Have you met my ex's???? Not just NO, but Hell No!

It's interesting that you phrased it that way: that the only way we could have life after death is via a god and a heaven. Have I ever thought about spending eternity with loved ones? Sure.

I've lost an inordinate number of my close circle of friends at very young ages, including my husband. There was a point in my depression over it that I imagined them off in some afterworld having an amazing party without me. Losing my father a couple of years ago - again, at too young an age - has left a hole in me that I don't think will ever heal. My desire to be with all of them is very, very strong.

But does it change my view about god? No. If anything, it drives home why religion uses the loss of loved ones as a draw to keep membership, and that rather angers me.

No, of course not

But I do secretly think most christians tend to live in their own hell while alive

Of course, but then I wake up from the fantasy. It stands to reason that one of the universal premises behind the invention of religion involves an afterlife where we will be reunited with those we love.

But I'm more interested in the mechanics of this entire process. What form would one's existence in this afterlife assume? How is one recognized if not in "the flesh?" And if restored in "the flesh" at what age are we to live the rest of eternity? I for one don't want to be restored as an old fart. And what about those who died in infancy? Do they stay as babies forever, or do they age? What is the process of aging throughout eternity anyway? What about a sibling or a friend who died in our youth? Do we see them as they were, or do we return to the moment they died, in their eyes?

If the mechanisms and processes for the afterlife were perhaps better understood as a process, might we all want to take a pass on the concept?

All eternity in that North Korea in the sky?!
No thanks. To rot and to get eaten up by bugs and worms is just fine with me.

You obviously have not met much of my family. No is the answer

A pleasant afterlife is a nice idea, yes. An afterlife ruled by (any of the various) gods, though, is significantly less appealing. And "forever" is too long.

An ideal afterlife, I think, would last about a month. See the sights, visit loved ones, eat some ice cream, and be done. That would be nice, wouldn't it? A sort of little vacation after the rigors of death, just to tie up loose ends and end this whole thing on a happy note.

But no, I don't spend any time "hoping" for this. It's an idle fantasy; nothing more.

Your wording of the question sounds like you're assuming (or telling yourself) that all of us on this site do this. No, we don't.

Absolutely no, see my ex wife Hell no

More than a decade after her death, I still feel a large raw, Vickie shaped hole, but I don't feel any need to imagine some afterlife where we can be together. She was so sick, for so long, that is mostly what I think of when thinking of her.

To "secretly hope" is to give in to Religious dogma.

If you "secretly hope" for "time travel"

If you "secretly hope" for alien contact.

If you "secretly hope" for the ability to travel to other solar systems.

Then you,
@waitingforgodo" are not well, and need some kind of special attention.

If you "secretly hope" that you will have a sense of existence in another organism...say, a plant, an insect, a creature, even...in the distant future....another human...then you can have what scientists call "reasonable odds" But the other stuff? You're sad and suffering. Seek help.

Knowing life won't last is what makes it special. You would take everything for granted living in a state of eternity and not to mention hearing grandpa's old stories being repeated for the first million years would drive me insane.

I only wish it were true I would see my deceased loved ones again, but Heaven isn’t part of that.
But to hold out hope there’s a heaven is like the first couple of Christmases after you find out Santa isn’t real. It all makes sense and you know he isn’t, but you still hope everybody’s wrong and you’ll get what you wished for.

Not for a split second. Life has been pretty good for me here so why would I want to jinx that for some place that's full of hateful, discriminatory, narrow-minded, greedy, stupid (I could go on) people?? Do you think there's such a thing as freedom of speech or action in heaven? Everybody has to toe the line and keep kissing some supposed deity's butt.

Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end...NO!

I have no desire whatsoever to live for an eternity. Life, family, would have no meaning if we all live forever. What would make anything, anyone, special? Would we even have our bodies? And, eventually, absolute boredom would take over. Seriously, what would one even do for an eternity?

Eternity horrifies me. I think I'd probably be pretty bored after the first billion years but that would be nothing in the face of eternity. I'd settle for a few hundred years, maybe a thousand.

Sounds like a dream that the good things last forever. Not at all like reality, but maybe that is the point.

If there is, I suppose our membership here will exclude us from the festivities.

You have to be kidding! No!

Oh hell no! I can't think of anything more fucking boring than heaven. Seriously, no sex, no alcohol, no chocolate, no seafood, no sex, no pets, no sex... fuck no!

And if there was a god he have a lot to answer for.

No, not at all. For such to be the case we would all be nothing but preprogrammed pawns dancing for the delight of a monstrous master. No thank you.

Spend an eternity with that genocidal maniac with catastrophic anger management issues and even worse issues of personal insecurity known as the God of the Bible? No Way, Jose!

I am Pagan. So I do believe in afterlife. We Pagans don’t see it as the Abrahamics do - ie. We don’t really see it as “Heaven” or sitting around on a cloud doing nothing. We see it more as maybe reincarnation in another place (not here on earth necessarily and not as an animal). We see heaven as a “higher plain”.
I personally don’t wanna spend eternity with all of my family. I wouldn’t mind seeing my Father again because he was a very fun person.