THIS WEBSITE
The point of this website is that death is certain but nobody knows that there isn't an afterlife. Since there might be and it could last forever, that makes it a big deal to us. Even if there is the smallest chance that there is life after death, isn't it worth a little of our time to investigate it? This isn't a website for in-depth analysis and debate. Its intention is to:
- Make the point that if you haven't seriously studied this issue, you may not really have an answer to it yet.
- Encourage you by describing how you can find an answer that you believe in.
- Help you understand how to study this question to arrive at your own answer.
We can't solve Our Problem. We're going to die. But we can determine what will probably happen to us after that, which could turn out to be a much bigger problem. As in the case where there is a god and we get sent to Hell forever. If Hell lies ahead of us, wouldn't it be good to know about that now so we could do something to avoid it? To do this we need to answer one of the big questions of life, which are all basically the same question.
- What happens to me when I die?
- How did we get here?
- Why are we here?
- Is there a god?
You really can look for an answer to these questions and expect to get it. Simply follow A PLAN to sort through the different explanations. Then throw out the unlikely and get down to the single explanation that you think best explains why we are here. From that it will be obvious what you need to do now, if anything, to benefit yourself after you die. Then you can begin living life with deserved certainty that you have done the best you could in this life to have your best afterlife.
OUR FUTURE
After death everyone faces one of these outcomes. They take into account the views of science and most major religions.
Eternal Reward: Even a little reward that lasts forever would be wonderful and be much better than the alternatives.
Eternal Punishment: Horrible beyond imagination. Shouldn't we want to do anything to avoid it?
Something Else: Views such as reincarnation.
Non-Existence: If there is no god then you cease to exist when you die.
ALL THAT MATTERS
1 - Is the Way the World Actually Is
Whether the god that one religion follows is the one that exists or the god of another religion exists instead, or whether there is no god; this is what matters most to us. It is the truth of the way the world actually is.
2 - Is The Choice I Make About It
The second most important issue for us is whether or not we pick the correct reality of the world. That is, were we right about our choice about why we are here?
3 - Is What I Do About It
The third most important issue to us is: If there is a god, did I do what he required to get the reward he offered? Just making the correct choice isn't enough. None of the major religions claim we will be rewarded for just correctly picking them as the true religion. We have to do something beyond that to be rewarded.
What if there is more than one god? All the major religions which claim to be following a god have contradictory claims. These are major beliefs that contradict each other. So, we can't say two religions are true when they have core beliefs that contradict each other. Therefore, just based on the logic of this, either one religion is true or none of them are.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Be serious about this and follow a plan. You really can figure it out. You don't have an expert in any field. Most of what's needed is the ability to make reasonable decisions about the important points and filter out details that don't affect those decisions. The following summary outlines an approach to studying this to come to an answer. There is also a more detailed version on the A PLAN tab at the top of this page.
A Plan (Summary)
- Be Serious - Realize that your eternity is at stake so you need an answer.
- Be Confident - You can come to a conclusion about why we are here. You don't have to be an expert on anything.
- Be a Detective - Insist on Good Explanations for every claim.
- Be Reasonable - Since you really need an answer, it's smart to work with the level of evidence that is available and not the level you wish you had.
- Be Open-Minded - Be willing to seriously consider different points of view and their explanations.
- Identify Candidates - Which are each of the World Views that attempt to provide an explanation for why you are here.
- Examine Each Candidate - Study each World View enough to get a basic understanding of what it claims.
- Throw Out the Unlikely.
- If Only One is Left, You Have Your Answer.
- If Two or More are Left - Take a break if you need to and then come back to this later.
- Seek Experts on the Candidates.
- Question Your Standards of Evidence - Maybe they are unreasonably high.
- Lower Your Standards of Evidence - Try this to see where it leads.
- Dig Deeper.
- Question Yourself - Ask yourself if you really do want an answer.
- Your Answer - Your World View answer either describes or implies what you should do for a benefit after death.
Go to the EVERYONE'S STARTING POINT tab to review where we are at right now as we begin this investigation.
3/21/13