What happens when you die?

[ma junior]

this has fascinated me for a long time, what happens to us when we die? do we ascend to heaven through iron gates having angels singing for us, do we go to hell where were torched forever?. i cant think of there being a massive paradise of happiness with clouds and trees and things when we die, it just doesnt sound realistic or plausible... so do we go to heaven or do we just sleep forever. just imagine being asleep forever, never waking or anything

[CamilleBonparte]

Ask me again in about a hundred years (here's hoping ).

[Hax]

I don't know.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Ashes to ashes dust to dust.Thats it brown bread.Finito

[Col. Tartleton]

Seeing as heaven is basically a reflection of what we want the most and hell is what we don't want its probably not real. I'm satisfied by Annihilation. Its the logical deduction. When we stop living "we" as in our consciousness stops existing. After all, at some point after conceptions and before birth we appear to achieve consciousness. So if there is a beginning there must be an end. Eternal Soul is probably more of a concept. We live on beyond our deaths through our progeny, our deeds, our property, and our material body. When I die hopefully I'll have left some kids behind me, some sort of impact on the people and world around me, regardless how small it may seem. Hopefully I'll leave behind something that I had called my own which will be given to my children, loved ones, and odds are total strangers. In this way I will live on through the interactions I carried out. Finally the matter and energy which composed me is eternal and will return to simpler components eventually.

Its not all that unpleasant. Its not a choir of Angels, but its a positive realistic outcome. The way we die is defined more by how we lived. If, however unlikely, there is a literal soul which survives hopefully I'm a good little boy. If God exists I doubt Hell is the fire and brimstone theologians debate about. From the way I look at it not being rewarded is punishment enough. Even the Greeks, a very grim people, just thought it was a series of ironic tortures. Pushing a rock up a hill just to watch it roll might be frustrating, but its funny. Hopefully the God(s) have a sense of humor.

[Lordinquisitor]

We cease to exist. This is the most logical and the most pleasant possible outcome.

And if not; I think i`m a good person and since most religions believe that good people are rewarded i`m optimistic.

[MathiasOfAthens]

As if anyone on this planet knows what happens when you die and if they say they do then they are ing lying to your ass.


Correction: When you die your body decomposes. Thats as much as we know.

[Meneth]

We probably just cease existing. There's no real reason there would be any life after death, other than humans in general being so scared of death.

[Irishpsycho]

Right Meneth, because calling belief in afterlivers cowardly is a very reasonable way of proving your point Dont those who believe in afterlives often claim those who don't are afraid of hell? What you said seems like the exact same rediculous nonesence to me.

I believe in a heaven much like that envisioned by Dante, a great eternal communion between the creator and his creations in which all knowledge is made available to us in an environment of pure bliss and fullfilment of purpose.

[Meneth]

Right Meneth, because calling belief in afterlivers cowardly is a very reasonable way of proving your point Dont those who believe in afterlives often claim those who don't are afraid of hell? What you said seems like the exact same rediculous nonesence to me.

If there is an afterlife, atheists that live a good life would be more likely to get into any sort of heaven than religious people.
This is why:

• There's millions of different sets of gods
• Only one of them can exist
• Only one of them will let a specific religious group into heaven
• More than one will let anyone living a good life into heaven
• More than one will deny anyone who believe in a false set of gods

So fear of hell definitely isn't a motive for me to not believe in an afterlife.

I believe in a heaven much like that envisioned by Dante, a great eternal communion between the creator and his creations in which all knowledge is made available to us in an environment of pure bliss and fullfilment of purpose.

If heaven is anything like that, I'd rather go to hell anyway.
Any sort of god, if one exists, is not the kind of person I'd want to meet, as s(he) obviously doesn't care at all about the lives of mankind (volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, lightning, etc.)
And pretty much all the people I'd like to talk to would go to hell anyway, if all people not of a specific religion are sent to hell.

[LegionnaireX]

Right Meneth, because calling belief in afterlivers cowardly is a very reasonable way of proving your point Dont those who believe in afterlives often claim those who don't are afraid of hell? What you said seems like the exact same rediculous nonesence to me.

I've never heard that one before. Even the existence or the ability to go to hell would give hope to the idea that life never ends, that death is not really death at all.

I think people do fear the annihilation of their own conscience, and believing that "life goes on" beyond death is a way of coping with death by pretending that it doesn't exist.

It would not have been an unreasonable assumption that we all had "souls" in past centuries, but modern science shows us the direct correlation between state of consciousness and brain chemistry, casting doubt on the existence of any metaphysical entity residing in our body.

[Irishpsycho]

Meneth, I never claimed that only a single sect of people can got to heaven, as I believe in the doctrine of baptism by faith. I believe that atheism, on the other hand is to surrender, as it is utterly giving up on all hope for yourself and others, and giving up the quest for meaning in life. I do not believe that atheism alone condemns anyone, although arrogance, as you are clearly displaying by the obvious insults thrown at the very theory of religion (one still very much alive and impossible to disprove), is a step in the condemnation direction.

I also claimed that the fear of hell is redicullous, and that it the exact same arguement as your fear of death one. It is. Calling religion and those who believe in it cowardly is no more than insulting bigotry, something that idealy has no place in civilized debate.

I realize that throughout your posts you display a belief that a loving god could not allow earthly disasters to happen, and since nobody has yet corrected you for this then since this particular one is meant to address me I shall address it. For a loving god to exist all that needs exist is a happy afterlife. All earthly death and suffering are moot if one goes to an eternal paradise for their service on this earth. In Christianity this is the case, and any suffering here is merely to help us better understand our creator, our purpose, and the nature of love. Many morbid people look for evidence against God in earthly suffering, but Jesus himself professed suffering for a goal as the most noble action humanly possible. Any unexpected death is covered in various New Testament parables about not knowing the day or the hour when the master shall reap his due. Have you even read the doctrines you are criticizing, at all, ever?

And LegionairreX, the soul and the brain are not one and the same, one is a sence of spiritual awareness, the other is a processing center for information.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Right Meneth, because calling belief in afterlivers cowardly is a very reasonable way of proving your point Dont those who believe in afterlives often claim those who don't are afraid of hell? What you said seems like the exact same rediculous nonesence to me.

I believe in a heaven much like that envisioned by Dante, a great eternal communion between the creator and his creations in which all knowledge is made available to us in an environment of pure bliss and fullfilment of purpose.

When did he call religious freaks cowards.


He said humans are afraid of death and thats not rocket science. No one wants to die.

[Lysimachus]

this has fascinated me for a long time, what happens to us when we die? do we ascend to heaven through iron gates having angels singing for us, do we go to hell where were torched forever?. i cant think of there being a massive paradise of happiness with clouds and trees and things when we die, it just doesnt sound realistic or plausible... so do we go to heaven or do we just sleep forever. just imagine being asleep forever, never waking or anything

Well if you're buried your body rots and decomposes in to the earth. As much as i'd like there to be a heaven, it's more a figment of human desperation than a scientific fact.

[Meneth]

Mankind does tend to fear death. It is completely natural, and is of course selected for by natural selection, as a fear of death makes you less likely to die as you tend to avoid that which may kill you, and you are therefore more likely to pass on your genes.
This fear of death shows in most religions, as they usually have extensive systems about what happens after death.
I do remember fearing death, and the unknowns of death, but that is now a long time ago. I feel I've defeated the natural fear of death itself.

Disliking religion is in no way bigotry, as it is separate from those who believe in it.

God loves us so much, he makes us suffer? I do not see how that would give a better understanding of a god, other than him being sadistic.
Why would one need to go through suffering to get to heaven? And why is that suffering so unevenly distributed?
And yes, I've read parts of the Bible. My opinion is that the Bible is a horrible and detestable book, which cannot be used for a guide on morality.

[Irishpsycho]

I do not see how anyone could understand joy unless they understand suffering, and God also brings with him pleasure as well. Most people, no matter how bad their lives may have been by our lofty standards, still are happy to have lived it. Very few if any, wish they had never been born (excusing the occasional nut who takes his own life due to emotional reasons). Do you wish you had never been born because this life is a sadistic torture, or do you keep on living because in general the good outweighs the bad?

And as for afterlives, in religions they are a tool to avoid fear of death, but as to fearing ceasing to exist, I dont think that people fear it to the same extent that they simply don't know what it is. Can any of us truly claim what nonexistance feels (not physically obviously) like? Can conciousness truly dissappear at all? Are brain waves still present after death? We really don't know what death is (from the point of view of human conciousness), nor are we anywhere near to finding out by any scientific means. If I saw the guy I helped bury three days ago walkin around and he told me what it was like on the other side, why shouldn't I believe him. He would have actually experienced it.

I personally fear neither death nor nonexistance (and yet I still fear some rollercoasters), but I honestly cant comprehend the latter.

And as to the Bible being horrible, how in the hell do you figure that love thy neighbor as thyself is a horrible thing to base your life on? By all accounts all the people that the New Testament focused on were kind loving people who did nothing harmful to anyone. That is the part of the Bible people are supposed to base their lives on, and if you think love, peace, and self sacrifice are so terrible, then maybe you're the sadistic one.

[Meneth]

"And as to the Bible being horrible, how in the hell do you figure that love thy neighbor as thyself is a horrible thing to base your life on? By all accounts all the people that the New Testament focused on were kind loving people who did nothing harmful to anyone. That is the part of the Bible people are supposed to base their lives on, and if you think love, peace, and self sacrifice are so terrible, then maybe you're the sadistic one."
Even if discounting the Old Testament for some reason (even though the New Testament states very early in the book that it still counts), the Bible isn't a particularly nice book.
Here's a few reasons not to like Jesus.

[Sadreddine]

Your body decomposes and you lose your conscience until the Last Day, the end of times (when the Universe as it is ceases to exist).

In the Last Day, you gain consciousness again during the Second Creation, and are judged by your beliefs and actions in your ephemeral life on Earth. Then you are either gifted with the Garden or damned to the Fire for as long as God wishes. The Qur'an mentions that such concepts are abstract, and approximations based in our perceptions, (Surah 47:15 reads, "(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised"), so no one really knows how that will be as of now.

[Papay]

Your "soul" goes somewhere but since your brain will be dead you wont realise what is going on

[Silver Guard]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The concept of death is a key to human understanding of the phenomenon. There are many scientific approaches to the concept. For example, brain death, as practiced in medical science, defines death as a point in time during which brain activity ceases. One of the challenges in defining death is in distinguishing it from life. As a point in time, death would seem to refer to the moment at which life ends. However, determining when death has occurred requires drawing precise conceptual boundaries between life and death. This is problematic because there is little consensus over how to define life. It is possible to define life in terms of consciousness. When consciousness ceases, a living organism can be said to have died. One of the notable flaws in this approach, however, is that there are many organisms which are alive but probably not conscious (for example, single-celled organisms). Another problem with this approach is in defining consciousness, which has many different definitions given by modern scientists, psychologists and philosophers. This general problem of defining death applies to the particular challenge of defining death in the context of medicine.

Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of a human's death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted.

Today, where a definition of the moment of death is required, doctors and coroners usually turn to "brain death" or "biological death" to define a person as being clinically dead; people are considered dead when the electrical activity in their brain ceases. It is presumed that an end of electrical activity indicates the end of consciousness. However, suspension of consciousness must be permanent, and not transient, as occurs during certain sleep stages, and especially a coma. In the case of sleep, EEGs can easily tell the difference.

By the late 1990s, however, the equation of brain death with death of the human being was increasingly challenged by scholars, based on evidence regarding the array of biological functioning displayed by patients correctly diagnosed as having this condition who were maintained on mechanical ventilation for substantial periods of time. These patients maintained the ability to sustain circulation and respiration, control temperature, excrete wastes, heal wounds, fight infections and, most dramatically, to gestate fetuses (in the case of pregnant "brain-dead" women).

When in doubt, go to wikipedia

It's difficult to say what happens after death because we're not exactly sure when death is. When the heart stops beating, the brain is still functioning for some time. When the brain stops working, other bodily functions can go on working. When they all stop it takes some time for the body's metabolism to give up completely and rot away, parts of the body can be technically alive in the same way as bacteria for weeks or more after the brain and heart stop.

Right now, it is impossible to restore brain function after a certain point beyond medical death. However this is not to say it won't be possible in future. If anything this breakthrough will dispel all myths of the soul and so forth because it will mean we would have to be "summoning" the soul back from heaven or whatever other afterlife it's gone to some time after the event, which is of course ridiculous.

Given a certain time into the future, we may move beyond death as an absolute. With advances in genetics and advanced bionics, we can survive what should have been fatal genetic disorders and collapses of limbs and organs, which in the end are the only natural causes of death.