Will The Circle Be Unbroken

[Atheist]

I presume that this old hymn refers to the question of whether or not we will meet our loved ones after death. The Circle could mean the family circle or the circle of friends/family once sat around the dinner table.
It always has felt a bit odd to me that we might meet our loved ones after death. Suppose we meet other people. Maybe some of them might be even better than our loved ones. There must be millions of people out there that we could have met somewhere and some time.
I think that the notion is attractive, but I find it a bit unconvincing.
I hope to hear some opinions, preferably friendly and helpful.

[Old_Geezer]

I feel sure you'll be allowed to go meet anyone you wish. Take an eternity meeting them all.

[Atheist]

OG; "I feel sure you'll be allowed to go meet anyone you wish."
But that presumes you are around to have wishes. If, as I presume, you will no longer exist, then you won't have a choice. If you do still exist and so do have a choice, then suppose you choose someone who doesn't want to meet you? It all becomes a bit silly. It really does seem to me to be a bit pie-in-the-sky/wishful thinking. If life has been so bad for you, then it would be consoling to think you'll find a better world where everything will be good. But where does that belief come from, apart from wishful thinking?

[Zacs-Master]

The belief comes from not wanting this short existence we have to be finite. It also comes from a desire to make those who are bereaved have hope and to take some pain away.
Let’s tread carefully with this subject tonight given the very sad news of a loved and respected AB member having passed away.

[naomi24]

Atheist, I don’t understand your reference to meeting other people. Meeting them in what respect?

The notion of meeting loved ones in an afterlife is a comfortingly pleasant one. I see no harm whatsoever in that. However, whether or not it actually happens can only be a matter of speculation. That said, I've no doubt whatsoever that odd and inexplicable things DO happen in this life and although, in my opinion, religion has no part of it, personally, I can never say 'never'.

[Atheist]

Naomi; Meeting people in the afterlife is not something of which I have experience. I presume it can vary from the belief that people will be resurrected and meet other people in the flesh, to being in some way aware of other presences which are recognisable. I see no reason for me to find either of these to be plausible. But one must wait and see.

[Zacs-Master]

'Meeting people in the afterlife is not something of which I have experience'

Da da daaaaa. You have just won Answerbank's superfluous sentence of the day award.

[davebro]

I want to come back as a sheep. You are surrounded by food, can crap where you like, have a sheepskin coat & feet that don't feel the cold and get a haircut & a bath once a year. Bliss!

[Atheist]

Zacs; you should have seen the twinkle in my eye as I wrote it. :-)

[Zacs-Master]

Ha ha. I thought it might be tongue-in-cheek. You can still have the award tho.

[naomi24]

An award - but not the prized gold star, atheist.

[Zacs-Master]

The gold star from which we're all created, Naomi?

[Atheist]

Naomi; What's the Gold Star?

[naomi24]

I’ll tell you when - and if - you ever qualify.

[Atheist]

Naomi; Oh. It's a secret club like the Bullingdon boys?

[archibaldy]

A strange notion about the 'meeting up after we die' is which version of ourselves (and indeed others) would that be?

The version just before death? Fine in some accidental death cases but probably not for the majority.

Is everyone the same age and we meet our grandparents looking far younger than we never saw them in our lifetime? Friends we made in old age looking unrecognisably young to us?

What about people who died as children and babies, do they stay that age forever or are their probable future forms projected?

More questions than answers for me I'm afraid.

[Atheist]

All sensible questions, Archibaldy.
I hope that someone who believes in afterlife might join in. I don't want to argue about stuff, just to hear different points of view in a friendly discussion.

[PsalmEquipt]

There's a day coming when all believers from the age of grace (including those alive or in the grave) will be gathered together to meet Jesus Christ in the air. We will receive new, glorious bodies and there will no longer be any negative thoughts or memories.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I Thessalonians 4:16,17

[naomi24]

PsalmEquipt, Paul certainly had a vivid imagination but since he didn't know Jesus he could hardly write from experience.