If we all go to heaven

[Jessica5]

Why do religious people dislike death and suicide so much?

 

[AbandonedStudio]

They think you should cherish the life God gave to you. It's up to you whether you believe that or not.

 

[Baskol1]

People who commit suicide go to hell according to fundamentalist christians.

 

[Robbyna]

I know with my religious family there is a lot of emphasis on following the will of God, and taking life into your own hands is defying his will.

 

[marcusuk63]

Yet bizarrely more people have been killed over religion than anything else and armed forces have chaplains
Nan aka Catherine Tate sums up all religions perfectly

 

[Jean Améry]

For christianity it was the realization that too many believers were too keen to go to heaven via a short-cut. Can't very well wield power if your followers keep killing themselves en masse, can you?

It's all about power and money. Imo so called religious leaders don't know shit about heaven and hell, morality etcetera but they do make an excellent living for themselves by pretending they do.

Christ himself committed what today would be called 'suicide by the legal system' by voluntarily giving himself up without a fight, knowing full well what would happen to him. They worship his 'sacrifice' and death, regard the earth as a place of evil and preach about the afterlife all day long but in the end they're really only interested in this life and the pleasures money can buy.

 

[Subhuman]

I don't think it's religious people that dislike death, that's most people regardless of religious affiliation.

As for why they're against suicide, I grew up catholic so I can shed some light on that perspective. They believe that no human has the right to defy god's will. Therefore, if god gave you life you have no right to die until he decides it's your time.

As for the heaven/hell part, it used to be that Christians believed everyone who dies by suicide goes to hell and they couldn't even be buried in consecrated ground. That has changed a few decades ago because they recognized that god might forgive that soul in any moment from the suicide attempt to their actual death. Since humans have no way of knowing that, it would be presumptuous to assume god didn't forgive them.

 

[Robbyna]

Yet bizarrely more people have been killed over religion than anything else and armed forces have chaplains
Nan aka Catherine Tate sums up all religions perfectly

This is something that has always confused me, especially under the concept of monotheism. Everyone is praying to the same God so whose prayer gets answered and why?

 

[Soul]

This is something that has always confused me, especially under the concept of monotheism. Everyone is praying to the same God so whose prayer gets answered and why?

Answers are in the eyes of the beholder? God work in funny ways, man.

 

[Robbyna]

Answers are in the eyes of the beholder? God work in funny ways, man.

I would really love to know the truth of it all. I really hope there is a loving and forgiving higher power that doesn't judge us as we judge ourselves. I wonder how different the world would be if the prevailing religions didn't involve punishment. Would it be chaos or would we be more peaceful and forgiving ourselves?

 

[Sirius]

Yet, self proclaimed good Christians, who have argued with me over my stance on the right to Exit in cases of suffering, flirt with suicide every day..They have no thought about drinking, smoking, being obese, not wearing a seat belt, etc..All could/will lead to a quicker than average death

 

[Soul]

I would really love to know the truth of it all. I really hope there is a loving and forgiving higher power that doesn't judge us as we judge ourselves. I wonder how different the world would be if the prevailing religions didn't involve punishment. Would it be chaos or would we be more peaceful and forgiving ourselves?

You have good questions.

I'm Jewish, and one of the reasons I'm glad about that is the notion that our "job" here is tikkun olam: fixing the world, making it a better place. Not to get a reward or to avoid punishment, but just because the world wants fixing, and it's right to help.

 

[Tortured_empath]

If they didn't condem suicide, everyone from Nazareth to Nashville would have killed themselves for a quick ticket to heaven. Massively unsustainable from a practical point of view.

 

[Robbyna]

You have good questions.

I'm Jewish, and one of the reasons I'm glad about that is the notion that our "job" here is tikkun olam: fixing the world, making it a better place. Not to get a reward or to avoid punishment, but just because the world wants fixing, and it's right to help.

That's a very productive way to see life. But maybe it's easier when values are shared. Nowadays I don't know that we could come to a consensus about what would make the world better. I often feel overwhelmed by how pointless being alive seems. I guess we can only do our best.

 

[JoeFailure]

That's a very productive way to see life. But maybe it's easier when values are shared. Nowadays I don't know that we could come to a consensus about what would make the world better. I often feel overwhelmed by how pointless being alive seems. I guess we can only do our best.

I get that. Especially when you see how unfair everything truly is. None of it really makes sense unless there's something after this.

Like for example this director Bryan Singer who has a lot of evidence against him of sexual abuse of underage boys...he's had a life of success, parties, and doing whatever horrible things he wants to young boys. And even after he was essentially outed, he just got a $10 million deal to make another big movie.

It seems like there's no consequences for anything other than a great life if you can make a lot of money and be lucky with health. But I hope that's just in our physical world of "free will", which can also be dissected of course.

 

[GeorgeJL]

The Bible actually doesn't condemn suicide at all. Judas hanging himself doesn't count because he betrayed Jesus. Thou shalt not kill, is actually thou shalt not murder.

 

[Robbyna]

I get that. Especially when you see how unfair everything truly is. None of it really makes sense unless there's something after this.

Like for example this director Bryan Singer who has a lot of evidence against him of sexual abuse of underage boys...he's had a life of success, parties, and doing whatever horrible things he wants to young boys. And even after he was essentially outed, he just got a $10 million deal to make another big movie.

It seems like there's no consequences for anything other than a great life if you can make a lot of money and be lucky with health. But I hope that's just in our physical world of "free will", which can also be dissected of course.

I want there to be something more to this so badly. Even if only for justice for people who have suffered at the hands of people like that creature. I want life to have more value than us just consuming things until we cease to exist. Sometimes I try to imagine the wonder that people viewed the world with before scientists explained the magic out of everything. It must have been so exciting to look up at the stars without someone saying oh that's just a random ball of gas. I know there were problems with that, but it's not like we don't have problems now. I've seen some people are using science to justify pedophilia. I don't think science is anymore objective than the scientist; you can set up a study to reach any conclusion you want really. I would love for there to be a greater meaning to everything that's beyond science. I want to have a soul.

 

[Soul]

That's a very productive way to see life. But maybe it's easier when values are shared. Nowadays I don't know that we could come to a consensus about what would make the world better. I often feel overwhelmed by how pointless being alive seems. I guess we can only do our best.

I know the feeling. But we don't need a consensus to simply do what's decent in our own dealings with the world. That's quite a lot.

 

[JoeFailure]

I want there to be something more to this so badly. Even if only for justice for people who have suffered at the hands of people like that creature. I want life to have more value than us just consuming things until we cease to exist. Sometimes I try to imagine the wonder that people viewed the world with before scientists explained the magic out of everything. It must have been so exciting to look up at the stars without someone saying oh that's just a random ball of gas. I know there were problems with that, but it's not like we don't have problems now. I've seen some people are using science to justify pedophilia. I don't think science is anymore objective than the scientist; you can set up a study to reach any conclusion you want really. I would love for there to be a greater meaning to everything that's beyond science. I want to have a soul.

I totally hear you. I really hope there's a greater meaning to everything. But sometimes things are just so cruel, unjust, and messed up, it's hard to see that could be the case. But maybe that's the point, to make the decision to still have your morals when it looks like we live in a physical world that looks like it doesn't really care or have any true consequences.

 

[Robbyna]

I know the feeling. But we don't need a consensus to simply do what's decent in our own dealings with the world. That's quite a lot.

That's true. That's all we can really do.

I totally hear you. I really hope there's a greater meaning to everything. But sometimes things are just so cruel, unjust, and messed up, it's hard to see that could be the case. But maybe that's the point, to make the decision to still have your morals when it looks like we live in a physical world that looks like it doesn't really care or have any true consequences.

It does seem hopeless sometimes. That feeling gets me pretty down. It would be nice if it actually mattered how hard you try.

 

[purplemoon]

People who commit suicide go to hell according to fundamentalist christians.

Nope... I'm a Christian (originally Catholic on top of that) and I can tell you that I had 2 NDE's where I had a life review, met Jesus Christ & God, got sent back to finish my "Job" (that I despise) on this planet.

'regular' religious people who never had an NDE are just going by what humans teach them... but God doesn't send suicides to hell, in fact suicide itself as an act DOES NOT necessarily mean anyone goes to hell... It's the way people treated and responded to goodness and innocence around them that gets people sent to hell. At least from what I learned from my life review. (I got like a B+ equivalent at the time, LOL)
It's when people are mean, cruel, lack empathy/sympathy to those who are suffering, or innocent and/or kind... that sh*t will get people into hell with demons faster than anything. Anyway...

I would be more afraid of how you live than how you die.