What's the point of anything in this life if we are meant for the Next?

[Robert_Sock]

“If you believe the universe has a Creator, then you surely recognize that the creation must have a purpose. Now, take a look around you. This is definitely not the purpose. The purpose is in a time yet to come. This is just a way of getting there.”

–From: “Bringing Heaven Down to Earth” by Tzvi Freeman

 

[Ignatius]

We should not be consumed by a self-centered materialistic pleasure of the world. At the same time, finding love and joy in our present life is a means of showing G-d that we are thankful to Him for creating us and giving us the gift of life. And “repairing the world,” as Judaism calls it, also enables us to do G-d’s Will by helping those in need.

Once again you’ve nailed it!

 

[CompSciGuy]

This is one reason why Atheists and Agnostics say that with their beliefs…they go all out to enjoy every moment and make the most of every second and person in their lives, because this may be all we each have.
For those who think the good stuff all happens later…they might squander what is now because they are living for the future instead of the present…and then they might discover…there is no later.

But the Atheist/Agnostic approach would still not be described as “nihilistic”.
More so, it would be quite optimistic and in-the-moment kind of joy of life.

.

If there is no later, and everything ultimately comes to an end, then in the grand scheme of things nothing here really matters anyways, afterlife or no afterlife… The moment of death is probably the most important moment of your life. And in the moment of death, whether you believe in heaven or not, looking back on your life it doesn’t really matter how many good times you’ve had, how many significant others you’ve had, how much money you’ve made, how much you’ve travelled, or how many friends you’ve had. Because in that moment all of that is past, all of it is gone. It’s all over, these things cannot bring you any more comfort. Whether you’ve lived a life of laughter or a life of suffering, it’s all the same now as it’s ending for you in suffering and death. You can find comfort in those who you leave behind, but even then, you know that they will eventually meet their end as well. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

As far as I’m concerned, at least those of us who believe in heaven have that hope in the moment of death that maybe this isn’t it. Maybe there’s something more, and this isn’t the end. I’d rather go out with that hope.

 

[meltzerboy]

I guess.

Still doesn’t make me feel better about anything. Why bother trying to get a job or go to college if Pope Leo XIII had a vision wherein Satan was given 100 years to mess things up and that periods ends in October 2017? Why bother with anything up until then? It doesn’t fill me with hope. It fills me with dread that I was born too late and I might as well not bother with things in this life at all if its all coming to a grand end in a few years.

Darn it I hate those End Times Speculation threads.

So why do you have to pay attention to these threads? Catholics and Jews generally ignore such things.

 

[meltzerboy]

If there is no later, and everything ultimately comes to an end, then in the grand scheme of things nothing here really matters anyways, afterlife or no afterlife… The moment of death is probably the most important moment of your life. And in the moment of death, whether you believe in heaven or not, looking back on your life it doesn’t really matter how many good times you’ve had, how many significant others you’ve had, how much money you’ve made, how much you’ve travelled, or how many friends you’ve had. Because in that moment all of that is past, all of it is gone. It’s all over, these things cannot bring you any more comfort. Whether you’ve lived a life of laughter or a life of suffering, it’s all the same now as it’s ending for you in suffering and death. You can find comfort in those who you leave behind, but even then, you know that they will eventually meet their end as well. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

As far as I’m concerned, at least those of us who believe in heaven have that hope in the moment of death that maybe this isn’t it. Maybe there’s something more, and this isn’t the end. I’d rather go out with that hope.

From a purely human perspective, I suppose I agree with you. However, my religion teaches us that the very last moment of your life can be a content one if you know that you have served and loved G-d, obeyed His commandments to the best of your ability, and behaved in a compassionate and merciful way toward others. It is regarded as a special blessing to recite the Shema prayer at the very close of your life, a prayer said at funerals and in the synagogue, which extols G-d and has no mention of death. Likewise, it is a special blessing to die on the Sabbath. In Judaism, your entire life until the last breath is centered on G-d.

 

[WonderAndAwe]

So why do you have to pay attention to these threads? Catholics and Jews generally ignore such things.

Because I feel like I must.

I came on here for semi-anonymous discourse on being Catholic so that I may be better at it, especially in the realm of defending the faith since that’s this site’s overall objective.

I feel anything the admins permit to exist on the boards has great merit in some degree and must be acknowledged as having great merit, thus needing me to read them and discuss them if I’m to be correct in Catholicness. “Stay awake, be ready, thief in the night” and all that jazz.

But all it sounds like is a less anti-Catholic version of those Chick Tracts centered around the apocalypse (You know, the ones that say the Vatican has a supercomputer database of every Protestant in the world).

In short, I FEEL LIKE I’M SUPPOSED TO READ THOSE THREADS DESPITE MY PRE-EXISTING ISSUES WITH PREDICTIONS OF CATACLYSM RANGING FROM TORNADO WARNING TO FULL ON APOCALYPSE RENDERING ME A COWARDING MESS.

 

[recentrevert]

If we are meant for the Next Life, why care about anything in this one? There’s so much bad stuff happening and so many people worried about bad stuff that might happen soon (look at the World News and End Times Speculation threads) that it just makes every aspect of this life seem pointless and that a nihilistic approach would be more appropriate

Also, this opening post would be MUCH longer but everything I typed sounded like a cry for help.

This purpose of this life is to grow in the love of God and it makes no sense to attach ourselves to anything temporal. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. God is calling you to perfection by making you see the futility of doing anything other than His Holy Will.

 

[fhansen]

Because I feel like I must.

I came on here for semi-anonymous discourse on being Catholic so that I may be better at it, especially in the realm of defending the faith since that’s this site’s overall objective.

I feel anything the admins permit to exist on the boards has great merit in some degree and must be acknowledged as having great merit, thus needing me to read them and discuss them if I’m to be correct in Catholicness. “Stay awake, be ready, thief in the night” and all that jazz.

But all it sounds like is a less anti-Catholic version of those Chick Tracts centered around the apocalypse (You know, the ones that say the Vatican has a supercomputer database of every Protestant in the world).

In short, I FEEL LIKE I’M SUPPOSED TO READ THOSE THREADS DESPITE MY PRE-EXISTING ISSUES WITH PREDICTIONS OF CATACLYSM RANGING FROM TORNADO WARNING TO FULL ON APOCALYPSE RENDERING ME A COWARDING MESS.

But why believe everything you read? That sounds more like compulsion than a desire to weed through the maze of ideas out there and arrive at the truth. Either way, the end time really is coming-it could arrive for any of us today. And life really is futile, unless lived in the right way, from an eternally-oriented perspective, as if the next life is just a continuation of this life, and we need this time to start getting things right. Instead of living in fear and despair we should be taking whatever opportunities we have to make the best of what we were given, our life right now, rather than second-guess the importance of our existence in this world and dimiss it all as a mistake of God or worthless in any case.

 

[Abigail_Lee]

I think we are here for a reason , and nothing is meaningless , Heaven is our goal we are here to do something good that will take us to our goal ,there is no goal without the path .
God created us for a reason He only knows what the reason is .i think He creates everything out of love .

 

[Peebo]

The point is…if there is no point of anything in this life…then what would be the point of a next life…so why did God create us…it would all be pointless…so obviously there must be a point to this life if it leads to the next