Do you remember your first year of life? Do you remember being born? Just because you don't remember an existence prior to your birth doesn't mean that you didn't exist in some way then.
Can you elaborate on that? My brain is not asploding like Donny but I am trying to understand what you mean here.
I know, probably by direct experience, that my ice cream cone will melt if I stand out in the hot sun long enough. I know, probably not by direct experience but by conjecture, that a rhino horn rammed into my abdomen would hurt mightily. I know, only through faith, that an eternal life awaits. Is anyone's faith perfected? No. It gets tested and challenged all the time and as a result it is stronger or weaker. And again and again. If you read some of the posts on the site that I posted above, some people have somehow gone beyond the faith into the experience of an afterlife-- even if it's just a glimpse. Some tales are more compelling than others and some people will discredit everyone of them along the way.
I'm pretty sure that most real Christians are genuinely happy about life Moes. I feel like Christians have a leg up on atheists because they have a hope of being existent is some form after their physical death, whereas atheists dont have that hope. Bottom line is, we humans want to live forever. You say believing in heaven is ludicrous. What if you are wrong?
You just die. Total blackness, like a permanent sleep without dreams. We're all animals. Do dogs, cats, elephants, roaches, starfish, ants, etc. go to heaven, get reincarnated, or have an afterlife? It's selfish to think humans are above that, and have something waiting for them.
I sort of get what you are saying but I am not quite clear on how you are using the terms "faith" and "belief". "Faith" is a matter of belief while "belief" is the acceptance of something that can be based upon empirical reasoning as with your ice cream cone and rhino horn examples, or not, such as saying "I believe Yao will come back and dominate the NBA." I am not clear with regards to saying that "Faith is beyond belief".
In Buddhist and Hindu belief yes dogs, cats, elephants, roaches, starfish, ants and etc. also get reincarnated.
Didn't know that, props to them for not thinking they rule the animal kingdom. It was just my honest opinion though, I don't want this D&D bound.
Beats the hell out of me. With luck, I won't find out for many years, although the calendar is not my friend.
My body is defrosted after years of being cryogenically frozen. I come back with the most advanced cybernetic body, Robocop meets Iron Man meets the toy section of AdamEve.com (wait, what?).
In Buddhist and Hindu beliefs existence is a continuum of all life from even microorganisms to being godlike beings. You can be reincarnated along any point of that continuum so a dog could be reincarnated as a human and vice versa. In some beliefs by accruing good or bad Karma will determine what you comeback as in your next life. <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LBTec9DI_mo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I feel like Christians are so bogged down by the guilt of their insignificant sins that they fear they'll go to Hell, so they do whatever possible to avoid the things that some Old Testament Bloodsport Sky-Voice shook his finger at some old Jews for doing. I can't even tell you the sense of relief and happiness I had the day I finally admitted to myself it was all a big crock of ****.
So, care to posit any theories on how the physics on that might work? Bio-chemical, electro-magnetic...anything?
:grin: OK, jotos, I will try to answer seriously... While everyone has added great stuff about the "afterlife" and the "physical aspects" of it, I think everyone can agree about what happens to our bodies. Dirt, worms, decomposing, matter into chemicals absorbed by the environment, etc., that's all cool with everyone. There's no disagreeing there. I think that what most people are concerned with is the BRAIN development, the thoughts, the dreams, the feelings, the responses by the senses, and the ceasing to acquire any more of those things. In my opinion, I believe we fall into a LoooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOooo[gathering breath] ooOOOoOOooOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooOOOOoooOOOooOOoooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooong (that's what SHE said) dream, from which we do not awake. Remember how you fell asleep? Nope, neither do I. Remember what happened just before you woke up? Yeah, you do... so do I. This time, your ass ain't waking up to tell no one about your long ass dream. That's the SwoLy take on this. Cheers, Ladies and Gentlemen. Enjoy life and the pursuit of more ROCKETS Championships. FYI: there is a God. He was teaching Yao, Kobe Bryant, and Howard some post moves.
