My Escatological Vision

[dqualk]

There is a very real longing within me that tells me there is meaning and intrinsic value which to me implies that there must be a God. After this I observe the religions of the world and I have come to the conclusion that Christianity makes the most metaphsical sense.

Just because you feel something strongly, in your heart, does not make it true. Meaning and intrinsic value can just as easily come out of a convenient, comforting framework that ignores the facts. This is why you hear people mentioning the word 'delusion,' because it means a strong conviction to something for which there is no evidence. 'Faith' means the same thing.

I don't know how you can look at all the religions of the world, including religions of the past, and still be convinced that your religion is the right one. You were born into it, most likely, and raised with it, and that is why it makes intuitive sense to you.

Back to the point of this thread, the very idea of an afterlife is impossible. Everything that makes you 'you' is contained within your brain. Patients with severe brain damage or neurodegenerative diseases show profound personality, perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural changes, loss of memories, inability to experience emotion, etc.. Patients who are brain dead will never be aware of anything ever again. When your brain dies, everything responsible for consciousness, awareness, perception, thinking, feeling, decision-making, etc. dies with it, and therefore 'you' also cease to exist.

The finality of death is a fact of life, it's better to accept it and come to terms with it, rather than delude yourself with false promises.

I was not born into it. Many people convert to Christianity from various religions. My ancestors were pagans who converted to Christianity, Africa is converting as a massive rate, and Asia is converting slowly. Just because you feel there is no God in your heart doesn't make it true. Listen God is different than Santa Clause or whatever else many of you tell yourselves. One can arrive at the conclusion that there is a God using the natural light of reason. Granted that one must accept certain facts as a-priori like you have an intrinsic value and that there is a right and a wrong. Now this is fairly similar to accepting that you exist, which is funny becuase in a way atheists even deny that. Atheism is a delusion, it says ultimately I do not exist, I am really just random reactions brought about by colliding atoms. We know we exist, and we know we are of value, real intrinsic value, not just relative value. You see when one postulates that the universe makes sense and that there is meaning he arrives at the conclusion that there is an Unmoved Mover to the material realm, and an Unmoved Mover of sorts within the metaphysical realm, in the metaphysical realm this God gives us meaning, a soul, reason and a purpose. Santa Clause bears the marks of an entirely different sort, so does the spagehtti monster and what ever silly devices people invent to make themselves fill good about belittleing a perfectly legitimate worldview. This is only an arguement for Theism. Once you arrive at this conclusion there is a whole different set of distinctions and observations to be made that sound stupid when one has not accepted Theism as true, before one arrives at the belief in Christ. It would be like trying to explain evolution to a child when they don't have a decent understanding of science. They will conclude that it is rediculous that we came from monkeys, but this is clearly not what the theory of evolution teaches but it can sound that rediculous if you do not go through the process of learning about it. So its useless for me to try and talk about Christianity until one has acquired a healthy respect for Theism in general.

Listen I will never believe that what makes me me is contained solely within material. I have a firm belief in my soul, and you can not prove to me that there is no soul, so do not say there is not a soul as if you know. I AM NOT TRYING TO SAY YOU SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE SOUL BECAUSE YOU CAN NOT DISPROVE ITS EXISTANCE. However, I am saying that you should not go about proclaiming the non-existance of the soul, and expect me to believe it.

Ultimately Christianity and Theism teach that death and nihil is not the final say, it is not our ultimate destiny; rather, life is our final destiny. If you choose to BELIEVE that death is certainly the final say, that is your business. Do not delude youself with lies that Theism is pure foolishness and only stupid people beleive it. The fact is many of the greatest minds of all time were Theist, to this very day. Yes there is a new phenomonon that is taking root in universities that is atheism, but I doubt it will last to much longer. Theism is a tried and true way to view the world. It relies upon the axiom that there is an intrinsic value, which forces the rational mind to conclude that there is a metaphysical realm that is not subject to the same temporality that we experience. If you would like I could list some of the great minds who were theist, in any century since the beginning of recorded history. I do not mind people saying that Theism does not make as much sense to me. Or I choose not to believe in it because it seems less probably to me, but to act like its absolutely foolish just exposes that you are ignorant and arrogant. Once again, I do not say that all atheist are crazy or delusional, I have great respect for some, many are my dear friends, and I have some respect for Bertrand Russel and David Hume, two great minds. But I also have a great respect for Theists like Leibniz, Galileo, Newton, Tesla and Einstein.

Atheism is the real delusion which claims that we ultimately don't exist, and that there is no intrinsic value, that there is no right or wrong. I know better than that. I know I exist. I think therefore I am. I know that I have value, its a-priori to my entire being. I know that there is a right and a wrong. I do not delude myself into believeing that I am ultimately the result of random atom collisions.

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Well I believe that the See of Peter is the Vicar of Christ on Earth.

You apparently believe everything the men in black dresses tell you. Pity.

Wow minimalist your arrogant ignorance always finds a way to contribute to the discussion at hand lol.

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I think you are delusional.

Highly likely Min. A lot Catholics are,starting with the senile incumbent in charge of the Vatican.

However,based on the evidence so far,I think it's probably fairer to say our resident chronic Catholic is suffering from cognitive dissonance,rather than some form of psychosis.(unlike the pope) .That's a job requirement for Catholics especially,and believers of all kinds as a general principle.

Sane response: You believe? How wonderful for you! Like me to believe? No probs,simply show me the evidence to support your claims. If you're unable to do that,please stop wasting my time and fuck off.( and I mean that in the kindest possible way)

You don't have to read my posts. Perhaps others like to read it.

Here is some evidence for you. Do you exist? Do you have intrinsic value? Is there an objective right and wrong? If the answer to these are yes, then there must be a God. If you are so delusional and removed from yourself that you deny these basic axioms then enjoy your fake mechanical atomic colliding life. I'll contine you to REASON with my RATIONAL soul.