Hell

[DeistPaladin]

Deist Paladin, do you believe that after life is possible? If so what would your beliefs on it be?

Thanks

Possible? Yes.

Likely? We don't have enough information to go on.

I think the answer will come from the field of neuroscience. The question should be what is it that is the cause of our consciousness, the "I" when we say "I am". I would love to read biology textbooks that will be written 1,000 years from now.

If consciousness is an emergent property of the brain, then the prognosis doesn't look good for the afterlife. On the other hand, if there is some kind of x-factor that interacts with the brain, it might survive the process of death. We really don't know enough about the nature of consciousness to say for sure at this point.

If there is some sort of enigmatic force that is the core of our being, a "soul" for lack of a better term, I expect that such a force is dependent on the brain to interact with the physical world. We do know that we store and access memory through the brain as well as gather and interpret sensory data within it. These functions can be lost or inhibited if the brain is ever damaged, either through disease or injury.

This is why, as much as I would like to believe in some sort of Heaven-esque place where we see our departed loved ones again, it doesn't seem likely. Memory can be lost prior to death from injury or illness. There's no reason to hope it would survive the complete destruction of the brain.

Like you, I find Hell even less unlikely. It would have to rely on a god who demands worship and yet hides from his creation. The motive of such a god is impossible to understand and it seems far more likely to be a carrot-stick approach by priests to command faith and obedience, which they profit from. Additionally, we adapt to whatever environment we are in so that Hell would eventually become something we're accustomed to.

I like the idea of reincarnation and it fits well with the cycles we see all about us in the universe. I can explain our lack of memory of previous lives, since that would have been destroyed in the last brain we occupied. Growing and diminishing populations is the biggest flaw in the model but perhaps time is not as linear as we think it is. The "next life" might be concurrent with this one.

Then again, I'm also prepared to accept that God gives us one shot at the brass ring.