Problem dealing with death as an atheist

[Zenith]

Having read this thead, I've turned to God.

you can now find me on http://www.godforums.org

For some reason...no..I will just flat out accuse you of lying. You were a god believer BEFORE you read this thread. A thread like this does not turn one from an atheist to a strong god believer. I call you on that.

As far as becoming a god believer. Feel free, by all means. It doesnt bother me. Its your life. My mind is free of intellectual suicide, so.. whatever...enjoy your delusions of grandeur and escape from reality.

Just dont post some crap like that and think we take you seriously, or take it as a truthful post, or that we will not call you on it.

I also believe that there's something strange about that post. Besides of the fact that the link is bad, I can't believe that the discussions on this thread could make someone believe in God. I mean, a saying like "there's no point to fear death, we will meet it anyway" CANNOT make someone believe that God exists. Then, in order for a man to have strong beliefs in the opposite philosophy (whichever that is) there is need of much time (i.e. first doubt of what you already believe, then starting to think about the other version, studying about it, asking questions, etc. and it leads you more and more to the other side). Well, I've also heard that a woman understood that Islam is the true religion when she looked into the eyes of a certain old muslim, when they were in jail, but that's an exception (probably, sanity problems).

So I guess that this guy has either been doubting his faith (probably Christianity) and something that was written made him believe that God must truly exist (though I have no idea what that could be) or he had been an atheist in the beginning but he's been turning more and more towards theism in time, and after reading this thread, he's made the final step. Or it's a fake.

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But suppose this thread is about death, rather than life. What are the odds that there is life after death? If you were a gambling man, what would you do to hedge the odds?

well, I guess that in order to understand death we must first understand life. I mean, if scientists could create a human being from atoms (without using already living cells) then that would disprove the existence of soul (the soul being the person, without the body - and to exist) - because, if the soul exists, it is it that which animates the body and is probably the origin of will, individualism (i.e. the one that makes him be not a robot - a mechanical machine that only reacts to stimuli - but to have his own conscience and thus personal choice), etc.

If the whole human being can be created from chemical ingredients (i.e. atoms) then that would mean that there is no soul to interfere. If there is no soul, then we are only material things that really cease to exist by death. If a full human being cannot be created from chemical ingredients, then it means that there is a soul that we cannot provide (but "cannot" is probably an impossible thing to prove, because there may be hope after innumerable attempts).

So, we'll probably have to wait from 1000 to 10000 years to see if scientists can really create a human being from atoms (which would require a lot of study in all those years and a lot of failed attempts). At the end of those 10000 years, if they still did not succeed, then they would say that "soon enough we will discover the secret", so only if they succeed we would be able to know for sure.

For now, I guess we can only gamble.