<p>dplane, forgive me for this, but I seriously have to ask: do you even know your own religion?!?!? You are referring to God and Jesus interchangeably. They are two seperate entities.</p>
<p>
Well, the correct answer obviously isn’t the Christian god. He requires monotheism, after all. The most efficient solution would be to find a large number of mutually inclusive gods (Greek, Hindu, etc.) and pray all of them at once. This would give you most of humanity’s gods while using up as little as your precious time on earth as possible.</p>
<p>sandlansd: The answer is so obvious, you’re almost naive for not realizing it yourself. It’s because religion is a fundamental institution inextricably linked to the human social condition. You don’t need to look farther than the fact that many of the earliest religions arose ‘spontaneously’ and independently. One could argue that the need for religion is embedded in human instinct. Religion continues to thrive because it attempts to explain what humans cannot possibly know via empirical observation (at least not at this stage of our species’ existence on Earth).</p>
<p>Sands…I know it sounds crazy, but Jesus said it: “I and my Father are one and the same…If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. My words are not My own. I only speak what My Father says.”</p>
<p>Think about it this way…
In a sense, we have been dead before…that is assuming you were born
What is before life? Death perhaps?</p>
<p>This thread [blows</a> my mind](<a href=“http://i206.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/bb26/Iam3elliott/kid-1.jpg]blows”>http://i206.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/bb26/Iam3elliott/kid-1.jpg)</p>
![http://i206.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/bb26/Iam3elliott/kid-1.jpg]blows](http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb26/Iam3elliott/kid-1.jpg%5Dblows){kind=link}
<p>What’s the rush? we’ll all find out eventually.</p>
<p>Guys, we expose ourselves to many literary classics, yet not the Bible? It has been the number 1 seller every year by far. I dared to read every word of it–EVERY word of it three times over to refute Christians. I have dared to read almost every major religions “Holy writs”. If you haven’t read every word of the Bible, you are left quite defenseless to argue against it. My father and brother, both Physicians from Stanford and Tufts dared me to read it and to refute them. I was seriously humbled. Give it a try. It might be worth your (eternal) life.</p>
<p>dplane: sorry, you still sound like an idiot. Have you ever heard of a metaphor? If there really is a god and his son jesus, that quote means that god and jesus teach the same things and are alike, NOT that they are actually the same person. Have you ever heard any religious scholars refer to them interchangeably? No. Because they obviously aren’t one and the same person.</p>
<p>All of that census data in Ezra and Nehemiah is really boring. Three times, really?</p>
<p>dplane: What do you mean by that? The Bible itself is a fabrication compiled from the religious babble that had accumulated over thousands of years at the Council of Nicea.</p>
<p>dplane: Since you have read the Bible 3 times over, correct me if I’m wrong as I have not completely read the Bible, but isn’t there a lot of contradiction in it?</p>
<p>//Guys, we expose ourselves to many literary classics, yet not the Bible?//</p>
<p>Oh, I don’t read classics. I don’t like reading.</p>
<p>(Besides, there are plenty of non-theists, and former-Christians that have read the Bible many times, -shrug-).</p>
<p>MD: I once believed the same as you did, but explain then how in every generation there are those who don’t believe in religion or god. It cannot be considered a necessary social condition when there are people who are perfectly happy without it. Love on the other hand is something every single person craves and needs in life, with absolutely no exceptions.</p>
<p>Here’s another prayer I just wrote, it’s way more useful than dplane’s:
“Dear every god that humanity has or will ever acknowledge,
I submit to your requests, if it is possible to do so in this manner. I apologize to any past or future offenses. If you require that I believe in no other god, I humbly request that you do not smite me, and stop listening at this time if you so desire. If you require that this prayer be delivered in a different manner, I forward you to any of your followers that may be able to translate. Thank you in advance for any material or supernatural rewards that result from this statement.”</p>
<p>I think that death is just like sleep. You don’t know when you sleep or when you wake. You might also want to watch these movies. They are an interesting place to start if you are looking to research the origin of modern religion.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Zeitgeist [Religion] The Greatest Story Ever Sold (1of 3)](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNf-P_5u_Hw]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNf-P_5u_Hw)
[YouTube</a> - Zeitgeist [Religion] The Greatest Story Ever Sold (2 of 3)](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc-mrJf45Hg]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc-mrJf45Hg)
[YouTube</a> - Zeitgeist [Religion] The Greatest Story Ever Sold (3 of 3)](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjAegPhQOUg]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjAegPhQOUg)</p>
<p>TO HIM who in the love of Nature holds<br>
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks<br>
A various language; for his gayer hours<br>
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile<br>
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 5
Into his darker musings, with a mild<br>
And healing sympathy, that steals away<br>
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts<br>
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight<br>
Over thy spirit, and sad images 10
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,<br>
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,<br>
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;—<br>
Go forth under the open sky, and list<br>
To Nature’s teachings, while from all around— 15
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air—<br>
Comes a still voice—Yet a few days, and thee<br>
The all-beholding sun shall see no more<br>
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,<br>
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, 20
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist<br>
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim<br>
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,<br>
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up<br>
Thine individual being, shalt thou go 25
To mix forever with the elements;<br>
To be a brother to the insensible rock,<br>
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain<br>
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak<br>
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. 30
Yet not to thine eternal resting-place<br>
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish<br>
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down<br>
With patriarchs of the infant world,—with kings,<br>
The powerful of the earth,—the wise, the good, 35
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,<br>
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills<br>
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales<br>
Stretching in pensive quietness between;<br>
The venerable woods—rivers that move 40
In majesty, and the complaining brooks<br>
That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,<br>
Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,—<br>
Are but the solemn decorations all<br>
Of the great tomb of man! The golden sun, 45
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,<br>
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,<br>
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread<br>
The globe are but a handful to the tribes<br>
That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings 50
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,<br>
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods<br>
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,<br>
Save his own dashings,—yet the dead are there:<br>
And millions in those solitudes, since first 55
The flight of years began, have laid them down<br>
In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone.<br>
So shalt thou rest; and what if thou withdraw<br>
In silence from the living, and no friend<br>
Take note of thy departure? All that breathe 60
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh<br>
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care<br>
Plod on, and each one as before will chase<br>
His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave<br>
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come 65
And make their bed with thee. As the long train<br>
Of ages glide away, the sons of men,<br>
The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes<br>
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,<br>
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— 70
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side<br>
By those, who in their turn shall follow them. </p>
<p>So live, that when thy summons comes to join<br>
The innumerable caravan which moves<br>
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 75
His chamber in the silent halls of death,<br>
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,<br>
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed<br>
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave<br>
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 80
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.</p>
<p>… that’s what happens</p>
<p>What will happen when I die? As ridiculous as it sounds, I firmly believe that I will end up either in heaven or hell based on the quality of my life here.</p>
<p>“Nothing can ever be truly, fully understood. Not even the simplest thing. Not even this.”</p>
<p>The book, Bickford Shcmeckler. </p>
<p>The movie has some good points and cool ideas :).</p>
<p>When I die, the world will end.</p>