LisaRose: Pretty pictures of cats do not substitute for a serious discussion. I no longer believe in what I was taught by a fraudulent faith from a mythical book and therefore I must also reject such fanciful notions as souls, spirits and ghosts.
You’re right. Photos mean nothing. Our discussions also ultimately mean nothing, as this is just a thread of personal opinions. Nothing in the Bible (“mythical book”) tells us one way or the other whether animals have spirits. And even if it did, many people (like you) who wouldn’t accept it. In my view...opinion...belief, souls, or intelligence, is eternal, having no beginning or end. As one of my professors pointed out, if you take your hand and put it on the top of your head, “that’s above you.” If you then put your hand on your nose, “that’s under, or below, you.” Still using your hand, you can map out “you” very simply. Obviously, it’s your brain, and all ancient cultures realized it. There’s nothing profound in this observation, but still, whether the brain is the depository of what defines YOU, or whether it simply houses your intelligence, that’s the issue.
Cofty: The question of conscious existence after death is a scientific question. Supernatural claims can be tested in a controlled environment and proven to be false. The idea of animals surviving death is just wishful thinking. Where do you draw the line? Horses, dogs, fish, birds, insects, bacteria?
I don’t draw a line, neither do I believe the existence of spirits and ghosts, and near death experiences, can be proven one way or the other. I’ve had personal experiences that have proven these things to my satisfaction. There are genuinely haunted places all over the world, and people who are genuinely possessed by evil spirits. Many people won’t agree that such is the case, and they’re entitled to their opinion. I’d love to take folks who are unbelievers like you into any one of a number of abandoned asylums, where people were horribly abused. I think I could change your mind in short order. I had a close friend who lived in a troubled house. It was very old, and the things he and his family experienced were frightening. They would hear footsteps on the floor above them, once or twice followed by a terrible crashing sound, as though someone had pushed over a dresser with the drawers full. When they went upstairs to inspect what happened, nothing would be out of place. At night, he said, light would sometimes appear on the wall, looking very much like car lights from outside. The strange thing about it, he added, is that if you held your hand up over the light to see where it was coming from, there would be no shadow. Apparently you could wave your hand in front of the lit wall and there would be no shadow. I never experienced these things personally, but I knew my friend’s character and he was an impeccably honest chap. His mother and father also backed up his stories, and they impressed me as also being honest folks.
Qcmbr: Please check PM.
