Humans, above all other creatures, are very aware of their mortality. Nobody in their right state of mind would chose death over life and people will believe and justify anything to not have to deal with death being the end. Religions offer many alternatives whether it is Heaven/Nirvana, reincarnation or spiritual enlightenment (to name a few) for their follows to aspire to with the hope that dying is not the end. The vast majority of people are scared to death of death.
However I often wonder do people really, honestly believe that there is a form of life after death? Surely if you truly believed you are going to your respective heaven (which all religious people do) then what is there to be afraid of? If life is better elsewhere, as promised in your religious book, then why not rush to get there? Why keep looking at ways to delay death? I’m not saying commit suicide (as that is against most beliefs) but why if you have cancer do you not embrace death? After all, your god gave you cancer in the first place so surely by trying to cure it, you are defying his wishes and therefore could potentially end up in hell. Why not say “finally I am going to the better place I have believed my whole life is waiting for me ”. But we don’t, humans will put their bodies through extreme pain and suffering to ward of death. This leads me to believe that most people don’t really believe in life after death and only say they do to try and convince themselves so they can come to terms with their own mortality.
On some level I respect suicide bombers, not for their senseless killings, but for their beliefs. They are one of the few who really believe what they have been told and have no problem accepting death, as they “know” they will be rewarded in the afterlife. The same could be said about Christian Scientists who strongly believe in God’s will. The vast majority of the religious are very wishy washy, they change their beliefs to go with the current trends and whilst they will preach heaven very few of them are willing to seize any opportunity to go there.
Here’s a challenge to all our ‘holier than thou’ commentators, next time you or a family member gets a terminal disease, don’t seek treatment rather rejoice in the fact that you or your loved one is going to the place you all want to go to. Don’t pray for God to heal the person, thank God for taking them to the better place and pray that you can join them soon. If you truly believed what you are preaching why delay going to spend eternity with Jesus and your dead loved ones? But we all know you won’t, you will be praying and begging to be saved from death because deep down in places you don’t want to think about, you truly know there is no afterlife.
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