Posts by John

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

So when a spirit medium claims to have contacted the dead during a séance, whom/what has the medium contacted?

BS.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

There is no mention of an immaterial soul in this definition so obviously there is no known mechanism by which an immaterial soul could possibly alter the state of the body or affect the brain which are both made of matter.

Positive thinking creates neuroplasticity. How can you detect which neurons are making positive thinking?

How can you detect in my brain if I'm thinking about a banana or an apple?

The mind works in some ways that are totally unrelated to the brain. You can't say what I'm thinking just looking to a top notch brain scanner.

So you have an undetectable event (positive thinking) changing the material structure of the brain (neuroplasticity).

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

Not quite sure I understand this statement but are you saying that a person's intuition is their soul?
Last time I checked, intuition is a function of the material brain:
Meditation and relaxation exercises quiet your rational left brain and awaken the perceptive faculties of your intuitive right brain. This opens the way to the unlocking of a deep level of consciousness where psychic and extrasensory perception can be done.

The intuition is not the soul but it's a function of it.

There's correlation in mind/brain of course. But correlation doesn't mean causation.

Even though the spiritual soul is not the mind but a part of it. Our mind is the collective of three souls and mechanisms of the brain.

My position is the consciousness and the higher perceptions in humans are functions of the spiritual soul. The performance of this soul depends on the "hardware" just like a driver can run faster and better with a better car. But the same driver cannot perform the same way with a crappy car. If you change the car it doesn't mean you affect the driver in anyway just give him a different medium.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

The claims of believers would just make more sense. They would be self- evidently true. The natural world, the history of life, revelation, miracles, prayers, prophecy, ethics, and more would all resonate with the claims of theism.

That's right.

I just don't know why some people (the overwhelming majority) conclude the theistic claims are exactly what you described.

While others, like you, get the opposite conclusion.

Both groups base their conclusions in a metaphysical approach though.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

Have you any idea how unrealistic that sounds? I have to say, it's sounds a bit on the silly side. Sorry to be so abrupt.

If you really think about it, it doesn't sounds unrealistic at all.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

Im going to restate a question that I've asked twice now. What is your source of information? Who has given you all this supposed knowledge on the inner workings of the soul? According to you, souls that have been separated from the body (presumably the only souls that can remember being heaven, hell, or purgatory) can't speak with us physical beings to corroborate anything you're saying on the subject. As far as I can tell you have a lot of "answers" but zero proof.

I'm talking about metaphysical matters.

What kind of proof or evidence are you talking about? Mathematical? Logical? Scientific?

Are you talking about scientific proof or evidence when you say the scientific method is applicable to metaphysics?

Where did you get this information?

The very scientific method is supposed to be only applied to the physical world, just like an ordinary tool (hammer or screwdriver). I don't know if you're aware of that but you're applying a strange metaphysical interpretation upon science. You say science is the only way to get knowledge and scientific method is applicable to metaphysics. Nowhere in science there are such statements.

In fact you are following a philosophical system called positivism. Idk if you're aware of that or if you don't know what the scientific method is or what metaphysics is. Probably you're just a blind follower of positivism (lately it's spreading like a plague).

Do you base your life in science? Science is just a tool and try to view it as a golden calf will just bring you more disappointment (just like the JW disappointment). Because your life needs to be guided by a metaphysical principle and not by a hammer.

The scientific method is a philosophical system and metaphysics is also. Everything I said is subject to philosophical study since the dawn of man. And the test of it is time. Nature itself "hates" waste. If something is not true it will never last too much time. My view is standing for thousands years throughout many civilizations. Your view is just a little shadow in the stream of time. No matter how hard you try you simply can't change this fact.

Giving a more direct answer to your question I get my information through philosophical inquiry and through metaphysical revelation (both public and private) brought by non human beings (human souls can't do that without special permission) and through the test of time/history.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

According to you, the soul lives on after death, so, have you heard from any of your friends or relatives who may have died?
If you have, did they tell you what the afterlife is like and about their conversations with God?

Souls after the death of the body are only in heaven, purgatory or hell. They can't contact the living and vice versa.

Your previous comments suggest that natural evil did not exist before Adam & Eve's fall - that is, it was The Fall that caused natural evil.

Moral or natural evil requires consciousness to be perceived. So only after creation of the soul, humans were able to perceive evil. It's just like the Buddhist koan about the tree falling without nobody to hear it.

There's an interesting psychology theory about the origin of consciousness in humans that explains how humans existed without consciousness:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

Are there aspects of the mind that owe nothing to the physical functioning of the brain?
Are there aspects of the mind that do not correspond to any physical area of the brain?
What exactly does the soul do that confers consciousness on us, and is this influence transmitted to the brain?
Does an immaterial soul interact with a brain and body of matter? Does the soul control the body at all?
If so, how exactly does it do this? What force or causal influence does it exert, and by what mechanism? By what mechanism can an immaterial soul possibly alter the state of the body or affect the brain?

Neuroplasticity. Intentional behaviour changes the matter in the brain.

Why would God create an immutable/unchangeable soul-nature and then make it subject to the changeable and imperfect nature of a fallible material body, and judge it for the actions committed by that body?

Because He wanted this way. The judgement is related to the intentions of the immortal soul and not the body.

Why do we even need such bodies, if at best they can only allow the true nature of the soul to shine through unaltered, and at worst obscure it?

The human body came first by evolution. The human nature is designed to be a double nature.

What is God’s rationale for imprisoning souls in bodies and holding the souls responsible for the uncontrollable irrationalities of those bodies?

The original plan was the soul having perfect control over the body. And humans are not imprisoned ghosts and are not only physical bodies. Human nature is the union of spirit and matter. The imperfect union between soul and body is temporary and the soul without the body is a temporary state too.

Which animals are these?

Globicephala melas: "For the first time, we show that a species of dolphin has more neocortical neurons than any mammal studied to date including humans

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244864/

The evidence shows that our identity, personality and behaviour are completely determined by the physical configuration of the brain, and that a change to this configuration can alter or eliminate any of them.

The soul needs the brain to be functional in order to interact in the material world. But brain damage doesn't have any effects on soul. It's just like a broken radio can't do a good reception from the broadcast. But it doesn't mean the malfunction of a radio set affects the broadcasting source.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

John_Mann

You are having a joke with me, right? You are, aren't you??

No I'm not. And I'm not trying to sell you some magazines too. Lol

Just try to imagine your time of death and your consciousness disappearing to nothing forever.

You will notice that your mind will be filled with a very unique sensation/intuition of someway somehow you will be alright and you will wake up again. Meanwhile your intellect will give some explanation: future scientists will resurrect me or aliens or Thor, etc...

Just think about your hour of death and you will know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you already done that a lot of times.

There's something in you that's immortal and you simply know it. It's that simple.

74

Was/Is Religion Useful Even if it isn't True?

by cofty in

in his book "the righteous mind" jonathan haidt proposes that religion served - and continues to serve an important role in bringing about cohesion within non-kin groups.. to put it very briefly haidt advocates a form of group selection but only insofar as it applies to humans.

our unique brains have made it possible for us to cooperate in groups in ways that are impossible for all non-human species.

despite their intelligence you will never see two chimps helping each other to carry the same log or one chimp pulling down a branch while the other removes the fruit.. his description is that humans are 90% chimp and 10% bee.

John_Mann

Globicephala melas: "For the first time, we show that a species of dolphin has more neocortical neurons than any mammal studied to date including humans

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244864/

John_Mann

Posts by John_Mann