Do you believe in an afterlife?

[Sandeep1]

What I’m saying is that even if one exists, we really have no idea if it’s any good. We can believe it’s good, but what if we’re wrong? What if we feel our bodies slowly decomposing? What if we feel like we’re on fire if we’re cremated?

I’ll put off dying as long as possible. I don’t want to die and find out that it’s awful. And what if some other religion’s idea of the afterlife is correct and I belong to the one that’s gotten it wrong? Damn. That would really suck to be on the wrong side of death.

I'm Catholic but I don't believe this is a thing. I don't know how to explain it but I just don't think it will play out that way.

 

[L&Lfan]

If a society does not believe in an afterlife, how do they attempt to influence members not to do things deemed harmful to society ( murder, theft, lying, etc)? Is it fear of getting caught and being incarcerated? Is it appealing to humanity’s good nature?

 

[John VN]

maybe time for a musical interlude ----

 

[RamblingMad]

If a society does not believe in an afterlife, how do they attempt to influence members not to do things deemed harmful to society ( murder, theft, lying, etc)? Is it fear of getting caught and being incarcerated? Is it appealing to humanity’s good nature?

Sticking strictly to statistics, the US is far more secular today than in the past, but the murder rate is down from its 90s peak.

 

[Disney Ron]

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

I'll have a triple with cheese.

 

[Sandeep1]

If a society does not believe in an afterlife, how do they attempt to influence members not to do things deemed harmful to society ( murder, theft, lying, etc)? Is it fear of getting caught and being incarcerated? Is it appealing to humanity’s good nature?

Incarceration is a major deterrent for most rational thinking people.

 

[Disney Ron]

But can't this be said about the (the promise of) heaven as well? This is also a human social construct with the purpose of manipulating people into behaving a certain way. In fact, ALL mentions of the afterlife are simply aspects of different religions and the ways in which they motivate and manipulate behaviors. When societies started forming way back in time, the intelligent people in charge of them (the leaders, if you will), realized very quickly that people needed to have rules to follow, and reasons to follow them. Religions came about naturally as a way to both explain scientific concepts that people did not yet fully understand as well as a way to keep people in check, in terms of doing things that were harmful to the society (murdering, stealing, lying, etc). The afterlife is STILL a major behavior motivator for billions of people to this day.

It's amazing how naive some are. Have a great weekend.

 

[Lilsia]

I am not religious. I don't believe that there is one omnipotent being that created everything. Religion was made up to keep people in line. But I do believe that there is something more after death. The women in my family are very intuitive and have experienced many "messages" from somewhere. My husband was a non believer until he witnessed several of my "visions" (it is hard to describe) have come true. We don't talk to the dead or anything like that, just get thoughts and pictures that just pop up in your mind's eye. I am just annoyed that I can't get a heads up on the next winning lottery numbers. LOL

 

[DLgal]

It's amazing how naive some are. Have a great weekend.

Who are you calling naive? The people who believe in the afterlife, or the ones who don't?

 

[Sandeep1]

But can't this be said about the (the promise of) heaven as well? This is also a human social construct with the purpose of manipulating people into behaving a certain way. In fact, ALL mentions of the afterlife are simply aspects of different religions and the ways in which they motivate and manipulate behaviors. When societies started forming way back in time, the intelligent people in charge of them (the leaders, if you will), realized very quickly that people needed to have rules to follow, and reasons to follow them. Religions came about naturally as a way to both explain scientific concepts that people did not yet fully understand as well as a way to keep people in check, in terms of doing things that were harmful to the society (murdering, stealing, lying, etc). The afterlife is STILL a major behavior motivator for billions of people to this day.

Yes but even societies way back when had very serious punishments for stepping out of line. If you were a woman who committed adultery, you were in big trouble. Said anything negative about the ruler at the time, you were in big trouble, list goes on and on.

 

[Lilsia]

Who are you calling naive? The people who believe in the afterlife, or the ones who don't?

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Ron is calling people who don't believe in God and say that religion was made up as naive.

 

[DLgal]

Yes but even societies way back when had very serious punishments for stepping out of line. If you were a woman who committed adultery, you were in big trouble. Said anything negative about the ruler at the time, you were in big trouble, list goes on and on.

Well, yes, there have always been earthly punishments as well, but when you are talking about keeping a LOT of people in line, you do better by threatening them with an eternal punishment. The truth is, crimes will always be committed by a small percentage of people. So, the punishments have to exist for that subset of the population. However, in your own example, adulterous women were punished because they broke the laws of their religion. Similarly, "kings" were said to be ordained by the "gods" or "God" and thus to speak ill of the king was to insult the gods, etc. It all came back to religion somehow,

 

[DLgal]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Ron is calling people who don't believe in God and say that religion was made up as naive.

I want to hear him say it...

 

[Sandeep1]

Well, yes, there have always been earthly punishments as well, but when you are talking about keeping a LOT of people in line, you do better by threatening them with an eternal punishment. The truth is, crimes will always be committed by a small percentage of people. So, the punishments have to exist for that subset of the population. However, in your own example, adulterous women were punished because they broke the laws of their religion. Similarly, "kings" were said to be ordained by the "gods" or "God" and thus to speak ill of the king was to insult the gods, etc. It all came back to religion somehow,

Depends I guess. For example, stealing. Would you classify that as a crime against society or against religion? It's probably both right. Even if it wasn't mentioned in religious texts as being a crime against God, I suspect it would still be a societal crime.

 

[LSUmiss]

If a society does not believe in an afterlife, how do they attempt to influence members not to do things deemed harmful to society ( murder, theft, lying, etc)? Is it fear of getting caught and being incarcerated? Is it appealing to humanity’s good nature?

There are theories of morality address this. The highest level is this what do what’s right b/c it’s what’s right not b/c someone (including God) is watching.

 

[robinb]

If a society does not believe in an afterlife, how do they attempt to influence members not to do things deemed harmful to society ( murder, theft, lying, etc)? Is it fear of getting caught and being incarcerated? Is it appealing to humanity’s good nature?

I see no connection between a belief in afterlife and whether people commit crimes.

 

[Sandeep1]

I see no connection between a belief in afterlife and whether people commit crimes.

If I can speak for some other folks, I think what they are saying is that without a fear of eternal damnation, people would act like savages. I happen to disagree with that thought. Some people just want to behave good for the sake of behaving good.

 

[Lilsia]

If I can speak for some other folks, I think what they are saying is that without a fear of eternal damnation, people would act like savages. I happen to disagree with that thought. Some people just want to behave good for the sake of behaving good.

Yes of course there are people out there that are "good". But the discussion was that at the time that religion came about, there was a need or an opportunity to create Gods and religion. Civilization is not the same as it used to be. Every culture had their own versions of their Gods to explain why things where before we had science to explain it. And yes, religions do use the fear of eternal damnation to try to scare people into behaving a certain way. They still do that.

 

[LSUmiss]

I want to hear him say it...

You have to take the quiz for that.

 

[LSUmiss]

If I can speak for some other folks, I think what they are saying is that without a fear of eternal damnation, people would act like savages. I happen to disagree with that thought. Some people just want to behave good for the sake of behaving good.

Which speaks to the origin of religion; however,
as civilizations have evolved, religion no longer serves that purpose.