I suppose that having heard many description of different beliefs of an afterlife are why, given the facts of the brain, I cannot bring myself to believe in such a thing. Any concept of good or evil, hot or pleasurable, evil or benevolent, or simply qualitative opposites are all things that are concepts in our brains and for the most part do not exist outside of human thought, and entirely do not exist outside of biology. A meteor hitting a planet isn't "good" or "bad" for either side because neither has the biological goal of survival. And, if I were to actually move on to some sort of afterlife when I died, who would actually go to represent me? Who I am now? Who I will be in 10 years? Who I will be when I die? But what if I die from Alzheimer's in a state where I can barely function as a person or from brain trauma that completely alters who I am without my control? And wouldn't the previous me's rather go?
If a god then could not affect everyday life (somewhat similar to the concept of deism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism), then one could go about living one's life in the way that one so desires. Well, almost. There is of course one more aspect of religion that holds significant influence over people, which is the idea of an afterlife. To me, this is even more defining to my beliefs than any other argument I have heard for either side. A common idea for an afterlife is the idea of the transference of one's knowledge, experiences, feelings, personality, and so on. But we already have definitive evidence that every one of those is based entirely in the brain. This doesn't refute the concept of a soul or other individualistic concept and doesn't aim to do so, but it is universally accepted by neuroscientists that everything that makes us unique, at least in the way other people see us, is based in the physical brain. How do we know this? Well, simply by the effects that physical influences on our brain have on the way we behave. Brain damage can completely change the personality of someone, whether temporarily or permanently. An experimental brain surgery once stopped a man from being able to create long term memories (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/corkin-hm-memory.html), preventing him from being able to progress as person from day to day. Alzheimer's Disease causes the slow degradation of patients' memories, extending well beyond the point where they no longer remember their own families or defining moments in their lives. Oh, and don't forget how dynamic our brains are and that in 10 years we will be a completely different person, merely a byproduct of who we are today (http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/01/03/168567019/you-cant-see-it-but-youll-be-a-different-person-in-10-years).
I guess I'll go ahead and write the interesting perspective that I have been observing this perplexing question through for a while.
Firstly, I simply cannot bring myself to believe that a higher being could have the ability to decidedly alter the outcome of events in the world. Or, if a being does indeed possess this power, they have not done so yet. At a macroscopic level, our world is largely based on the flow of energy among particles which is determined by every particle's previous state. Aside from quantum uncertainty, which isn't prevalent enough at the macroscopic level to meaningfully alter our lives, everything is predetermined by the previous states that the involved particles were in before the observation took place. If you were to roll a pair of dice and knew everything about the table, the dice themselves, the air in the room, and anything else that would have a significant effect on them, then you could predict their outcome. I just don't see where there is room for a higher power to change outcomes of macroscopic events like sporting events, illnesses, or elections, as everything is determined by the transference of energy and the flow of chemical and electrical signals in a brain. Also, it is estimated that there are around 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the universe, so nothing really makes us special.
My posting is a so good at baiting the weak-minded they come and insult my posts ignoring the thread as a whole to do so.
Hey golden, does God exist?
deletedover 9 years
I'm going to actually write a serious post for a change.
Ultimately, I love thinking about mythology, theology and spiritualism, as do I love discussing it with people who aren't completely set in their ways, which is mostly why I've avoided serious posting in this forum. I have no idea what exists beyond the materialised periphery we know and understand thus far. I have a few theories of my own and I have rationales to back those up, but there is a reason why beliefs surrounding the supernatural, or lack of supernatural, are given the umbrella term, 'faith'.
Your post, Stan, would lead me to believe that you are totally against Christianity, especially the way in which it has affected those who follow it. Though, you need to allow some leeway for people who are totally against the idea because it attracts the same closed-mindedness.
My belief is that philosophy, spiritualism and understanding are mutually intrinsic to a greater platform. As long as you are able to take positive values and exhibit these to advocate a better way to interact with other people, then it doesn't matter what your beliefs are.
deletedover 9 years
How could anyone do this if there was no god???
deletedover 9 years
it's just universally hard to ignore threads where zovea's idiotposting reaches new levels
if there is no god, why is the world so fricking cruel? we didn't get stuck as one of the few species that has recreational sex and also the species with the most shi t-tier vaginaa in the animal kingdom, that could only be a sick joke towards males
(A)gnosticism - knowledge of whether god(s) exist or not (A)theism - belief or non-belief that god(s) exist
These terms are not mutually exclusive
You can be an agnostic theist, something like "I believe in God but I'm not 100% sure he exists" You can be an agnostic atheist, something like "I don't believe in god(s) but I'm not 100% sure they don't exist.
If you respond "I'm an agnostic" to the question "Do you believe in god(s)?", you haven't answered the question. All you have told me is that you do not know whether god(s) exist, not whether you believe or not.
