you and although I am not Christian or religious, I respect your views whatever they may be.

In response to question #1, philosophically, we cannot prove what will happen after we die. We can deduce logically what will happen which is our bodies will decay and cease to function, and, our matter will be, gradually over a long period of time, decompose and remixed into the soil or into the digestive systems of various living things that survive on our death (mainly maggots, bacteria, etc. ).

Because logically we know that the very matter from those organs which are responsible for our thoughts, memory, and feelings have been "dispersed", we have an infallible argument that without thode tools available (due to decay), our thoughts, feelings, etc. will be dispersed as well.

Do you think that you cease to exist? I think that the matter that used to be a part of who I am now exists. That's all. The concept of "you", "I" or "me" are egocentric ideas. That's "fancy talk" for saying that we are arrogant and think we are immortal when we aren't. The "ego" per se, is nothing more than a collection of cells that function collectively as a single system much like how a country is a collection of humans with the same unalienable rights and laws within the region they share.

That your conciousness just evaporates? The consciousness does not evaporate because consciousness is not matter. It is the product of matter, the brain muscles coagulating and thus creating powerful senses which translate into feelings, emotions, expression, memory, and ideas.

Do you believe we are just a bunch of chemicals that just plopped together and formed a very finite existence?

Humans are composed of chemicals yes. But of course, if you are asking me if I think you are nothing more than carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, etc. etc., I don't. You, like me, like anyone are spectacular creations of science.

Although I sound drab to you, I am quite aware of the beauty of thoughts, feelings, interaction, life, etc. But a "soul" to me is nothing more than an abstract idea that cannot be defined by science or religion. I think religion has always been a means to try to explain this miracle of life we all share and as a means of keeping the masses of people civilized.

But to me it's so simple: our purpose in life is to experience the very universe that we will forever be (and have been) a part of.

Some call this a work of god. I think god is merely a metaphor for what I believe as an atheist.

Therefore, I do not think atheists are really all that different than say a Buddhist, or Jew, or Christian, or Muslim.

It's just the way the perception is defined.

As for souls and consciousness. That's all the ego trying to convince itself that we are better than the universe. But we aren't.

The universe is the only thing that will live forever. Not our spirits. Our spirits exist because of the universe.

The renowned philosopher, Locke, in his (very drab) book "Leviathan" defines anything as merely a product of motion and time. A feeling cannot be created without motion (the brain coagulating) and time (the time it takes for the brain to coagulate).

Do you realize without "motion" and "time" there would be no god???

Do you realize that if there were a God, without motion or time, he would not be able to exist?

God is created my motion and time: the motion of the minds that created the concept of god, and the time it took for them to spread this idea out to the masses of ignorant who had no jurisdiction to abide by.

Of course, it's much more complex than this. I am simplifying.

I could talk to you for days and days over coffee about your questions.

Answer 7

Melikes these questions. I think you continue. Not in a spiritual sense. Our consciousness "evolves' but this new consciousness may not be aware or even 'care' about previous existence.

These chemicals formed a specific structure to create US. With virtually infinite structures possible, we could easily be reconstructed into something else or combined with everything else.

But whatever it is that I believe will happen is different than what will actually happen. The bad thing is that none of us can prove what does happen. Guess no one will ever know the truth.

Answer 8

Nothing happens. You die, consciousness ends, and your body decomposes. But if you want to put a romantic spin on it, think of it this way: Physics tells us that nothing can really be created or destroyed, all the matter and energy in the universe now have been here since the beginning. For example, when you burn a piece of wood, you're not destroying the wood, you're converting it to heat energy and ash. So when a body decomposes, it is being converted into energy. When a person dies, the energy and matter that defined them returns to the universe from whence it came. If you want to call that god, then so be it.

Answer 9

The best answer I can give you is experience, I have been to see God. I have written a book and chapter 6 is entitled "Figures of light" The proof that I was given a new liver is recorded as a Doctor's comment. If you get to see God then you will believe like me. Check the book out the web address is below, just click on it.

Answer 10

Pretty much yes to all three questions, though I am not entirely sure about the last one, in that 'just' plopped together suggests it's somehow unworthy of being a reason.

We're all here together on this planet, and the highest calling, if you want to call it that, is in seeing to the collective and individual good of the species, so that when we return to the elements, our fellows will be better off for our having been here. If I have done that, it's immortality enough.