# What Happens When We Die?



## Mitch86 (Jul 28, 2021)

I've always believed that Jesus takes to Heaven at death.  However, lately I am beginning to think we just cease to exist.  There may be no Heaven and no Hell; just existence and non-existence.  I wonder what others think. At 86 I'm getting closer and closer to the end.


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## dawnkitty (Jul 28, 2021)

Thank you for posting this I always am thinking about what happens when I die. I do hope that we go to be with those we love the most and that we do exist still in some way.


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## bingo (Jul 28, 2021)

i  believe  that  in His Father's  house are many mansions...
God bless you always


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## Knight (Jul 28, 2021)

Afterlife can't be proven or disproven that is where faith enters the thought process. I think religion is a great crutch to lean on as hope. 

Faith that a sentient being & a crew of sentient beings billions of years old are somewhere outside our universe waiting for  us to show up in some sentient form to reunite with the billions that have died is the major part of that hope/faith. 

It's something that only each individual can accept or reject.


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## helenbacque (Jul 28, 2021)

I think it is just a new adventure.


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## Gardenlover (Jul 28, 2021)

As we are born from a dark womb into this amazing world, so shall our transformation from this world be to the next.


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## fmdog44 (Jul 28, 2021)

"Return To Sender"


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## Colleen (Jul 28, 2021)

We'll all find out someday. I do believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. What comforts me is that I believe not only will it be a better "world" that we go to, but that there will finally be justice and certain people will be held accountable for what they have said and done. I look forward to the peace that will come instead of the chaos we live with now.


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## jujube (Jul 28, 2021)

I am hoping that when I die, the candle blows out and there is.....nothing....... 

I've had a good time, tried to live the Golden Rule, loved some wonderful people.  I don't need a reward and I SURE don't want eternal punishment.


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## Aunt Bea (Jul 28, 2021)

I believe that you are just plain dead until the resurrection.

_“ When you hot, you hot and when you’re not, you’re not!” - _Jerry Reed


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## officerripley (Jul 28, 2021)

I think that as no one exists for all the billions of years before the moment of their conception, so will no one exist after the moment of death.


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## Liverpool Lady (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch, I have been with many people when they have died, patients when I was a nurse and my parents. There have been many instances when I have had a very strong sense that their deaths was merely a passage to something better, something they longed for. 
May God bless you and grant you peace of mind.


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## debodun (Jul 28, 2021)

My mother was technically dead for 15 minutes after undergoing open-heart surgery.They were wheeling her into recovery when her heart stopped. They had to rush her back int the OR and do defibs. According to her surgeon, it took about 15 minutes to do all that, I later asked mom what she experienced and all she said was, "Nothing."


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## Chet (Jul 28, 2021)

I think that all that exists are the elements as in the periodic table from chemistry, and if left to combine with other elements, will eventually form what we call life and humans are just the most evolved. I hope I'm wrong, but that's where my common sense takes me. When we die, we decompose and those elements are returned to nature to be recycled. That's why I'm leaning toward cremation and ashes scattered instead of being hoarded in a box in some cemetery.


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## charry (Jul 28, 2021)

No one will ever know......only the person that dies.....


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## win231 (Jul 28, 2021)

I'm pretty sure we lose our cravings for sweets.


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## Colleen (Jul 28, 2021)

My husband was electrocuted many years ago at work. He was unresponsive for a short time but he remembers a "presence" and a lot of light but he awoke right after. Wasn't his time.


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## Pappy (Jul 28, 2021)

Wherever I end up, Heaven or Hell, I hope they have lots of ice cream.


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## Gary O' (Jul 28, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I believe that you are just plain dead until the resurrection.


Yup


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## Don M. (Jul 28, 2021)

Several of the world's religions believe in reincarnation.  Perhaps we keep coming back until we get it right.  I admit that I'm curious about what happens...but in no hurry to find out.


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## Alligatorob (Jul 28, 2021)

"I was not;
I was;
I am not;
I do not care"

(Non fui, fui, non-sum, non-curo)

Found on many ancient Roman gravestones.


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> I've always believed that Jesus takes to Heaven at death.  However, lately I am beginning to think we just cease to exist.  There may be no Heaven and no Hell; just existence and non-existence.  I wonder what others think. At 86 I'm getting closer and closer to the end.


I'm almost 75, at 27  1/2  i had an NDE. Not evidential for anyone else, but huge significance for me. Both my experience and the literature (people's personal accounts) suggest that what you strongly believe will influence what happens immediately after.(hence the accounts of folks experiencing scriptural type heavens or hells during NDEs).   Unless there's someone you feel you need to watch over or something you need to communicate to one your still living loved ones, if you believe there's 'nothing' you probably won't perceive anything at first, but that's ok cause time different in that dimension/reality.


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## Jeff_RN/Paramedic (Jul 28, 2021)

I've spent my career dealing with death and dying........and life and living.
And I've been right there at the moment of death for so many people.
No matter how horrible the events leading up to their end, in all of them, their final moments were one of peace and without fear.
For that, I have always been grateful......knowing they found peace at least at their final seconds.
I have no idea what awaits any of us after our grand or sullen departure, but I am comforted in knowing that as I close this door behind me that I'll leave life peacefully without fear.


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## Sassycakes (Jul 28, 2021)

Colleen said:


> We'll all find out someday. I do believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. What comforts me is that I believe not only will it be a better "world" that we go to, but that there will finally be justice and certain people will be held accountable for what they have said and done. I look forward to the peace that will come instead of the chaos we live with now.


 This is what I also believe. I also feel that when we are living we are in Hell. Where else can you experience the pain of losing loved ones? I pray we are reunited with those we love and will never lose them again.


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Jeff_RN/Paramedic said:


> I've spent my career dealing with death and dying........and life and living.
> And I've been right there at the moment of death for so many people.
> No matter how horrible the events leading up to their end, in all of them, their final moments were one of peace and without fear.
> For that, I have always been grateful......knowing they found peace at least at their final seconds.
> I have no idea what awaits any of us after our grand or sullen departure, but I am comforted in knowing that as I close this door behind me that I'll leave life peacefully without fear.


My then husband and then  11 yr old daughter cared for my terminally ill father for 6 weeks in 1995, he had metastasied cancer including lung and brain tumors.  His biggest struggle was with losing brain function.  Sometimes he seemed transported to a past time/place in his life-- not just remembering but talked as if living it. Mistook me for my Mom whom he had not seen in 40 yrs and my daughter for me.  In and out of lucidity, the day he realized he was having difficulty reading he asked me to get him his gun, i said i couldn't do that, but told him "i firmly believe that if you are ready it is between you and 'God', however you perceive that entity, you can let go and be done.". 
 A week later he was bedridden, taking only liquids  he talked of seeing his Mom and his wife (both long deceased) in the room with us and  i perceived them as well. Another week and he passed, peacefully, in my arms in his own living room as he wished.


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

I think it likely is the same experience as it is _before_ we are born.
With the only difference being that we’re dead much longer.


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## squatting dog (Jul 28, 2021)




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## Alligatorob (Jul 28, 2021)

Knight said:


> Afterlife can't be proven or disproven that is where faith enters the thought process. I think religion is a great crutch to lean on as hope.
> 
> Faith that a sentient being & a crew of sentient beings billions of years old are somewhere outside our universe waiting for  us to show up in some sentient form to reunite with the billions that have died is the major part of that hope/faith.
> 
> It's something that only each individual can accept or reject.


Really well put, and except maybe for the last line I agree completely.  I can see comfort believing in an afterlife.  Sometimes I wish I did, but I just can't see the logic or the reason to it.  Not that I am right and others are wrong, I just don't know... agnostic I guess.

So whilst I don't "accept" I don't really "reject" either.  Just skeptical...


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Liverpool lady, thank you for posting what you did.


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## PamfromTx (Jul 28, 2021)

Pappy said:


> Wherever I end up, Heaven or Hell, I hope they have lots of ice cream.


I don't think that the ice cream will hold up in Hell.  lol @Pappy


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Don M. said:


> Several of the world's religions believe in reincarnation.  Perhaps we keep coming back until we get it right.  I admit that I'm curious about what happens...but in no hurry to find out.


My first hubby was raised Hindu (he was East Indian descent from Guyana, S. America), but he didn't even believe in any afterife till he was dead. We debated about it frequently, because i believe consciousness is eternal, and in reincarnation.


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## Pappy (Jul 28, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> I don't think that the ice cream will hold up in Hell.  lol @Pappy


When it comes to ice cream Pam, I can eat it real fast…and get a brain freeze.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> I've always believed that Jesus takes to Heaven at death.  However, lately I am beginning to think we just cease to exist.  There may be no Heaven and no Hell; just existence and non-existence.  I wonder what others think. At 86 I'm getting closer and closer to the end.


Yes, there is an angel or maybe Jesus and yes, you go to Heaven.  REALLY.  There is a hereafter, for sure.  I know.


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

feywon said:


> My first hubby was raised Hindu (he was East Indian descent from Guyana, S. America), but he didn't even believe in any afterife till he was dead. We debated about it frequently, because i believe consciousness is eternal, and in reincarnation.


There may well be an afterlife. I know that I’ve heard people talk about one forever and what it will be like. But speaking only for myself, it just doesn’t make sense that any afterlife would be better or different than any beforelife. And even though we have proof that we all have experienced a period of nonexistence and with nothing I know of that’s alive, living forever, then why should I think that humans will or do experience such a thing? I can deny or accept reality but reality doesn’t care much which of those choices I make. Plant, animal or human, if it lives, it also dies.


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## officerripley (Jul 28, 2021)

Jeff_RN/Paramedic said:


> I've spent my career dealing with death and dying........and life and living.
> And I've been right there at the moment of death for so many people.
> No matter how horrible the events leading up to their end, in all of them, their final moments were one of peace and without fear.
> For that, I have always been grateful......knowing they found peace at least at their final seconds.
> I have no idea what awaits any of us after our grand or sullen departure, but I am comforted in knowing that as I close this door behind me that I'll leave life peacefully without fear.


One of Huzz's buddies died of cancer in his wife's arms and she said that in his last moment, he got a terrified look on his face and said, "Help me!" and then breathed his last. So unfortunately, sounds like not everyone finds peace in their final seconds. Maybe something to do with the patient's brain chemistry? IDK; sad anyway.


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Chris P Bacon said:


> There may well be an afterlife. I know that I’ve heard people talk about one forever and what it will be like. But speaking only for myself, it just doesn’t make sense that any afterlife would be better or different than any beforelife. And even though we have proof that we all have experienced a period of nonexistence and with nothing I know of that’s alive, living forever, then why should I think that humans will or do experience such a thing? I can deny or accept reality but reality doesn’t care much which of those choices I make. Plant, animal or human, if it lives, it also dies.


What proof of non-existence before?   In places where reincarnation is accepted and children not shushed when talking about "When i was____" and the rest of it relates to a different life such memories are often verified by their familes.

As for references to physical nature:
1)  Nature recycles everything. 
2) One of the laws of thermodynamics holds that neither matter or energy can be utterly destroyed but rather they convert back and forth from one to the other. Experiments with colliding atoms have left more debris than the volume of the two original atoms.
And
 3) how limiting and Rather arrogant, IMO,to think this is the only reality. 
Read more neuroscience, folks who only believe you physical senses, you'll learn that only a fraction of what those senses perceive makes it into your waking conscious mind. True, in varying degrees, for all of us.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

feywon said:


> I'm almost 75, at 27  1/2  i had an NDE. Not evidential for anyone else, but huge significance for me. Both my experience and the literature (people's personal accounts) suggest that what you strongly believe will influence what happens immediately after.(hence the accounts of folks experiencing scriptural type heavens or hells during NDEs).   Unless there's someone you feel you need to watch over or something you need to communicate to one your still living loved ones, if you believe there's 'nothing' you probably won't perceive anything at first, but that's ok cause time different in that dimension/reality.


I firmly believe that when Jesus says, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also", this means there is a place for us to go to and it is prepared for specifically for us when we leave our bodies.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

officerripley said:


> One of Huzz's buddies died of cancer in his wife's arms and she said that in his last moment, he got a terrified look on his face and said, "Help me!" and then breathed his last. So unfortunately, sounds like not everyone finds peace in their final seconds. Maybe something to do with the patient's brain chemistry? IDK; sad anyway.


Did he believe in the Lord and His Word, if not, that explains his expressions.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> This is what I also believe. I also feel that when we are living we are in Hell. Where else can you experience the pain of losing loved ones? I pray we are reunited with those we love and will never lose them again.


No, no way.  Hell is a terrible, tormenting place and only evil is there.  I read a paperback and it talked about a believer who had a dream of being in Hell, he was allowed to have this dream and experience it in a dream in order to tell people about it.  21 Minutes in Hell, was the name of the book.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

fancicoffee13 said:


> No, no way.  Hell is a terrible, tormenting place and only evil is there.  I read a paperback and it talked about a believer who had a dream of being in Hell, he was allowed to have this dream and experience it in a dream in order to tell people about it.  21 Minutes in Hell, was the name of the book.


Sorry, that was 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese.


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> I've always believed that Jesus takes to Heaven at death.  However, lately I am beginning to think we just cease to exist.  There may be no Heaven and no Hell; just existence and non-existence.  I wonder what others think. At 86 I'm getting closer and closer to the end.


I do hope you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  There is a place He has prepared for you, because where He is there you will be also.  That is in the Bible in John 14 verses 2 and 3.


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

fancicoffee13 said:


> I firmly believe that when Jesus says, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also", this means there is a place for us to go to and it is prepared for specifically for us when we leave our bodies.


Then that is likely what you'll experience.


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## officerripley (Jul 28, 2021)

feywon said:


> Then that is likely what you'll experience.


IIRC, that's kinda what George Carlin, said, something like whatever you think's gonna happen will: if you think you're going to heaven, you will; if you think you're going to hell, you will; and if you think you'll stop existing, you will.


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## Jeff_RN/Paramedic (Jul 28, 2021)

officerripley said:


> One of Huzz's buddies died of cancer in his wife's arms and she said that in his last moment, he got a terrified look on his face and said, "Help me!" and then breathed his last. So unfortunately, sounds like not everyone finds peace in their final seconds. Maybe something to do with the patient's brain chemistry? IDK; sad anyway.


That's a bummer.


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## Aneeda72 (Jul 28, 2021)

win231 said:


> I'm pretty sure we lose our cravings for sweets.


I can only hope


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## Aneeda72 (Jul 28, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> This is what I also believe. I also feel that when we are living we are in Hell. Where else can you experience the pain of losing loved ones? I pray we are reunited with those we love and will never lose them again.


I believe this also, this is Hell.


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

feywon said:


> What proof of non-existence before?   In places where reincarnation is accepted and children not shushed when talking about "When i was____" and the rest of it relates to a different life such memories are often verified by their familes.
> 
> As for references to physical nature:
> 1)  Nature recycles everything.
> ...


@feywon Thanks for sharing what you believe to be true but the subject isn’t important enough to me to want to research it further. I’m pretty okay with what I feel about it already. Any opinions I express are mine and mine alone. I’ve not lived the same life or any other lives that you have so of course, my result may well be different than yours. Maybe the actuality lies somewhere between what you know to be and what I feel to be.


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## OscarW (Jul 28, 2021)

”Sometimes I wish my first word was 'quote' so that on my deathbed, my last words could be 'end quote.'" —Steven Wright


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

officerripley said:


> IIRC, that's kinda what George Carlin, said, something like whatever you think's gonna happen will: if you think you're going to heaven, you will; if you think you're going to hell, you will; and if you think you'll stop existing, you will.


I miss George Carlin. I related far better to his way of looking at things than most any others I’ve been presented with in any lifetime I’ve lived so far.


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## Jeff_RN/Paramedic (Jul 28, 2021)

Chris P Bacon said:


> I miss George Carlin. I related far better to his way of looking at things than most any others I’ve been presented with in any lifetime I’ve lived so far.


He certainly was a unique person. He is missed by many. Not only funny, but very insightful & intelligent.


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)




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## FastTrax (Jul 28, 2021)

fancicoffee13 said:


> No, no way.  Hell is a terrible, tormenting place and only evil is there.  I read a paperback and it talked about a believer who had a dream of being in Hell, he was allowed to have this dream and experience it in a dream in order to tell people about it.  21 Minutes in Hell, was the name of the book.





fancicoffee13 said:


> Sorry, that was 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese.








www.soulchoiceministries.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_Minutes_in_Hell


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

FastTrax said:


> View attachment 175988
> 
> www.soulchoiceministries.org
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_Minutes_in_Hell


I bet he wished it were only 21 minutes after all, if he’d had his druthers. And why does it take a video, over an hour long as well as a book that surely can’t be read in 23 minutes, to tell about 23 minutes in hell? Is time distorted there?


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

What happens when we die? I’m sure I don’t really know. But if you die first then come back and tell me about it. Or better yet, post your experience here on the thread and we all can know then. No sense in all of us dying just to find an answer, is there?


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## Knight (Jul 28, 2021)

Human imagination is great, scary demons in hell & mansions in heaven. Who wouldn't want to live in a mansion? I wonder if  a few religious leaders living in mansions already practicing for when they croak would let us know. 

Ever curious I wonder where prehistoric humans like Vikings, remote Amazonian & African tribes, Incas, went after death. John 3:16 is pretty specific about the way to eternal life & as far as I can tell those humans don't qualify. Even babies that live only for a short time after birth wouldn't qualify.

Then there is life and eternal life. Defining  eternal life without actually having some way to prove it beats plain old regular day to day life. Can't be denied there is a certain comfort believing in eternal life, or fear of not believing that some sentient form leaves your body to interact with those that qualified to go where that super natural omnipotent billions of years old leader & his/her helpers/angels  is.


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## win231 (Jul 28, 2021)

Wherever we go after we die, we'll continue arguing about the Covid vaccine.


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## Knight (Jul 28, 2021)

win231 said:


> Wherever we go after we die, we'll continue arguing about the Covid vaccine.


Do spirits wear masks?  
For sure an injection would be hard to do.


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## Aneeda72 (Jul 29, 2021)

Knight said:


> Human imagination is great, scary demons in hell & mansions in heaven. Who wouldn't want to live in a mansion? I wonder if  a few religious leaders living in mansions already practicing for when they croak would let us know.
> 
> Ever curious I wonder where prehistoric humans like Vikings, remote Amazonian & African tribes, Incas, went after death. John 3:16 is pretty specific about the way to eternal life & as far as I can tell those humans don't qualify. Even babies that live only for a short time after birth wouldn't qualify.
> 
> Then there is life and eternal life. Defining  eternal life without actually having some way to prove it beats plain old regular day to day life. Can't be denied there is a certain comfort believing in eternal life, or fear of not believing that some sentient form leaves your body to interact with those that qualified to go where that super natural omnipotent billions of years old leader & his/her helpers/angels  is.


I think it is the current Catholic Pope who said and acknowledged that everyone goes to heaven, everyone.  You could goggle it.  . The Church tried to back track on his statement, but he did say it.  I, personally, believe there is an existence after this one.  But then, as a mother, I refuse to accept that I will be parted from my children even in death.

As for babies that only live a short time, Mathew David died at 3 days, John at 6 weeks, and Matthew Frank died just short of one year.  I think such young souls have not even completely left God’s side to be tied, in any form, to earthly things.  Upon the death of their physical form, I believe they returned to God, immediately.

We must remember an old book, the Bible, was written after JC died.  The only actual written words of God are the Ten Commandments, IMO.


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## charry (Jul 29, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> This is what I also believe. I also feel that when we are living we are in Hell. Where else can you experience the pain of losing loved ones? I pray we are reunited with those we love and will never lose them again.


Yes sassy , I believe we are living  in hell...
But I also think , it’s getting us ready for the after world ..


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## Capt Lightning (Jul 30, 2021)

Why should the darkness after we die worry us any more than the darkness before we were born?


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## Warrigal (Jul 30, 2021)

Imagining the afterlife is something humans have engaged since prehistoric times. Even modern day sophisticates like George Bernard Shaw have had a go at it. Has anyone read his play Man and Superman? He turns the typical depictions of Hell and Heaven upside down.


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## Tommy (Jul 30, 2021)

As a Christian, I believe I will spend eternity rejoicing in the presence of Almighty God.  As a scientist, I don't believe that science discredits faith, but rather that God is unfathomable and vastly supercedes science.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jul 30, 2021)

The age old question. I believe there is an afterlife, not only because of the teachings of Christianity (my former religion) and Islam (my current one) but because of what I've learned in a metaphysical course I took. I also believe in the afterlife because I know too many people who have seen ghosts, spirits, entities or whatever you wish to call them. I saw one in my apartment several years ago but he wasn't transparent like I would have thought and he didn't frighten me. He stood there watching me for almost a minute. I have two close relatives and an online friend who have seen shadow people. I swore on a couple of occasions I saw my deceased cat walk past while I was on the computer and I used to feel something jump onto my bed at night. I did pass that off as possible dreams, however. Like @feywon I do try to find a logical explanation for things.

@Jeff_RN/Paramedic  & @Chris P Bacon  George Carlin sure was.


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## Ceege (Jul 30, 2021)

The energy from our bodies never dies.  It changes, but it still exists.  Perhaps we join other energy here on earth or in the stars. If we spent more time on making things better for the world while we are living, we wouldn't really need to dwell on what happens after we die. 
https://futurism.com/the-physics-of-death

“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; *to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;* to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; *to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived*—this is to have succeeded.”
~ Bessie Anderson Stanley


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## feywon (Jul 30, 2021)

Crispy P Bacon said "But if you die first then come back and tell me about it. Or better yet, post your experience here on the thread and we all can know then."

You know that would not 'work' because the person would be reporting THEIR personal subjective experience which is not objective evidence for anyone else, tho people who know and trust them might accept their report.  People's reactions would vary depending on what THEY believe.  Some would think the person crazy (despite mounting reports from medical professionals supporting NDE accounts and some medical professionals having NDEs); some would insist the person couldn't have really been dead; some would think/feel 'well he/she is a fairly nice and intelligent person but they are deluded on this on subject'; and still others, those who totally bought into the Heaven/Hell construct, would criticize on the basis of the details not matching their expectations.  i've had an NDE and i know from the reactions of others when i have told. There were things that happened during my NDE that were validated by later experiences, which reinforced my acceptance of the experience as 'real', but i'm a rational enough person to understand that  even those are still 'subjective' to the ears/minds of others.  Having others invalidate and sometimes outright insult you for sharing the most profound experience of your current life gets old.  After awhile you prefer to share only with those openminded enough to admit the possibility even if it doesn't fit their 'belief' system, without mocking or condescension (and whether anyone realizes it or not taking the attitude that this is all there is, the only reality, when even scientists are suggesting there are other dimensions/universes where the rules--natural 'laws' --might be different, IS a belief system).  

i will say this: when i finally succeeded at suicide after 15 yrs of overt and covert attempts i was desperately hoping that there was 'nothing' after.  i was wrong.  i was given a choice and some information that helped me make an informed choice. i chose to come back and do the best i could with this life rather than start over from infancy and have to 'relearn' all the basics and complexities all over again.  It didn't make everything perfect, i've still had to work at it like we all do, but i had an edge in how my attitude changed even tho depression has still been a presence in my life. But suicide not ever again an option.  Dying on my terms should i become catastrophically ill is an option. i'm in no hurry, despite knowing the environment that i would enter, but i have no fear of death either. Of course i never was a very fearful person. Some risks i took with my life did not come from my suicidal ideation but rather from place feeling that if there is no principle you would die defending, what are you living FOR?


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## Forerunner (Aug 5, 2021)

In a coma from a rare adverse drug reaction, my heart stopped. After 7 minutes of failed resuscitation attempts, a nurse was filling out my time of death when my heart started beating again. After four days in a coma, I woke to find myself paralyzed, in agony, and with the clear memory of looking down into the sunlit lobby of a travel agency. Somehow I knew it was a weekend afternoon in the winter, even though it was actually August. 17 years later, earlier this year, I had a flash of what seemed to be a memory. "I was standing in a city street, a beautiful city street, and to my left I saw boulevards and other streets. There was a golden mist on the ground. I turned and looked in front of me, and standing a few feet from me was who I instantly knew was Jesus. Being about 6'3, He was looking down at me. We gazed into each other's eyes, and I could see His amazing love for me. He was smiling at me." Make of this what you will.


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## Mitch86 (Aug 5, 2021)

Jesus was the greatest MAN in history but was not a God.  There is no room in Heaven for the 60 billion humans who have died in the last 3,000 years. We simply cease to exist at death and all joy and suffering ends then. At 86 I look forward to an end to my seven years of terrible pain and impairment. Christ's greatest gift as a man to us all was DEATH!  The Old Testament was all a fairy tale. Jesus taught us how to accept death without blaming anyone and to look forward to an end of our terrible existence at the end of life.


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## LittleRed (Aug 5, 2021)

Heaven is infinite, just like the universe.  There is plenty of room for all.


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## Lara (Aug 6, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> Christ's greatest gift as a man to us all was DEATH! ....Jesus taught us how to accept death without blaming anyone and to look forward to an end of our terrible existence at the end of life.


Christ's gift to us was new LIFE. He came alive after the 3rd day and ascended into Heaven. He taught us how to accept eternal life. He taught that we will receive new bodies. He taught that there will be no more pain and suffering...if you believe him @Mitch86


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## Forerunner (Aug 6, 2021)

No more death, no more mourning, no more crying...or pain.


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## CAKCy (Aug 6, 2021)

The whole world is devastated. Flags are at half mast in all public buildings everywhere... (including North Korea...). Every famous person on the planet goes through a denial and a depression period (except The-One Without-Empathy-To Save-His-Life). The sun is hidden by clouds for 40 days. The moon turns around to show its dark side. The body is lying in state on the top of the Eiffel tower for billions to pay their respects. Heads of State from all countries (including North Korea) dress in black and cover their faces with soot to mourn one's passing. Any means of transportation stops until the funeral. Television networks all over the world (including North Korea) broadcast nothing but a black screen. The Internet shuts down everywhere in the world (not including North Korea... they didn't have internet anyway). There is cease fire in all wars all over the planet. The seas and the oceans go to low tide and stay there until the funeral. All 8 1/2 planets come into syzygy. The comets change their courses to fly over the Earth as a sign of respect. McDonald's makes 2 cents discount worldwide for a period of two minutes after the announcement of one's death....

or ...

one ends up being ashes or worm food...

(It all depends on one having a positive consciousness or a negative one! )


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## Alligatorob (Aug 6, 2021)

CAKCy said:


> or ...


I'll take door #1


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## Mitch86 (Aug 8, 2021)

We won't know since we have ceased to exist.  Thank GOD, we can't suffer anymore.


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## TooMuchMuktuk (Aug 9, 2021)

win231 said:


> I'm pretty sure we lose our cravings for sweets.


Or that we can eat all the sweets we want and not get overweight or have any other negative health consequences.


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## TooMuchMuktuk (Aug 9, 2021)

The only human that would have that answer is someone who died, saw what was on the other side and came back to life to report it.  Jesus is the only such man, and the New Testament of the Holy Bible reports a whole lot about what Jesus reported comes after death, for both those who have come to be his followers, and for those who don't.  He tells us the essentials of what we need to know to be prepared, but leaves a whole lot of my questions unanswered.  I guess the details are based on a need to know basis.


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## Lara (Aug 9, 2021)

TooMuchMuktuk said:


> The only human that would have that answer is someone who died, saw what was on the other side and came back to life to report it.  Jesus is the only such man, and the New Testament of the Holy Bible reports a whole lot about what Jesus reported comes after death, for both those who have come to be his followers, and for those who don't.  He tells us the essentials of what we need to know to be prepared, but leaves a whole lot of my questions unanswered.  I guess the details are based on a need to know basis.


Biblical reference is usually a trigger in these types of threads but since you mentioned the Bible....The New Testament tells whether or not we will get answers to our questions after we die in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12.

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears....For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

This scripture is referring to knowing God fully and seeing him clearly after we die but I think it includes full knowledge of the things God has full knowledge of as well. I just can't remember where that scriptural source is for the moment.


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## win231 (Aug 9, 2021)

Things get really quiet.


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## senior chef (Aug 9, 2021)

Don M. said:


> Several of the world's religions believe in reincarnation.  Perhaps we keep coming back until we get it right.  I admit that I'm curious about what happens...but in no hurry to find out.


I hope you are wrong. I've had enough of this planet. I have no desire to "come back" as anything. All I hope for is that death comes on suddenly.


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## Fyrefox (Aug 9, 2021)

With nature as our model, we can see that much of it is cyclical, and that when one cycle is completed, another begins.  Humans are innately responsive to this, and have imposed their own cycles and constructs of time upon nature.  Energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed, but only changed from form to form.  When we complete the long cycle of our current forms, I believe that we shall enter another existence cycle of some kind, although it may be non-corporeal and we may exist as energies rather than matter, which is essentially what “spirit” is...


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## Mitch86 (Aug 9, 2021)

I agree, Fyrefox.


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## Lara (Aug 9, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> With nature as our model, we can see that much of it is cyclical, and that when one cycle is completed, another begins.  Humans are innately responsive to this, and have imposed their own cycles and constructs of time upon nature.  Energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed, but only changed from form to form.  When we complete the long cycle of our current forms, I believe that we shall enter another existence cycle of some kind, although it may be non-corporeal and we may exist as energies rather than matter, which is essentially what “spirit” is...


It's interesting Fyrefox but if I read this correctly, you believe in eternal life of our bodies that will change forms over and over again, in cycles...each time dying and changing into a new living or spirit form. And you base this on the cycles you see in nature. But those cycles, like the metamorphosis of butterflies and tadpoles in nature, only change forms once and then die.


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## Forerunner (Aug 9, 2021)

win231 said:


> I'm pretty sure we lose our cravings for sweets.


Or maybe sweets will be healthy!


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## Mitch86 (Aug 9, 2021)

Lara said:


> It's interesting Fyrefox but if I read this correctly, you believe in eternal life of our bodies that will change forms over and over again, in cycles...each time dying and changing into a new living or spirit form. And you base this on the cycles you see in nature. But those cycles, like the metamorphosis of butterflies and tadpoles in nature, only change forms once and then die.


I believe Hindus have this belief.


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## Forerunner (Aug 9, 2021)

I once woke to find myself coming out of a coma. I was in the I.C.U. While in the coma, I had died, and as the nurse was filling out my time of death, my heart started beating again. I had the clear memory of looking down into the lobby of a travel agency. 17 years later, as I was writing a song about the New Jerusalem, I had a flash in my mind and I remembered this: I was standing on a street. I looked to my left and saw a boulevard, perhaps with shrubs, benches, trees. Beyond that were more boulevards and streets. A golden glow, perhaps mist, clung to the ground. I turned and looked in front of me. About 2 feet from me was Jesus. As He was taller than me, I looked up. Our eyes met and I was aware of His deep love for me. He was smiling. That's all.


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## feywon (Sep 12, 2021)

@WheatenLover-- some things you might relate to here.


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## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

feywon said:


> Then that is likely what you'll experience.


I thought for awhile that whatever happens when people die will be what they think will happen.

Now I don't care what happens because I believe there is no way to know and that I have no control over it. I tend to think that all biological beings die and are no longer except as nutrients in a few cases. IOW, this is only an opinion.

I have had what might be a NDA. I'd had a heart attack, and was lying on an exam table waiting for a cardiologist to arrive at the hospital. I closed my eyes and immediately felt as though I were being pulled down a long tunnel. I didn't see any light or people. I was frantic because I could not die and leave my children behind. Their father would not have been a sufficient single parent. So I was screaming, in my head, no, no, I cannot leave my children, and trying to keep myself (or get back to) the here and now. And suddenly I was back.

That was not the only time I have been afraid I might die, but it is the only time I thought I was dying.


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## Lara (Sep 12, 2021)

What I believe is that there is much more to us than biological beings. I believe when I die I will be instantly with my creator and will continue living in a new body until it's time to return to a new earth, a perfect earth, along with others who share my same belief. I believe this because the Bible says so and is the only thing that makes sense to me.


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## Mitch86 (Sep 12, 2021)

I believe Jesus was the greatest MAN who ever lived.  However, I do not believe in any "gods," heaven or hell.  I believe we simply cease to exist at death and totally disappear.   I do carry Jesus in my mind all the time but, when I die, I believe MY Jesus in my mind dies with me.


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## Capt Lightning (Sep 15, 2021)

Well put, Mitch86, though whether Jesus was the 'greatest' man is debatable.
When we die, we die...  end of story.


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## senior chef (Sep 15, 2021)

I sincerely hope nothing happens when we die.


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