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Fear Death
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by
 
on 2007-12-17 07:28:17 (edited 2007-12-17 07:31:33)
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I just saw one YouTube vid entitled 'Should Atheists Fear Death' and it really bugged me. The main question is: Does it make any difference between those who follow religion and those who doesn't, fear death? I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Because nobody thinks the same, regardless of faith. I am not an atheist myself, but I am not afraid of death, because that's where I won't be attached to materialism in this world--- no more need of basic and luxury needs, just eternal peace and be remembered---. And I don't believe Heaven and Hell exists. If they do, that really lead to materialism again! Why? Rewards for those stay on to their religion, go to Heaven. And eternal pain and punishment for those don't believe in religion, go to Hell. And who owns these two worlds? Why are there two separate worlds each for the faithful and for the damned? God loves everyone, regardless of one's nature. I thought we have the right to rest our souls in peace without any materialism on our side when death arrives. Our souls belonged to ourselves, does not matter if you believe that God created our souls for granted. Are those worlds make people fear death? What do you think? |
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Re: Fear Death
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on 2007-12-17 11:15:09 |
It's hard for me to belive anyone that say they don't fear death. If you had a choice between life and death would you be so indifferent and just be like "I'll take death if that's what you got". With religion it's worse because you are scared about going to hell so you are forced to do certian things to go to heaven. Even though I know it'll happen I don't want to die. But we are alive just like everything else and we want to do everything possiable to survive.  
"It's better to be used, then to be useless." |
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Re: Fear Death
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on 2007-12-17 16:13:02 (edited 2007-12-17 16:20:59)
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In order to find out the answer to this question scientifically, we could conduct a survey with the following questions: 1. On a scale of one to ten, how certain are you that an afterlife (of any kind) awaits those who die? 2. On a scale of one to ten, how afraid are you of death? 3. Which faith, if any, would you say you belong to: Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Buddhism, (etc.) Strong correlation between (1) and (2) suggests the answer to your question is "yes". Statistically insignificant correlation suggests the answer is "no". Group by (3) and conduct the analysis again, and we might see different results, which may indicate that the answer varies from religion to religion. The afterlife as a mechanism of reward/punishment is a fabrication by mortals in order to better control the faithful for their own selfish purposes. The fear of death is a strong human instinct, which is exploited by religion. The contradiction that arises when one attempts to imagine of the vanishing of the self leaves a vast and important-feeling space for religion and other dogma to take up residence. To protect from this parasitic invasion of the mind, one can practice acceptance of the illusion of the self, and thereby transcend the need for it to either exist or not exist. It is an irrelevant lens through which we view the world. By the way, there are plenty of extremists who would disagree with the statement that "God loves everyone"! 
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Re: Fear Death
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Well, does anyone actually KNOW if anything happens after death? People fear death because what happens after is unknown. It's also unknown if death is good/bad. So Death = Unknown. Would you rather choose life, or the unknown? What religion does is to definately claim that there is an afterlife/heaven/hell, etc. If what happens after death is known, people are less afraid of it. That's from a religious standpoint. That's just how I see things.
Witness the fury... of a god!
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Re: Fear Death
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| oh wow~ i sometimes afraid to die just because i dunno what will happen after death~ |
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Re: Fear Death
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on 2007-12-18 01:34:15 |
i dont think that death is sumting to be scared of.. why? err because there's life after death x3 i dunno if its really true but i believe in God =D 
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Re: Fear Death
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well, i'm a christian and believes that hell and heaven really exist... i think that everyone scared of death, even those who says they're not afraid of death... i don't think those worlds are made to scare people of death, i think many people are scared of it because you can only have 1 life and no one knows what will happen after you die... no one has seen heaven or hell and comes back to earth(i think)... i think religion is not for the sake of going to heaven but to see things differently... like myself, i prefer to be a christian because really had the experience of GOD loving me and healing me, i guess it's up to a person to see things... P.S. this is just my opinion, not to offend anyone.
"I hope to share my stories with everyone one day, and that it will bring tears and joy as they enter my fantasy world..."
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Re: Fear Death
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by
on 2007-12-18 07:05:27 (edited 2007-12-18 07:06:49)
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@Gendou- What you mostly quoted there, I strongly agree. I know the "God loves everyone" phrase sounds not assuring. Because we don't brought up in the same environment and religion. Sometimes it's not religion to blame. Sometimes it's some people who grow some odd traditions that are considered as great religion ethic and practice. I do believe God loves everyone. That's my opinion. But it's ok if you can't follow that, cuz I have no power to control your beliefs anyway, it's your life. You live the life you want. You gotta believe your instincts. I respect that. Extremists, I hate them bunch. What do they know and understand about humanity? They thwarted the idea of God. @Inuyasha- Do you really dare ask anyone "How life after death is like?"? Of course not! I can't answer that, even Gendou's simple yet helpful survey reflect to my answer. Death is unknown, yeah, that's true. I rather talk about life than death. But sometimes I can't stand people make a big fuss about death, since it's a part of our life cycle. If fear death just because of the religion, won't that make sense though? I know that everyone wants to go Heaven and don't want to go to Hell, and can you see that it's very materialistic? I think people are even more afraid of death once some man claimed there are such places to keep their souls. I bet animals' minds are more way ahead than us. @vie- Hmmm... after you said there's life after death, there's a possibility that some dead people can turn into ghosts. They might think that's life after death... ... That's one clue somehow. @AoZoRa- I am no christian nor atheist, yet I do follow a religion. I do believe that God helps me during times I don't think I can go on. I hate discussing about a religion's purpose in life. It's difficult to tell. I like treating religion as a culture, not as a thing of life domination. Because not all things your learn and see are practical and fair for yourself. That's my point of view. You are not offending anyone, don't worry ^_^ |
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Re: Fear Death
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by
on 2007-12-18 10:10:29 |
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'Should Atheists Fear Death' has to be one of the silliest statements ever. because it's obviously someone that is projecting their belifes on altheists. Secondly the entire afterlife ideal was in a general sense made up to ease the minds of the living about dying and to scare children/people into behaving. So quite obviously you don't have to be an atheist to fear death. There's some saying that atheists will go to hell for rejecting god, or be stuck in limbo, unable to go to either place. But really why should anyone else worry if they don't? -_-" it's coming from a perspective that is from everyone else and their belifes EXCEPT the atheist. I'm not really anything of religion although my extended family is. But from anything I've ever learned about it Buddhism and wicca make the most sense to me. I'd say I'm afraid of dying but not of being dead. The only reason I fear dying is because I don't want it to be painful or before I'm ready to leave. Being dead though eh, I see nothing all that scary about it but then I doubt unless I die violently/untimely that I'll will be keeping my conciousness. Overall though 'dying' is generally something not to worry about because it's not osmething you can change. Everyone is going to die so you might as well just try to be as good a person to those that are living around you and hope they do the same so you have no regrets before you die. |
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Re: Fear Death
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on 2007-12-18 10:54:01 |
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I hear some good observations: - fear of death is to say fear of the unknown - the question seems to project a religious belief onto atheist While our answers to Davy Jones' question vary, it seems safe to say the question is more personal and less dictated by one's religious beliefs, or lack thereof.
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