Originally posted by HotSnoJ
But what if you're wrong? You'll end up in hell?!
What if you're wrong and should be muslim, or sikh, or hindu, or buddhist - etc? There are more religions than christianity.
Personally, I've hedged my bets - I just try to live the best life I can, and morally that's not particularly different from what most holy books would say.
The only difference is that I'm not an active worshipper - and I wouldn't worship any God who valued praise of Himself so highly as to judge a persons sole (or souls'?) worth by it.
EDIT; Secondly, whether someone goes to Hell or not, is not something anyone can judge. Basically it's God's judgement, yeah? And all we have are books- written by the hands of men, and thousands of years old - as an indication of the conditions for that judgement.
Originally posted by Setekh
Now, aldo. I do see validity in a lot of what you say, particularly the "making no impact" bit, but I'm going to sleep soon. 
However, I'll put this to you: is 'having an impact' the purpose of life, do you think? (Completely rhetorical. You can say yes if you like, I just know a lot of people who assume this without thinking, which bugs me.)
Secondly, how do children, many of whom we could arguably say have no real conception of what genuine sorrow is, have a concept of happiness? And additionally, do you suppose that you have to be simultaneously experiencing sorrow to have a true measure of happiness? Because as far as my understanding goes, heaven does not make you suddenly become asinine and make you lose your comprehension of what sorrow (which people in heaven will no doubt have experienced in this world) is like.
Now, as a semi-aside...i'd never really though too deeply about why reincarnation appeals to me more than other interpretations of the afterlife... one of the things is that, at every moment in your life you make decisions.
Every now and then, you'll do the wrong thing, or just wonder what would have happened the other way. And reincarnation is a way of discovering that - even though it'd be subconscious, it's a comforting though to think that not every door is closed.
And secondly, i've always felt that life should be measured by who you are and what you do... and that the best way to live life is to have a positive impact. i.e. try and be a fair, honest person, not judge people, etc.
Basically, I neither believe nor disbelieve in God. I simply think it doesn't, and shouldn't matter - if I die and that's all there is, then i'm not going to know. If there is an afterlife, then good. But I don;t think I need the bible or any other holy book to dictate to me how to live.
finally, RE: sorrow. Children understand sorrow or, more accurately, suffering. Hence, obviously, the crying when a baby is hungry or whanot, or separated from the mother. It's something that's genetically inbuilt to us, to recognise what is good (happiness) and bad (sorrow) in terms of both physical or emotional events.
Whether you view this inbuilt 'judgement' as something which is a genetic, biological necessity or something more (namely the work of God), is something that is up to your own beliefs. but I don;t think you could argue that, the more you suffer in your life, the more you appreciate it when you're happy.
EDIt; Incidentally, i'm using God / the Bible as an example because most people (who are religious) here will likely be Christian. You can insert any diety or holy book here and the point should still be the same one.
