(January 11, 2016 at 9:06 pm)LadyForCamus Wrote:Quote:Belief in an afterlife should, in no way, diminish the quality of our lives here, but rather enhance it. We don't need to be shaken by the difficulties and bad experiences we encounter. If we are suffering here and can't change our circumstances, we can know that we will have a better existence for eternity. Maybe a fantasy about the afterlife could stifle someone's grieving process, but I'm not going to teach my children that there is no afterlife so that they can grieve easier no more than I'd tell them some other lie to soothe them.
But not everyone needs to believe in an afterlife in order to find joy or hope in unfortunate circumstances. Many people are capable of happiness and appreciation even in the direst of times, without relying on the concept of an afterlife.
And conversely, I think the idea of an afterlife could actually have the opposite effect on some people that you think it should. If I was suffering terribly in this world with no end in sight, and I believed I was entering into a heavenly afterlife as soon as my life on earth ends, I might be inclined to just hurry up and be done with it.
As a christian I wouldn't take my own life because I belong to God. That wouldn't be an option. I could see that if someone believed that, no matter what, they would have a blissful existence after death and didn't owe their life to God, that they would use suicide as an escape from their suffering. But it doesn't go along with the beliefs of christianity.
