RE: Question about meaning and perception of reality from a theist.
January 5, 2012 at 5:49 pm
(This post was last modified: January 5, 2012 at 5:52 pm by Welsh cake.)
(January 5, 2012 at 12:11 pm)amkerman Wrote: Can life have meaning w/o God?Can people find a sense of purpose or direction in their lives without imaginary friends? If mature enough, yes.
Quote:I mean I understand how we could perceive it to be have meaninb w/o God, but that perception is just illusory isn't it?You made the erroneous presumption that God exists without evidence. We're not in denial. No deity from any religion has ever been demonstrated to exist.
Quote:Without God aren't life and death ultimately meaningless?You ignore the fact that the finality of death renders finite life meaningless and conversely, eternal undying life would make it utterly worthless. Belief or disbelief in Gods or Goddesses is irrelevant.
Quote:As far as I can understand EITHER life has real meaning and there must be something real which we call "God" or "meaning" OR any "meaning" in life is illusory and people choose to believe in the illusion of God to give their life meaning.As far as you've led yourself to believe. Existence is void of real (objective) meaning. Trying to tack on meaning/purpose/directive onto an objective reality that lacks any is said subjective illusion.
Quote:Believing that meaning is real but that "God" is illusory doesn't make any sense. It's exactly the same belief. It would just be another unverifiable belief for which the word "God" has been replaced with the word "meaning".You're repeating yourself.
Quote:If someone could explain how life has real meaning without "God" I am all ears. Honestly I'm not trying to get into an argument I just want to hear the rationalization.Rationalization is not the correct word to use. People haven't done anything inherently wrong or unacceptable by simply trying to justify their own lives, giving themselves a reason to live, and then living them accordingly.
Quote:Furthermore, since all of our understanding of reality is based upon our perceptions, isn't the belief in the validity of human "perception" exactly the same as a belief in "God"? They are both ultimately beliefs in the unverifiable.What point are you trying to make?
