What is the purpose of life? (page 32)

prologos

re: tsunamis, perhaps we are too much focussed on the importance of the individual asking for special status, intervention by the deity? Nature or creation are what they are, and living unprotected in the low dunes, even building vulnerable nuclear plants into the face of such recurring events, is a personal choice. if lessons learned by life is a purpose, the tsunamis taught well, hopefully. (I am working on earthquake proofing the house}

John_Mann

Perhaps we are too much focussed on the importance of the individual asking for special status, intervention by the deity?

I don't think we are hyperfocusing this problem.

I think this is a central problem also the hardest one in theology and simply can't be watered down.

This problem is a cause for life changing positions (like cofty).

Apparently the problem could be supernaturally intervened without damaging free will. But the butterfly effect prevents me to accept this statement.

Viviane

Apparently the problem could be supernaturally intervened without damaging free will. But the butterfly effect prevents me to accept this statement.

So.... it's not free will to be killed by a tsunami. The butterfly effect would not be a problem for an omni-everything god, such as the one you worship. In fact, far from a problem, it's wouldn't even be a thing that exists because everything that happens is according to his will.

Your god is responsible for millions of deaths. It's just that simple. He's an asshole, which is why you should worship his creator, Unicorn Sparkle Pony.

prologos

-our god is responsible for millions of deaths.

and responsible for billions and billions of lives.

John_Mann

So.... it's not free will to be killed by a tsunami.

This statement reminds that indeed I would die for my free will.

Not only me but a lot of people in history actually died for only their free will but for other's free will.

So I can make an assertion that free will is more important and valuable than mortal life itself.

Viviane

and responsible for billions and billions of lives.

So what? If you have 100 children, it's OK to murder a few of them, is that your argument?

So I can make an assertion that free will is more important and valuable than mortal life itself.

Well, you can, but it's not at all related to this discussion. No one was choosing to die in the tsunami. Your god was the root cause and let it continue. He's an asshole.

Oh, BTW, you still haven't shown how your claims about posotivism match reality. Specifically, you claimed that your definition of posotivism matched what Nicolau posted, so far you've not shown that to be true. Why have you run away from that? What have you to fear if truth is on your side?

prologos

So what? If you have 100 children, it's OK to murder a few of them, is that your argument?

Consider tsunamis to be accidents, uncontrolled events of tectonic plate movements, , movements that also are co-responsible for abiogenesis (remember the deep ocean vents)? I expect my kids to be smart and not to be so copulation irresponsible that they have to,- again and again expose themselves to accidents that happen again and again. The purpose of life is to keep it going, and for me to see what develops, how far my kids can push the envelope, safely.

prologos

The "there should be no stress, no evil" argument is an offshoot of the wt paradise doctrine, turned around to argue against the possibility of a creator that might have included healthy competition, and good nutrition (carnivore's diet) into the package of energy and laws that came through the creation big bang event. The purpose of life is to make the best of it.

slimboyfat

Since nicolaou is still waiting for that answer to the initial question of the thread, here goes...

A few years ago I was interested in existentialist solutions to the meaning of life. It's commonly an atheistic perspective on life associated with philosophers such as Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus, but also the Christian philosopher Kierkegaard and to some extent the philosopher Heidegger who was a practising Catholic (among other things). I especially liked Camus' emphasis on the absurd nature of the human condition and the position we humans find ourselves in. We are in a world without inherent meaning and yet we seem doomed to strive constantly as if there is a point to it all.

Sartre said we are forced to choose how we will respond to our situation, there is a compulsion. This predicament can at times cause an uncomfortable sensation like nausea. As, for example, when we are at the top of a cliff, looking down, there is sometimes an absolute realisation that we can choose to fall or we can choose not to fall. The choice is utterly ours, and we cannot say there is no choice. We must choose, gladly, most often, the choice we make is not to fall. But the lesson is that all of life can be likened to that extreme choice. And when we realise this, there is the sense of nausea. We must choose what to make of our lives: whether and with what to inscribe it with meaning. Faced with the absurdity of a world without inherent meaning, we cannot avoid this choice.

Nietzsche discounted heaven and hell as providing ultimate meaning, but he did teach what is called the "eternal return". This is the idea that when we die we go back to the beginning and live our life again, exactly the same, and again, and again, eternally. Some have said these comments by Nietzsche were a result of mental illness toward the end of his life and not to be taken seriously. Others have said it's a metaphor to live your life by: if you approach life as if it is going to be repeated eternally you may choose to get up out of bed earlier, not bicker needlessly, do something worthwhile, something authentic, instead of making inauthentic choices leading to time spent tediously and pointlessly.

Authenticity is a key idea for existentialist writers, and promoted as the goal for a life filled with meaning of our own making. And it's easy to see how the idea of authenticity is an appealing concept for former JWs who have often struggled with authenticity when breaking from the JW religion. As a recent author has said, living a fake life is simply bad for you.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/25/why-being-a-fake-is-bad-for-you

However in the past few years I have come to doubt the wisdom of inscribing our lives with individual meanings. Maybe we don't need to find life inherently absurd, and there is an alternative to simply making the best of it as individuals as we can,

Viviane

Consider tsunamis to be accidents, uncontrolled events of tectonic plate movements

Sorry, if there is an omni-everything god, then there can be no uncontrolled event or accident.

What is the purpose of life?

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