Hi buddy, thanks for your thought provoking reply. Yes, I accept what you have said and appreciate your polite and tactful way of wording. I personally do believe in some form of afterlife. No, unfortunately I cannot prove it to you so I totally understand why you would not feel the same way as me. I just have a problem with people who are so sure of things of which we cannot be sure. 'There is no afterlife!' 'When we die we die!' Maybe they are right but we don't know 100% so certainty on these matters should be taken out of the equation. Lots of things are yet to be discovered by science. Lots of things are still a mystery to us. As humans, I don't believe we know a fraction of the knowledge still to be discovered. Besides, as I go through life the ideas of Karma and Re-incarnation are starting to appeal to me more and more. No I can't prove them but they fit somewhere within the framework of my thinking so they have power and resonate with me.
Thanks for the response.
There's a difference between the statements: "There are no Gods" and "I don't believe in a God." The former statement assumes that no Gods exist, while the latter statement assumes that I personally do not believe in a God because of X (whatever reason that may be). While the wording is tricky, the former statement does not leave room that one can be wrong.
As for "certainty," you are correct. There are not many things in this world that we know for certain. So, I agree, debating with the word "certain" is probably not a good idea. I prefer to use the word "probable." I would say something like, "Based on the best, current available evidence, I reject that a God exists, however, with sufficient evidence, I am open to the possibility that a God exists."
I believe in Karma, but not in a metaphysical sense. I think if you do good things, you are more likely to have good things happen to you based on social reciprocity (if you do good for others, they are more likely to do good by you). If you do shitty things to others, people are more likely to treat you shitty.