That's what my husband's TBM Aunt from Utah said to me.

I told her I was not worried about it.

It feels SO GOOD to be able to say that and mean it too. There was a time when I would have nighmares and lie awake at night worrying about that. But I have been completely deconverted from the Mormon cult for several years now. It feels so good to have no guilt and no fear about the afterlife.

I wish I had had the guts to explain WHY I wasn't worried, but maybe that will happen another day...

This happened last summer, and it was the moment that I realized that the Mormons would NEVER re=convert me and I was totally and completely over their influence. Yay!

In another thread Mia said, "living life for a life after this life is a waste of a life".

I would tell Auntie that you will get to worrying about the afterlife right after you are done making sure this life is OK. Then tell her your biggest worry about the afterlife is how to keep all the names of Joseph's wives straight and if you will be able to remember which ones are also married to other men so you don't embarrass anyone.

Good for you for what you said. Anything more would have fallen on dear ears. She doesn't want to know facts and just threw that afterlife thing out because that's all she's got.

HA! Spilled dinner all over the keyboard. "worried about keeping joes wives straight..."

Don't be worried. Do your best here.

I know what you mean.

As soon as I realized that it was all lies, and then took the next step and realized that there was no God, there is no afterlife, I relaxed. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.

I've had those nightmares, the guilt, the worry about the next life. It's so hard to describe how something that is supposed to be wonderful can instill such dread and how the opposite, a final end can make living life NOW even more wonderful and enjoyable.

I stopped living life in preparation for some reward later and started living my life for today.

I'll never forget when our stake did a youth activity where they played the "game of life" where they go though the whole thing, pre-existence, birth (long dark hallway) and then life, where you can either play games and enjoy your time, or study the scripture, go to "church", you get different cards at each place and then you "die" and go to the spirit world where you are judged based on your cards. If you played basket ball too much or didn't get enough valiant cards, you had to wait for dinner or something... Basically, the lesson is, life isn't for fun, life isn't for living, life is supposed to be for preping for the next life... Life is a burden.

I'm so done with that mindset. I now spend my time doing things I enjoy with my wife and friends, I no longer waste my time with silly things like religion.

What afterlife?

Sorry about that Dave...it came to me in a vision!!!LOL

Why worry? I try my best, but am an erring human being. No more, no less. Can't see that mormons would be better persons than anybody else. If there is an afterlife, then we're all in the same boat.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2012 11:53AM by Dave the Atheist.

“If I am right, then (religious fundamentalists) will not go to Heaven, because there is no Heaven. If they are right, then they will not go to Heaven, because they are hypocrites.”
― Isaac Asimov

The best we can do is live a life that is filled with as much goodness and love that we can squeeze into it. We have no say in what happens after that. It makes no sense to spend our life trying to manipulate the events of another life that we don't even know exists. That is one of my biggest gripes about the Mormon religion. They are all trying to jockey and compete for position in the next life, while this one is passing them by. A lot of them are really screwing it up. Abandoning their families and themselves in the name of religion. It's a ridiculous way to live.

When my great grand children hear stories about me, I want them to be stories of how I loved.

+1

"It makes no sense to spend our life trying to manipulate the events of another life that we don't even know exists."

That's exactly how I feel about it. My questioning friend is freaking out right now - "If not LDS, than what??? I have to believe in SOMETHING!" Oki doki, artichokie.

Good quote by the other dude, too.

That is a question that TBM's should ask more often. Answering it is so satisfying. So many of them are too caught up in worrying about the hereafter that they completely forget about the here-and-now.

Worry about an afterlife when we could be making the most of this one? I just don't get it!

I don't see any real evidence of an "afterlife" and there for there is no need for: fear, worry, concern, etc. I know that billions and billions of human beings over history have a belief, but that is not enough for me.

If there is, there is nothing I can do about it. If there isn't one,there is nothing I can do about it. So why be concerned?

I'm concerned about getting through
TODAY! That's enough! :-)

Good for you. That is wonderful that you have figured out that the CoJCoLDS is a scam. Hope you find enjoyment in the one and only life you will ever have -- right here and right now.

It's all 'Waiting for Godot' isn't it? Spending too much time talking about him, and when you mistakenly think he shows up, you find out it's actually Pozzo....

Chicken'n'Backpacks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's all 'Waiting for Godot' isn't it? Spending
> too much time talking about him, and when you
> mistakenly think he shows up, you find out it's
> actually Pozzo....

*snort* So true.

Not anymore.

experience with the pre existence. Calm, peaceful nothingness.

I choose to look forward to it as long as I have no choice about leaving this life.

I've been able to say this to a few Christians. They are generally speechless.

I mean, what if there is an afterlife but Vishnu or Odin or whatever is in charge?

"I'll take my chances"...With a big smile, of course.

A line from some of my favorite lyrics:

"I read about the afterlife, but I never really lived."

I stopped caring about what comes after and started living for right now. Best decision I've ever made.

No, i'm less worried now, with no religion, than when i was a true believer.

I figure if i've done the best i could and was pleased with my life, that's all i have to really do. If god likes it,fine, if not, fine. Not my problem.

I'd rather be in outer darkness with the knowledge i did the best i could, than be in heaven on someone else's sacrifice, always feeling not good enuf.

Even if I believed in God I wouldn't be worried because I don't think God cares about the same things Mormons and many Christians do. I don't think God is as petty and superficial as relgionists make him out to be. In my opinion God would not condemn someone to Hell because they don't have particular supernatural beliefs. I believe God would judge us based on our hearts not on whether we believe in this or that religion. If God wanted me to "believe in him" I would have by now, but for someone reason I don't have the capacity. It's NOT because I haven't tried! In my opinion whatever God offers us in the afterlife is based on whether we are a GOOD PERSON, not whether we subscribe to a particular god or religion.

Nope, not in the least.
Not anymore.

There was a time when I had just left the Morg when I was worried.. I'd wake up in the middle of the night in a panick, thinking: "Ohboy... I've really done it now...."

but I got over that.
Now I just enjoy life. well, most of the time anyway.

A tbm friend once told me: But what IF?.. what IF it is all true.. you'll sure be in heaps of trouble...

I replied: "Yes.. but what IF?.. what IF it is not true?.. then you sure put in all that effort for fuck all.. I'll take my chances thanks very much..

I do believe that there is an afterlife, but I also believe that we are kept in ignorance of it for a reason. We are meant to focus on this life and this human experience. The net effect of this belief is the same whether or not there is an afterlife.

My dad asked me the same question.

I told him I was not worried about it because I know him or some other dead dunk fanatic in my family will re-baptize and re-ordinance me 1 year to the day after I die, and I will accept it in spirit prison and I will see him in the celestial. I also told him my backup plan, that Brigham Young(?) taught that if the parents are faithful they will drag the kids with them to the celestial. I am covered nine ways from Tuesday.

So all of you with TBM parents, thank them for getting you there even if you don't want to go!

They can stop shunning you! Their faith will be enough!

I wish I could find the reference for that teaching, anyone know it off the top of their head?

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
― Mark Twain

Billions of people have died, surely if there is an afterlife those deceased would be organising a party to get in touch with the living.

God and Jesus do not have to be so secretive surely.

If they exist Im sure they would be glad to show us the afterlife.

Like mormon temples, the afterlife if it exist should neither be a secret or sacred.

I think I shocked my TBM friend when I told her that I had no worries whatsoever about any kind of eternal consequence or punishment.

I don't have a clue about the afterlife except Mormon heaven isn't included in it.