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Originally Posted by DarkAngel:
Originally Posted by b50m:

You would probably find the same results form any group setting. Most people like routines and schedules.

 

I think many other Christians feel this way but can't be honest enough to admit it. It is probably just normal human behavior to need to believe there is more after this life.


Judging from the last few days, apparently Christians are not the only ones who need the comfort of something after this life,  atheists can believe in an afterlife as well.

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I agree b50m, something in our evolved mind responds to such things and makes humans happy.  For some its meditation, for others its prayer. For me its a good book, a glass of wine and a bath. Give me an hour of that and all is right with the world.

 

I have tried to find that study, because it went far deeper and really looked at how the brain works when dealing with religion and religious rituals. If I could just remember the guys name that headed it up....arghhhh. I hate when I go blank like that.  As best I remember what they found was that (as you said) it didn't really matter what type of religion or ritual a person engaged in they got a rush of dopamine and other chemicals released in their brain. It gave them a warm and fuzzy feeling so to speak. Most people apparently use religion like a drug. While others just use weed.

 

As for the afterlife comment. I have stated how I feel about reincarnation. I don't believe in it. As an atheist myself I have a hard time seeing how anyone who does not believe in the supernatural can then say they believe in reincarnation. However, reincarnation does not require the belief in a deity, so I guess it could still be defined as atheistic on some level.

I think I have seen similar studies. The human being is a gregarious creature. Very few people are truly happy when completely alone. I think that being part of some church or club or organization gives them more a purpose to their life.  Just simply touching another person's hand can calm someone down almost instantly.  As for the meditation, I agree. Sometimes you have to shut out the world, reset your own biological stress meter and then you feel able to attack the masses again. Wine and a hot bath works for me as well.With some soothing Gregorian chants in the background.  Ahhhhh.

When one speaks of the body’s energy it has to be taken in the literal sense as to what energy is.

Mass and energy is the same thing. Rest energy accounts for every atom in the body and it’s potential.

If momentum is involved which results from moving some distance which then involves time. These properties are of our classical world and would not cross into a spiritual world without transforming from energy to mass the conservation laws would insist that they are always in the classical world and not able to be in a spiritual world.

Neither Mass nor energy can occur in the spiritual world unless laws of physics as we know them fail.

Dark, Judea Pearl father of the Pearl kid [reporter] killed in Afghanistan could be who you are talking about. Pearl has interesting theories as a determinist who believes the Bible to be a great book of poetry full of useful metaphors which as a staunch atheist he himself uses. He sees the father figure as something very that can best be taught with “God will punish you or God will reward you. He teaches them to his children as valuable “poetry his grandfather used to teach him reward ,punishment and fatherly protection” [paraphrased]http://thesciencenetwork.org/p...iew-with-judea-pearl

Judea Pearl

is a professor of computer science and the director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory at UCLA. He is known internationally for his contributions to artificial intelligence, human reasoning and philosophy of science. He is the author of over three hundred scientific papers and three landmark books in his fields of interest: Heuristics (1984), Probabilistic Reasoning (1988), and Causality (2000). His current interests are artificial intelligence and knowledge representation, probabilistic and causal reasoning, nonstandard logics and learning strategies. Pearl is the father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which he co-founded with his family in February 2002, "to continue Daniel's life-work of dialogue and understanding and to address the root causes of his tragedy."

 

Originally Posted by b50m:

You take too many meds.

 

Originally Posted by b50m:

I like to wash them down with wine.  Works better.

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No, I'm really not taking to many meds & I sure wouldn't take them with wine or any kind of alcohol.

You say you're not a Christian but that you claim to have faith. What's wrong with my asking exactly what kind of faith you have & faith in what?

If you don't want questions, you shouldn't put your beliefs/opinion out there.

Originally Posted by lexum:

When one speaks of the body’s energy it has to be taken in the literal sense as to what energy is.

Mass and energy is the same thing. Rest energy accounts for every atom in the body and it’s potential.

If momentum is involved which results from moving some distance which then involves time. These properties are of our classical world and would not cross into a spiritual world without transforming from energy to mass the conservation laws would insist that they are always in the classical world and not able to be in a spiritual world.

Neither Mass nor energy can occur in the spiritual world unless laws of physics as we know them fail.

Dark, Judea Pearl father of the Pearl kid [reporter] killed in Afghanistan could be who you are talking about. Pearl has interesting theories as a determinist who believes the Bible to be a great book of poetry full of useful metaphors which as a staunch atheist he himself uses. He sees the father figure as something very that can best be taught with “God will punish you or God will reward you. He teaches them to his children as valuable “poetry his grandfather used to teach him reward ,punishment and fatherly protection” [paraphrased]http://thesciencenetwork.org/p...iew-with-judea-pearl

Judea Pearl

is a professor of computer science and the director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory at UCLA. He is known internationally for his contributions to artificial intelligence, human reasoning and philosophy of science. He is the author of over three hundred scientific papers and three landmark books in his fields of interest: Heuristics (1984), Probabilistic Reasoning (1988), and Causality (2000). His current interests are artificial intelligence and knowledge representation, probabilistic and causal reasoning, nonstandard logics and learning strategies. Pearl is the father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which he co-founded with his family in February 2002, "to continue Daniel's life-work of dialogue and understanding and to address the root causes of his tragedy."

 


On the bolded part I'm not sure how we could determine what could exist or cross over into a spiritual world really.  Much more goes on than many would be aware of...we don't have ways to test everything, and unless a person consciously passes between the spiritual world and the usual world a person is aware of when alive we really wouldn't know concrete answers to that I would think.  Until that happens with science to the point of proving that it can't happen or that it does and the laws must be changed, then I would think it is not totally provable at this point.

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:

Originally Posted by b50m:

You take too many meds.

 

Originally Posted by b50m:

I like to wash them down with wine.  Works better.

___________________________

No, I'm really not taking to many meds & I sure wouldn't take them with wine or any kind of alcohol.

You say you're not a Christian but that you claim to have faith. What's wrong with my asking exactly what kind of faith you have & faith in what?

If you don't want questions, you shouldn't put your beliefs/opinion out there.

Here you go Semi. I already posted this on the reincarnation thread 2 hours ago. And we already talked in pm's about my beliefs remember?

 

2 hours ago
 

You want the short answer?Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their savior is a Christian.

 

Now the problem becomes, all the judging of how that person should live or act or present themselves.

I would guess that 99% of all comments on this forum are judgement comments. Everyone wants to decide what the other person is worth. Accepting that some people have no faith is easy for me, accepting that people can have faith and are not crazy because they do is hard for atheists.

 

Now when we get to throw in the paranormal/non-theist religion  into the mix, then we really have trouble defining sides.

 

I have said I am not a Christian because of the way it is defined by the religious people on here. I believe in Jesus and God but I don't think the OT is accurate and I  follow the Four Gospels for guidance. I'm not even sure about Revelation since there was quite an  argument about including it. I don't know if it was divinely inspired or not. There may not even be a Hell. So since I pick and choose as it were, that leaves me out of the Christian rule. I don't care what others think about my existence and whether I go to Hell or not.

 

As for putting yourself down, there is no point to doing that. If you feel you are not following the scriptures correctly and it bothers you , then ask someone in a church, not a forum. If you think that God doesn't answer prayers, then maybe there is no God. You have the option of believing He doesn't exist or He said no to your prayer, which the 'no' may be because of something we don't know about at the time that God sees in the future that we do not. 

 

Now from the atheist view, things are much simpler. If someone dies, then they die.(other than the recycled view) No one to blame it on or to pray to for it not to happen. It just happens. It's natural. No intervening omnipotent being to contend with. There is no asking of 'why' or 'how' or 'it's not fair' or 'good or evil'.

I would think that atheists don't visit burial sites since  to them there is no spirit left of the person. Once the body dies, that's it. Why put flowers over worm food?

 

Anyway, that's my long version.

 

I doubt that helps to explain my view point any better, but that's the best I can do.

 

On the bolded part I'm not sure how we could determine what could exist or cross over into a spiritual world really. Much more goes on than many would be aware of...we don't have ways to test everything, and unless a person consciously passes between the spiritual world and the usual world a person is aware of when alive we really wouldn't know concrete answers to that I would think. Until that happens with science to the point of proving that it can't happen or that it does and the laws must be changed, then I would think it is not totally provable at this point.”[frog]

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I’m assuming there is no stuff in a spiritual world. You are correct there is no way for science to set up an experiment to decide either way.

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