You can never overestimate the human capacity for self-delusion. Sorry for the loss of someone you loved. He's dead. He's not making leaves rustle or wind blow and he's not taking harp lessons/having wing-fittings in some celestial halls. He's dead. Grit your teeth and roll your eyes when people babble nonsense about that. You know better.

Few popes back , I will never forget ..
that MF did anything and everything he could to stay alive , every possible medical intervention was done then some more .
U will think , “ happy times , hello Jesus , I am coming home and I can’t wait “. Oh no . It was more like “ don’t let me go , don’t let me go , staying alive , staying alive ”.

I have seen parents and relatives of abused and dead children also saying “ she is in a better place . God needed an angel “. And I just walk away . W paper bag for vomit .

Everyone I know , one way or another , sooo concerned with some type of afterlife or reborn . Totally forgetting to live life today . That’s the tragedy .

I hope u and family cope w the loss . Hugs .

Condolences for your loss.

At my son's memorial service in 2001, about a week after his passing, a couple of my friends from work were sitting near the back of the facility. They told me the heavy double doors on the side suddenly opened. They thought someone was coming in, but why open both doors? There was no one there. Just as suddenly, the doors closed again. They didn't know what to think. A big, loud storm did come up that night, so it was probably air pressure. When I got home, there was a fairly large tree branch laying where I ordinarily park my car, which I had driven to the service. When things happen we sometimes try and ascribe more to them than what is really there. It was all weather related.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand your frustration. Even knowing she was being put underground in a cement vault, my grandmother wanted buried in her best outfit for when she was "awakened." My other grandmother wanted put in her nightgown since she would just be "sleeping." So, yeah, as nonbelievers, it's frustrating to watch. At times, it's added anger to my grief.

I believe religion puts a cocoon around people's emotions, making it impossible for them to clearly feel what they're going through. It makes it easier to control them. After all, someone who feels grief with clarity may actually start to question the status quo, and the church frowns at that.

People live on in the minds of those who remember them. That is one reason I like Memorial Services vs. funerals.

I hate when people say, “They’re in a better place & we will see them again.” Oh, ok. Then why are we all crying? If this truly was the case shouldn’t we all be happy? Smh

There is nothing wrong with seeking comfort in the idea that one never dies, but live on in some nether world. It has brought comfort to mankind since the beginning of time and it is not likely to change anytime soon. It is no more off the wall than the idea of reincarnation for sure. Not someplace I would want to go anyway if it did exist. Can you imagine the billions of people there? And do you go the age you are or the condition you died? I'd rather deal with zombies! LOL. But if it helps people grieve and get through the trauma, let them have it. It certainly doesn't hurt you in any way.
I had a friend at work one day we were discussing our religious or lack thereof beliefs. He said he was a believer because he could not fathom that his life would end after however many years he got to live and there had to be something else after. I found that to be the height of self aggrandisement and told him so! LOL I feel many people feel this way though, that no matter how long a person lived, there has to be more. I accept death as a part of life it is. It is the great equalizer and spares no one. You may be able to avoid taxes, but there is no avoiding death and all the praying, believing and faith to the contrary, you are going to be just as dead as I will be at some point. Enjoy life while you have it.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I cannot stomach all the ridiculous nonsense people attribute to the dead.
Most of the time, I ignore it.
If pressed, I'll give my honest position about it.
I usually warn whomever is pushing the issue that they aren't going to
like what I have to say.

If it's people I love, I really try to avoid those situations.
I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, especially when they're already hurting.
I've pretty much stopped attending family funerals.
Luckily, I live pretty far from most of them, and no one expects to see me at
family functions.

Again, my deepest condolences.

I'm sorry for your loss.

If we were taught, from the time we realize what death means, that when we die our atoms and energy return to the earth/the universe, thus allowing other life to exist, and that we are a part of life that existed prior to us, we would accept it. And, even though death would still seem scary, we would likely find it comforting. It really is a form of reincarnation--only we do not come back as a single life form. Our energy and atoms become a part of many other life forms; and, there is no soul, or consciousness, that survives.

But, instead, in Christianity, we are taught the we will continue on and will be with Jesus and those whom we love, forever; and all of our struggles will have been worth it-- so, the thought of no afterlife is terrifying to them.

The problem is not the ritual of death, but the BS that gets shoveled in.

This is very profound and resonates with me incredibly hard. I've had .y father pass away last month, and the same was said by relatives, despite it contradicting all known physics. So rather than celebrating his life, it was all about some mystical God.

When someone dies, their elements go into the environment, just like where they came from, and it's a cycle that has happened trillions of times previously.

The issue is that such truth is not as romantic as heaven, nor is the truth powerful enough to control behaviour as much as hell.

Deno.

I am sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you this day.

Sorry for your loss.

Most Christians would argue that lowering a body into the ground, or even destroying it through cremation, makes no difference since it is something invisible - the spirit - which goes to heaven. They all somehow believe, however, that that spirit returns to a visible form in heaven, that we will 'see' and 'meet' them again.

Someone has already mentioned the overcrowding that would surely become problematic, especially since - these days - it would be exacerbated by the presence of millions of cats, dogs, budgerigars, hamsters and so forth which they somehow believe will go with them. My absentee brother's first comment when I notified him of the death of our mother was how he had a 'beautiful thought' of all her deceased pets coming to meet her as she crossed the 'rainbow bridge' (whatever the unbiblical fk that is).

As to subsequent manifestations, I remember a devout Christian (an elderly indigenous Australian sent by Christians to England as a child in order to Westernise her) telling me that my newly dead daughter had appeared to her, held her hand and told her she was 'all right'. It did not occur to her that I would feel troubled at the idea of the daughter I loved appearing to her and not to me. And being present at the death of a friend I recall her own daughters arriving and one of them maintaining that she should have known something terrible had happened because her own freezer had inexplicably defrosted that day. A good friend (online) posted about the joy of a mother visiting the grave of her dead son and having a robin alight upon her hand. After all, it was her son's favourite bird. (a) the robin is pretty much everyone's favourite bird, and the robin is either the bravest or the stupidest bird in existence since it very quickly accepts humans and will often feed from the human hand.

The comfort of insane and inane beliefs troubles me very deeply. I think of the hundreds of thousands of young men who have died in combat in the last hundred and six years who were sacrificed by many in the belief that 'We'll meet again, Don't know where, don't know when'. Having come to terms with the finality and totality of death, even rather looking forward to my own, I wonder how many parents would have allowed their kids to go to war if they themselves understood that finality.

I know I will never see my beloved little girl again and it is the sort of pain one cannot express or escape. That is the reality.

I came across this statement by a physicist a few years ago and think it suits the definition of life after death, or rather continued life.

[futurism.com]

Ultimately some people do not want to think that they aren't going to see their loved ones again, and that they themselves will no longer exist some day.

People believe what they want to believe especially during times of stress or grief. So they believe happy thoughts and fantasies regardless of any evidence or lack thereof.

People believe what they want to believe.

It's always so hard when someone we have had parental feelings for, even remote ones, dies. I am very sorry.

If it comforts people to believe it, let them believe it in peace. You have no idea what happens to us after we die.

“We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” - Carl Sagan

I am annoyed that after this post there is nothing to add. Shame on you! I am sorry for your loss. Best wishes.

Yes, I agree, it gives people false comfort. I'm not sure if they are afraid of dying so much as no longer being or of losing everything or soneone completely. But if it's our death it won't matter because we won't be aware that we're dead because we'll be dead and if it's the death of someone we love, suck it up. It hurts but you can learn to live without them. I appreciate your pain as I'm about to lose a loved one myself.

I am so sorry for your loss. You have correct views on religion and death.