Christians, if there is no heaven would you feel you wasted your life?

Question

Now I want you to OPEN YOUR MIND and imagine that there is no heaven.
OK, you think heaven exists because (insert bible verse here). But discard that for a minute.

Would you feel that you wasted your life worshiping to get into an afterlife that doesn't exist?

Answer 1

what I find alarming is that a lot of these people need to believe in something in order to be a good person. That is a down right travesty!! Be a good person because you want to be a good person. Wow, some people are scary. I know that there is no heaven, yet I still do good things.

Answer 2

This reminds me of a Beatles song :) Being open minded, and discarding the verse, I would have to say as a Christian, I would rather waste my life worshipping a "fake" deity like Jesus and go to an afterlife that doesn't exist, then to spend the rest of my life not knowing where I am going, and not having a personal relationship with God who loves me unconditionally and has a plan for my life now and afterwards.

Answer 3

That depends. If you mean that there is no heaven but there is a hell, then I guess I would've wasted my life. If there is no afterlife at all, then my answer is no. When I was a little kid, I had a violent temper. When I was six years old, my parents told me that I was a sinner, which wasn't hard to see, and that I deserved to go to hell for all of eternity because of that. However, Jesus died for me and paid for my sins so that I could go to heaven if I would simply believe in Him (John 3:16). This is why I became a Christian. I had no intention of living life according to the Ten Commandments or any other rules. I just wanted a get out of hell free card. The problem was, after I converted, my conscience became much stronger. It was already fairly strong, but it got to the point where I was really miserable when I was in sin and I felt better when I was being obedient. I didn't really have a tight relationship with God, but that was proof enough to me that He was real and the Bible was true. I didn't like Him very much, but I was afraid of Him. This tension came to a head when I was in ninth grade. A girl hurt my feelings pretty bad and I knew biblically that I had to forgive her or go to hell (Matthew 6). I told God that I hated her and hated Him too and I wasn't going to forgive. I held on to that grudge actively for four days. I have never been so miserable in my entire life, before that time or since. Day five, I yelled at God, "All right, I'll forgive her!" I prayed for her for about six months all total before I was finally able to let go of the anger and bitterness and truly forgive. For the first time in my life, I understood what the Bible meant when it says that love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 or Ephesians 5, not positive which one) because He was loving her through me, not just me trying to love her because I was obligated to, and I also realized for the first time that God really loved me. It wasn't just something that I had been taught growing up in a Christian home.

It's not always easy following Jesus, but if He hadn't gotten hold of me when He did, at age six, then my temper undoubtedly would've gotten worse. I also deal with depression sometimes even now, because I recognize that this life means nothing if there's nothing beyond the grave because you just die at the end, regardless of what you did or will do. I also recognize that there is a lot in this world that I can do absolutely nothing about and that is frustrating. I am convinced that the Bible is true. So believing gives me hope and a purpose for living. Praying, reading the Bible, and worshiping God makes me feel better most of the time and helps me to cope with life. And if my temper had been left unchecked then I probably would've ended up in prison or dead right now. I'm a completely different person from what I was then. The Bible calls that being born again. And by the way, most of the Bible deals with this life because God knows that this is the life we are in. It doesn't say a whole lot about heaven or hell.

Answer 4

Not at all. I lose nothing by nothing living the best life that I possibly can. That's not to say that I don't stumble but the worst that can happen under your proposed scenario is that I'll stop existing. If I wasn't a believer, then perhaps I would just indulge in doing what I want, whenever I want. Regardless of who and what (the what eventually becomes the who) it hurt. Then what? Eventually I would want to do more harm and commit worse actions to satisfy myself. For what? What's the point of living a life without any hope? Why not just end it all now? Makes more sense than living through life's trials, right?

Answer 5

I was asked something similar to this before. First of all my I say I don't think being Christian means one has a "closed Mind." Secondly, I know Heaven exists...what it looks like I can not comment on, but I know there is something else. If I live my life according to the Christian code of living, I have lived a life in service to others. Do you believe that kindness to the human race is a waste of a life?

Here is a thought for you. The experts claim that those people who have life after death experiences do so due to chemical reactions. Basically, they say that we are dreaming it. So what? If I dream mself into heaven since that is my last memory, than like it or not, that is where I wind up. I can live with that. To people that don't believe, you can "dream" yourself into wherever it is that you want to go.

Answer 6

I guess you would have to look at it like this. No God, so what happens now? Well you will start life over and over again in diffrent forms. If you are turned to ashes than have them scattered by someone and you will become part of the earth. You will regrow as plants, trees, and flowers. If your body goes in the ground the same will happen just at a slower pace. Bugs have to eat you and poop you out in the ground first. Then you become one with the earth. If you die and then their is nothing just look at it like this; some times you go to bed at night and don't dream. Well what if that happened but you never wake up again. You will never know what happened to you cause you are dead and don't have the ability to think any more so whatever.

Answer 7

I wouldnt say I wasted my life. We all put our faith somewhere, and sometimes it doesnt pan out, but it sure makes life worth living when you really believe in something. If there is no heaven, then I will return to dust no matter what I believe. So, I am glad to live with faith rather than a lack of faith. As far as living the teachings of Jesus, that is never a waste. To love each other and help each other. That's awesome

Answer 8

Okay.. if there were no heavenly home to go to... have I wasted my life treating people morally good, have I wasted my life being the type of person that never drank or did drugs, never stole, never cheated on my taxes or my husband, never killed anyone (not even an unborn child) am not the type to be quarrelsome with people, not rude or mean.. is that all a waste.. and is it a waste raising my children to be the same?

Nope. Not wasted IMO.

Answer 9

It depends which Christians you ask. If you're asking your typical hatch-match-dispatch Christian then yes, they'd consider it a waste of time. But plently of people find solace in their religion, Christians included. There is life before death, remember that much.

I also object to an answer above me - as a "non-beleiver" (not an atheist, simply agnostic) I have plenty of reason not to murder, torture or rape. It's not god, it's not the law; it's called common humanity.

Answer 10

I'd rather live my life as if there were a Heaven where I will live eternally with Jesus than to even think for a moment there wasn't then find out in the end....Heaven IS real. Hell is real too by the way.