Who believes the soul lives on when we die?

Question

So many views on Religion and spiritualism. So what does happen when we die - if anything!

Answer 1

I do. It is what has drawn me to Wicca, among other things, and they believe that when we die, our soul or spirit goes to a place called the Summerlands where it reflects on the events of its last life before being reincarnated to the next.

I think I'd agree with it.

Answer 2

Bodies have been weighed both before and after death by scientists to check this. They found that all bodies lost a small amount of weight which could not be accounted for so this may provide some evidence.
If there is no soul then it cannot live on so the arguement may be "is there a soul?"
I have my own type of faith which doesn't tie in with any particular religion. I believe in a god but not the type espoused by christians, Muslims etc. I also believe a part of me will carry on when I die but Heaven? Dont think so. Maybe we just move to a newly formed body and live again with a hint of the things we learned in previous lives helping us to be better people.

Answer 3

What exactly do you think a soul is? What properties does it have? What part of 'you' resides in the soul?

If it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia. How could a straightforward chemical, injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time? If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical.

How about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are? How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain. We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage - Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on. Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'. We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain.

So, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'? As far as I can ascertain: Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.

Answer 4

Your soul does live on as something different. What is the point of just living and dieing? I believe we either come back as something else to continue the learning process or we stay around and watch over those we love.

I don't believe in God so i don't believe we go to heaven or hell. There is a purpose to this life and one day we will find out what it is.

Answer 5

The Bible says the soul is the blood, the second thing to develop after the heart in a fetus. When the ancient Levi high priests perform the sacrifice of the lamb on the alter, they were to first slit its throat, allowing the soul to pour out on the ground, than the flesh was burned on the alter.

When we die, we sleep in the grave, just like Christ did. He could do nothing until he was resurrected. Not even visit the fallen angels to declare their final judgment. That was two days ago, as they experience the passage of time.

The Bibles talks about two resurrections, which was demonstrated in the time of Christ. Lazarus was brought back to life as a human, but Christ was raised as a spirit being, following the destruction of his body to fulfill the covenant of the sacrificial lamb.

When the signs of the second "presence" (coming is a mistranslation) of Christ began being fulfilled, those who were born again, bother before and after, were resurrected to fulfill their roles as overseers in Heaven.

Everyone else, even Hitler, are raised in the second resurrection of Revelations. Those whose names, and all that they were, whom Christ called the "other Sheep not of this fold", is written in the Book of Life, come back to earth. They help in the tearing down of every thing form the old system, and rebuilding the earth back into a paradise. They are not to marry or be given in marriage, and the Bible doesn't say what happens to them after the 1000 years. Perhaps they go out to colonize other planets.

Those who are raised to judgment are informed of this, perhaps in a similar declaration as what Christ did with the fallen angels, than they cease to exist forever, not even in the minds of those living.

The question to be asking yourself is whether you are one of these other sheep, who will live through Armageddon? Do you take the difficult path, or the easy one? If you are faced with a kill or be killed scenario, will you refuse to take a life, knowing that if you die, you will return one day? Or, do you fear death, not knowing for sure that there is anything beyond? I will tell you that those moments when the brain is beginning to shut down can be interesting. I've been there twice, 8 years ago the last time. No white light, and no tunnel. As my lungs and heart shut down, I saw my children, as babies. My youngest is 28.

Answer 6

I dont know what happens when we die, apart from the heart stopping. I do know or believe that we live on, I would likt to think that as true, My mum hopefully has gone to a better place.

I know she is at peace but to think of her as not living on somewhere, I dont know if I could accept anything else. I think our souls do remain here.

Answer 7

We all long to go on after our physical body dies - we are afraid of nihilism. I believe that the soul must endure in some form after death, but others believe that our last breath is the final moment of our life.

Answer 8

I believe the soul is eternal and we go to heaven or hell. Have you considered doing the alpha course, it's a non threatening way of learning what christians believe.

Answer 9

The soul returns to the God who made it. The soul is energy; energy is never destroyed but changes in form or aspect. Eternity means no temporal measurement. God is outside his creation, he made time for us. So when we leave the temporal world we return to the eternal...the state where it is always here and it is always now.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it.

Answer 10

A lot of people.

The fact that when we die we rot in the ground is very unpalatable. It is difficult to comprehend your own non-existence. So for most of our history we have been in a state of individual and collective denial, hence the invention of concepts like god, heaven and the soul. They are comforting fantasies for many, but with no evidence whatsoever, I would rather confront the bitter truth, and make the most of the time I have in this amazing and expanding universe!