Why should we believe in the life hereafter?

Question

Apart from Jews, Muslims and Christians, i would like to know the views and opinions of other people as well.

Answer 1

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?

smile and enjoy the day

Answer 2

I think for many, belief in a future life is important as a balance to what is perceived as an "unfair" or bad existence. It can be difficult to go through a miserable existence without the hope that some day you will have a decent existence...

Answer 3

There are different conceptions of afterlife. But we know that there can’t be any separation in our view. Are we all divine beings just playing roles in matter? Why did we want to enter matter?
We are not the mind or the body. We are the spirit soul. Is this statement correct? Is matter only a playground for the soul? And can we experience intensity only in matter?

Generally speaking, we see that uninformed people, lacking knowledge of the eternal soul, fear death and don’t know the purpose of life. This cloud of uncertainty surrounding life and death causes unnecessary anxiety and misery. Ironically, to live joyfully and peacefully, we must know what death is, and understand how to die.
Although many people rate themselves high in their standard of living, they score low in their knowledge of death, as shown in their rituals for death, which reinforce their illusion. As soon as a person dies, the body is whisked away to a funeral home to be prepared for viewing. An artificial, cosmetic process makes the body appear as alive and as beautiful as possible, perpetuating the myth that we are the body. Because ignorantly they think the self (soul) to be the body, they want the body to look good even when it’s dead.
Although materialistic culture does not give much stock to the next life or the eternality of the soul, costly, lavish funerals can exploit people’s sentiments. Funeral eulogies by the minister or the family—a good chance to help people understand death—are usually merely flowery, sentimental words meant to make people feel good.
Unfortunately, Western culture hides, denies, and disguises death. This life is taken to be everything, so there’s no use worrying about an unproven afterlife. Confusion about death underlies the sterile, superficial, and impersonal rituals, whether at burials or cremations.

Vedic Cremations
In Hindu ceremonies for death in India are a different story. They still follow ancient edicts from the Vedic scriptures. Traditionally, dead bodies are carried in procession to a burning place, usually a ghat at a holy river, with all the loved ones of the deceased present. Seeing the body burn and then placing its ashes in the river shows participants dramatically that they must develop detachment for temporary, material things (like the body), that they should connect instead to the soul and focus on the permanent spiritual objective.
Another reason for burning the body (instead of burying it) is to benefit the so-called deceased. Some souls stay attached to the body even when it’s dead and refuse to leave it (remaining as ghosts). The Vedas inform us that ghosts are tormented souls living in their subtle, or astral, body, without the benefit of a physical body. Some people can sense ghosts through eerie feelings at graveyards or in old houses, or in others ways. Burning the body can help the soul move on to the next life.
Unfortunately, we tend to forget our impending death soon after witnessing a cremation. In Sanskrit this is called smaaäna-vairägya, or the temporary feelings of renunciation at the crematorium. To learn and remember these spiritual truths, we should repeatedly hear them from advanced holy teachers. srila Prabhupäda reminds us not to forget the inevitability of physical death. Thinking about death is not “morbid,” as some would say. Rather, it’s meant to remind us where our real shelter lies—with God—and not with the temporary.
Death is a doorway between lives. We must prepare for it by absorbing our life in pursuing spiritual truth. Our actions and motivations will determine what happens to us at death. Will we have to accept another material body, or will we return to God in His spiritual kingdom? The Bhagavad-gitä (8.6) says that what we primarily focus on because of our attachments will carry us to the next life at the time of death. What we do in life is tested at death.
Hare krishna!!!

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Answer 4

There is no proof of "the life hereafter."
Christians believe in God. They believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins. If you accept Jesus as your Savior, you will go to Heaven and live eternally.

Answer 5

Because just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it won't happen.

I would rather live an unsullied life and there really be no God than to live for the Devil and go to Hell. At least this way, it is not going to hurt me.

Answer 6

People believe in life after death because it's a comfort. I don't know if there is, but we will all find out.

Answer 7

Believe in whatever you want to, but I don't think there's any evidence to support the belief in an afterlife. The belief seems to be based on wishful thinking.

Answer 8

There's nothing to suggest that any part of us actually survives our physical death. There's plenty to suggest that we'd like to think we don't die, that we get to see our loved ones again.
It's just wishes, superstition and fear. And very, very human.

Answer 9

Because it is real.

Answer 10

Because Jesus said so.