Hi, Ill make it quick.

from 5th grade till graduating HS, I went to a christian high school (church of christ). Family doesnt go to church though. Almost done with 2nd year of college, havent been or done anything religious in awhile. I feel like I was brainwashed from school. Recently I have been scared of death and have no clue of what to expect for afterlife. Where do we go? Whats it like? Im a newb at all of this. I would love to see some links for help. I want to look more into this. Thanks guys.

Nobody knows what to expect. Anyone who tells you differently is a complete liar. Just make the most of the life you have. It's completely natural to fear death, and many people use this fear to develop irrational beliefs about an afterlife. The only legitimate advice is to not let any ideas about an afterlife prevent you from using your potential to live this life to its fullest.

Alright, I won't say anything.

I grew up Catholic, was baptized as an infant, went to Catholic school for 13 years and was even an altar boy. It wasn't until last August that I was saved on my knees before God. Saved from what? Hell.

You must be born again. For as many as received him, to they gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. I know that I will go to heaven because of the finished work of what Jesus Christ has done on that cross. It is the blood of Christ that cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

I think the problem in American Culture is what exactly is a Christian?

In a social sense, it's one who probably was raised in a Christian home, goes to church once a weeks, and maybe an extra service or two on Christmas and Easter?

Attending a Christian/Catholic school =/= being a Christian.
Attending church cuz your mom drags you =/= being a Christian

Additionally, even going to church will not make you a Christian or a follower a Christ. It's kind of sickening what defines a Christian or church in society. Watch a Joel Osteen service on youtube and it becomes more about a self-help seminar sprinkled with some Christianize-terms.

Acts 2 paints a very good picture of what needs to be done

29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,[f] that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
35until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '[g]

36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Peter states that it's our sin, the same that separated us from God, that caused the necessity for Jesus to die on our behalf as the perfect sacrifice. Acknowledging that, if this convicts you, you repent, meaning that you turn away from your sin. Baptism literally is a symbolic representation that you die to yourself and resurrect to the likeness of Christ, that you will follow Christ

I would hope that the fear of hell would not be the ultimate driving force in attempting to becoming religious or Christian. It's Christ's kindness that leads us to repentance.

I've been down the path of realizing that nothing will satisfy me but Christ. Straight A's, people's praise, power, sexual pleasure, and money were all things I tried pursuing for satisfaction, but at the end of the day, I've never felt more content and satisfied with life until I gave my life up to Christ.

OP if you want to talk more about the Bible or anything like that, just PM me

Your already good. You knew it the whole time though...

Just because you dont know doesn't mean nobody knows, thats a pretty broad statement. How do you know if no one else knows?

I know about 10,000 people who know, of them about 1,000 personally.

Pletho

Read this book and this book. That should clear things up for you.

"He contends that, far from being an aberration, the torture of heretics was simply a logical expression of Christian doctrine – one which, he says, was clearly justified by men such as Saint Augustine. Going still further, Harris sees the Holocaust as essentially drawing its inspiration from traditional Christian anti-Semitism. "Knowingly or not," he says, "the Nazis were agents of religion."

It's a shame that biblical Christianity has been lumped in with inquisitional Rome and Islamic fundamentalism. The two; most likely connected.

So you have 1,000 friends who have died and come back to life to tell us about it. Now THAT is a broad statement. I truly feel sorry for anyone gullible or stupid enough to believe you.

Hello, space is relative, time is relative, but spacetime is absolute. We are born at x and we die at y, but everything in between will always be. This life is your only hell and your only heaven. In this life you are on your own ( Prince).

Maybe so, but the blood of my Goddess Aphrodite gives me a red mustache.

You sound exactly like I did at your age. You'll feel some guilt and fear for your lack of belief, but that passes eventually. It's tough to stop believing in something that you were force-fed from infancy.

It's especially tough if all of your friends and family are believers. Your best bet is to keep your doubts to yourself, to avoid the inevitable ostracization that would come when the believers hear that you are thinking of leaving the flock.

If you live a moral life and try to do the right thing whenever possible, you shouldn't have anything to worry about *if* there is an afterlife.

Yes, there certainly is a chance for some sort of afterlife. Animal consciousness is not at all understood, whether this lends any credibility to life after death or reincarnation, etc, I don’t know, but it may. If not, see my post above. Life is grand without being a wacky Christian.

Amen!!!

Do not listen to this hateful fanatic. Here in Northern Ireland we have had to deal with such bigots ripping our country apart for too long. This fundamentalist "I am right and all others will burn in hell" viewpoint should demonstrate how dangerous and distasteful having a firm belief in ever-lasting life for a select few really is.

My advice to the OP is to do your own research. The fearful void which your religion has left in your can be filled with real world knowledge, love, and compassion. Some of the reason you are feeling fearful may be the indoctrination you have suffered and lingering sub-conscious worry that there may be a hell. You must release yourself from this irrational fear and embrace the life you have here and now.

well put imo, but id like to add that if OP does research etc, does his own thing, finds his own path, and finds peace in relgion, than that is fine as well. If Christ gives him the most peace, security, etc, then thats what works for him, if Allah gives him the most peace, security, etc, than thats what works, and so on and so on.

personally I like to think on a deeper level than religion, meaning, what do religions try to make us do, or not do, and why? but also keep in mind the time in which the things you are reading were wrote, and think about what the people who wrote the things would write if they were alive today.

Do you have any objective evidence to back up this absolute claim? (Please don't appeal to your holy book, because the other holy books also make the same claims)

do you not know the answer to this question?

what is the point of asking it then?

just saying i dont think your going to convert people by asking questions like this (if thats your goal) so why not give some valuable info or thought provoking statments instead of doing this all day...

not to be rude adn im making a lot of assumptions, but i just really dislike going back and forth about nothing when we could be going forward about something

Real world knowledge---Thats the point to the bible, to get world knowledge out and replace it with God's knowledge, the truth. The one who created all things, Real world knowledge is based on part truths and tricky truths. Its called "Philosohy" or world wisdom which is deemed by God at lager heads with him. Because it fails to be in harmony with the way in which things actually are from a spiritual view point, God's.

Pletho

Let me ask you this, do you think, in your opinion, that your God would be upset with you if you studied math? If you learned what 2+2 was would He be mad? If not, what subjects are you allowed to study? Are you allowed to read the Qur'an? Are there books / movies you are not allowed to read / watch? What are you allowed to do?

When you die if you were good in this life you will come back as something/someone slightly better, if you were bad in this life you will come back as something/someone slightly worse. It continues like this until you finally release all your karma and achieve the ultimate state of being.

I think you mis-understand what I am saying. God doesn't care that you watch movies or study math ect..

Do you believe everything you read or study or even do? Believing is the key to. You can watch a movie and not believe what is going on. Believing comes from the heart, it is an inner action of the innermost being of a person. A person is the whole total sum of what they believe. Your believing is the prime director of your actions. No one ever rises beyond their believing, no one can believe more than they have know. Your believing is the primary cause of all success and failure in life.

As long as what you do does not get into your heart and root itself as a belief or a fundamental stepping stone, so to speak, then as a Christian you are okay.

Non - Christians operate and are fully affected by the spiritual law of believing, they probably do'nt call it that, but nevertheless it affects their lives to the inth degree. For the most part Non Christians operate biblically principles without even realizing they are, because they don't know that what htey have been doing that works well for them actually is a rooted biblically spiritual principle. When people in general operate spiritual principles things work and when they go against the grain things fail to work or are very shaky. I could go on for a long time explaining this but that is for another thread and another time.

So to answer your question, God cares about people, He sets the laws up in life on HOW life is to be lived and get the most out of it and HOW things work best. He wants all to have a life that is more than abundant in all catagories.

God does not come down and say do this and dont do that. Religious people want to control everyone with God's word and say you are going to hell f you dont do this or that ect.. But true Christianity and Godliness does not do this at all. Just FYI the majority of mainstream Chrisitianity is religous. I mean this in a negative way. The religous leaders have alterior motives of control ect...maybe that do not realize they are wrong but either way its obvious.

God is not a God of fear, you don't motivate people with threats, its God's goodness when shown, talked about and lived that bring people to Him.

All the things that I have said in this post I can back up with the Word and all the things I have said in all my other posts I can valifdate with the Word. It would take a long while to do it, but I can do it. I endeavor to the pbest of my ability not to say things off the cuff, with out knowing that they are written in the word.

Pletho

Pletho,

So God won't send me to hell if I don't believe in him? This is just a man-made idea?