How much do Christians really believe?

[justwhoarebongorock]

I come from a personal position. My father was a very strong Catholic who died of a terrible disease but he did everything he could to try and beat the disease and to survive.

I never quite understood why the effort or more why the desperation. It was the desperation that struck me, if he deep down believed as much as he said then he would have nothing really to fear. He was going to meet his maker after all.

All this stuff about it being a gift to me seems like nonsense and further self-delusionary tactics. That's a whole other debate, the point of a 70 year life as a test for an eternity elsewhere. Does this make sense either?

[Ace Otana]

I come from a personal position. My father was a very strong Catholic who died of a terrible disease but he did everything he could to try and beat the disease and to survive.

I never quite understood why the effort or more why the desperation. It was the desperation that struck me, if he deep down believed as much as he said then he would have nothing really to fear. He was going to meet his maker after all.

All this stuff about it being a gift to me seems like nonsense and further self-delusionary tactics. That's a whole other debate, the point of a 70 year life as a test for an eternity elsewhere. Does this make sense either?

Personaly I think belief in some afterlife is just plain wishful thinking. Death is just the end of biological fuction. It's as simple as that really. This fantasy of another life after this one is just plain delusional. My grandad died of cancer 9 years ago and he believed in god too. yet he had shown much fear of death. My parents were at his side when he died in his bed. They said he questioned his beliefs right before he died. Is there an afterlife? Probably not.

[justwhoarebongorock]

I come from a personal position. My father was a very strong Catholic who died of a terrible disease but he did everything he could to try and beat the disease and to survive.

I never quite understood why the effort or more why the desperation. It was the desperation that struck me, if he deep down believed as much as he said then he would have nothing really to fear. He was going to meet his maker after all.

All this stuff about it being a gift to me seems like nonsense and further self-delusionary tactics. That's a whole other debate, the point of a 70 year life as a test for an eternity elsewhere. Does this make sense either?

Personaly I think belief in some afterlife is just plain wishful thinking. Death is just the end of biological fuction. It's as simple as that really. This fantasy of another life after this one is just plain delusional. My grandad died of cancer 9 years ago and he believed in god too. yet he had shown much fear of death. My parents were at his side when he died in his bed. They said he questioned his beliefs right before he died. Is there an afterlife? Probably not.

My thought is this. When was the last time you didn't exist and how painful was that?

[Ace Otana]

My thought is this. When was the last time you didn't exist and how painful was that?

Good point. Can't say if remember any negative effects.
We have been dead for billions of years and I can honestly say I am uneffected by that. We didn't exist before, now we do but sometime in the future we go back into non-existance. Not really hard to get is it.
Simple really.

[Watson]

I come from a personal position. My father was a very strong Catholic who died of a terrible disease but he did everything he could to try and beat the disease and to survive.

I never quite understood why the effort or more why the desperation. It was the desperation that struck me, if he deep down believed as much as he said then he would have nothing really to fear. He was going to meet his maker after all.

All this stuff about it being a gift to me seems like nonsense and further self-delusionary tactics. That's a whole other debate, the point of a 70 year life as a test for an eternity elsewhere. Does this make sense either?

Uh, how is that a whole other debate? It relates to exactly what you asked. You wanted to know why bother living if there was a better life, and the explanation was given. What more do you want?

Who said anything about a 70 year old life being a test for anything?