Hi everyone,
I would like to open this thread to probe a few questions I have about the Christian Faith and hopefully gain some measure of understanding through this discussion.
I will start by introducing my current stance on things. First, I am not exactly a Christian. When I was younger, high school days I was very active in a Baptist Church and even felt confident that I was being "called" to go into the ministry and even spent 3 months as a youth missionary. However, as I got older...cough cough wiser...I begin to notice some questionable things about my faith and the church environment that I was part of seemed firmly against asking questions that seemed to run counter to the concept of "blind faith."
I simply could not agree with that concept and reasoned that if there were a God and he provided me with such an inquisitive mind, then certainly he would not be against my asking "tough" questions as they would be the product of the mind which He gave me.
Shortly after this I left the church and decided that I would seek to understand the human experience through the study of Philosophy and Psychology instead.
Now, I am certainly not "against" the notion that there may be a God and that Jesus was in fact who he claimed he was. However, I am equally not against the concept that there is in fact no God at all. I can not prove nor disprove either concept to an extent that I would be able to claim "faith" in one or the other.
Most of the Christians I have talked to suggest that this leap requires a great deal of faith in the unknown. Fine. I can accept that possibility and take the posture that such a leap of faith could be an essential requirement to the Christian faith. (I, however, am unwilling to make such a leap.)
But the thing that has me puzzled is a step beyond that leap. If we were to assume that the "leap" discussed above was already given, we must still eventuality consider the nature of human beings.
This brings me to my original question, does a such thing as the soul actually exist? In philosophy, the has always been a fairly healthy debate regarding the existence of the soul. The two sides of the argument are dualism and the monism.
Dualism suggests that there actually two elements which are elements of human composition, the soul and the body. Monism suggest that this is no actual soul, in the same way as there is no actual smile but rather it is the product of some abilities that human body has.
Presumably, Christians are fundamentally Dualistic. Because of this and for the sake of resemblance, we will strike monism and focus on dualism. But then my question comes, what evidence do we have that suggest that the soul does not perish along with the body? And to take this one step further, presuming for a moment that there is a "glorious" welcoming awaiting our souls after physical death then why do we strive to prolong our lives? Wouldn't the Christian faith suggest that self preservation through the prolonging of life via medicine and so forth would be in essence attempting to strip God of His power?
Again, please do not take my post the wrong way. I am simply seeking the Christian perspective of these questions. Frankly, I can not accept "blind faith" to be a viable answer simply because according to Christian text, man was created in God's image. Therefore, I believe that if in fact Christian text is true and if the existence of God can be assumed then it was God himself who created me with an inquisitive mind that seeks concrete answers to such questions.
I would like to open this thread to probe a few questions I have about the Christian Faith and hopefully gain some measure of understanding through this discussion.
I will start by introducing my current stance on things. First, I am not exactly a Christian. When I was younger, high school days I was very active in a Baptist Church and even felt confident that I was being "called" to go into the ministry and even spent 3 months as a youth missionary. However, as I got older...cough cough wiser...I begin to notice some questionable things about my faith and the church environment that I was part of seemed firmly against asking questions that seemed to run counter to the concept of "blind faith."
I simply could not agree with that concept and reasoned that if there were a God and he provided me with such an inquisitive mind, then certainly he would not be against my asking "tough" questions as they would be the product of the mind which He gave me.
Shortly after this I left the church and decided that I would seek to understand the human experience through the study of Philosophy and Psychology instead.
Now, I am certainly not "against" the notion that there may be a God and that Jesus was in fact who he claimed he was. However, I am equally not against the concept that there is in fact no God at all. I can not prove nor disprove either concept to an extent that I would be able to claim "faith" in one or the other.
Most of the Christians I have talked to suggest that this leap requires a great deal of faith in the unknown. Fine. I can accept that possibility and take the posture that such a leap of faith could be an essential requirement to the Christian faith. (I, however, am unwilling to make such a leap.)
But the thing that has me puzzled is a step beyond that leap. If we were to assume that the "leap" discussed above was already given, we must still eventuality consider the nature of human beings.
This brings me to my original question, does a such thing as the soul actually exist? In philosophy, the has always been a fairly healthy debate regarding the existence of the soul. The two sides of the argument are dualism and the monism.
Dualism suggests that there actually two elements which are elements of human composition, the soul and the body. Monism suggest that this is no actual soul, in the same way as there is no actual smile but rather it is the product of some abilities that human body has.
Presumably, Christians are fundamentally Dualistic. Because of this and for the sake of resemblance, we will strike monism and focus on dualism. But then my question comes, what evidence do we have that suggest that the soul does not perish along with the body? And to take this one step further, presuming for a moment that there is a "glorious" welcoming awaiting our souls after physical death then why do we strive to prolong our lives? Wouldn't the Christian faith suggest that self preservation through the prolonging of life via medicine and so forth would be in essence attempting to strip God of His power?
Again, please do not take my post the wrong way. I am simply seeking the Christian perspective of these questions. Frankly, I can not accept "blind faith" to be a viable answer simply because according to Christian text, man was created in God's image. Therefore, I believe that if in fact Christian text is true and if the existence of God can be assumed then it was God himself who created me with an inquisitive mind that seeks concrete answers to such questions.