Genesis 3:19 (King James): In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
“Where do you believe you were you before you were born and what do you believe will happen to you after you die?”
The “dust to dust” passage comes from the Torah. It’s Jewish, not Christian.
Judaism is different than Christianity especially in regard to life before birth and after death. There is no mention of Heaven or Hell. Judaism has nothing to say about what happens to us after we die. It does not encourage us to believe in any God-given future rewards. There’s no repayment for goodness or punishment for evil. In some sectors of Judaism they believe that in our end of times, the dead will rise and be judged. But this is not a universal belief. Judaism has no central authority, so beliefs are unique to groups and individuals. (No matter what anyone says.)
You live on Earth. After that, who knows? Jews are free to believe what they want to believe about life and death. Some believe in heaven, others in reincarnation. Many believe in nothing. There is no guarantee of justice.
What will happen after you die? Maybe something, possibly nothing. Will “my soul” become a new soul in a new body? How about Karma? Hinduism and Judaism share many fundamental beliefs and some Jews believe that when God sent out Abraham to teach monotheism in Israel, his brother was sent east and these same beliefs became Hinduism. True? Not true? Best guess?
Regardless of dogma, if God or one of his sidekicks have chatted with any of us, no one has chatted with me.
As for me, I don’t know, and I don’t care. When I’m dead, life is over.
I will live what years I have remaining and deal with whatever comes. I would hope that whatever happens after we die is at least peaceful. Finally, all bills will have been paid. The phone won’t ring. Email will stop piling up.
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Categories: #FPQ, #Photography, Death and Dying, Provocative Questions, Quotation
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I agree. When you’re dead, it’s all over. You no longer exist.
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I would love it to be otherwise, but a wish isn’t a reality. Hey, if there’s a heaven? Cool!
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I think Fandango must LOVE your post. It echoes what he believes very well I think. Me? Well, it’s a lot more complex and I’m not going to bore everyone with that, they can read my own post if they are curious. One thing I didn’t mention and which so far as I have read, nobody else has either, is the ‘energy/matter’ theory. There is a school of thought that we’re all made up of energy and energy never dies, it just takes on different forms. That kinda blows my mind.
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I totally love the energy and matter thing.
I will not deny the possibility of afterlife. I just can’t say that I believe it’s true. I would LIKE it to be true. Rephrased, I really WANT it to be true. I want to meet all my friends and all my online friends I’ve never met in the afterlife. I want all my dogs and cats and birds to be there, too. My collection of friends now has more dead people in it than live ones and I miss them. My mother, brother, husband (first husband), friends (LONG list), online friends. My mother’s entire family — brothers and sisters — as well as all my grandparents who died before I was old enough to meet them.
Last night Garry said “You know, I was wondering how come I never see all the performers I remember and loved and I realize, they are DEAD. Like almost all of them. These days, I’m surprised if I realize one or two of them are still alive.”
I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to figure out what I believe and eventually realize that I don’t believe in many things, but I don’t actively NOT believe in them, either. I think i was born to be a fence-sitter.
Ironically, I have spent MORE time than anyone else I know studying religions. In college I had enough credits for it to be my major, but there WAS no religion major. They tried to invent one for me, but it was the 1960s and schools were a lot more rigid than they are now. The head of both the sociology and philosophy departments wanted me as a graduate student — and the school wouldn’t allow it. It wasn’t in their “book.”
I studied in a yeshiva in Israel and at our local church. I spent time with Bernard Cardinal Law and any number of pastors, reverends, and rabbis … and I always end up with more questions than answers. My last pastor said it was obvious I was waiting for Jesus to show up with a picture ID. I’m not even sure THAT would help. That’s why I need time travel. I need to go there and really SEE WHAT HAPPENED. Then I can really write about it!
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I remember many of my past lives. We’ve been around a long time. Death? We just step across and carry on. Soul is eternal.
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I want you to be right. FYI, couldn’t access your site yesterday. I could read it, but comments and likes never appeared and I finally gave up. Just so you know, I was there!
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My sites all messed up right now. We are working on it. Thank you for that feedback.
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Just letting you know. I still can’t get in, but I can read it. So you aren’t going to get a lot of hits, but you aren’t invisible, either.
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Nearly everything around here can be improved. Sometimes things seem so bad I feel like trashing it and starting over.
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