(March 22, 2012 at 6:10 pm)LastPoet Wrote: This is a thread mostly for theists to answer, although anyone can post, the primary idea is to get theists to take a stand on what they believe as its hard to discuss something that they didn't provide definitions for. It serves as grounding to many other discussions in the future and form validity to their arguments. What I request is simple: I want precise definitions on:
1- God
2- Soul
3- Heaven
4- Hell
Now, have at it.
1 - I don't attach any meaning or use to the term "god". I don't think there is anyone in charge here. Just all us peons looking around for someone to tell us what to do, or not.
2 - Soul I think of as the part of one's psyche that is what it is, beyond our preferences. Real fulfillment and meaning in life stem from reconciling your conscious ambitions with the inborn landscape of your soul. Seems strange I know for a guy who wants to argue for free will to posit an aspect of our essence that is determined. But that's how it seems to me. Our conscious participation is essential because while soul is a given, we have to discover what it is and how to please it, provided we even think this has any meaning.
It would be so much easier if the soul could just animate us to serve itself but that doesn't seem to be the way of it. If it could then I would believe in determinism. Instead it falls to us and it is possible to botch it. The soul wants what the soul wants but it doesn't come with directions and it doesn't seem to have a voice. It needs us but we need it too. So it seems to me.
3, 4 - Heaven and hell are not important concepts to me. I guess you could say they are states of mind but they aren't anything I dwell on. I don't believe in any kind of afterlife except as mulch.
