Difficulty believing in an afterlife

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Pedro_1987

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Anybody ever have difficulty believing in an after life? As a Catholic, I absolutely accept the doctrine, but sometimes it’s just hard to believe. I mean, it’s an entirely different world. Something our mortal minds can’t possibly fathom. Yet, we’re all destined an afterlife one way or the other.

I’m not questioning the afterlife, but does anybody have similar thoughts? I mean, just sit and ponder the full implications of the afterlife. Totally different from what you are living in now, and you will be there for the rest of eternity. It’s just makes you sit back and say wow.
 
Pedro

No one has ever returned from the dead to tell us what it’s like. So, as Nancy Pelosi famously said, I’m afraid you have to vote for it in order to find out what’s in it. 😉
 
I know there is an afterlife and we should prepare for it because Jesus told us so.

Eternity is a long time.

Pax vobiscum+
 
Well… I’m not sure what comes next, but I tend to think of life as an amusement park. Try to experience as much as you can, don’t waste money on rigged games trying to win a giant teddy bear that is just going to slow you down, and while there aren’t many - there are a few rides we all have to get on, and that last required ride doesn’t have a chicken exit.

People tend to freak out about that last ride because we don’t know where we end up when we get off that particular ride. There are a LOT of theories, some more believable than others.

Personally, I think that whoever designed this amazing park wouldn’t go to all that trouble just to design a thrilling and/or scary looking roller coaster just to let the track run out at the top of the hill and dump us into oblivion.

Have faith in the creator. Have fun, and help other people enjoy their time in the park.
 
3 supernatural virtues given by the Holy Spirit:
Faith
Hope
Love

These are things that cannot be obtained without God - hence supernatural. They are a gift from God given to us by God.
I also have a difficult time looking forward to eternal life. But I hope someday the Lord will give me the gift of Hope and answer my prayer and same for you.
Some people actually do look forward to eternal life. They have the gift of Hope.
 
Hmmm. Does it matter? To me, people who are into the religion thing just for an afterlife…kind of missed the point. And if all knowledge passes away, not like you’re going to know it anyway. 🙂 The only thing that remains is love. So, as if the goodness of love that is passed on, whether in an ‘afterlife’ or not, lives. Oh, like the love you share with kids, grandkids, friends, and family, and they share that with others too, on and on through the generations? I like the idea of 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, 12 tiers of heaven in Apocalypse or Revelation. What’s that mean to you? But nah, we don’t sit around ‘wasting’ time thinking on such things… 🙂
 
Abbigaelann said:
Hmmm. Does it matter? To me, people who are into the religion thing just for an afterlife…kind of missed the point. And if all knowledge passes away, not like you’re going to know it anyway. 🙂 The only thing that remains is love. So, as if the goodness of love that is passed on, whether in an ‘afterlife’ or not, lives. Oh, like the love you share with kids, grandkids, friends, and family, and they share that with others too, on and on through the generations? I like the idea of 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, 12 tiers of heaven in Apocalypse or Revelation. What’s that mean to you? But nah, we don’t sit around ‘wasting’ time thinking on such things… 🙂
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Well to be frank, you’re wrong.
Going to Heaven is why Christ died for us! Thru His death He purchased for us eternal life!
Christ speaks very negatively about those who love this world!
He asks us to lay aside all earthly cares, including loving God over everyone! including our father and mother!
Do you know the last sentence to the Apostles Creed? It’s “And I look forward to the life of the world to come.”
Amen.
 
I long for the life everlasting, and to hide in our LORD’s arms for ever:)

I also think the poster misunderstood what “knowledge passing away” actually means. Heaven is not a total amnesia. If it were, you wouldn’t be ‘you’ any more!!!

However, there are moments when I fear that our belief in “afterlife” is just a wish held so strongly that we believe it to be true…

ICXC NIKA
 
I think of it like this: if you asked an unborn baby what life outside the womb is like, (if he could understand and answer you) he would have very little idea, because his only information comes from faint sounds, shadows, sensations and occasional touches from who-knows-where. He would be scared of life after the womb, and resist entering it.

We are like those babies, except we have revelation given by God to let us know what to expect: not in detail, but enough. The same God who provides a wonderful world to an unborn baby, is capable of providing even greater blessings to us who trust Him.
 
I wonder if it’s nothing more than a desperate wish that death might not be the end of everything.
I’m not trying to be argumentative here: this is a common sentiment expressed by atheists. Religion (with its accompanying belief in an afterlife) is feel-good escapism.
 
Oblivion used to scare the bejeebers out of me until I realized that if nothingness is all there is, I would not notice anyway.

BUT the idea of nothing afterwards still bothers me. Except from all indications, I now believe almost certainly that Christ is telling us the truth that death is not the end, and eternal life with God awaits us if we trust in Him and lead upright lives.

During my times of doubt I lived in fear and dread of what life’s final moments would be like. One minute being alive and aware and then slipping into the unknown and nothingness. Atheists look at us like we are delusional and escapists. but they must be terrified that once their life is over there is nothing else. What do they have to look forward to ??? a few more decades and then its all over. Thanks but no thanks.

Give me Heaven or at least Purgatory !
 
wcknight said:
Oblivion used to scare the bejeebers out of me until I realized that if nothingness is all there is, I would not notice anyway.

BUT the idea of nothing afterwards still bothers me. Except from all indications, I now believe almost certainly that Christ is telling us the truth that death is not the end, and eternal life with God awaits us if we trust in Him and lead upright lives.

During my times of doubt I lived in fear and dread of what life’s final moments would be like. One minute being alive and aware and then slipping into the unknown and nothingness. Atheists look at us like we are delusional and escapists. but they must be terrified that once their life is over there is nothing else. What do they have to look forward to ??? a few more decades and then its all over. Thanks but no thanks.

Give me Heaven or at least Purgatory !
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Think of it this way. We didn’t mind not existing for billions of years, why would we mind it after death.

You’re last paragraph reminds me a lot of what Thomas Merton talked about in Contemplative Prayer. If you’re familiar with him I’d recomend reading it but it may not be the best book of his to start with. He sees the dread we experience when we realize our own nothingness as the beginning of and in fact necessary for contemplation. I’m unfortunate that I’ve never really experienced that dread except in brief flashes.

I see nothing wrong with blind hope. Again from Merton (paraphrase): Christianity teaches man to hope in a hopeless situation.
 
hansard said:
I wonder if it’s nothing more than a desperate wish that death might not be the end of everything.
I’m not trying to be argumentative here: this is a common sentiment expressed by atheists. Religion (with its accompanying belief in an afterlife) is feel-good escapism.
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Which is why those feel-gooders then invented the concept of eternal hell. 😃
 
I had doubts about the Hereafter when I returned to the Church, but it soon became intuitive the more I grew in my faith.
 
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