Problem dealing with death as an atheist

[Zenith]

As for 'scientific proof' in archeology; many religions claim to have proof for their history. Not just Christians and Jews. And such proof is often shaky at best. Even if we leave out dead religions (and some of them aren't as dead as you think, old norse and celtic gods still have followers these days) there are still dozens of religions to choose from, and thousands of denominations.

Yeah, I agree in most part. But consider that those who promote their religions must give "evidence", even where there isn't. So it may require good study to get to a conclusion, but you should get to a conclusion.

I personally don't live by the saying "Nothing can be known!" (in the meaning that, there's no point in studying anything). If you'll take Islam, for instance, you should get historical problems (which can be solved by muslims with a theory of conspiracy, that christians built all this falsehood, when the only trustful resources are Islamic). There's also no plausible proof for the "christians have changed the bible", which they claim, because the Qur'an came after the 7th century and brings twisted stories of Christianity and Judaism (no plausible proof: you can't expect that a secrect council was made, that no one ever recorded, in which the religious leaders have chosen to change the bible, have successfully done that, ALL the christian world agreed, all christian laymen decided to change their views into something totally different suddenly, and there's NO EVIDENCE of that (consider also that it was the developed Roman Empire, not a tribe where no one could write). Besides of the fact that the biblical manuscripts support the Christian & Judaic bible, not the Qur'an).

There are also psychological issues: when that 'prophet' claims that God decided X, when X is what the prophet actually desired (i.e. the Prophet wishes a girl as his wife, so he says: "God (or god X) commanded that this girl would be my wife!"). Also, when the prophet claims that only one God exists, but when he gets into trouble he tells people that god X and god Y also exist and must be served, so that he would not be killed, is also a tricky issue.

There are also the things that are made in order to fascinate people, the people's imagination that was finally accepted as "true" and added as "holy tradition" or something.

Obviously, there are people that accuse those scriptures of "wrong" things and people that defend them. But, if you don't here both views, you may not get to a good conclusion.

Anyway, I believe that the only way it can be know is if they are studied.

As for the soul: The problem is that many concepts of the soul consider the soul to be something unchangable, but at the same time personality is a basic part of the soul. It is already proven that damage in certain parts of the brain can change someone completely. Nice and easygoing persons can become vile toxic monsters, or the other way around. And not just brain damage changes how we act and what we are: hormones and certain types of drugs can change persons significantly. Personality is something that is embedded in the brain.

I don't consider the idea of "soul" as something unchangeable. We, after all, change as time passes. The "soul" should preserve our personality (in other words, if you consider the afterlife, you can't claim to live another life if your spirit got into a new body but you are tabula rasa - without personality, memory, anything: It would simply not be you!).

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Personally, I've been dead more than once. Flatlined at least three times I know of, jump started each time. Been in two comas that lasted over a week. In each case I could have "passed on" and that would have been that. Each time you have a deep, dreamless sleep you are effectively dead. If you die in your sleep you won't notice it. So you've already had practice at being dead and it wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just "not".

I wasn't here for the longest time, now I am, and I'll not be here for another very long time. The "now I am" part is all I can work with, so I'll be having fun, doing things I think need to be done, and loving it while I got it.

Hmm..all of those times you were flat lined, did you have any "afterlife experiences"?

It is interesting that he remembered the time he was "dead". Perhaps that was a feeling of rest or something, which must be nice. Or perhaps comas are not "death".