Are there any religions that worship God but do not believe in an Afterlife (page 2)

jaguarbass

I dont know the answer to your question about a specific relgion.

But I have observed that people are reward orientated. quid quo pro. Somehting for something.

There has to be a payoff for human behavior.

FlyingHighNow

Believing in the resurrection and believing it is a "reward" are two different things. I believe we all live on. It's not a reward.

I don't believe in God or an afterlife, BUT if there is one, I hope this philosophy is correct:
After life is not a reward from God. It's something we all deserve after being put here on earth at great disadvantage. Don't you think? I don't think you need to earn it. It's automatic. And God doesn't need anything from you.
Still I wonder: Do you believe that even the "bad" (murderers, rapists, etc) people get the same good outcome?

Freud, check out Universalism. We pay the consequences for bad decisions, those of our own and of others, right here on earth. I have read some interesting books about people going into debriefing and rehabilitation upon death. And some have to work things out through community type service. But in Universalism, all intelligent creatures will eventually be drawn back to good and love, they won't be able to resist it forever.

There are Universalists among any faith system, including Christianity. High control religions tend to hate Universalism because there is no requirement for life beyond this one. You don't have to be gain salvation. Christian Universalists do not believe Christ came to pay a ransom, but rather to teach us and offer hope and show the kind of power God has to right things when this world is finished. Since a Universalist is not worried about God's punishment or reward, he or she will be responsible for coming to their own good decisions. He or she can be truly moved by God's love.

gymbob

I believe in doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do, not for some childish reward/threat.

Say there are two boys, Billy and Bobby. When their mother tells them to go clean their rooms, Billy says "ok mom, it's my room and I got it dirty so I'll go clean it".

Bobby, on the other hand tells his mom, "No. Not unless you give me something". So mom says, "I'll make your favorite dinner tonight if you go clean your room (heaven). Of coarse, if you don't clean you room, I'm going to spank your butt (hell). So Bobby goes to clean his room.

So both boys cleaned up their rooms, but for different reasons. Which kid would you say cleaned his room for the right reason? Gymbob

reneeisorym

Copied from a website:

The core of Judaism is a covenant relationship - which is both a contractual agreement and a "marriage" of love - between Yahweh and his chosen people. Because Judaism is built around a relationship involving agreements and promises in this life, the afterlife is less essential for Judaism than for other world religions. It would, in fact, be relatively easy to imagine Judaism without any afterlife beliefs whatsoever. Because of the non-centrality of the afterlife for Judaism, this tradition has been able to entertain a wide variety of different afterlife notions throughout its history, more so than perhaps any other religion.

The ancient Hebrews emphasized the importance of the present life over the afterlife. As with both the ancient Greeks and Mesopotamians, the afterlife, if it was considered at all, was conceived of as a pale shadow of earthly life, much like the Greek Hades. Also similar to the Greek Hades, in the Hebrew afterlife no distinction was made between the treatment of the just and the unjust after death. Instead, rewards and punishments were meted out in the present life, and in the covenant "contract" Yahweh promised to do just that.

gymbob

I also don't believe there is a life after this one. Of coarse, if there is a life after this one there isn't one damn thing we can do about it, and I"ve seen too many people wasting way too much of this life trying to make it comfortably into another life that could be out ther after this one.

metatron

I think someone should have mentioned Buddhism by now. Belief about an afterlife varies, from outright reincarnation to total oblivion.

metatron

james_woods

There may be certain interpretations of Buddhism that may meet that criteria.

But one cannot be sure until reaching a higher level than this.

jwfacts

Renee that was very intriguing regarding the Jews. I have often wondered why the OT says virtually nothing about the afterlife.

TopHat

It is not an easy thing NOT to believe in an afterlife...even without religion, it is programed into our very being. So it seems. BUT I don't really know if there is an afterlife.

jgnat

I have never met a worshipper that does not believe in a resurrection, and by your comment yourself included.

You just have. As a Christian Skeptic, I worship God because he exists, desires a relationship with me, and drives me to be more than I am. As a skeptic, I cannot say for certain what will happen when I die. I am a Christian to be closer to divine, now, rather than live by base instinct.

I believe Confucionists can follow their philosophy without resorting to belief in the afterlife. Religious philosophies like Confucionism are more concerned about self improvement and treatement of fellow man.

As another poster has noted, the Jewish faith also is more concerned about behavior in the current life. Death is left as the unknown.

The biblical Saducees did not believe in an afterlife. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadducees

I see from the big religion chart that there are more. http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

Are there any religions that worship God but do not believe in an Afterlife

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