[Bond]

I am not dying! Sorry if I made anyone think this. I made this thread because "what is after death?" is a question that I have been giving much thought since my birthday (21) a few days ago. Normally I just pass birthdays by quite happily, but for some reason this one in particular gave me a sense of my immortality, and that some day I will die.

And I suppose this hit me now because it is a question I have long ignored, along with "is there a God?" I've realized these are (probably) the two greatest questions in our life, and they deserve a great deal of time and effort in addressing them.

In short, I am not sure what happens after death, which I suppose makes me agnostic, but I hope I am not a lazy agnostic. I have always enjoyed studying organized religion, its selective histories are quite fascinating and entertaining, but I have never much liked organized religion as a personal construct for myself. As much as I tried, I cannot convince myself it is right for me to join a religion.

But, of course, faith is not dependent on organized religion. I view faith as a much more personal than communal journey, but perhaps I am wrong.

I will say I think it is misguided to simply dismiss all of religion, in the view that it makes humans subservient and weak, and that the only way toward human empowerment is through a non-religious mindset. In fact, one could quite easily argue the opposite.

Mormonism - a very strict religion by any stretch of the imagination, is a collection of some of the most industrious and wealthy persons America has ever known. A coincidence? Perhaps, but I think unlikely.

In America, we seem to have a science versus religion mindset, which I think is counterproductive. It seems to me as though they would work much more effectively together than against.