Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 03:01:51 -0700 (PDT) From: "keith sargent" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert Subject: Which afterlife? Who's judging you? To: kim.jin@epa.gov Jin, You've got a lot of research to do! If you are concerned that there might be an afterlife and a judgement day, you're going to have to find out which religion is the correct one, because the actions that might get you into Heaven in one, will send you to Hell in another. Here's a nice website on the afterlife: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=431764 To summarize from it: Afterlife Beliefs and Phenomena -- http://www.near-death.com/religion.html Zoroastrianism Essenes Sadducees Gnosticism Manichaeism Baha'i Theosophy Spiritualism Greek Mysteries American Indian Shamanism Egyptian Aztec Voodoo Aboriginal Views of the Afterlife -- http://library.thinkquest.org/16665/afterlifeframe.htm Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Polynesia Aztecs Aborigines Conservative Protestant Roman Catholic Liberal Christian Jehovah's Witnesses Mormon Seventh Day Adventists Hindu Islam Buddhism Judaism Existential Zoroastrianism Dante ~~~~~ But even after all that research, how will you know which one is true (or most likely to be true)? You'll know which one you like, but you won't know which one is true. All religions require you to have faith. You want a sign? The Mormons' say that if you pray hard enough God will reveal to you that the true church is the Latter day Saints. But the American Indians went on a vision quest. They fasted and went without sleep. As an economist, maybe you should choose the religion with the largest number of believers -- but then what sect should you choose? A book I'm reading now says that the Christian religion has about 23,000 distint sects in the U.S. Although I suppose most would agree on what would get you into heaven. I hope I'm being helpful, but at this stage in your life, I don't think it's going to be easy to find a religion that comforts you about the afterlife that you will be certain about. Keith