Korn said:
Well its up to the believer, and if there is and there is an afterlife dont you want to please God, and Catholism says you only have to believe in jesus and u get into heaven, so dont really matter how u live your life. On the other hand just be good to one another and u might make it into the afterlife no one really knows
i guess it can be classified as the biggest dilemma of all time, whether to believe in god or not. In my opinion, we can break these two choices down, and consider the pros and cons of each. Lets consider that you do not believe in god first
if you do not believe in god
-the most obvious is that you can do what you please with your life, believing that when you die you cease to exist, there is no afterlife, there is no god and that is it. Perhaps the pro with this is that u have a lot more fun, be in seemingly more CONTROL of your life, because you choose what you do, and religion or belief in god does not cloud your decisions.
-cons. Perhaps the only con in this, is that IF THERE IS A GOD, then you will be taken to the god of justice, and he will decide whether or not you will go to hell etc. Take care in mind, that whatever good deeds that you have done, they will be servicable to you in gods court.
If you believe and worship the one god
-pros. Your mind becomes pure, you reach salvation from the endless cycle of births and deaths, you are not afraid of death, because death cannot come near you, you satisfy the true meaning of life. (to attain freedom from births and deaths, to merge with the one god). You achieve great honour in the various regions and universes. Basically you live out your life in comfort in this world and the next.
-cons. You do not know for sure that there is a god, but saying this, there me be a time where you are sure (eg if you see some sort of vision)
my grand mother fainted once, when she apparantly saw one of the gurus of the sikh religion walk past her.
i dunno if that is true, and i'm as skeptical as anyone, but she did faint.
If you die, and there is no god, then thats it, you have lived your one shot in life, but its not like u can regret it or anything, i mean your dead, you dont exist. Regret as in not being able to do things if you were say an athiest, like drinking alcohol once in a while, etc.
final thoughts
well the choice is pretty much up to you as you can see. We are all standing on a knifes edge, on one side is perhaps hell in the afterlife, on the other is salvation.
KEEP in mind, that i believe that irrespective of whether god exists or not, the knowledge and the "pure of heartedness" if there is such a thing, a human attains when he prays, and is part of the religion i know is priceless. I mean the stuff that i have seen is awe inspiring. I try to go to the respected gurudwaras (sikh temples) and we have a thing called "langar" which is where after ardas, a prayer we eat as one, with free food for all, there is not caste, there is no differences anyone can come and eat. I think it is this equality and respect that i love about the religion.
The weekly news letter of the temple, shows every single cent spent in the form of a budget, because they have nothing to hide, they donate to chariities as much as possible. I once remember a time where i went and we had free tea, i still remember the taste, it was the best tea i had ever tasted, and i could not help but feel uplifted by the generosity, the history, and the way of life of the respected Khalsa (sikhs who are "baptised" and obey a strict code of conduct).
I could go on and on about my experiences, but that would be a bit selfish, my point is that there is only one life, perhaps there may be more, who knows?!!?
What i know is i am living one now, and that is the only one that matters, i truly believe that i am much better off being part of the religion, it has kept me from harms way, it has taught me things that many spend a lifetime learning, and i have barely begun to scratch the surface.
and as a hsc response would conclude, in my opinion , the benifits of a religion/belief in god far outweigh anything else.
lol.......its really up to you.
komal
that's why i left and nothing has changed in this thread.