Do you believe in an Afterlife?, or THE TRUTH DEBATE.

[Alex]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

What you believe in doesn't matter if you apparently have no reason to believe what you do. I mean, other than pure speculation and/or being raised into the belief. Well, and fear, and...

Why would you choose this one theory out of a pool of many which are all unproveable? Convenience? Stubborness? "Just Because"? Or can you "Feel it"?

Phoenix mentioned 'meaning'– If there were any meaning as to why we as humans are stuck on this planet at this point in time, what would it be? I can't think of anything.


Oh and that evidence, Phoenix, seems to be all in your head. You're looking for something that has no shape other than what you assign to it. So of course when your mother gets breast cancer and "miraculously" (with the help of modern medicine) overcomes, you might assign that under Miracle and your belief in your god strengthens +1. Unless the evidence you're speaking of is a shadowy glowing figure hovering above your head and speaking the words of God Almighty. Even then, those are usually halucinations/schizovisions. But I guess 'personal' and 'all in your head' are the same thing.

[H2SO4]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Phoenix mentioned 'meaning'– If there were any meaning as to why we as humans are stuck on this planet at this point in time, what would it be? I can't think of anything.

Perhaps you can't think of any meaning, but many people can. Dozens of religions and belief-systems give the average person meaning, whether or not they are correct is debateable, however.

Oh and that evidence, Phoenix, seems to be all in your head. You're looking for something that has no shape other than what you assign to it. So of course when your mother gets breast cancer and "miraculously" (with the help of modern medicine) overcomes, you might assign that under Miracle and your belief in your god strengthens +1. Unless the evidence you're speaking of is a shadowy glowing figure hovering above your head and speaking the words of God Almighty. But even then, those are usually halucinations/schizovisions.

Correct, it is all in my head, more or less. I could view what happens in my life as pure coincidence, not involving anything supernatural or special, or I could try to give supernatural support to these instances, and view them as if God is influencing them. I choose the latter for a variety of personal reasons, but they can be summed up in that the latter just seems more real.

In a way, the whole thing is relative. The truth is not relative, i.e., the truth does not change from person to person, but the means of seeing the truth may vary from person to person.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Live and let live. Believe and let believe. K.I.S.S.

[H2SO4]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Live and let live. Believe and let believe. K.I.S.S.

I agree, people should be entitled to believe whatever they want, regardless of if other people think they are correct or not. You are entitled to your opinion just as I am entitled to my own.

[11Evil Chipmunk]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

I don't believe in an afterlife because I'm a Christian!

[Perversion]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

To answer the question posed by the topic's title, yes.

[Asch the Bloody]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

I figure the afterlife is a progression. Your decisions in each progression lead you one way or the other twoard Heaven or Hell. Pretty much, you're not really alive, yet you are. It's hard to explain. Pretty much, it's kind of like your soul transfers to another vessel and put into a new situation and new span or whatever. Eventually you will reach one of the ultimate endings depedent upon what you do. Eh.

[Perversion]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

... your soul transfers to another vessel and put into a new situation and new span or whatever.

Someone's seen Being John Malkovich a few too many times...

[Armored]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

I believe when you die you become a time travelling ghost.

[Asch the Bloody]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Someone's seen Being John Malkovich a few too many times...

Never seen it, tbh.

[Trebsay]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

What if we are in the afterlife right now? You'll never know... I'd think your memory doesn't stay in the afterlife. I think it would be cool to be a ghost, or an animal. Maybe you even become a new life. When I think about nothing happening when you die, and it just going black, it makes me feel weird and liek I just caught on to something, but then it slips away.

[Sampson]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Perhaps you can't think of any meaning, but many people can. Dozens of religions and belief-systems give the average person meaning, whether or not they are correct is debateable, however.

Even if you believe in some diety, that still doesn't give you any more meaning. What then, your life is to serve said diety? Why must you serve said diety, what is the meaning of that? At some point the classic arguement, "the human brain isn't complex enough to comprehend these concepts" has to be placed on the table. And to that I say--lets put it on the table right now.

Every living thing has the urge to survive, and if possible, reproduce. Why? No idea.

Science has only shown us how this is done, not why this is done. And as for religon, creating a fairy tale figure and saying "because thats how (our) god wants it" is a cop-out and not an explanation.

[The Toecutter]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

At some point the classic arguement, "the human brain isn't complex enough to comprehend these concepts" has to be placed on the table. And to that I say--lets put it on the table right now.

As much as I like that argument, we don't even know for certain if the human brain is lacking the faculties required to understand this concept. It may just be lacking an algorithm that would be needed to understand these concepts, and not a physical component.

There was a time when humans had not discovered logic, after all. I'm considering the possibility that there is some mode of thought that we still need to develop, whatever it may be. If you've read any of the works by Ray Kurzweil, the possibility of a machine developing this concept for us might be floating around in your head.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

My take on religion is as follows:

I think questions like "What is the meaning of life?" and "Does God exist?" should remain imponderable. Like rhetorical questions they aren't meant to be answered just to make you think. But somewhere along the way somebody decided "Yes, God exists and He is the meaning of life" because he was tired of thinking. Then decided to write it all down so other people wouldn't even have to think that far for themselves. As time went on more people came along and added more writings, rules for living and what's right or wrong, so that people wouldn't have to think too hard about their Earthly lives either. But a lot of the additions contradicted each other so they had to be split up into completely seperate doctrines. Then people didn't even have to discuss the imponderables anymore. They'd just say "I'm a Jew" or "I'm a Muslim" and interested parties could read the related texts. That way we avoid people mixing in their own meshugener ideas.

Thanks lazy people of history for saving much of humanity from the enlightment, i mean confusion, that may have resulted from thinking for themselves, discussing without trying to convert or convince, and focusing on the question and the ideas it produced rather than some arbitrary answer.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Wow, I'm cynical, but that's like, super-cynicism up there, Chuck.