What's Wrong With Just One Life Anyway?

[DarthOkkata]

Yeah. Sometimes stuff sucks. People suffer and die the world over.

 

What do -you- need with a next life? What's wrong with this one?

 

I've heard it said before, but a name for the quote eludes me, that 'You can't let someone offend you without your permission'. This is true to a point. Not worrying about anything ever is stupid, a certain amount of fore and hindsight is needed to get through life.

 

Still, emotional distress is something you do to yourself, most of the time.

 

The problem I have with most Christians, is they dwell on the sorrow, guilt, and look ahead to the future far too much.

 

A quote I can recall comes to mind. "Never your mind on where you were, what you were doing!' - George Lucas.

 

What exactly is the whole problem?

 

The future is more important, the immediate future. I'd like to think about more important things than whether or not two boys kissing will be frowned upon by the great deity that lords over us all from above, but doesn't seem to do much of anything one way or the other like he used too these days.

 

If we all worried about the people around us more, and whether or not the magic sky man will be mad at you less. The world would be a better place.

 

Are you really saying that without the punishment of hell hanging over your head, you'd be a terrible person? The only reason you won't do something wrong is because you're afraid you'll be punished -after- you die?

 

I get along fine with other people. I sound angry often, especially on the internet, but in reality, I'm rather laid back, and simply frank in my beliefs. I'm not really a very aggressive conversationalist. I tend to ignore a lot of the things that bother other people, and shake my head when they tell me about the pointless worries that have them stressed out.

 

Christians are often confused by my passive, and calm nature. They often don't know how to process it. I never raise my voice, unless I do something to hurt myself, or get a bit of a shock.

 

I don't have trouble helping others in small ways. I don't have trouble supporting good causes. I don't care what you do, as long as you don't hurt other people doing it. Even people you might not ever meet or see.

 

I put up with a lot of suck, but most of the time, I'm pretty comfortable. I've not had the best life, but I'm still happy with this one. Why would I want to do it again anyway?

 

What if I get there, but they tell me it will end, and I'll have to go somewhere else next time?

 

How many times would I have to do this? I was never annoyed, irritated, angry, in pain, frustrated, or even sad before I had one. Everything that's wrong with life, only happened within my life. I'd like to think I've got a fair bit left, and I hope to make the most of it.

 

What's wrong with that, and why on earth would I need Jesus to do it anyway? I seem to be fine on my own, in fact, things are much better, much easier, and a lot less scary without him.

 

Why would it be any different after? Why is it so scary? I really don't get it.

 

The stress in my life comes from other places.

 

It just ends.

 

I'm not even close to suicidal either. I'm in no rush to get there, no matter how bad things become. I won't give up my life without a fight, no matter how bad things got. There will always be the chance that I'll survive, and it will get better, maybe even good again for a while.

 

I don't fear death, but I do not welcome it, and I try not to dare it.

 

I don't need another life, and I don't particularly want one. Even if I did, I'd just go out and buy World of Warcraft or something. That's close enough that it would satisfy my needs.

 

It is both the best and worst fate of any man or woman to have the world remember you.

 

It is more than acceptable to have those who knew you remember you well.

 

Being forgotten happens to everyone, even Jesus Christ. It's just a matter of how long those who live on beyond you can recall it. A man's life in history is like looking at the Earth from space as you fly away at high speed. At first it's so large you can't see it all, but as you move further and further away, it becomes smaller and smaller, soon nothing more than a speck of light, and one day lost forever.

 

It is the fate of everyone. What's wrong with it? Why can't you just enjoy it while you're here, keep the peace, and worry more about keeping things working for everyone, rather than the selfish delusion of saving your own personal soul by being a model human Borg and assimilating everything around you so you can have your name written down on some imaginary elite guest list somewhere forever.

 

Grow up. There's nothing wrong with any of it, and it works fine the way it is. Why can't you just be happy with it? If less of us were worried about such insipid delusions, we could do more real good in the world.

 

Just a few of those minds, not locked away and full of fear and mistrust of science, demons, and other religions, might have been able to find the secret to clean energy, or had the charisma to protect such a thing from greedy business and government lobbyist, or the key to a new strain of wheat with a higher yield, or the intelligence to negotiate China away from their coal mines, how much better would we be off now?

 

Why is Jesus and his outlandish book of Fables more important than that?

 

Why is it worth creating a secret society of sexually repressed franchise locations? Do you really not think thousands of priests molesting children might have been the result of not having a healthy sexual lifestyle? It's not just the Catholic church, it's a problem with all congregations with celibate clergy.

 

Your fear is preventing you from enjoying your life as you should, and it's not helping, and in many cases preventing you from contributing as you should.

 

Empathy and charity are not exclusive to those of your faith. Thinking otherwise is self important bullshit. Suffering is not a positive quality either. It's something you put up with to improve the conditions around you. Welcoming and reveling in it only makes you miserable.

 

I'm not talking about running off and being a wanton slut either. Pick a healthy one that you think can trust, and stick with them until they prove that you can't.

 

Don't get tied up in bad situations because you think the invisible man who lives in the sky might punish you. You're only hurting yourself more now and through your life, not in the future beyond your life, and it's needless.

 

Religion is a sword with a blade for a handle. You don't need it to be a decent person, you need decent parents for that. Morals and etiquette are learned behaviors, not natural ones. You have to learn how to be a good person. Jesus doesn't pour it into your heart in the great baby factory in the sky.

 

Your emotions are in your head, with the rest of your thoughts. It's the central processor and information hub of your body. Your heart is a muscle, that can be stimulated by emotional states for some reason. It's more to do with how hard your brain is working, than angels fluttering about in your chest.

 

I like love too. I have empathy, and I can care about someone. I don't need Jesus to produce the effect either. I'm going to get as much of it as I can before I die, but I'll be satisfied with what I got when it's all over. Maybe wish for just a moment more before I go, but I don't see any reason I won't be at peace when I go.

 

I really don't think there's anything to fear, but fear itself, about the afterlife.

 

Why can't you just take what you get?

 

Greedy selfish bastards.

[hereticzero]

Before I was born, I was nothing. Now that I am alive, I am just way too important not to come back in another life. How can the universe go on after I die if i don't come back sometime in the future? Can you see a future where everyone who ever believed are stomping around on this planet at the same time? Talk about crowd control! The crush would be so enormous that all that rubbing up and down against each other may spark old sins to reignite and then we are all fucked a second time! Once around in life is more than enough for me.