[Serious] Comfort in Faith at Death

[Nay_Sayer]

Especially for those who know their death is coming because there is no cure or the 'cure' will kill them, I think that whatever comfort they can find to get through that time is just fine with me.  I certainly am not going to be the one to take away whatever it is that helps them to leave this life with less stress.

Who is it hurting?  End of life or at the time of grieving isn't the time to take the belief is a hereafter away from people.  They are already dealing with enough physically, mentally, and emotionally.

 What makes you believe you can take the faith of a believer in Jesus away at anytime in their life. Christians do not believe to relieve the pain of death, they believe to have a relationship with Jesus for an eternity. Yes knowing that death is temporary is comforting, however dying is an extremely uncomfortable situation I saw it with mom when she passed a little over a year ago and she was as strong a Christian as I've ever known. 

GC

My condolences on your loss. It puts a lot of your posts into perspective.

Bless. RAmen

[Godscreated]

So, one of the only reasons why I'm not anti-theist is that I see a good reason why people are religious-comfort. I know that death is frightening, but my mother has been dying for six months and hasn't shed a tear. She knows she'll be with her dead family and god, the god she believes in, who is loving and kind. She is starting to see her aunt, who passed away a long time ago. That comforts her. I'll tell you what, I'm quite happy for her faith now that she's at the point of death. It has given her a coping mechanism that is deeply ingrained in her psyche. For her, Heaven awaits her. It's a beautiful thing. There isn't a single ounce of harm in it.

How do you feel about finding comfort in faith while dying? Please don't use my mother's situation as an example. I'm bound to take debate about it personally.

  Shell B, sorry to hear you are dealing with your mother's dying, I know how tough that is because I went through the same thing with mom last year and nothing about it is easy. Because you are an atheist I can't give you comforting words through the scriptures that would be meaningful to you, so I'll say stay strong, spend all the time you can with her and ask her the questions you have always put off or were afraid to ask, you will not regret doing so, you will find comfort in them in the future. I hope some how you will be able to find the peace you need during and after this time. Bless you.

GC

[Godscreated]

 What makes you believe you can take the faith of a believer in Jesus away at anytime in their life. Christians do not believe to relieve the pain of death, they believe to have a relationship with Jesus for an eternity. Yes knowing that death is temporary is comforting, however dying is an extremely uncomfortable situation I saw it with mom when she passed a little over a year ago and she was as strong a Christian as I've ever known. 

GC

My condolences on your loss. It puts a lot of your posts into perspective.

Bless. RAmen

Thank you, loss of any kind can be hard, but the loss of a parent is terrible, one doesn't realize how much they mean till they are gone.

[Shell B]

I’m sorry for your loss. For what it’s worth, I hope there’s a heaven for the good ones. I just don’t believe it at all.

[Nay_Sayer]

My condolences on your loss. It puts a lot of your posts into perspective.

Bless. RAmen

Thank you, loss of any kind can be hard, but the loss of a parent is terrible, one doesn't realize how much they mean till they are gone.

Indeed. Often we see our parents as invincible but forget as we are growing up so are they.

[mordant]

How do you feel about finding comfort in faith while dying? Please don't use my mother's situation as an example. I'm bound to take debate about it personally.

As a former evangelical, I found the comfort concerning death and misfortune to be a rather cold comfort.

The expectations that were set for me were that my faith was to render my existence, more, rather than less, comprehensible and explicable. That included things like experiencing deep, abiding purpose and meaning, to be rewarded not just in the afterlife but in THIS life for right belief and conduct, to be protected in the midst of what we saw as a spiritual conflict, to be guided to make good live decision, and so forth. So when I lost several close family members to freak illness or accident, including my wife, and when I experienced debilitating personal illness, and other such things, I had no choice but to admit that I had no sort of leg up on anyone else concerning the vicissitudes of life, and that my faith was no only no help, but was actively misleading me, often 180 degrees the wrong way.

But ... it's a compelling abstraction, at least until it's not. If a particular individual has some combination of good dumb luck in life and the personality to be sufficiently credulous and passively trusting, then I am not going to go out of my way to deprive them of their illusions.

That part of religion is relatively harmless, even though you can argue that a willingness to defer justice and closure and meaning to the afterlife makes it less likely you'll work doggedly for such things in THIS life.

The societal harms of religion lies mostly in other areas, as others have suggested.

[A Godzilla fan]

My condolences to you, and your mother. I really cannot imagine what it is like to go through this. And yes, you make a good point. I'm not really a fan of shitting on other people's religious beliefs. I find it rather counterproductive.

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How do you feel about finding comfort in faith while dying? Please don't use my mother's situation as an example. I'm bound to take debate about it personally.

That part of religion is relatively harmless, even though you can argue that a willingness to defer justice and closure and meaning to the afterlife makes it less likely you'll work doggedly for such things in THIS life.

The societal harms of religion lies mostly in other areas, as others have suggested.

This. I think this is a key thing to remember. Homerun, Canseco!

[comet]

well, being an atheist myself, I say that the person lives on so long as people remember them.
when they are gone, so are we.

the only out I see for the emotional component that some people need is that the universe is quantum computing us. The universe can't forget one.
POOF ... you live forever. well, a really long time anyway

[Godscreated]

I’m sorry for your loss. For what it’s worth, I hope there’s a heaven for the good ones. I just don’t believe it at all.

 Thank you, she was as good as they come as many mothers are to their children. Mom was special to everyone that met her, so was dad they were an incredible pair made just for each other. I do find myself wishing I had asked more questions from both of them, hind sight sometimes is no help at all, that's why I try to pass it on to others. There is a heaven that I'm 100% sure of.

GC

[Shell B]

I’m sorry for your loss. For what it’s worth, I hope there’s a heaven for the good ones. I just don’t believe it at all.

 Thank you, she was as good as they come as many mothers are to their children. Mom was special to everyone that met her, so was dad they were an incredible pair made just for each other. I do find myself wishing I had asked more questions from both of them, hind sight sometimes is no help at all, that's why I try to pass it on to others. There is a heaven that I'm 100% sure of.

GC

I certainly won't debate the existence of heaven, since we both know where we stand on the topic, but I'm glad my mother believed she was going there. I even hope she made it to the heaven she believed in, because it sounded like a cool place.

I have regrets, but I don't think she'd want me to.