Baz, as the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes but yeah, I'm one, in a sense. I personally think "god" and when people pray to him, they substitute "god" for "wishes" or "better luck". For example: someone is in trouble and says "god help me get out of this"......or when I run into idiots at work I look up in the sky and say "god help me". Or like alcoholics say "god help me change the things I can...". I think that is the main reason religious people cause so much fricken trouble: they thing this "god" is some being that will grant them their wishes.
I hate to break it to you brent, but when you die? You're worm food. No ifs ands or buts. Your soul is nothing more than chemical and electrical impulses in your brain which were developed through years of learned behaviour. Yes, you'll be reunited with lost love ones, but only in the sense that you'll be in the same place they are: no where. You will not have any consciousness in which to talk, meet, hold, communicate with them because, unlike sleep, you wont' even dream because your brain will turn into dust (as it is written).
The way you believe that you'll be in heaven with your loved ones is as twisted as the muslims who believe they'll get 100 virgins in paradise. Back in the day when all these religions were first developed, people were ignorant and maleable. That's why these fairy tales took hold. People in general need something to look forward to, if the simpler people who require faith, or religion, knew that there was nothing waiting for them at the end of their life, then most would think "why even bother"? Unlike the majority of us know that life IS the ride, not the destination.
Now one religious concept I do somewhat agree with is reincarnation. Not in the sense that our consciousness travels from creature to creature when we die, but the fact that our bodies are basically energy, and when we die, our energy is put back into the pot and will be absorbed by plant life, which in turn is eaten by various animals, so therefore, yeah, in a way, you can say that we do in fact come back as something else. In the same sense as gasoline. We put gasoline in our cars. In turn, when burnt, that gasoline is turned into heat. Some of that heat is absorbed into us, some of it goes out the tail pipe to be absorbed by the atmosphere, which in turn could be absorbed by a passing bird, cow, deer or whatever.
The big issue I have with those that believe in an afterlife, is that they act in this world like it doesn't really matter. Sorry, but your beliefs are NO different than muslims who can kill 10000 people and be good about it because they think they'll be rewarded in paradise. It is THIS concept that is going to fuck our world and is currently doing just that. If people think that there is a better life waiting for them when they're done here, they will never treat the present as important as it is. Hence why so many abuse this planet like there is no tomorrow.
I read a book and in it, they took a devote terrorist leader and hooked him up to all kinds of life support systems. They then put some chemicals in his body that stopped his heart. They waited until there was almost no brain activity, just before brain death occured, and then brought him back. He woke up realizing that he did in fact "die" and fell into a big black whole of nothing and began to realize that hey, there was NO paradise. They did this time and time again until he finally was educated that everything be believed in was nonsense. A fairy tale written thousands of years ago in an age when even a flashlight would be seen as a miracle and magical.
Sorry brent, but if you are not ok with people who having 2 way conversations with a dog, then you cannot be ok with someone having a conversation with a snake, or living in a whale for 2 (?) days, or all of the other stories in the bible.
raying:
