For me, I don't use religion or even other people's near-death experiences as confirmation there's an afterlife. Rather, I use my own personal logic and deductive reasoning and maybe even hope that when our body dies, our enemy moves on to something else.
My logic & reasoning, from my own perspective in my life, is there is an afterlife for everyone. Religions are man-made, biased and completely contradictory. Why should anyone you never knew (and knew you) get to tell you how to live your life and if you are worthy of an afterlife based on their own standards and measures? I'm neither religious nor anti-religion, I fall somewhere in the middle. I don't judge a religion based on its set of rules as well because it's not up to me to tell people (or even want) how to live their lives and how they'll be judged at the end of it.
I always use the case(s) of a child being born with cancer (or any fatal disease), someone being murdered or even a person being involved in an accident in which it was a "wrong place, wrong time" scenario. Do souls who suffer such unlucky or unfortunate fate not deserve another chance? If reasoning could confirm a person born into wealth lives a full and enriched life until they are 100 years old (and dies peacefully in their sleep) just got "lucky" in life, then a 5-year-old getting incurable cancer just had bad luck? If so, who decided such luck to have taken place? If someone gets murdered by "chance" or someone gets into an accident that was entirely someone else's fault, is this still just bad luck? Fate? Does taking another life, planned or accidental while you survived, just ends the same as if you had led a peaceful, loving and untarnished existence?
I won't get into all the philosophical arguments or theories either about the afterlife, I find them a bit boring, also, it's also just one person's opinion as well. Maybe my own perspective is actually just based on hope, maybe it's based on logic that's flawed too. I've lived a life that's had a bit of everything in it (no murder or killing though) and as much as I would hope I'm deserving of another chance after this life is over, maybe I don't get it. Maybe whoever my creator is deciding I wasted a good part of it on frivolous things like feeling sorry for myself, being too scared to try things, being an introvert or just letting time slip away while watching it.
I once had a near-death experience (or so I think) and I saw my life flash in front of my own eyes. It probably took a millisecond to do (since I was probably 12 or under at that point, I didn't have a full life of memories to go through) and it unfolded in front of me like a flip book, I saw it all. After that, everything went to black and white and I faded out, only to be resuscitated afterwards. It was peaceful, quick and not frightening at all but I knew it was happening the whole time. I didn't leave my body as much as I felt it shutting down but there was a sense there was something else there for me, like a door to pass through. It was over in a flash, I woke up, fully knowing what I saw and went through, but I told no one afterwards until years later.
Most days, I like to think I'm already dead right now, that all of this is a dream in a semi-conscious state, and when I wake up, I'm actually alive again. It's up to each individual what they believe what happens to them after they die because, let's face it, it's not like you're coming back to prove anyone else wrong.
My logic & reasoning, from my own perspective in my life, is there is an afterlife for everyone. Religions are man-made, biased and completely contradictory. Why should anyone you never knew (and knew you) get to tell you how to live your life and if you are worthy of an afterlife based on their own standards and measures? I'm neither religious nor anti-religion, I fall somewhere in the middle. I don't judge a religion based on its set of rules as well because it's not up to me to tell people (or even want) how to live their lives and how they'll be judged at the end of it.
I always use the case(s) of a child being born with cancer (or any fatal disease), someone being murdered or even a person being involved in an accident in which it was a "wrong place, wrong time" scenario. Do souls who suffer such unlucky or unfortunate fate not deserve another chance? If reasoning could confirm a person born into wealth lives a full and enriched life until they are 100 years old (and dies peacefully in their sleep) just got "lucky" in life, then a 5-year-old getting incurable cancer just had bad luck? If so, who decided such luck to have taken place? If someone gets murdered by "chance" or someone gets into an accident that was entirely someone else's fault, is this still just bad luck? Fate? Does taking another life, planned or accidental while you survived, just ends the same as if you had led a peaceful, loving and untarnished existence?
I won't get into all the philosophical arguments or theories either about the afterlife, I find them a bit boring, also, it's also just one person's opinion as well. Maybe my own perspective is actually just based on hope, maybe it's based on logic that's flawed too. I've lived a life that's had a bit of everything in it (no murder or killing though) and as much as I would hope I'm deserving of another chance after this life is over, maybe I don't get it. Maybe whoever my creator is deciding I wasted a good part of it on frivolous things like feeling sorry for myself, being too scared to try things, being an introvert or just letting time slip away while watching it.
I once had a near-death experience (or so I think) and I saw my life flash in front of my own eyes. It probably took a millisecond to do (since I was probably 12 or under at that point, I didn't have a full life of memories to go through) and it unfolded in front of me like a flip book, I saw it all. After that, everything went to black and white and I faded out, only to be resuscitated afterwards. It was peaceful, quick and not frightening at all but I knew it was happening the whole time. I didn't leave my body as much as I felt it shutting down but there was a sense there was something else there for me, like a door to pass through. It was over in a flash, I woke up, fully knowing what I saw and went through, but I told no one afterwards until years later.
Most days, I like to think I'm already dead right now, that all of this is a dream in a semi-conscious state, and when I wake up, I'm actually alive again. It's up to each individual what they believe what happens to them after they die because, let's face it, it's not like you're coming back to prove anyone else wrong.
