Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
Why do I need an afterlife, to live a good life while I am alive?
<edit>
If not, what awaits you and everyone else when their heart beats its last?
Death.
And death means what to you? That you cease to exist?
Most likely. But you can be an atheist and believe in an afterlife, they aren't mutually exclusive. I used to believe in ghosts.
Probably.
Yes.
All the more reason, to be motivated to make it a good life, with meaning.
Absolutely. Yet the way by which such goodness and meaning is acquired, is in the words of Kerry Livgren: 'so elusive'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLxv8kXNteo
Kerry may think it is elusive, but that is one man's opinion.
Don't you think that the quest for acquiring goodness and meaning can be quite elusive?
Indeed, we can see the nested hierarchy more clearly if we disregard evolution. Why? To illustrate, if we invoke Darwinian evolution we would have to say the nesting goes like this:
FISH are the common ancestors of humans, birds, and frogs. Ergo birds nest within fish, and so do humans, and so do frogs.
Are you going to believe Theobald’s Markov chains that you are a fish or are you going to believe you’re a human and not a fish?
Further, intelligent agents create nested hierarchies, not only out of necessity but out of their sense of aesthetics. In the world of classical music there are somewhat well defined music forms: sonatas, minuets, concertos, symphonies, operas, variations, nocturnes, preludes, etudes, rhapsodies, etc. These forms create nested hierarchies and have little to do with Markov chains.
For example, what is the common ancestor of vertebrates and invertebrates?
Thank you for giving the devil his due. In all actuality, Satan is the "great deceiver". He will tell you just enough truth to make you swallow his lie hook, line and sinker.
Sure it can, but religious opinion is not science.(i)
(ii)
(iii)
There is the small matter of (a) "consciousness" and (b) Near Death Experiences, as well as (c) the resurrection of Jesus.
The latter (b + c) have been defended by Dr. Gary Habermas*, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the (c) resurrection of Jesus.
* List of Publications : Publications of Dr. Gary R. Habermas - Online Resource for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Edit:
As I'm well aware that (c) cannot be discussed on this forum*
I have no idea what you mean by 'supernatural', but "near death" is not "death".and (b) is speculative bordering on supernatural**,
Chalmers "hard problem": "why can't neuroscience explain my philosophical presuppositions?"I'd like to toss the pebble of (a) "consciousness" into the mix: Consciousness | Science | The Guardian
'....Reading Oliver Burkeman (The I in mind, 21 January) I was surprised to discover that many scientists deny there’s such a thing as consciousness. They should read Mary Midgley’s Are You an Illusion?, I thought. I liked Philip Goff’s response (Letters, 29 January), but now I wonder, why do academics interested in consciousness seemingly ignore David Bohm, of whom Einstein spoke as his intellectual successor? Bohm was a 20th-century American physicist who lived and worked in England. The Dalai Lama considered Bohm to be one of his scientific gurus, writing that Bohm was interested in consciousness because of its implications with regard to the theories of quantum physics. ....' (*)
(*) Perhaps this might be a good primer: Missing links in the consciousness debate - The Gaurdian : 29 January, 2015.
Additional Audio/Read:
Why can't the world's greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness? - Oliver Burkeman ( transcript : Why can?t the world?s greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness? | Oliver Burkeman | Science | The Guardian )
~~~
* http://www.christianforums.com/f70/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
Somewhere in my life, I picked up this desire to believe in as few wrong things as possible.I have thought a lot about this in the night...lucky me has caught a stomach bug ugh.
I prayed a lot as well...I have often wondered why so many people are here who are not Christians. This forum is called Christian forums. I do not know the answer but I can speculate. Of course my speculations may be wrong as well.
I often wonder how many people lose faith by spending too much time here. (Which is probably a sad reality.).
However, if one person ...JUST ONE is given hope and seeks out God and is saved then it is worth it.
I don't like to get in senseless debates on this forum. I used to try to earnestly convince others of what is True. I have come to realize that it a useless pursuit. I have grown up in a Christian home and I have seen miracles...unbelievable ones...things I have seen with my own eyes...I could tell you stories and you wouldn't even believe me.
God is real. His Word is alive. There is a heaven. There is a hell. Life on this earth is short...each one of us have been created with a purpose.
My heart truely aches.
My purpose is to reach out to as many people as I can. I want people who meet me to see the sunshine and the hope I have. I want them to ask me...what gives you such hope? How do you live in this world with all its pain? What give you your hope and happiness? Why do you smile through your tears? I strive to be different. To be kind.
I strive to be like Jesus. I fail miserably everyday but I get up, dust myself off and keep trying.
My faith is strong, my hope is eternal.
I once heard it said...if a Christian is wrong, he will cease to exist and it won't matter. He would have lived a purposeful life and a life with honour. If an unbeliever is wrong, he will live forever regretting he didn't listen. Who has more to lose?
I would rather live my life in faith.
<edit> How do you live in this world with all its pain? What give you your hope and happiness? <edit>
<edit>
I once heard it said...if a Christian is wrong, he will cease to exist and it won't matter. He would have lived a purposeful life and a life with honour. If an unbeliever is wrong, he will live forever regretting he didn't listen. Who has more to lose?
I would rather live my life in faith.
<edit> not science.
I have no idea what you mean by 'supernatural', but "near death" is not "death".
Or, it is simply reality.I have thought a lot about this in the night...lucky me has caught a stomach bug ugh.
I prayed a lot as well...I have often wondered why so many people are here who are not Christians. This forum is called Christian forums. I do not know the answer but I can speculate. Of course my speculations may be wrong as well.
I often wonder how many people lose faith by spending too much time here. (Which is probably a sad reality.).
By "True", you mean, your religious opinion. I was just discussing that with lewiscalledhimmaster.However, if one person ...JUST ONE is given hope and seeks out God and is saved then it is worth it.
I don't like to get in senseless debates on this forum. I used to try to earnestly convince others of what is True.
Not if all you have are stories.I have come to realize that it a useless pursuit. I have grown up in a Christian home and I have seen miracles...unbelievable ones...things I have seen with my own eyes...I could tell you stories and you wouldn't even believe me.
What is that "purpose"?God is real. His Word is alive. There is a heaven. There is a hell. Life on this earth is short...each one of us have been created with a purpose.
My wife, children, family.My heart truely aches.
My purpose is to reach out to as many people as I can. I want people who meet me to see the sunshine and the hope I have. I want them to ask me...what gives you such hope? How do you live in this world with all its pain? What give you your hope and happiness?
No tears here.Why do you smile through your tears?
Religion as a comfort blanket. Fine, if that is what you need. Be sure not to poke any holes in it, or tug on any loose threads.I strive to be different. To be kind.
I strive to be like Jesus. I fail miserably everyday but I get up, dust myself off and keep trying.
My faith is strong, my hope is eternal.
I once heard it said...if a Christian is wrong, he will cease to exist and it won't matter. He would have lived a purposeful life and a life with honour. If an unbeliever is wrong, he will live forever regretting he didn't listen. Who has more to lose?
I would rather live my life in faith.
<edit>I was just discussing that with lewiscalledhimmaster.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?