The argument seems to be an emotional one: since I don't like the idea that I will cease to exist, I refuse to accept it.
It is a childish argument, really, that reality should be based on our fellings. (I remember being devistated as a kid whem my mom finally admitted that there was no such thing as unicorns, and I refused to believe her for days. It wasn't fair!). There is another thread based on this that turned ugly because there are also non-believers who hold onto that fiction as well (he feels like a girl, so he is a girl).
The Koran feels true to the believer, and a believer has an emotional identity connection with a faith that he or she has invested so much with. We trust our parents, our neighbors, our community, our religious leaders, and so we feel that we are right. But in reality, feelings do not make it so.
We feels that our faith is the right faith, and all non-believers will damn well suffer for their lack of belief. That is at the core of a great many religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormanism, and probably others that I have no familiarity with). It makes us feel special, better, unique, chosen. And to be born into the right faith, well, it doesn't get better than that! Such egotism. Such smugness! That the Infinite has a special interest, out of the 100 billion galaxies, in a handful (relatively speaking) of humans, spoke to even fewer of them that nobody alive has ever met, gave only them special instructions that are sometimes sadistic, and then shut up and is sitting back with Its arms crossed watching the show, waiting for souls so He can reward or give eternal damnation.
Alas, I had to give up on believing in unicorns. And a part of me wishes that they and their mythology were true.
But my feelings about it changes nothing in reality.
It is a childish argument, really, that reality should be based on our fellings. (I remember being devistated as a kid whem my mom finally admitted that there was no such thing as unicorns, and I refused to believe her for days. It wasn't fair!). There is another thread based on this that turned ugly because there are also non-believers who hold onto that fiction as well (he feels like a girl, so he is a girl).
The Koran feels true to the believer, and a believer has an emotional identity connection with a faith that he or she has invested so much with. We trust our parents, our neighbors, our community, our religious leaders, and so we feel that we are right. But in reality, feelings do not make it so.
We feels that our faith is the right faith, and all non-believers will damn well suffer for their lack of belief. That is at the core of a great many religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormanism, and probably others that I have no familiarity with). It makes us feel special, better, unique, chosen. And to be born into the right faith, well, it doesn't get better than that! Such egotism. Such smugness! That the Infinite has a special interest, out of the 100 billion galaxies, in a handful (relatively speaking) of humans, spoke to even fewer of them that nobody alive has ever met, gave only them special instructions that are sometimes sadistic, and then shut up and is sitting back with Its arms crossed watching the show, waiting for souls so He can reward or give eternal damnation.
Alas, I had to give up on believing in unicorns. And a part of me wishes that they and their mythology were true.
But my feelings about it changes nothing in reality.
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders
