To those who believe in an afterlife: does each blade of grass go to the afterlife as well? How about each microscopic germ?

Its illogical to think there's an afterlife for each and every living being that has ever existed in the entirety of the universe. Or are humans selfish enough to believe we're the only ones worthy of an "afterlife"?

No.

I believe it's up to all of us to make the most of the time that we have. It's all we got before we "go back" to the nothingness biology birthed our conscience from. Which might still be a poor choice of words, because we aren't going anywhere once we're dead, but I think it gets the point across.

Why would plants and germs go to any afterlife when they die?

Like from my religion, the point of heaven is that there are no diseases or illnesses in the first place, therefore, no, germs would not go to an afterlife. Nextly, heaven is supposed to be a paradise meant to cater to those worthy of going to heaven, like i'd imagine if a person likes flowers and trees and nature, then it'd be accommodated. like you're thinking of the afterlife as this one simple thing when so much goes into it.

heaven is supposed to be paradise. not just an immaculate white place, a paradise. the world we know, just a little bit different, a little better. that doesn't mean there wouldn't be plants there, or if theoretically if plants were destroyed they'd end up in heaven as well.

and hell, well I mean, hell would be a torturous place. if germs and disease is what ultimate evil for you is then I guess there you go? and idk about plants in hell. I mean why would it matter anyone? ooh look a nice little plant-- OH MY GOD I'M BEING TORTURED TO THE POINT OF DEATH WAIT NO I'M ALREADY DEAD like what's the point.

and humans aren't the only ones that go to heaven or hell, animals do too. the things here is this idea of right and wrong. that's what the Christian idea of the afterlife is about, whether the thing was smart enough to be aware of right and wrong and whether or not they lived life right or wrong. so idk maybe on that kind of level all animals and plants (idk maybe even germs) go to heaven since they don't have all the mental capabilities to understand sin or right and wrong. therefore the choice is on humans, who have that capability (and they were the ones who allowed sin in the first place).

and furthermore who thinks about something as trivial as "will plants and germs go to this afterlife"? like, it's trivializing the concept of an afterlife unnecessarily and making it seem like it's stupid when the examples you're using are stupid to begin with.

from a reincarnation perspective, idk i'm not fully immersed in that area but i'd imagine reincarnation is more than just a selfish reward system of spiritual immortality. there's more to it than that. karma, caste system, if you do something in one life then how you come back in your next one is a direct effect of what you did, or what happens to you in your new life, so on and so on. so if you get demoted to plant or animal you did something bad in a human life.

I understand the point you're making but it's very ignorant of you to say it the way you did, like you're saying this as if religions are so simple enough to understand that you didn't even put thought into what each religion's stance on life after death is because the notion that there is life after death is laughable on its own. if you're going to discuss not believing in an afterlife then you should have a better argument than that.

Wasn't that a BIT much now though?

probably but his argument was about germs going to the afterlife, to be fair.

Brain activity ceases as soon as a person dies or as soon as his heart stops beating as no more blood is getting to his brain. But many clinically dead and even brain-dead people who were brought back to life claim having near-death experiences while they were dead/in a coma. And what's fascinating is that NDEs all follow the same general pattern (vision of a light at the end of a dark tunnel, out-of-body perception) and have the same after-effect (the experiencer comes back as a changed person).

I'm not really sure at the moment. I used to be the kind of militant asshole atheist who'd hunt down believers and lecture them on how wrong they were. Lately, I've been thinking a lot, and I'm still deciding how I feel.

Faith can't be illogical; scientific views can neither prove nor disprove faith-based concepts.

Oh My God religion and beliefs really **** up some people minds like DAMN...

The conscience is too misunderstood to determine what happens once it is gone. The fact that one even gains conscience in the human form can come across as mythical and fascinating enough. I belive in an afterlife but one where our consciences go to another form, maybe another dimension of time and space. The brain, life and spirit is too complex to write off as simple a stroke of biological timing and luck.

I believe in it and I freak out every time I think about it.

My friend (Miles Caulfield on here) and I were just discussing all this last night with similar talking points. It's actually really cool when you get to thinking about it.

I would love it to be otherwise but, you hear because you have ears, you see because you have eyes, smell because you have olfactics, taste because you have a tongue, touch, 'cause you have skin and manage all these processes including thinking because you have a brain, with death all these are gone so you lose all these senses including consciousness so once you die you disappear. Sad but I guess it's true.

Its hard to say...reincarnation happens over time. There may be 7 billion people on earth now..but there has probably been way more amounts of livng beings over the past 1000s of years. No telling how much total people are souls there have been over time of there is a finite number.

Speakinf scientifically..the earth has a limit of how much life and what kind of life can be sustained on it at one time because there are only so many resources. So...same may be said with the amount of consciousness.

Life is a cycle and everything on this earth comes in cycles. When your body decays it will be ate by bacteria and fungi, which energy is ate by so and so, then ate by so and so and so on. Your energy gets taken to other accounts of life there in the nitogren cycle so idk maybe reincarnation is made through there.

I totally agree with you.

No. I believe once your brain and heart stop working, you're just in unresponsive darkness forever.