Re: How likely is it that there is an 'afterlife'?

by **Pretorian** » Sun 23 Jun 2013, 19:06:03

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Beery1', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'T')hat strikes me as rather odd, for a Christian to not know why we don't have to keep Kosher dietary laws, or practice circumcision...
Leviticus and Deuteronomy give the Kosher laws, but they also give sanitation law, cleanliness laws, as well as rules for worship like sacrifices...

by **Pretorian** » Sun 23 Jun 2013, 19:13:20

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', '
')I think most of the "Christians" you have met who can not answer those kind of questions are people who grew up in the church and never really learned why they are told to behave in a certain ways. They know what and how, but not the why behind them.

by **Beery1** » Sun 23 Jun 2013, 21:13:09

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'W')ell in the desert conditions with a total lack of sanitation of any kind it could be a good thing in the long run.

by **Keith_McClary** » Tue 25 Jun 2013, 00:43:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'p')robability that one particular version of worship is true while all other are not is not 1 to 30000

by **Keith_McClary** » Fri 28 Jun 2013, 02:40:10

by **Keith_McClary** » Mon 01 Jul 2013, 01:52:17

by **Keith_McClary** » Sun 07 Jul 2013, 01:37:21

Dave Coverly is on an afterlife roll:

by **Outcast_Searcher** » Sun 07 Jul 2013, 03:08:49

I liked "South Park's" logical take on things, which mirrors Pops pointing out how many conflicting religions there have been throughout history. (I paraphrase):

In an episode on hell, a devil's minion welcomes a new large batch of folks to hell. The religious ones say, "Hey! Wait a minute! We went to church, followed the rules, were good people, read the Bible, yadda, yadda! Why aren't WE in heaven?!"

"Mormanism" says the minion. "Sorry. The answer we were looking for was Mormanism".

Whereupon the crowd yells "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww". And then the scene pans back and you see heaven full of Mormans, all the males still in their white shirts saying something like "Hey! Let's go make some paper dolls! (and happily trundling off to do just that).

To me, this was brilliant. It sums up the situation so well. With most religions and even minor factions insisting that only THEY are the "chosen" ones, and everyone else will go to hell, you better hope either:

a). The details don't matter and people are just being their usual idiot selves. (If thjs is the case, prepare to accept many people with different beliefs than you being "saved".)
b). You had better be VERY VERY lucky. And if things are set up to be that arbitrary, do you REALLY want to be subject to that system even if you choose right?
c). It's all nonsense based on peoples' need to feel secure and important (my opinion). The universe didn't bother me before I was born. I'm comfortable with it and my consciousness leaving each other alone after I die.

by **Outcast_Searcher** » Sun 07 Jul 2013, 03:21:08

Or, for a modern light-hearted rather brilliant critique of religion we have:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

"The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism...generally recognized as a parody religion".

This says it all, and even has a book to go along with it (i.e. the Pastafarian "Bible").

There is a lot of clear thinking here, including the brilliant use of pirates and global warming to show that correlation doesn't prove causation.

(Not that this will impact the AGW denial crowd, which probably is also denying evolution, insisting "intelligent design" is correct, and other bastions of UNscientific thinking.)

by **emmettmgr** » Thu 11 Jul 2013, 00:12:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'O')r, for a modern light-hearted rather brilliant critique of religion we have:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

"The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism...generally recognized as a parody religion".

This says it all, and even has a book to go along with it (i.e. the Pastafarian "Bible").

by **longpig** » Fri 12 Jul 2013, 20:01:03

I want to shed my body & upload my mind to a computer.

by **Pops** » Fri 12 Jul 2013, 20:14:01

Sort of on topic, I just finished "Curtains - Adventures of an Undertaker-in-training" by Tom Jokien. It is pretty good, pretty funny in places in a kind of studly ironic way.

Website · by **Narz** » Sat 13 Jul 2013, 01:28:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('longpig', 'I') want to shed my body & upload my mind to a computer.

by **longpig** » Sat 13 Jul 2013, 06:52:50

Nah that's the thing, conciousness is not definable, you are what you remember.

It's like when you were a child, you are not the same person as you are today. Like going to sleep as child and waking up 20 years older. It will be the same thing as going to sleep and waking up inside a computer.

by **AgentR11** » Sat 13 Jul 2013, 10:29:02

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('longpig', 'I') want to shed my body & upload my mind to a computer.

by **dinopello** » Sat 13 Jul 2013, 11:53:56

Clearly there is an afterlife for your physical being. The mass of your body feeds and becomes a tree or some other life form and round and round she goes. I like to believe that there is some sort of universal interconnection, at a level of which we can't possibly understand that everything continues to experience in some way. I can't go as far to say that I believe that any non-physical afterlife existence maintains our individualness in any way and I can't really even say if I think that would be desirable.

by **Rod_Cloutier** » Sun 21 Jul 2013, 23:29:25

Here is an (audio) three part presentation called conversations with God:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... usLg#t=10s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Uaq7U#t=1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... rhtN4#t=2s

You wanted to know what God expects of us, listen to the audio presentations above. I'm not hesitant to say that much of what was said I found hard to take, harsh, and not what I expected it would be. Still here it is.

by **Quinny** » Mon 22 Jul 2013, 17:09:24

Been doing loads of heavy lifting and manual work recently, but it's so hot I can't wear boots and stubbing/crushing/cutting toes in sandals is bloody painful. I tend to shout 'F*c*i* Hell' to myself followed by muttering - 'Hope they do!'

by **Narz** » Sat 03 Aug 2013, 20:24:04

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('longpig', 'N')ah that's the thing, conciousness is not definable, you are what you remember.

It's like when you were a child, you are not the same person as you are today. Like going to sleep as child and waking up 20 years older. It will be the same thing as going to sleep and waking up inside a computer.

by **AgentR11** » Sat 03 Aug 2013, 23:49:33

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'I')f you want to live forever... you've not been living hard enough.

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