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Snerticus
Guest
Ugh! Why does all the good conversation happen just as I’m getting ready to walk out the door for work? 
Oh well, see y’all tomorrow for another round!
Oh well, see y’all tomorrow for another round!
- Status
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Veritas248
Guest
You might not see me around tomorrow. I might have driven myself insane trying to understand all this.Ugh! Why does all the good conversation happen just as I’m getting ready to walk out the door for work?
Oh well, see y’all tomorrow for another round!
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
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Veritas248
Guest
Where did you get the evidence for this?For all we know, the aliens could be God!Cool.
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celluloid
Guest
I’ve thought about this and it isn’t. We do have the instinct for avoiding horrible injury (I don’t think animals have knowledge of death but they do experience pain which serves them well for surviving and delaying death long enough to reproduce), and in the case of humans, we have the ability to actually foresee our own inevitable demise, which is scary, even if only from a “painfulness” point of view. Dying is bad because we know it associated with great pain, mutilation and loss of abilities, but I think this dying business becomes confused with being dead and gone. You have a negative perception of dieing associated with final death, the latter being another matter entirely.Wait a minute, I just thought of something: From what I’ve learned about evolution (Which is something I have no problem believing in) one of the the fundamental instincts is the survival instinct. Now all of this looking forward to and accepting the possibility of oblivion is directly contrary to this instinct. Could this be a hole in the evolutionary theory?
Now if we both accept that you and me both eventually dying is going to be a painful experience (depending on circumstances), then why would you question my ability to accept the relief of that final suffering?
So when you say that non-existence is horrible and self-hating and I say that nonexistence is no so bad, and that you feel it is bad because of missing out on an anticipated afterlife reward etc, we are discussing things that animals can’t even begin to conceptualize.
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
:ehh: I don’t think anyone (other than the suicidal) really look forward to dying. There’s just so much to do here to help out the next generations. After death, you are no more. But, that’s just my view.
I don’t underestimate Life nor do I overestimate Death.
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
Just messing around.
But, it could be a theory. :yup:
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mhpierce
Guest
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Veritas248
Guest
Those are some interesting insights, but that isn’t my problem. The problem is trying to comprehend how one could not be given over to despair when they believe and or know that there will be a point in time when they will not exist at all. The more and more I think about it, the more and more distressed I become. Its like sitting there and thinking: I exist now, but one of these days I wont. I will completely fade away. All my thoughts, wants, likes, and interests will be nothing at all. Everything I have ever done will amount to nothing, and even if it does, I won’t be around to see it. Arrgh, my head hurts. I don’t know if I can continue to look at things like this any longer. Either someone gives me a sufficient explanation or I will have to step out of the viewpoint of the atheist. I most likely will never understand.
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
Don’t worry. It’s still a shock to you. It takes awile for it to really sink in. :yup: Again, look to your signature.Those are some interesting insights, but that isn’t my problem. The problem is trying to comprehend how one could not be given over to despair when they believe and or know that there will be a point in time when they will not exist at all. The more and more I think about it, the more and more distressed I become. Its like sitting there and thinking: I exist now, but one of these days I wont. I will completely fade away. All my thoughts, wants, likes, and interests will be nothing at all. Everything I have ever done will amount to nothing, and even if it does, I won’t be around to see it. Arrgh, I don’t know if I can continue to look at things like this any longer. I most likely will never understand.
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Veritas248
Guest
There is absolutely nothing liberating in the line of thinking I am trying to understand. From what I can gather, the only choices one has are to sink into despair or pursue superficial things to try to escape the thought. If I was to accept this line of thinking, I would go completely insane.Don’t worry. It’s still a shock to you. It takes awile for it to really sink in. :yup: Again, look to your signature.
Why must every time I try to understand another’s point of view do I end up jeopardizing my own sanity?
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mhpierce
Guest
Dear Phantasm:I was a Roman Catholic until my early 30’s, and no matter how much people around here don’t want to believe this, I was a devout Catholic for nearly the last 6 years.
Looking back, I certainly didn’t have anything figured out and I’m pretty sure that most Catholics don’t have very much figured out either.
The more I educated myself in regards to the faith,
I’'m sure I’ll get reported for saying that.
Stop bellyachin’. You are forgetting Mary’s Apparitions perhaps and the Saints that lie uncorrupted?
Go To A Real Mass and Thank God you are not in hell!
Or are you a Judas–the world, the flesh, and the devil more desirable, which is usually the cause with men such as yourself!:
the more implausible it all seemed. We all have our doubts, but Remember Mary and Her Annunciation. She wondered too until her son was conceived and She believed Gabriel… She had not reason not to believe him…and you have no reason not to be a man of Faith, even if it’s perplexing at times. So what else is new? I have been convined that our Faith is the truth as I have read volumes of holy lives… Amazingingly wonderful
March 25, 2009 Feast of the Annunciation…
—mhpierce–
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
It takes serious universal thought (which is weird because Catholic means “universal”
[cool]). You have to just have mental ability and even mental strength to really hold these views. But, of course, being a believer has its pros too. :yup: You’re lucky because you’ve got a leg to stand on when you’e down. 
***I know this isn’t here nor there, but I took a look at your Confirmation pics on your MySpace. sigh I remember mine just last year; the Knights of Columbus were so awesome! And my bishop was really funny and kind.
(You are very handsome, by the way. 
)
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bradwill911
Guest
So you don’t believe in a god because it’s obvious one doesn’t exist? That’s not really acceptable since we know you wouldn’t accept the same answer for why someone does believe in God. This is what I don’t understand, Atheists argue that they don’t believe in God because it is unlikely or obvious that one doesn’t exist, but the same Atheists belittle believers for justifying their belief with such flimsy arguments. No offense, but I don’t think this cuts it, and I don’t think it can be your only reasoning.
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Veritas248
Guest
I think it takes the ability to greatly deceive one’s self, which is something I do not posses. I read up on a study about people in the Nazi party. The person doing the study thought that the uneducated people would be stupid and so follow Hitler, while the educated people would know better. The results were exactly the opposite. It was the uneducated that opposed Hitler. I believe I know why: proper education can be a really good thing, but without proper understanding, it can turn into self-deception.It takes serious universal thought (which is weird because Catholic means “universal”
***I know this isn’t here nor there, but I took a look at your Confirmation pics on your MySpace. sigh I remember mine just last year; the Knights of Columbus were so awesome! And my bishop was really funny and kind.
Uh…thanks for the compliment?:ehh:
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mhpierce
Guest
It is painfully obvious that we live in a natural world, in a natural universe that is completely void of any supernatural Deity.
Who created that universe then, a natural Diety??? Or did it just implode one day and there it is and we are here and there is no Intelligence behind it. Stop fomenting…
God’s existence is logocal, and all of His obvious handiwork is based on all that is here is His proof–it’s that simple?
-mhpierce–
Who created that universe then, a natural Diety??? Or did it just implode one day and there it is and we are here and there is no Intelligence behind it. Stop fomenting…
God’s existence is logocal, and all of His obvious handiwork is based on all that is here is His proof–it’s that simple?
-mhpierce–
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phantasm
Guest
You would lose your sanity over the acceptance of an idea?
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Blade_and_Blood
Guest
That’s probably because the uneducated are more obedient.
And, remember, obedience is the majority of this world. That, I know, is a fact.What’s the matter? Low self-esteem?
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phantasm
Guest
It is just as reasonable for the universe to have started from nothing, as to have started from a supernatural God.It is painfully obvious that we live in a natural world, in a natural universe that is completely void of any supernatural Deity.
Who created that universe then, a natural Diety??? Or did it just implode one day and there it is and we are here and there is no Intelligence behind it. Stop fomenting…
God’s existence is logocal, and all of His obvious handiwork is based on all that is here is His proof–it’s that simple?
-mhpierce–
Are you aware that nothing is actually quite an unstable state and that there is actually no means of keeping nothing in a stable state and therefor remaining as nothing?
If everything was nothing, and remained nothing, then perhaps that would be evidence of a supernatural God that was keeping nothingness in it’s present state.
I’ve read all of this, I’ll be damned if I can explain it very well, but I think I’ve done an adequate job of getting across the point that nothing, does not remain nothing for very long, it is inherently unstable.
It’s all got to do with Quantum mechanics and physics.
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Veritas248
Guest
No. I just wasn’t expecting it. What are you doing-accusing me of something?That’s probably because the uneducated are more obedient.
No, it was the uneducated who were most disobedient. The educated were the ones who obeyed Hitler.
What’s the matter? Low self-esteem?
- Status