Here's a question (for "Faith and Belief") that has been bothering me for some time:
Why does God want us to reach belief in him in the very short period of our existence when it is hardest for us to do so? I mean, our life on earth is infinitely short compared to the eternal afterlife. Why can't God accept people who only come to believe
after they have died and
then see that everything they've been told in church is true after all?
One would imagine that belief would be instantaneous once people actually find themselves in front of the gates of heaven (or of hell, as the case may be), so the delay should not be too annoying for a god who had already whiled away an eternity before creating us. And if, when staring Peter in the face, you would
still not believe in God and heaven, then God would
really have a reason to send you straight to hell. (In which case you'd perhaps do well to pretend not to believe in Satan either, since I'm told hell is a rather nasty joint. Who knows, you might even get sent back to earth.)
So why does God insist on people becoming believers during their lifetime? Does God prefer people who will believe things in spite of a total lack of evidence? (I'm beginning to suspect a hidden agenda here. Only the gullible are admitted to heaven, so there must be some catch to it. "Verily, I say unto you, don't go there!")
Or is the afterlife a myth after all, and is infecting people's minds, while they are still operative, the only way for religious memes to survive and thrive? That would be my answer of choice, but I'd like to see some religious opinions.
I may have sounded facetious in the description of my question, but it is meant as a serious question nonetheless. If religious people can't take a bit of humour, they need not bother to answer, I wouldn't want to be in the same heaven with them anyway.
This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 16-Sep-2005 02:55 PM
We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
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