Afterlife question

phooney
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Afterlife question

I'm making a bit of an assumption here, but according to many religions, I believe they say you are supposed to be reunited with your loved ones in the afterlife, correct?

 Well... what happens when, for example, some man marries a woman, woman dies through natural causes or an accident of some kind, man remarries later on in life.  Eventually the man and his new wife also die.  Let's assume they were all 'good' people and went to 'heaven'.

When the man and his second wife get there, they are confronted by the man's first wife.  What happens next?

Does the man abandon his second wife for an eternity with his first wife?  If so, how can this be heaven for the second wife?

Does the man forsake his first wife for an eternity with his second wife?  If so, how can this be heaven for the first wife?

Does the man live an eternity with TWO wives!?!?  In which case, why aren't more theists habitually seeking out seriously accident prone super-models to marry?


gobaskof
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I have often thought of that

I have often thought of that question, because it really doesn't make sense... but maybe in heaven you can have multiple wives? Some people did in the bible!

Another thing that always seemed to confuse me was what if your loved ones didn't go to heaven, surely you couldn't live eternal bliss in the knowledge that your loved ones are burning in hell!

Also Christians always say the reason for evil in the world is free will, so surely we can't have free will in heaven?

The more you think about the Christian afterlife the less it makes sense, as with all religion. If you accept it at face value it works, if you think about it you can only justify it through theology, and with theology you can justify anything! But I wont rant about theology here... but if anyone is interested in my theology rant you can check out: http://www.julianstirling.co.uk/Atheism/Theology.html

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I would almost as soon believe with the old and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the shells now living on the sea-shore. - Charles Darwin


MrRage
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A marriage ends at death. In

A marriage ends at death. In this situation these two women wouldn't be married to the men, so they wouldn't be wives.


gobaskof
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The people are still loved

The people are still loved ones! The man still has to loved women, surely they would feel jealous? And then heaven would cease to be bliss for these women?

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I would almost as soon believe with the old and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the shells now living on the sea-shore. - Charles Darwin


ATOMIC SKUNK
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phooney wrote: I'm making

phooney wrote:

I'm making a bit of an assumption here, but according to many religions, I believe they say you are supposed to be reunited with your loved ones in the afterlife, correct?

 Well... what happens when, for example, some man marries a woman, woman dies through natural causes or an accident of some kind, man remarries later on in life.  Eventually the man and his new wife also die.  Let's assume they were all 'good' people and went to 'heaven'.

When the man and his second wife get there, they are confronted by the man's first wife.  What happens next?

Does the man abandon his second wife for an eternity with his first wife?  If so, how can this be heaven for the second wife?

Does the man forsake his first wife for an eternity with his second wife?  If so, how can this be heaven for the first wife?

Does the man live an eternity with TWO wives!?!?  In which case, why aren't more theists habitually seeking out seriously accident prone super-models to marry?

  

"Does the man live an eternity with TWO wives!?!?"

 

 

Laughing  That could be HELL for some

"Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children." (Jesus triad)

"So the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey" (The Donkey) Numbers Chapter 22:30


Susan
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Actually, I've wondered

Actually, I've wondered about this myself.

The Mormons believe that you are bound in eternity with your spouse.  What if spouse #1 passes away and the person remarries?

But then again, since many Mormons still believe in polygamy, that may be not a problem.  Wink

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Roly1976
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I'm figuring heaven will

I'm figuring heaven will have to be some sort of free love hippie commune, because before the Fall wasn't sex and love meant to be guilt-free etc etc.  And what about all the people who genuinely love different people at different times in their lives? Technically though I'm sure the doctrinal answer would involve some bull about your identity being merged with God's so there's no 'self' and no interpersonal love as we know it because it's like a candle light in comparison with the sun.  Or some shite.


razorphreak
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phooney wrote: I'm making a

phooney wrote:
I'm making a bit of an assumption here, but according to many religions, I believe they say you are supposed to be reunited with your loved ones in the afterlife, correct?

Well... what happens when, for example, some man marries a woman, woman dies through natural causes or an accident of some kind, man remarries later on in life. Eventually the man and his new wife also die. Let's assume they were all 'good' people and went to 'heaven'.

To Christians, in the "afterlife", there are no families, no spouses, no friends, no relationships of any kind that we understand here on earth.  We are simply with God...

Matthew 22:23-32 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"

Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason. - Voltaire


phooney
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Thanks for that,

Thanks for that, Razorphreak, I've been appreciating many of your responses lately.

So from this we can gather that in heaven there are no marriages, no need for companionship, likely to be no orgies due to all the pleasure we need coming from just being so close to god...

Why then is marriage such an important part of so many religions?  It seems that they use marriage for self serving purposes.  I'll take Catholicism as an example here, and for the purposes of the arguement make the statement that it's not disimilar in MANY religions.  They make it difficult to marry outside of the faith through both the culture and the actual hoops you have to jump through.  They expect kids, and quick!  Oh, and those kids, they better be raised Catholic.  This doesn't sound like an organisation who's main interest is in saving people and teaching them the truth.  This sounds like an organisation terrified of disappearing off the face of the earth and desperate to impose rules making members stay in the faith from an early age that when broken carry the most harsh (and eternal) consequences. 

Ruling with fear and using marriage as another tool, and then contradicting itself by saying that marriage and love in anything that isn't god is as inconsequential fleeting as your mortal life.

 


razorphreak
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phooney wrote: So from this

phooney wrote:
So from this we can gather that in heaven there are no marriages, no need for companionship, likely to be no orgies due to all the pleasure we need coming from just being so close to god...

I'll go along with that... 

phooney wrote:
Why then is marriage such an important part of so many religions? It seems that they use marriage for self serving purposes. I'll take Catholicism as an example here, and for the purposes of the arguement make the statement that it's not disimilar in MANY religions. They make it difficult to marry outside of the faith through both the culture and the actual hoops you have to jump through.

Dogma vs. faith.  At no point from the new testament (I haven't done much studying from the OT point of view on the issue, kinda stoped with the NT since that is what applies to me the most) does it say that marriage must be some kind of huge ceremony after so much counciling, making sure you have achieved all the "sacraments", and so forth.  Marriage is about the love that God gives you and sharing it with another as God intended (which is why homosexual marriage is such an issue).  Marriage is in the eyes of God, not before a court, nor a priest, nor someone ordained by the state.

1 Corinthians 7: 1-7 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

I'm sure you've heard 1 Corinthians 13 and what love is, but this is probably the most important verse from that chapter:

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

phooney wrote:
Ruling with fear and using marriage as another tool, and then contradicting itself by saying that marriage and love in anything that isn't god is as inconsequential fleeting as your mortal life.

As I said, dogma vs. faith....man's will over that of God.

What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason. - Voltaire