(March 21, 2010 at 6:17 pm)tackattack Wrote:(March 21, 2010 at 4:32 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Anyone who tells you what will happen after you die is conning you, tack.
I understand that you don't want to believe that but it doesn't matter how pious the con man is....he is still a con man.
All the preachers I've had are rarely, if ever, on about anything in the afterlife. It's in this moment, the here and now that the best works can be done. It has nothing to do with what I want to believe or not. I would probably be a lot happier if I didn't have to have arguements with people about an afterlife and didn't care ( I actually don't care much at all for the afterlife). It's not really even a subtopic usually in my church, we're about establishing a base and good works in the now, remember, Christians aren't about reward for good deeds. At our church we're about following the teachings of Jesus, not evangelizing about the only way to get into heaven.
I fear we're veering way off OP.
no actually it does stick to the point of irrationality bringing good things, helping people find purpose in their lives. It is the major upside of irrationality and it cannot be ignored. My whole belief is only based on the fact that this upside comes at a great price. It is just like the atomic bomb: it can be either a weapon of mass destruction, or an incredible source of energy.
If i one day become convinced that religion brings more good things in the world than bad, i will not mind irrationality. But that is something that, for now, i find hard to even imagine possible.
here is an example from my (quite dull compared to terrorist attacks) life: someone who is studying law with me, very smart guy, friendly, open-hearted, everything. However he is religious, and his religion caused him to hate gays, he actually calls them the french equivalent of fags, saying they are only barely tolerated in our society and should conform to society's ideals and morals. It is really heart-rending to see, such a smart guy hating people because a book tells him to...
the only question about irrationality is probably this: is it worth it ?
