Why do Christians grieve so when a loved one dies? Do they grieve as much as an atheist? They'll be reunited with them in paradise so why so sad?

@SW-User

So what if you couldn't do any of that? They were moving away to some monetary and taking a vow of silence. Do you think you'd mourn that in the same way as you'd mourn losing them forever?

@Pikachu That's like asking a parent if they mourn for a child that has run away from home and wishes to never return. What do you think?

@SW-User

No i think that's different because in that scenario the parent is worried if their child is happy, safe....or dead.

@Pikachu As you would in the scenario you've painted. Whenever a loved one is away and you don't hear from them you become concerned of their well being. Basic human nature.

@SW-User


I agree....but if you believe that your loved one is totally fine and you'll live with them forever in paradise then what do you have to be worried about?

@Pikachu Sense of loss has little to do with where a loved one ends up in the spirit. When you love someone your natural inclination is to draw closer to them through the 5 senses. You want to hug them smell them see them and hear them. Grieving is the process of coming to terms with the fact that that can't happen any longer while you're still here.

@SW-User

I guess i just don't understand why that would be true if you're convinced that you're loved one is ok and you'll see them again. As an atheist it seems to me that, that belief would be such a tremendous comfort that one would be sad but only sad in the same way that one is sad when a friend or sibling moves away. Because they're not gone forever, just for a while.
And yet Christians seem to experience this loss as if it were permanent when they ought not to.

@Pikachu Yes any loss in the immediate is painful because we're talking about the body and how it operates. It craves and wants what it knows until such time it comes to terms with a new reality and establishes a new equilibrium. Loss causes emotional imbalance. Knowledge that we will see them again helps calm us down but that's not what's important in the immediate. What's important and in focus at the time of hearing of the loss is exactly that, that a loved one is gone.

@SW-User

But do you grieve the loss of someone who moves out of country in the same way you grieve the loss of someone who has died?

@Pikachu Apples and oranges. Moving countries is not the same as moving dimensions.

@SW-User

I disagree.
It's a temporary separation vs a permanent separation.
Would you grieve what you knew was a temporary separation in the same way you would grieve a permanent one?

@Pikachu Let me try it this way. If you tell an individual who's trying to lose weight to cut down (not give up completely) on carbs what happens to them?

@SW-User

lol waaa? I'm excited to see where this analogy goes.

I guess what happens to them is that their either take your advice and lose weight, they don't take your advice or they try and fail to take your advice.

@Pikachu And how easy is it for them to take your advice?

@SW-User

I suppose that depends on their commitment to losing weight.

@Pikachu and they still crave the carbs correct? Should the knowledge that they have a cheat day take away the cravings if we go by your logic?

@SW-User

Well that's a bit of a tortured analogy but i would say yes: Knowing that you can still have carbs sometimes would be much more bearable than saying you can never have carbs again.

@Pikachu But they still crave them sometimes so intensely that they fail the weight loss journey. Why?

@SW-User

Cuz carbs are good?

@Pikachu And a loved one even more so.

@SW-User

Sure...but all your analogy is doing is reinforcing the fact that we experience the loss, not explaining why a temporary loss should feel the same as a permanent loss (cheat day carbs vs no carbs ever).

@Pikachu Similarly, moving countries can be temporary and even if permanent, there's always the the possibility of visitation.

So there's no analogy you can come up with to make sense of what you're trying to argue, especially since you don't see a difference in moving place vs moving dimensions and how the mind/body interprets the two.

@SW-User


Nope, i don't. If someone moves to a monastery with no communication for 40 years but know i'll see them at the end of that, how does my mind/body interpret that? If someone moves to a different dimension but i know i'll see them again, how does my mind/body interpret that?

@Pikachu
Not dead.


Dead, meeting them again means I too must die.

@SW-User

You've identified the difference in the scenarios, not why or how my mind/body should interpret them differently if i believe they both only represent a temporary separation.