I agree with the Witnesses about almost nothing, but I do think they have the right idea when it concerns the 'soul'. It is my belief that there is no such entity as a 'soul' that resides in a human being. The idea originated in ancient, pre-scientific eras. The Bible is inaccurate about so many things, why should we believe it's references to there existing a so-called 'soul'? Our consciousness is a product of our physical body, which is a biological organism with a finite beginning and a finite ending. When our bodies cease to function, our brain and our senses cease to operate. Without these, we are not 'conscious' of anything. We are dead...forever. There is no 'soul' to 'live on' and go to Heaven or a Paradise Earth. Contrary to the Witness belief, our physical bodies do not somehow reappear in order to 'live forever'. That is called Magical Thinking. There is ABSOLUTELY ZERO EVIDENCE of there being an entity such as a 'soul'. We are born, we live, we die. Like it or not, that is the way it is. Exactly why we should make the most of the ONE LIFE we now have. After we die we are gone...forever. But, I will be willing to consider any concrete evidence that a 'soul' exists.
I AGREE WITH THE JWs: THE 'SOUL' DOESN'T EXIST
by NAVYTOWN 29 Replies latest jw friends
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alanv
I'm the same as you. My mother recently died and she and I chose to have a huminist ceremony, where the funeral talk is a tribute to her life, rather than trying to persuade the congregation about her soul floating off somewhere. I am under no illusions that I will not see her again. It is during a persons life we have the chance to love them and care for them. There is no second chance.
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jwfacts
One good thing about being raised a JW is the lack of fear of the afterlife. There is a fear of dying but not of what is after death.
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Phizzy
The JW position is one that they, as is usual, have not thought through. I agree that there is no such thing as the Soul in the sense of something surviving once my body and mind are dead.
But, if you then claim, as JW's do, that a resurrection is possible, how does that work ?
They sort of imagine that god can "remember" everything about you, not just your DNA, but all your memories too ( scary thought, some of my memories are filthy !), and then produce a new body and implant these memories etc.
Even if that were possible, the "resurrected" one is not the original, but is A CLONE !!!!
Thr real "You" is still dead.
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cantleave
I believe in soles.....
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Phizzy
Those aresoles ?
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cantleave
Aresoles indeed Mr. Phizzy.
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Terry
I think of the soul as an existential OPINION.
We can prove consciousness by thinking about consciousness.
We can't prove the soul by dying because it is the end of consciousness.
The alternative is soul consciousness. But, not being dead--we can't know what that might entail.
I have abandoned ABSOLUTES whether skeptical or belief-oriented.
Why? I am finite. Absolutes are infinite.
I must logically posit the possibility of states of existence beyond the current one.
It terrifies me to think there would ever be a time in which I could no longer escape through death because
of already being dead.
What a nightmare that would be!
I can escape consciousness now because I am alive. What greater horror to imagine than inescapable consciousness
once dea!
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Phizzy
And if I did not really die I could not escape all those other R Souls. They would be floating around too.
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jemba
Belief in a spirit that survives the death of the body is what has left me not fearing death as I once did as a JW.
Too many people come back from being clinically dead that heard everything and saw everything going on.
The only thing about me now at the age of 40 that is still the original me from the day i was born is my 'conciousness' my soul, the essence that makes me - me. Every cell in my body has regenerated itself over and over since that day.
Anyway that is the one special thing I get to believe in now Im 'out'.
I also feel dead loved ones around me quite often, I like to think they smile as they watch on from somewhere peaceful.
