In regards to the HISTORICAL evidence for christ AND the ressurection, there are a few good books. Hey there, Paul. Yes, I read some of them at a time my mind was more open to the possibility but sadly they were not convincing, in much the same way as historical testimony that Mohammed flew to Medina on a winged horse is not convincing. Have you ever watched the film "The God Who Wasn't There"? It's an interesting hypothesis.
Nickolas
JoinedPosts by Nickolas
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136
Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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136
Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Nickolas
Quite right, still thinking. The proof is in the negative. Can I prove that fairies don't exist in my garden? It depends, I suppose, on what the observer considers sufficient proof. If you hold the conviction that fairies exist and your cognitive dissonance prevents you from considering anything that presents to the contrary, then there will be no proof you will consider sufficient. That there has never been any documented evidence attesting to the existence of fairies will not sway you. I could set up closed circuit monitoring in my garden for a decade and record the comings and goings of all manner of insect, bird, reptile and mammal throughout the seasons but the fact that the image of no fairy would be captured would not be sufficient for you - you would simply declare that what I have is proof that fairies were not in my garden for the entire decade and for all you know showed up the day after I took down the equipment. For those, however, who harbour a healthy skepticism toward the existence of fairies (once they got over their amusement that one could be so daft as to have gone to all the trouble) it and intelligent logic would more than suffice. If nothing else it comes down to probabilities and agnosticism. I am agnostic about the prospect of life after death in much the same way as I am agnostic about the existence fairies in my garden. It may not be 100%, but it will be so close to it that the infinitessimal residual probability will not matter.
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Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Nickolas
Does he live in some heaven somewhere?
He lives on only in your mind. Putting this into a different perspective, without your eight great-grandparents you would not exist but the fact that neither you nor anyone else remembers even the tiniest detail about them attests to their mortality.
Can you prove that this isn't a fact?
Yes, in much the same way I can prove the moon is not made out of cheese. The context of your question could easily have been whether or not I can prove that fairies exist in my garden.
If Christ has not risen from the dead, we are fools with no hope (read I Cor. 15). We should eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die instead. Thankfully, the Deity and resurrection of Christ is historical and makes Christianity unique, the only way to eternal life.
I think you're beginning to get it, godrulz. Christ has not risen from the dead for at least 2/3rds of the world's population, many of whom are not fools. Have you ever questioned why you believe what you do, if not for the accident of your birth? Yes it is true, we should all eat, drink and be merry because we die all too soon. But your last sentence above is true neither with respect to history nor with your conclusion that there is a way to eternal life. You could easily be a muslim or a hindu or a jain making an identical statement (save for the Christianity part).
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Atheist believe in aliens but not God?
by StopTheTears inif you are a professed atheist, i ask you the question: do you believe in aliens?
could not god be an alien?
how do you know that there is no alien life?
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Nickolas
If you are a professed Atheist, I ask you the question: Do you believe in aliens? Could not God be an alien? Yes, He most certainly is an alien. The dictionary defines the word “alien” as: “coming from or existing outside the earth or its atmosphere.” God is not of this world. The Bible teaches that God created the universe, which means that His presence transcends this universe.
Answer to the first question, No, not within the context of what is documented evidence. "Are there alien life forms out there somewhere? I think yes, probably, but I doubt I will live long enough to find out for sure one way or another. Is "God" an alien? - I'll let you decide the answer to that question, but I think it will not agree with mine.
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136
Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Nickolas
Christian faith is rooted in historical fact (life, death, resurrection of Jesus)
at least the third point of the above is not historical fact, the other two debatable. I will be pleased to be corrected.
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136
Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Nickolas
5th Nov.: You have ostrich syndrome.
Sadly, godrulz, your words indicate it's actually you who is unable to see, and you are also unable to see that you are unable to see. You are in good company because it's a common condition in here. While one might admire your zeal and faith, being absolutely convinced that something is true does not make it real outside of your own perceptions. However, you seem to be happy in what you believe as much as you seem not to be happy with what others believe. To each his own.
You can deny God, life after death, etc., but it will not change the fact that you have a spirit-soul that will live beyond your body.
Something is not a "fact" unless it is supported by evidence. That the sun rises in the east is a fact because it can be observed. Your belief that you have a spirt-soul is your belief, one which many of us on this board shared at one point or another in our lives. We have been where you are but it is apparent that you have never been where we are. When we thought as you do we, too, were unable to discern the difference between what constitutes fact and what is opinion generated by the accidental circumstances of our births and upbringings.
Some do. (remember life before they were born)
With genuine respect, journeyon, memories of things that have not happened is a well documented psychological phenomenon catalysed by the power of suggestion, whether originating within the mind of those harbouring the false memory or originating from those with corroborating agendas.
All that said, I realise that this is an unwinnable argument. Faith is faith. It is what keeps people (an example apropos to this board would be Jehovah's Witnesses, but it reaches well beyond that particular group) completely captive. It is what renders people unable and unwilling to consider alternative views, no matter how much evidence there may be to support them.
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136
Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Nickolas
You are likely not going to want to hear this but your question could be posed in such a way that the answer is self-evident.
Do you remember life before your conception and birth?
Of course not. Then why should your life continue when once again your body ceases to exist? Life is a complex set of chemical and electrical reactions that depend on
a) supportive environments (the ecosystems provided by the planet and your body itself) and
b) symbiosis (the billions upon billions of dependent organisms that live in and on your body without which neither they nor you could survive. Your body contains 20 times more microbes than it does cells.)
Near death experiences are hallucinations manifested by a brain in the process of being starved of the things that keep it functioning. When your brain dies, you die, and when you die, you die. Game over.
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Is the Governing Body Guilty or not guilty of 1975 speculations going too far?
by Terry inthe most disengenuous aspect of "official" pronouncements from the society can be identified.. it is in the positioning of the speaker/writer as a passive onlooker commenting on exterior happenings.. this bystander mode is clever by half.. why?
it spoon feeds information without taking any active personal responsibility.. sort of an "oh gee, wow--look at all this going on" stance, while taking a stand-offish tone, is printed in the official magazines and books approved for publication by the governing body as mouthpiece of jehovah.. think about that.
it is insidious incitement without responsibility.. the person (likely fred franz) who crafted these bulletins had gone through several previous incidents of failure and disappointment and was well aware of the effect of any speculations upon jehovah's witnesses in the past.. this makes what was printed all the more calculated and irresponsible in the extreme.. let us parse the language printed by the watchtower society with careful attention to what is said and left unsaid.. w68 8/15 p. 494 why are you looking forward to 1975?.
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Nickolas
Remember, the big apostate scare in the early '80's? I wonder if it had something to do with hushing these "talkers" that were verbalizing their doubts
Yes, there were many verbalizing their doubts, including Raymond Franz. By the 80's I was in full blown anti-Watchtower mode after studying with the Witnesses from late '74 to mid '76. 1975 is what attracted me to look into the Watchtower and 1975 was what took me out of it. Funny how it's all been so effectively swept under the carpet and ignored. It goes directly to Witnesses being captive to the concept of the Watchtower being God's spirit-annointed organisation (exactly the point of Cameron's book) and therefore can't possibly do anything wrong.
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56
Is the Governing Body Guilty or not guilty of 1975 speculations going too far?
by Terry inthe most disengenuous aspect of "official" pronouncements from the society can be identified.. it is in the positioning of the speaker/writer as a passive onlooker commenting on exterior happenings.. this bystander mode is clever by half.. why?
it spoon feeds information without taking any active personal responsibility.. sort of an "oh gee, wow--look at all this going on" stance, while taking a stand-offish tone, is printed in the official magazines and books approved for publication by the governing body as mouthpiece of jehovah.. think about that.
it is insidious incitement without responsibility.. the person (likely fred franz) who crafted these bulletins had gone through several previous incidents of failure and disappointment and was well aware of the effect of any speculations upon jehovah's witnesses in the past.. this makes what was printed all the more calculated and irresponsible in the extreme.. let us parse the language printed by the watchtower society with careful attention to what is said and left unsaid.. w68 8/15 p. 494 why are you looking forward to 1975?.
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most depressing song ever
by will_the_apostate inwhats the most depressing song you have ever heard?
i would go with either johnny cash - hurt or gary jules-mad world.
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Nickolas
Gloomy Sunday as performed by several artists but most notably by Billie Holiday in 1941. Also called "The Hungarian Suicide Song" because, as legend has it, it has inspired scores of people to kill themselves including the man who wrote it, Hungarian Rezso Seress.
Dust in the Wind by Kansas would get my second vote.