I always try to point out that we really should not try to single out any one religion.
The idea of a second shot is not unique to Christianity or Jews or Muslims. Hindus and Buddhists have their own superstitions in that of reincarnation and Karma.
The dead polytheism of the Mayans and Greeks and Romans also had their ideas of what happens after death. Even Japan has their versions of what happens to the spirits of their loved ones if they misbehaved or did good in life. The ancient Egyptians also had their concepts of an afterlife.
What is really going on in our species is a comic book projection of our real evolutionary drive to continue.
Life in cosmic time certainly is meaningless yes. But life while our species still exists is extremely important, not just to an individual, but to the collective survival to extend our ride as a species as long as possible, even though nothing lasts forever.
The idea of a second shot is not unique to Christianity or Jews or Muslims. Hindus and Buddhists have their own superstitions in that of reincarnation and Karma.
The dead polytheism of the Mayans and Greeks and Romans also had their ideas of what happens after death. Even Japan has their versions of what happens to the spirits of their loved ones if they misbehaved or did good in life. The ancient Egyptians also had their concepts of an afterlife.
What is really going on in our species is a comic book projection of our real evolutionary drive to continue.
Life in cosmic time certainly is meaningless yes. But life while our species still exists is extremely important, not just to an individual, but to the collective survival to extend our ride as a species as long as possible, even though nothing lasts forever.
