Life is valuable with or without afterlife

John Bisazza (The Sunday Times, November 9) claimed that our existence would be totally pointless without an afterlife to look forward to.

He may consider his perspective 'wide', but in my opinion his approach is narrow-minded.

The belief that the only purpose for our existence is to have a blissful afterlife just doesn't convince me.

Just because our existence may not continue after death, by no means does it make our life here on earth "useless"; and it does not mean that all the experiences, encounters, and accomplishments in life are all "lost in an abyss of nothingness", as Mr Bisazza puts it.

How can somebody claim that our lives here are pointless if not extended after we die? Everything we do leaves something behind. The good we do in our lives is carried on after death through the lives of people we have touched. Our actions and achievements are definitely going to make a difference, however small, to the lives of others. And that is exactly how we "continue to live" after death - through the good that we accomplish while living here on earth. And that, I think, is why we're here - to try to make this world a better place for everyone. Our good deeds are definitely not lost "in an abyss of nothingness".

Not to mention, of course, children. When we have children, we live on through them, in a way. The responsibility of raising children gives life another purpose. I am sure Mr Bisazza would agree with me on this.

So in no way is this life, on earth, "useless". On the contrary, since there is so much to live for apart from the afterlife, I think that this life is extremely important - whether or not it continues after we die.

Mr Bisazza somehow felt the need to point out that the concept of afterlife was already recognised by ancient Egyptian and Greek religions even before Christianity. Those were pagan religions, and in my opinion, their beliefs are quite irrelevant to Christianity - unless of course somebody wishes to emphasise the pagan origins of certain aspects of the Christian tradition.

Mr Bisazza mentioned those religions in such a matter-of-fact way that one gets the impression that what pagans believed (or still believe) is of some particular relevance to his Christian faith.

I do not want to deny or denounce the concept of afterlife; I am only pointing out that the afterlife should not be deemed of greater importance than the life we are living now.