Fear of dying - Religious vs non-religious people

[Pete H]

In the "What do you fear" -thread quite many people said they fear of dying. At least some of 'em said they are religious.

Instinctly you'd expect religious people to be less afraid of dying as they believe to live forever.

This however seems not to be the truth. At least of people I've met the religious people seem to be more afraid of dying than non-religious people.

If this is true, why is it that way?

I think the first religion was invented pretty soon after humans became aware of their mortality.

Dying is extremely difficult concept to understand and even harder to accept. Going on denial is standard and among the religion we got ourselves eternal life.

We haven't changed that much and today those who are afraid of dying are more likely to seek comfort from religions. But because they can't be sure they'll still be afraid to die.

Of course fear of hell has some affect, but I don't think it's as important as fear of not existing.

I think most people would rather live forever in hell than die. I'd rather die than live forever in heaven.

[amplify]

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I'd rather die than live forever in heaven.

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I think maybe you missed the part where heaven is the Eternal Presence of God. You seem to think that it's an Eternal Church Meeting or something. Regardless of your position on the existence of a Creator, His Presence would be something to actively seek were it available.

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At least of people I've met the religious people seem to be more afraid of dying than non-religious people.

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I think that by "religious" you mean Christian, and that Christians are exactly like everyone else, because they are people. It would be nice if being Christian actually changed something but it doesn't. Divorce rates are as high or higher among church-going people as non. Depression and suicide are evenly divided among Christians and non-Christians. In such an environment the Fear of Death is of course just as strong or stronger than outside of it.

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I think the first religion was invented pretty soon after humans became aware of their mortality.

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You wouldn't be the first person to make this observation. Some would say that the first religion was invented by the first guy to figure out that he could have political (tribal) power by performing as an intermediary to The Gods.

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Dying is extremely difficult concept to understand and even harder to accept. Going on denial is standard and among the religion we got ourselves eternal life.

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Dying is easy to understand, but nearly impossible to accept. We are talking about the annihilation of the egoic self, something that the egoic self is loathe to cozy up to.

You seem to have a condescending attitude toward religion though. Lots of people have this attitude that they are superior because they "don't need" religion and that those who do are weak and superstitious. Sometimes, they are just grateful, compassionate, community-minded people in touch with the current of selflessness running through them, or searching for meaning in life, or trying to find peace and harmony in their day-to-day existence.

[spyderracing]

I'm not religious but I don't really fear death. I don't want to die young because I feel like I still have a lot to do. The being said I think I fear that I could do more but wouldn't be able to, not just that I don't exist anymore.

I do fear dying a painful death; that would really suck. However, I fear that in the same way I fear breaking my femur or something along those lines. I think death would actually be quite peaceful at the end of a long fulfilling life. Kind of analogous to sleeping for 18 hours straight after cramming for 48 hour for an exam, but on a scale infinitely greater.

[Pete H]

[ QUOTE ]
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I'd rather die than live forever in heaven.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think maybe you missed the part where heaven is the Eternal Presence of God. You seem to think that it's an Eternal Church Meeting or something. Regardless of your position on the existence of a Creator, His Presence would be something to actively seek were it available.

[/ QUOTE ]
Only thing I think about heaven/paradise/whatever you want to call it that you're supposed to live there forever.

Living forever would be torment no matter where (or how) you are as eventually it's the same thing millenia after millenia.

I remember reading that someone has once said (something like) this about eternity:

"Take one grain of sand from Sahara every billionth year. When you've emptied Sahara, eternity hasn't even started."

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At least of people I've met the religious people seem to be more afraid of dying than non-religious people.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think that by "religious" you mean Christian, and that Christians are exactly like everyone else, because they are people. It would be nice if being Christian actually changed something but it doesn't. Divorce rates are as high or higher among church-going people as non. Depression and suicide are evenly divided among Christians and non-Christians. In such an environment the Fear of Death is of course just as strong or stronger than outside of it.

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I meant all religious people (who believe in some form of afterlife), but as this forum is biased towards christianity I used the terms used in that religion.

Besides you missed the point. I claimed that being religious increases the likelihood of one fearing the death. In other words being religious changes something (or those who are different are more likely to become religious).

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I think the first religion was invented pretty soon after humans became aware of their mortality.

[/ QUOTE ]
You wouldn't be the first person to make this observation. Some would say that the first religion was invented by the first guy to figure out that he could have political (tribal) power by performing as an intermediary to The Gods.

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So?

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Dying is extremely difficult concept to understand and even harder to accept. Going on denial is standard and among the religion we got ourselves eternal life.

[/ QUOTE ]
Dying is easy to understand, but nearly impossible to accept. We are talking about the annihilation of the egoic self, something that the egoic self is loathe to cozy up to.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think it's not that easy to really understand that at one point you (and your mind) exists and then suddenly you don't exist anymore.

But wether it's about understanding or accepting, it doesn't matter. The point is that people needed some way to live after death and the concept of soul came to rescue.

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You seem to have a condescending attitude toward religion though. Lots of people have this attitude that they are superior because they "don't need" religion and that those who do are weak and superstitious. Sometimes, they are just grateful, compassionate, community-minded people in touch with the current of selflessness running through them, or searching for meaning in life, or trying to find peace and harmony in their day-to-day existence.

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I'm not the biggest fan of organized religions, but this isn't about them. We are talking about religious people and wether they are more likely to fear of dying or not. And the reasons why.

I have nothing against religious people. If belief comforts you and/or makes you happier, there's nothing wrong in that.

It's just extremely difficult for me to understand why would anyone want to live forever, but one reason is probably because the concept of eternity is impossible to understand for humans. Those who want to live forever, just want to be alive tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

[amplify]

Pete,

Good points, interesting dialogue. I'm going to refrain from dragging this down by responding again point by point, since I largely agree with you. I just think that maybe your premise is flawed regarding religious people's attitude toward death. But neither of us really know, we have only anecdotal evidence, and scant at that, so there's no point in arguing about it.

amp

[john voight]

I seek heaven.
Though I am not sure if my life is worthy of it.
I sure a [censored] would not want to go to hell.

Am I scared of dying? On paper, no. In reality yes. I once was on a bunch of pills, prolly some MAOI inhibitors, and a crap load of liquor. Well, I felt like I may have a heart attack, and fear set in; "damn that would be bad, I dont want to die".

So while I seek heaven, and look forward to the possibility of experiencing it I must first enjoy life, and at the young age of 21, I have not done enough enjoying yet.

[john voight]

My religious view dsont make me more scared or less scared of death BTW. If I go to hell, I'll except it. I'll try to take it lightly though. I'f I go to heaven I'll be greatful. If afterlife dosnt exist, I guess nothing will happen.

My main fear comes from this; I really like my life. Not just mine, but everybody's. I like life, and really I should experience it as long as I can. An I fear losing things I really like. Lif is prolly the most valuable thing I have.

Imagine walking down Crenshaw in South Central in the 90s dressed in all red holding your life savings in a suitcase. You'd prolly feel vulnerable and scarred right? Not only would there be a decent chance you get mugged for the suitcase, but also there would be a small/fair chance you get shot and die.

I dont know where that example cam from, prolly from the deep deep depths of my ass.

[A_C_Slater]

"I'm not religious but I don't really fear death. I don't want to die young because I feel like I still have a lot to do."


And by having a lot to do you mean there's still so many women you would like to [censored], don't you?

[jws43yale]

I have never feared death primarily because of my beliefs. When I am sitting on a plane in crazy turbulence and people are freaking, I calmly think, if it is my time to go there is nothing I can do about it. I actually am much more fearful of things I have some degree of control over. I have never worried about natural disasters, terrorist attacks, flyiing, etc. b/c I have no control and if it is meant to be my time it will be.

At the same time I do pray for forgiveness in these situations because of a fear I could be going to the wrong place if it is my time.

[Ghazban]

I am not religious but I also do not fear death, nor do I wish to live forever. Any afterlife concept that involves eternal consciousness (whether that be heaven or hell or purgatory or whatever) seems very weird to me. If such things exist, I think I would have to have some sort of revelation to "get" them that I haven't had yet. I'd have a hard time being motivated to accomplish anything if I was going to live (and "live" here can just mean "be aware") forever; part of the joy of life is that it is finite and I have to make the decisions of how I want to spend the limited time I have.

Re: afterlife, if everything is perfect in heaven, how does one not get bored? If everything in hell is torture, wouldn't you get used to it at some point? It seems the only logical way for these places to exist would be if everything was better/worse than it was the time period before (day, hour, whateveR). Good and bad are relative concepts so any stagnation (as I perceive heaven and hell to be as described) would lose it's effectiveness at seeming "good" or "bad" due to familiarity. An ever-increasing/decreasing level of positivity/negativity for eternity doesn't pass my sniff test.