Yes

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Yes I am drunk.

Yes I love all of you.

You are my friends. You need to know this.

Yes this is sparked by pat's dad's funeral.
'


I am a religious man, and I have explained this before.


Johnny is dead. His sons believe  he is with Jesus (and by the way the priest can go straight to hell. Can you believe the fucker said we don't know if Johnny went straight to heaven or purgatory... It's a fucking funeral. I myself will punch you in the face. Fuck you. Seriously, I will now pray for that priest to suffer in purgatory. Johnny was that good.

I had an extremely uncomfortable conversation with Pat's wife today.

She asked me about the afterlife. And I flat out asked her if she is asking me as a temporary Catholic or as me.

She asked as me. I told her what I think. We talked more. Out of character of courses.

She said something that I understand completely. She said I don't want eternal blackness.


A Catholic was looking to me as a Pagan priest for answers.


The best I could say was, "Yeah, I'm terrified too. I don't know. but the way I see it, temporary religion aside, is that Johnny is now seated at the table with his ancestors, and because time runs differently there, we are seated with him."

What can I say?


What can I say when my best answer is, "Right now, believe it or not, you're dead and you're eating really boss bacon with him right now."

What do I say when I don't even know?

[Placid Dingo]

I think a lot of us here are on largely uncharted spiritual ground in the sense that we are developing our own answers, without being ready for others to want to listen to us.

Funerals are always rough.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Tell them what they want to hear.

Funerals are not a place to profess oblivion to people who want to hear about unicorns or and honest to fuck "I don't know" to people who want reassurance their loved one is still alive somewhere.

I think funerals and cancer wards may be the only places I will not be a complete dick by default

[The Wizard Joseph]

Rough times Twid.  I have only an honest "I don't, and can't, know about death. Life is the important thing. Your loved one would want you to live it." for most people.  My father expects a hug from Jesus/God and a "Well done, My good and faithful servant."

If I were to judge I'd say he's earned it overall. When he passes I will tell people of what he believed he was going to, to honor him. This belief has been a true bedrock for him and through him my family. 

I have seen such strength in the human spirit. I see it at work in the hospital on many of the patients and the people I work with. It is not there in everyone, but faith, the belief in that which has not been seen, is a way to cultivate it. It is for this reason that I cannot throw out the child faith just to have the empty and clean bathtub of reason.

Oh and

Johnny is dead. His sons believe  he is with Jesus (and by the way the priest can go straight to hell. Can you believe the fucker said we don't know if Johnny went straight to heaven or purgatory... It's a fucking funeral. I myself will punch you in the face. Fuck you. Seriously, I will now pray for that priest to suffer in purgatory. Johnny was that good.

THIS

There is nothing worse than an insensitive, fool ass, priest at a funeral. Fuck him. He'll find out all about it soon enough.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

First Law of Thermodynamics always springs to mind for me. (I may be thinking of the wrong one.. yanno, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only change)

I used it once in terms of ecosystems and chemical energy.... the heat of the person may be gone, but they are still intrinsically part of the world.  This is why I wants one of them biodegradable woodland burials, with as little chemical treatment as I can get away with. I WANT to be worm and bug and plant foods, and in a sciencey way be actually part of the ecosystem and the earth and surroundings, I don't need any.of the where does the the conciousness part (for me, anyways) go type questions, anymore. We can only be sure that memories and the actual physical matter and energy live on.

It's probably a pretty poor comfort for some people, and once upon a time it was very poor comfort for me... hence my pagan phase, which was a coping mechanism.

[P3nT4gR4m]

It's probably a pretty poor comfort for some people, and once upon a time it was very poor comfort for me... hence my pagan phase, which was a coping mechanism.

Yeah. At some point you either grow out of the childish bullshit or you're riding unicorns and jesus all the way to retard central 

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I struggle sometimes with the whole "when you're dead you're dead" thing, but I'm slowly becoming okay with it. I was still fairly young when I decided that the traditional "go live in Heaven with the people you love" thing was nonsense. I mean, Heaven is beyond time and space, but somehow your experience of being there is analogous to a really well-kept suburban subdivision with fancy gold streets? How do you walk down a street or have a conversation or hug someone when there is no time? Also, if there is no time, how is it that people arrive there before you do and then "wait" for you to get there? Bullshit. Christians apparently do not actually stop to think about the meaning and implications of the word "eternal."

But what good is living forever? I understand my fear of death to be a combination of things. Fear of the unknown, anger at being removed from everything (or everything being removed from me), jealousy of people I will leave behind, sorrow for people who will be sad to see me go, and the threat of not being there to provide for people who depend on me. There's also a feeling that it is somehow "unfair" to be denied the right to watch events unfold forever. I am intensely interested in history and that I will die relatively soon is like being plucked out of a theater before you get to see the end of an awesome movie.

Indulging in a belief system that allows you to pretend none of this applies to you is a tragedy, because it gives you an excuse not to make every effort to improve your life now, and it gives you "all the time in the universe" to learn, so you have no motivation to learn now. It disgusts me to think about all the good that could exist here, now, but doesn't, because so many people are waiting for it to happen after they die.

[P3nT4gR4m]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

I've never been a big fan of referring to people as "faithfools" unless they insist on trying to drag me off to crazytown with them.

Notable exceptions:  Libertarians, Homeopathy freaks, Fred Phelps.

Personally, I'm not an atheist.  I just don't feel the need to grab you guys by the arm and bellow my personal beliefs in your face.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

Once upon a time I didn't believe the question was unanswerable, it was just really hard to get enough LSD. Part of me still believes this, but the part of me that knows psychedelic experiences depend on having a brain laughs it off.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Yes my head hurts like a motherfucker.

Yes I need to take a shit and chug 2 pints of water.

No I don't feel like moving.

Is this not the human condition right here?

Oh and yes, I kinda remember posting the OP

And yes, I still agree wit fuck that priest guy.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

I've never been a big fan of referring to people as "faithfools" unless they insist on trying to drag me off to crazytown with them.

Notable exceptions:  Libertarians, Homeopathy freaks, Fred Phelps.

Personally, I'm not an atheist.  I just don't feel the need to grab you guys by the arm and bellow my personal beliefs in your face.

Yeah, this. Though I can find a lot of common ground with atheists. Because whatever IT is, it seems weirder and bigger that I can get my mind around, and nothing like what anybody tells you "God" is. For the record, I have no fucking idea what happens when we die. Nobody does, and anybody who says they do needs to stop lying and go ponder the "don't treat people like crap" aspect of whatever their religion is.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

I've never been a big fan of referring to people as "faithfools" unless they insist on trying to drag me off to crazytown with them.

Notable exceptions:  Libertarians, Homeopathy freaks, Fred Phelps.

Personally, I'm not an atheist.  I just don't feel the need to grab you guys by the arm and bellow my personal beliefs in your face.

Yeah, this. Though I can find a lot of common ground with atheists. Because whatever IT is, it seems weirder and bigger that I can get my mind around, and nothing like what anybody tells you "God" is. For the record, I have no fucking idea what happens when we die. Nobody does, and anybody who says they do needs to stop lying and go ponder the "don't treat people like crap" aspect of whatever their religion is.

It pretty easy to agree with an atheist. Mostly because a lot of religious people are fucking stupid.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My approach was to accept that something would happen after I die. Either oblivion and no more me or something something unicorns something jesus. The hard part (the being a grown up part) was accepting that, until I'm dead, the whole question is as irrelevant as it is unanswerable.

Once you've accepted this you get the added bonus of viewing most of humanity (faithfools and atheists alike) as being naive and childish in this respect.

I've never been a big fan of referring to people as "faithfools" unless they insist on trying to drag me off to crazytown with them.

Notable exceptions:  Libertarians, Homeopathy freaks, Fred Phelps.

Personally, I'm not an atheist.  I just don't feel the need to grab you guys by the arm and bellow my personal beliefs in your face.

Yeah, this. Though I can find a lot of common ground with atheists. Because whatever IT is, it seems weirder and bigger that I can get my mind around, and nothing like what anybody tells you "God" is. For the record, I have no fucking idea what happens when we die. Nobody does, and anybody who says they do needs to stop lying and go ponder the "don't treat people like crap" aspect of whatever their religion is.

Ding. 

Also, I'm reasonably sure that if I was God, I wouldn't want a bunch of ass-kissers showing up on my doorstep, bragging about what they did to the homosexuals/women/Those People/That Religion.

I mean, think about it...It would be like having the population of Seguin coming by and wanting to sit on your couch and brag about what they did to that guy with the Obama 2012 sticker on his bumper.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

It pretty easy to agree with an atheist.

Not really, for two reasons:  A)  They assume that absence of evidence = evidence of absence, which is a fallacy, and B)  A lot of them won't shut up about it, and insist on fucking with people who disagree with them.  That sort of atheist is no different than the most annoying Calvinist.

Mostly because a lot of religious people are fucking stupid.

Edited to remove incorrect qualifier.