@fmf saidBeliever to a non-believer: "Are you telling us that you have no other expectation then to die and rot into the dust along with everyone else? "
Ouch! It's supposed to be "EXPECTATION".
Is this question ~ and expectation ~ at the very core of a believer's psychological need for religion?
01 May 19
As far as I know, virtually all religions seem to promise a life after death in some form or other in return for adherence.
Does this not simply reflect the [understandable] aspirations and insecurities of mortal humans - seeing as it is found across every culture, and right down through history - rather than necessarily reflect any truth in the notion of supernatural immortality for human beings?
[1] Why is there a link drawn, over and over again, by all manner of theist belief systems, between the existence of a creator god and the notion of life after death?
[2] What's the matter with the idea of a creator god creating beings with a finite opportunity to experience life?
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As far as I know, virtually all religions seem to promise a life after death in some form or other in return for adherence.
Ah, the stiff upper lip " I don't care about dying machismo attitude ".
Then why do you care about the evolutionary theory?
So what if species don't survive because of unfitness?
And the Gospel of Christ speaks not much about "life after death." It speaks of resurrection. And it has not just a hope but a model in history.
Why ignore it even if we didn't ask for it?
Does this not simply reflect the [understandable] aspirations and insecurities of mortal humans
Ah " I am not insecure. I need no promise of escape from death "
Okay, You can be proud of that if you wish.
But we have in the Gospel a model of One victorious over the grave.
Why should we ignore it even if its beyond what we could ask or think?
- seeing as it is found across every culture,
Like marriage which also is not meaningless.
Like family which also is not meaningless.
Like many things across many cultures which are significant.
Being across many cultures doesn't render something insignificant.
and right down through history - rather than necessarily reflect any truth in the notion of supernatural immortality for human beings?
Marriage is also across many cultures.
So it doesn't necessarily reflect any truth because of that?
Skepticism is also across many cultures.
Cynicism is also across many cultures.
Pessimistic expectation of total termination of human life is across many cultures.
Or optimism that there is not final accounting for one's life to God is ALSO a concept held by many across many cultures.
That is unless you are so elite that you think you're the only one who has decided to expect non-existence forever to follow your last breath.
Disbelief in any existence after life is also a cherished expectation over many cultures. Then by your same rule this doesn't necessarily mean such skepticism has a hold on truth either.
[1] Why is there a link drawn, over and over again, by all manner of theist belief systems, between the existence of a creator god and the notion of life after death?
I don't know about all theisms. But Jesus Christ in history rose.
Or why wasn't the corpse of Jesus paraded through Jerusalem by either the skeptical Jews or the skeptical Romans?
Christians have something in history informing them there is something to God overcoming death.
[2] What's the matter with the idea of a creator god creating beings with a finite opportunity to experience life?
God has obviously.
But God has demonstrated victory of a life of perfect righteousness over sin and death too.
What's the matter with that ?
Take it back further. Why not a creator that made a universe WITHOUT life PERIOD?
What could have been is one thing.
What apparently IS is another.
And that is we have a Creator Who among trillions of non-living things placed the unusual thing called life.
Why not a totally non-living universe ?
How come we don't have that?
02 May 19
@sonship saidFear of Death Thread 179090.
Ah, the stiff upper lip " I don't care about dying machismo attitude ".
02 May 19
@sonship saidI don't share your religious beliefs regarding a "promise of escape from death". Same goes for other religions that deal with notions involving "escape from death". And I don't feel the need for the "promise" that you believe is real.
Ah " I am not insecure. I need no promise of escape from death "
02 May 19
@sonship saidI haven't suggested that the promises of life after death that many religions 'offer' are "meaningless" to people who believe them.
Like marriage which also is not meaningless.
Like family which also is not meaningless.
Like many things across many cultures which are significant.
02 May 19
@sonship saidThe point is this: with it being across many cultures, is it perhaps more a reflection of human nature and the upshot of humans dealing with the human condition rather than a reflection of the truth of the promise of a supernatural afterlife.
Being across many cultures doesn't render something insignificant.
Do you think that the promise of a life after death in some form or other in by other religions [other than yours] simply reflect the aspirations and insecurities of non-Christian humans as they contemplate their mortality?
02 May 19
Sonship raises an interesting point -- a lot of people talk about their contentedness with their mortality, but they still choose life strategies and values that are reflective of their Christian background (or another background that they may have).
This is why I have always admired the sort of guys that fully embraced the Nietzschean nihilism and, in their atheism, rejected "slave morality." They aren't right, but at least they are consistent and brave.
02 May 19
@philokalia saidIt's really not surprising at all that Christian ideas influence everybody - not only Christians - in cultures where Christianity is and has been predominant. The resulting norms and values are still in the realm of sociology, anthropology and psychology and not evidence of any truth behind Christian expectations of everlasting life.
Sonship raises an interesting point -- a lot of people talk about their contentedness with their mortality, but they still choose life strategies and values that are reflective of their Christian background (or another background that they may have).