[revots33]

It seems like a lot of the belief in an afterlife is concerned with the idea of justice. It is consoling to think that an innocent child who starves to death in Africa will be rewarded with eternal happiness, while an evil man like Hitler will be punished with eternal torment. But. because an idea is consoling, does that make it likely?

Speaking strictly from reason... given the fact that all this worldly injustice would drive men mad - would not that be a compelling argument for why man would have, out of necessity, invented the idea of some sort of life after death where the scales of justice would finally be balanced?

It just seems that there are so many compelling reasons why man might have made this idea up, that to assume it's probably true is ignoring all the compelling arguments why it is probably an invention of the human mind.

To me, the idea of a just afterlife is the ultimate "out" for God. We can praise God when something good happens to us in this life, and believe he has answered our prayers. But, there is no earthly horror or suffering too horrific to be countered by the argument of eternal bliss after death.