[Clare~Bear]

I tried posting this in religion but I got a funny message come up when I submitted it, which failed. It is to do with philosophy though, but move it if you want mods.

This question applies to everyone, no matter your faith - or lack of one. And I thought it would be an interesting one seeing as most people on earth will be wrong. I mean even if the religion with the largest followers is right, that still leaves a lot of people wrong.

When you die, how would you feel if you were wrong about the religion or belief that you had followed all your life? And what would you do?

This includes;

1) being an atheist and finding out a religion is right.

2) following a religion and finding out there is no god.

3) following one religion and finding out that another is true.


Doesn't christianity say that as long as you accept god as your lord and creator when you die, lived a good life and are sorry for your sins, you can get into heaven?

So if you'd lived as an atheist or as a follower of another religion, would you then accept the christian god, if you ended up with st peter at the pearly gates and heaven just the other side? The same goes for all other religions.

I know it's a bit flawed cos if there is no afterlife of any kind then you probably wouldn't be conscious to find out, unless you were a ghost, but thats opening another can of worms. But lets assume that your soul or whatever is conscious to find out after you die, no matter which is right.

[Giant]

If I lived my life as an atheist and went to heaven and saw Jesus, St Peter etc., then I suppose that would be sufficient evidence of the correctness of Christianity and I would convert.

But that would never happen, because there is no reason to believe that. There is exactly the same chance that I could go the Ancient Egyptian heaven, or the Muslim one etc.

[Clare~Bear]

i don't think it would, I just thought it would be interesting to know how people would react. I just used the atheist -> christian thing as an example, but my question is relevant to all religions.

[Barden]

I think that if the moral standards we set ourselves as a collective are the correct measure of good or bad, then any 'good' person will not be punished in the afterlife, should it exist.

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
I tried posting this in religion but I got a funny message come up when I submitted it, which failed. It is to do with philosophy though, but move it if you want mods.

This question applies to everyone, no matter your faith - or lack of one. And I thought it would be an interesting one seeing as most people on earth will be wrong. I mean even if the religion with the largest followers is right, that still leaves a lot of people wrong.

When you die, how would you feel if you were wrong about religion? And what would you do?

This includes;

1) being an atheist and finding out a religion is right.

2) following a religion and finding out there is no god.

3) following one religion and finding out that another is true.


Doesn't christianity say that as long as you accept god as your lord and creator when you die, lived a good life and are sorry for your sins, you can get into heaven?

So if you'd lived as an atheist or as a follower of another religion, would you then accept the christian god, if you ended up with st peter at the pearly gates and heaven just the other side? The same goes for all other religions.

I know it's a bit flawed cos if there is no afterlife of any kind then you wouldn't be conscious to find out. But lets assume that your soul or whatever is conscious to find out after you die.

I don't really have a particularly good idea what it would be like for them to be correct, to be honest.

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by Barden)
I think that if the moral standards we set ourselves as a collective are the correct measure of good or bad, then any 'good' person will not be punished in the afterlife, should it exist.

You'd hope so But then whats the point in following rules that many non followers find silly such as not eating certain foods. And what would eb the point in a god making such rules, if they're willing to accept people that don't follow them.

[The_Lonely_Goatherd]

If it turned out there was no God, then I'd be a bit disappointed but at the end of the day, I'll hopefully have lived a life that I'm happy with, so that would be the main thing. I don't think I'd consider myself to have wasted my life or whatever

If it turned out that Catholicism wasn't true and that some other religion was true, I'd be quite surprised and again, disappointed. I'm sure I'd get over it though. As I say, I'll have hopefully lived a life that I'm happy with

[Like a BAWS]

Unfortunately, the answers to this thread will go a little something like this :

Religious person : Pfft yeah right. As if my religion could be false

Atheist : Pfft yeah right. As if those religious nutcases could actually be right

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd)
If it turned out there was no God, then I'd be a bit disappointed but at the end of the day, I'll hopefully have lived a life that I'm happy with, so that would be the main thing. I don't think I'd consider myself to have wasted my life or whatever

If it turned out that Catholicism wasn't true and that some other religion was true, I'd be quite surprised and again, disappointed. I'm sure I'd get over it though. As I say, I'll have hopefully lived a life that I'm happy with

Thanks for the reply, this was the kind of thing I was after, especially the bit in bold. I assume most people would be disappointed. But there are many rules and customs that I'm sure people wouldn't do if they didn't belong to religion X. So I was wondering if people would be angry/ feel like they wasted their time doing something that ends up being a hassle and worthless. Although Catholicism doesn't have many things that would apply to.

[the bear]

As long as i don't have to spend the afterlife with Dawkins/Fry/Toxwig i will be quite happy

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by Like a BAWS)
Unfortunately, the answers to this thread will go a little something like this :

Religious person : Pfft yeah right. As if my religion could be false

Atheist : Pfft yeah right. As if those religious nutcases could actually be right

I'm sure there will be a few of those answers. But this is all hypothetical anyways. And there have been decent answers so far.

[SmileAway]

(Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd)
If it turned out there was no God, then I'd be a bit disappointed but at the end of the day, I'll hopefully have lived a life that I'm happy with, so that would be the main thing. I don't think I'd consider myself to have wasted my life or whatever

If it turned out that Catholicism wasn't true and that some other religion was true, I'd be quite surprised and again, disappointed. I'm sure I'd get over it though. As I say, I'll have hopefully lived a life that I'm happy with

Well, I agree with you, but if god didn't exist wouldn't there be nothingness, so we will not know or feel anything?...and I wouldn't think I had wasted my life or whatever, cause I would have tried to be a good person throughout and so hopefully that would have lead to me having a happy life

[geetar]

If I died and found out that God existed, I'd probably just say "Sorry, bro", and then tell him (or her...) that considering the lack of evidence, and conflicting beliefs of those who are religious, I felt justified in not believing.

[Politricks]

(Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd)
If it turned out there was no God, then I'd be a bit disappointed but at the end of the day.

Perhaps at the beginning, but later on you'd be glad that there's no god. You'll begin to truly appreciate privacy, you can truly feel comfortable in a way which you've never felt comfortable before, knowing that you aren't under constant surveillance; a police state of mind.

You'll also be relieved to know that there really isn't a psychopath of a god actively waiting for the moment when he can send unbelievers to hell for the simple crime of not knowing which was the 'true god'. After many years of indoctrination, god's punishments may not sound ridiculous to a believer, but believe me, when one does lose faith in a god, they'll realise just how cruel their supposedly 'loving' god really was.

[electriic_ink]

I think that my exact religion would depend on what religion I was wrong about. But I suppose something I'd like to ask, regardless of the religion I was wrong about, is why God condones something as divisive as religion.

[Barden]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
You'd hope so But then whats the point in following rules that many non followers find silly such as not eating certain foods. And what would eb the point in a god making such rules, if they're willing to accept people that don't follow them.

I whole heartedly agree

I lean towards theism, but I don't adhere to any religion because the minute you try to organise peoples' beliefs, you are forcing something out of them in the process of getting them to conform.

[The_Lonely_Goatherd]

(Original post by SmileAway)
Well, I agree with you, but if god didn't exist wouldn't there be nothingness, so we will not know or feel anything?...and I wouldn't think I had wasted my life or whatever, cause I would have tried to be a good person throughout and so hopefully that would have lead to me having a happy life

The OP acknowledged this flaw in her OP and asked us to ignore it and pretend like we could somehow know and feel

(Original post by Politricks)
Perhaps at the beginning, but later on you'd be glad that there's no god. You'll begin to truly appreciate privacy, you can truly feel comfortable in a way which you've never felt comfortable before, knowing that you aren't under constant surveillance; a police state of mind.

You'll also be relieved to know that there really isn't a psychopath of a god actively waiting for the moment when he can send unbelievers to hell for the simple crime of not knowing which was the 'true god'. After many years of indoctrination, god's punishments may not sound ridiculous to a believer, but believe me, when one does lose faith in a god, they'll realise just how cruel their supposedly 'loving' god really was.

You would feel like that, I'm sure. I am not you though. I don't feel under constant surveillance and I don't feel that God is a psychopath

[thruppence]

Doesn't christianity say that as long as you accept god as your lord and creator when you die, lived a good life and are sorry for your sins, you can get into heaven?

I've never liked the wording of this. It makes it appear that people who live in poor countries who are starving don't go to heaven. I prefer to say "had good intentions and attitude to life".

Regarding religions, one can say one thing and another can say another. I prefer to not worry about getting it wrong!

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by geetar)
If I died and found out that God existed, I'd probably just say "Sorry, bro", and then tell him (or her...) that considering the lack of evidence, and conflicting beliefs of those who are religious, I felt justified in not believing.

Like a boss

[MrHayden]

If, upon dying, I was confronted with an audience with any conventional deity, I think I would get extremely pissed at them! Any god has some serious questions to answer - namely "why the hell did you expect me to believe those absolute nutters who said you were real?!"