There are no easy but competing answers to the question “What Happens When I Die?”
Some don’t have an answer and pledge agnostic, for example, the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, was asked a similar question and answered, “If we don’t know life, how can we know death.”
Some atheists consider “death” is a nonsense word and atheists don’t worry about this question. This life is all there is; be good and get the most out of it, for this is as good as it gets. However, this view seems a bit shallow and doesn’t satisfy too many folks who are seeking for a deeper meaning of life than “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Even the famous atheist French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, admits that “there comes a time when we ask … ‘Is that all there is?’”
From the Chinese funeral practice of burning paper money and gift items to ensure that the dead has lots of good things in the afterlife, to the elaborate designs of Egyptian pyramids, to the reincarnation of New Age teaching, there is a universal yearning – hope – for a better future, a purpose for being and doing good, and a hope for a broken life made whole.
As C.S. Lewis says, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” As we can see, there are different understandings of what the nature of one’s destiny is and how one can get there. This is a good reason to find out more from God’s word, “What Happens When I Die?”
