Think about it: people fall into three categories: Religious, Atheist, and Agnostic.
Now everyone who is religious (and I'm talking about all religions, not just the judeo-christian ones) believes they are going somewhere good when they die. (I'm not neccesarily saying that they ARE going somewhere good when they die, I'm just saying they think they do.) They believe they are going to heaven or somewhere heaven-like, or being reincarnated, or whatever.
The atheists believe that when you die you just go into a hole in the ground. True, that's not quite as good as heaven, but its still really not all that bad. (again, I'm not saying the atheists are right in this belief, I'm just saying that's what they think)
The only people who should logically be scared to die are the agnostics, because they have no clue what's gonna happen to them when they die.
So my question is to all of my fellow non-agnostics: Why are you scared to die?
2007-07-30 16:29:23 · 16 answers · asked by Chip 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Any species that was not afraid to die would not last long. Humanity has the complication of being the only species that knows it is mortal.
2007-07-30 16:32:24 · answer #1 · answered by fourmorebeers 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
As an Agnostic - I am NOT afraid of dying...
Sure, given a choice in the matter - I would PREFER to live for a LOT longer. But if I was to die soon, I would ACCEPT that as something that I am powerless to stop...
NOT because I believe that it was "my time" (or that some "higher power" said so) - but because it is a NATURAL part of life!!
If I am to be judged after that - then it will happen. And if all I am going to do is rot in the ground - then that will happen too ;););)
2007-07-30 16:38:14 · answer #2 · answered by kr_toronto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
even though the question's to non-agnostics, I, an agnostic, will answer it anyway.
I have no fear of what happens to me after I die. All the evidence I've seen points to the conclusion that there is almost certainly no afterlife. While I don't claim to know there isn't one, I'd place the likelihood of one as so small that it is no worry of mine at all.
Now religious people often believe that the outcome after death could be terrible. So they have reason to fear. They'll never know for sure except maybe after they are dead whether they did enough right to avoid punishment.
Atheists usually don't believe in any afterlife, though they might just so long as they don't believe in gods. So atheists generally don't fear what happens after death.
Most agnostics I've ever met share my view that there's almost certainly no afterlife so we don't fear what might happen after death. Fearing what might happens after death is pretty much exclusively a theistic way of thinking.
Fearing the pain of death, everyone does that. Fearing how your death might affect your loved ones, sure. Fear of the hereafter? nope. I have none of that.
2007-07-30 16:37:13 · answer #3 · answered by thatguyjoe 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whatever your beliefs on what comes after death, it's scary. It's scary because it's now a moment of truth. The moment where you take a leap of faith and find out if you were right or not. No matter how sure s/he is of the parashute they just packed, there is a moment when the string is pulled that the diver thinks 'what if it doesn't open?' It's the same with death. When you think about it, no matter how sure you are of what comes next, when you're on Death's door, you think 'I believe this with all of my heart, but what if......'
2007-07-30 16:48:51 · answer #4 · answered by mist_dark 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not afraid to die, and I don't think I'm going somewhere nice. I know I am going to Heaven because the Bible tells me I am.
2007-07-30 16:51:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Almost anybody with any years behind them has pondered their mortality, and it's been my experience that most will audaciously claim that they are NOT afraid of death (particularly from 'quasi-brave' adolescents).
So then, everyone IS going to die,... and it IS a fact.
Given that, what is there to fear?
I feel the answer to that lies not so much in death itself,...
... but more in how one will go about dying?
Many will say that they "Don't fear The Reaper"...
...and, who knows, --- maybe they don't.
But deep down inside the hollow of everyone's soul, whether admitted or not,...
... is the fear of His 'Scythe',...
... for no one knows if that Scythe will be sharp or dull when Death finally comes to reap their soul into His morbid harvest...
-
2007-07-30 16:44:13 · answer #6 · answered by Saint Christopher Walken 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I guess it's sort of like a woman giving birth for the first time. She's scared because she's never experienced it before and it'll probably hurt. It's just one of those things that, when the time comes, there's no avoiding it.
2007-07-30 16:35:52 · answer #7 · answered by Regina T 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i'm not. i understand that death is a finality that we all face, and
that the time that im living, i should be doing it in the best way that i know how. I don't want to die, but im not afraid of death
2007-07-30 16:33:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have witnessed the death of so many that I'm only afraid of the process, not death itself. It is so degrading in some cases.
2007-07-30 16:43:53 · answer #9 · answered by expertless 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm not scared to die. just because i'm not trying to speed up the process doesn't mean i'm afraid to get to that point. it will come, whether i'm ready or not.
2007-07-30 17:09:36 · answer #10 · answered by superwow_rl 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋