Should Christians & Atheists not care about the afterlife?

I was telling a friend the other day that debates between Christians and Atheists should not focus on the beginning but on the end of life. 

Christians do not have a definitive answer for questions pertaining to the beginning of time. Sure, we can quote Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. The bible also says that God made the world in 7 days.

But to non-believers, they find this far-fetched and hard to grasp. And maybe, they finally accept the idea and then another pertinent question arises…”Why did God create us?” Christians might say, “For his pleasure…” and, “to exercise His love”.

Check this debate on the existence of God between Way of the Master and the Rational Response Squad:

But do you see how bringing up the beginning may make Christians look just as lost? Well, it is true we are as clueless as anybody out there on why we are on earth or how the earth came about … the promise that we have however is on eternity… that was what I was telling a friend.

The more pressing questions we should ask are, “What happens to us when we die?” and “Where do we go from here?” That’s what I thought till I came upon an article that says it is not right to talk about the afterlife. 

Why not emphasize the afterlife as the best reason for becoming a Christian?
When the afterlife is emphasized as the primary reason [for being a Christian], it inevitably turns Christianity into a religion of requirements and rewards: [With this type of thinking] if there is an afterlife, it doesn’t seem fair to most people that everybody gets to go there regardless. One must have to do or believe something [in order to experience life after death]. Suddenly we’re focusing on requirements and rewards.

Secondly, when the afterlife is emphasized, it tends to divide the world into those who are saved and those who are not. An emphasis on the afterlife also directs our attention to the other world or the next world rather than to transformation within this world. I see transformation within this world to be the primary meaning of the Christian gospel. An invitation to relationship with God is what begins to transform our lives in the here and now, and as that relationship deepens, it also leads us to become concerned about the transformation of society and the world itself.

I see Christianity, and its roots in Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, as very much a this-worldly religion. There’s no denial of an afterlife in my saying that. But it’s a way of saying that we leave the afterlife up to God. Our task is the transformation of ourselves and of the world this side of death.

 -explorefaith.org

When we have people out there suffering from so much angst, pain, sickness and worry, should we not tell them there is something better to look forward to? All of us want to make sure that we do not end up as a speck of dust and into nothing after we die. I am sure, we want to see some relevance in dying.

If we believe we have souls and spirits, then we want to know where we are going to. I want to know what happens to me when I am dead and if I am told of the promises of heaven, then I can look forward to that. When I was chatting with my friend, I told her about how eastern religions understand the concept of heaven and hell… somehow, the westerners miss that point…maybe because they do not discuss about the afterlife enough!

Christians are lucky because we are told that we will be basking in light rather than darkness when we die. We are given that access pass to heaven and amen to that!

Life on earth can be bleak…it may have been smooth sailing but we will reach a snag and when that time comes, what are we going to hold on to?  

What is your stand? Is there a heaven? Should we not focus on the afterlife but on the beginning (because it is more important)? Should Christians not focus on the afterlife?

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