Why are Christians scared to die?

[robvalue]

Instincts are still us. They are a part of us, and they feed off our beliefs. It's just we may not consciously be aware of the full extent of our beliefs. Our conscious mind is only a very small part of our overall mental makeup. Instincts wouldn't be any use if they didn't factor in our beliefs about how gravity and physics in general work, and so on. And if we feel like doing something in the heat of the moment, then we believe on some level it's an appropriate action. Just not necessarily consciously so. Our instincts don't have the time to lay out rational arguments, and in some ways they show us what we're really like when we don't have time to rationalize or weigh things up. I'm more and more of the opinion that the conscious mind is something of an illusion, a slave to the subconscious. It's the mind telling itself stories.

Personally, I think my instincts work in parallel with my conscious beliefs, they are just more knee-jerk. If I have any sort of contradiction, I'm unaware of it and I'd be interested if anyone pointed it out to me. Generally if I feel the urge to punch someone, it's someone I still believe deserves to be punched even after I've calmed down. It's just that with a cool head I wouldn't dish out just what people deserve.