Theists Challenge

This is quite simple.

Can anyone here describe an afterlife that is actually appealing that a human being could happily spend an eternity in?


The rules are that whatever ends up in this afterlife must be the same person as died in this world.

I am not interested in any afterlife where something that doesn't in anyway resemble me actually goes there.

If you have to alter the people going so that they are capable of enjoying it then it doesn't qualify.

All you are doing in that case is killing the original person and creating something different and sending that.

And also you must be able to describe this afterlife in detail.

Just saying stuff like "it's a place of ultimate fulfilment/bliss/ect" is dodging the question.


If it's a place of fulfilment you have to say HOW it fulfils you... for all eternity.


There are 100 internets up for grabs for anyone who can describe an afterlife that a human (ideally me) could actually enjoy for
an infinite amount of time.

I do not expect to have to pay out.




I post this because while there is no evidence that any such afterlife exists, or any afterlife of any kind, I do not believe that it's
actually possible to create an afterlife that would be universally pleasant and happy for eternity.

I don't think that it's possible to create a heaven for human beings that would be enjoyable and fulfilling and whatever else for an infinite
amount of time.

In which case no religion offering an afterlife is offering anything I, or any other sane human being, would actually want.


I defy you to prove me wrong.

I do not aim to "prove you wrong", nor do I expect you to "pay out".

I merely want to point out that paradise (or "afterlife" ) is not meant for unrepentant sinners, so your "challenge" is unanswerable. You simply don't qualify. Sorry.

Originally posted by googlefudge
This is quite simple.

Can anyone here describe an afterlife that is actually appealing that a human being could happily spend an eternity in?


The rules are that whatever ends up in this afterlife must be the same person as died in this world.

I am not interested in any afterlife where something that doesn't in anyway resemble me actually g g I, or any other sane human being, would actually want.


I defy you to prove me wrong.

TRUE OR FALSE

a) The real 'you' (your soul) with the content of your mind and memory storage
was designed and created to last only a few year; then die and disappear forever.

b) The real 'you' (your soul) with the content of your mind and memory storage
was designed and created to last only a few years on earth; and then in eternity
in a permanent body forever.

c) None of the above.

d) Who cares anyway?

e) Only God knows and, for some reason, won't tell us.

(gB)
-

Originally posted by googlefudge
This is quite simple.

[b]Can anyone here describe an afterlife that is actually appealing that a human being could happily spend an eternity in?


The rules are that whatever ends up in this afterlife must be the same person as died in this world.

I am not interested in any afterlife where something that doesn't in anyway resemble me actuall ...[text shortened]... or any other sane human being, would actually want.


I defy you to prove me wrong.[/b]

Can I make you forgot some things every few centuries? Is that too much 'altering'?

Originally posted by googlefudge
This is quite simple.

[b]Can anyone here describe an afterlife that is actually appealing that a human being could happily spend an eternity in?


The rules are that whatever ends up in this afterlife must be the same person as died in this world.

I am not interested in any afterlife where something that doesn't in anyway resemble me actuall ...[text shortened]... or any other sane human being, would actually want.


I defy you to prove me wrong.[/b]

Seems like you might find something akin to the following acceptable:

Rodent experiments

The pleasure center was discovered in the 1950s by two brain researchers named James Olds and Peter Milner who were investigating whether rats might be made uncomfortable by electrical stimulation of certain areas of their brain, particularly the limbic system.[5] In the experiment, an electrical current was given to rats if they entered a certain corner of a cage, with the hypothesis that they would stay away from that corner if the effect was uncomfortable. Instead, they came back quickly after the first stimulation and even more quickly after the second. In later experiments, they allowed the rats to press the stimulation lever themselves, to the effect that they would press it as much as seven-hundred times per hour. This region soon came to be known as the "pleasure center".

Rats in Skinner boxes with metal electrodes implanted into their nucleus accumbens will repeatedly press a lever which activates this region, and will do so in preference over food and water, eventually dying from exhaustion. In rodent physiology, scientists reason that the medial forebrain bundle is the pleasure center of rats. If a rat is given the choice between stimulating the forebrain or eating, it will choose stimulation to the point of exhaustion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure_center[

Of course you would have no need to eat or drink and there'd be no need for implanting electrodes.

You won't quantify this answer googlefudge but I'll speak to this in my own, honest terms.

Have you ever heard (or read) the words of someone who had an NDE? Not coincidentally, the vast majority of them speak of a state of such peace, happiness, bliss, and nirvana that they didn't even want to come back to this life. All these people did was experience a fleeting few seconds of the presence of [whoever awaits us in the afterlife]. And it changed their lives forever.

About the closest thing in Earthly terms I've ever heard someone describe it, is what they feel like under the influence of heroin or morphine.

A state of being THAT blissful is something that all of us would do anything to experience eternally.

Originally posted by googlefudge
This is quite simple.

[b]Can anyone here describe an afterlife that is actually appealing that a human being could happily spend an eternity in?


The rules are that whatever ends up in this afterlife must be the same person as died in this world.

I am not interested in any afterlife where something that doesn't in anyway resemble me actuall ...[text shortened]... or any other sane human being, would actually want.


I defy you to prove me wrong.[/b]

If you don't have a shared experience I don't think you'd grasp it.
A small taste would be the feeling that we get when we see someone we love
like a child or parent that has been away, the longing fullfilled.
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
If you don't have a shared experience I don't think you'd grasp it.
A small taste would be the feeling that we get when we see someone we love
like a child or parent that has been away, the longing fullfilled.

What "shared experience" have you had of the "afterlife"? If you describe that "shared experience" there is no reason to suppose that googlefudge won't be able to "grasp" what you mean by it.

This discussion succeeds in putting all of those storied scholars who argued incessantly
about how many angels could dance simultaneously on the head of a pin to shame.
-

Originally posted by FMF
What "shared experience" have you had of the "afterlife"? If you describe that "shared experience" there is no reason to suppose that googlefudge won't be able to "grasp" what you mean by it.

If you read what I said.....
The shared experience I was referring too was one where we get a longing
fulfilled, like when we see a child or parent that we have really missed. We
do experience love for one another, and that is a taste of what is to be the norm.
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
If you read what I said.....
The shared experience I was referring too was one where we get a longing
fulfilled, like when we see a child or parent that we have really missed. We
do experience love for one another, and that is a taste of what is to be the norm.
Kelly

The eternal afterlife is like meeting someone you've missed? How do you claim to know this? And what led you to believe that googlefudge might not be able to "grasp" the feeling of a "longing fulfilled"?

For me personally, what you are describing sounds ghastly, unless I am perhaps misunderstanding you. An eternal, unchanging feeling of "longing fulfilled"? Why would you not want to feel the ups and downs, the colours, the waiting, the fulfillment, the joys and disappointments, the struggle, the process, the full dynamics of the human spirit, etc. as we do in life?

Originally posted by KellyJay
If you read what I said.....
The shared experience I was referring too was one where we get a longing
fulfilled, like when we see a child or parent that we have really missed. We
do experience love for one another, and that is a taste of what is to be the norm.
Kelly

dont you think after a billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion years you might loose a sense of what you are feeling means. feelings need context, feelings need to be juxtaposed against other feelings to give them meaning. if humans were in a perpetual state of happiness, we would eventually forget what sadness feels like and eventually stop appreciating happiness.

if im feeling super happy all the time, how will i appreciate it when something really good happens?

wouldnt putting us in a perpetual state of one emotion involve changing us from our normal state. we wouldnt be the same person would we?

Must take exception with respect to the nature of bodily experience in eternity. 'Language of accomodation' tempts us to view it as an extension of out of body experiences on earth. Best to stick with literal interpretation. Our permanent bodies are designed to house recognizable, spirit beings with the epitome of total awareness and light (as is Christ's).
-

Originally posted by stellspalfie
dont you think after a billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,billion, billion,billion,billion,bi ...[text shortened]... f one emotion involve changing us from our normal state. we wouldnt be the same person would we?

It is a taste of what it is coming, beyond that scriptually speaking it has not entered
into the heart of man what is to come so none of us really have anything we point
to and say this is what is going to be like. Love is the one thing we know will be
there. If you don't love anyone in your life to where the pleasure of seeing them
or being with them is meaningful for you, you cannot grasp it. I'd also add that time
will be meaningless there too in my opinion, we live in a sliver of time called now,
there it will be different, how that translates I've no idea.
Kelly