Death, is death our only destiny?

by Blueblades 45 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Anti-Christ

  This belief helps one to deal with their fear of death and their wish for permanence.

  Why fear the end of fear?
• 

  jaguarbass

  Blueblades, good post, not much to add. I think with my being out of the organization since 83, I think less about death then when I was a witnoid. It seemed they liked to talk about death and dying a lot. Oh yeah and sickness and disease. As a man thinks so shall he be.
• 

  greendawn

  It depends on one's outlook, an atheist believes that this life is all there is, but Christians (and even Moslems and Jews) believe in a future resurrection of all the dead and even that there is life after death. Something the atheists claim is just mythology.
• 

  kid-A

  "How do you know this for sure, considering you are still alive? How do YOU know there is no life after death?"

  Hmmm, well to begin with, cellular functions require oxygen. Are you familiar with the CREBS cycle? Your consciousness is the result of neuronal ensembles firing within your cortex and brainstem, which also require oxygen and a blood supply. Now, last time I heard, the defnition of death precluded all of these functions, unless you have heard otherwise?

  The second half of your question is what I call intellectual nihilism. Why? Because you are attempting to apply an inherently illogical premise (the positive assertion that the human body or "soul" somehow survives death) and redirecting the onus of proof on me, however, I am not the one making this claim, which is based upon NO EVIDENCE whatsoever. EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS REQUIRE EXTRAORDINARY PROOF...................do you have any?

  I, on the other hand, can produce hundreds of years of solid, empirical medical evidence demonstrating irrefutably that upon death, the brain ceases to function, and ALL cortical activity ceases to exist.

  Naturally I can already hear the believer's rebuttal: Ah, but you dont KNOW that our "consciousness" is defined beyond the limitations of biology!.....However, I DO know this is the case. Do you need proof? Consider the hundreds of thousands of examples of people having their entire personalities, consciousness, perceptions changed simply as the result of a biological process happening within their brains....schizophrenia, alzheimers, LSD, the list goes on ad infinitum.....In short EVERYTHING you think, everything you are, everything you were or will become, is determined within an electrochemical synapse between neurons within your brain. Thats it. The cortex dies, the "soul" or whatever else you wish to call your "sense" of self or sentience, will die right along with it. I suggest you get used to this simple fact of life......
• 

  Kudra

  Why don't we kill Warlock and see if he comes back to haunt Kid-A?
  
  That should settle things right up.
• 

  kid-A

  "Christians (and even Moslems and Jews) believe in a future resurrection of all the dead and even that there is life after death. Something the atheists claim is just mythology."

  Um, no. Atheists debunk the mythology of religion, GD. An amusing statement however. If you were living in ancient Druid England, you would simply have faith in the "fashionable" religious mythology of your cultural context.

  ALL ancient and present religions incorporate beliefs based upon mythological "immortal creatures"......You just happen to believe in jesus because of the time and culture you inhabit within this historical epoch. Had you been born a few thousand years ago you would have believed in the ancient Greek afterlife, or the ancient Roman afterlife....its all the same song and dance, just the names of the characters change with time..........................
• 

  Warlock

  EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS REQUIRE EXTRAORDINARY PROOF...................do you have any?

  Since I'm still alive, and not dead, of course not. You are not dead either, so you still cannot say there is no life after death.

  I'm not even saying that there is life after death, even though that is what I believe. I will be proved right or wrong on my belief. You say that there is NO life after death, which is something you CANNOT possibly know, until you die of course.

  Warlock
• 

  Warlock

  Why don't we kill Warlock

  Sorry, that's already been tried.

  Warlock
• 

  Kudra

  8-O
• 

  Narkissos

  Life is death... is life.

  We've started dying as soon as we were conceived and yet we consider death as an unfortunate accident.

  There is a comical side to the tragedy.