The first real philosophical ramblings from my journal
You can't prove a negative. So, you can't prove that god doesn't exist. However, you can make a rational evaluation of your own belief in god.
This journey, for me, is about focusing on my belief, or non-belief.
I'll start with this premise:
The question of god's existence is the most important question in life.
If God exists, then it is vitally important to believe, and to understand his nature and "requirements."
Or is it? It is possible that God exists, and does not care whether we believe and act in a specific way.
So, if that is the question, or if there is a debate between the tow, then maybe the most important question is: "Is there eternal life?"
In order to answer that question, we must answer another question: Does the soul exist? Is there a part of our conscious or unconscious self that transcends and lives beyond the physical world as we know it?
What evidence do we have that a "soul" exists? Does anecdotal evidence of paranormal "hauntings" play a part?
These, if true, could be a manifestation of souls, or a manifestation of some other being that is either good or evil by our "Judea-Christian" standards.
--------- Added for this posting ---------
Last Sunday, I started down this path. I did some reading on the famous "21 grams" anecdote and found some interesting stuff (http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp). I find it curiously amazing that this experiment has not been repeated. If anyone has any info on this, please post a comment.
I don't suggest that anything here is proof of a soul, but it does raise interesting questions. My thoughts have moved on for the moment, but I'm sure I'll come back to this later.
This journey, for me, is about focusing on my belief, or non-belief.
I'll start with this premise:
The question of god's existence is the most important question in life.
If God exists, then it is vitally important to believe, and to understand his nature and "requirements."
Or is it? It is possible that God exists, and does not care whether we believe and act in a specific way.
So, if that is the question, or if there is a debate between the tow, then maybe the most important question is: "Is there eternal life?"
In order to answer that question, we must answer another question: Does the soul exist? Is there a part of our conscious or unconscious self that transcends and lives beyond the physical world as we know it?
What evidence do we have that a "soul" exists? Does anecdotal evidence of paranormal "hauntings" play a part?
These, if true, could be a manifestation of souls, or a manifestation of some other being that is either good or evil by our "Judea-Christian" standards.
--------- Added for this posting ---------
Last Sunday, I started down this path. I did some reading on the famous "21 grams" anecdote and found some interesting stuff (http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp). I find it curiously amazing that this experiment has not been repeated. If anyone has any info on this, please post a comment.
I don't suggest that anything here is proof of a soul, but it does raise interesting questions. My thoughts have moved on for the moment, but I'm sure I'll come back to this later.
posted by Another Geek at 3:41 PM
1 Comments:
Your premise that “the question of God’s existence is the most important question in life” stands unsupported….Why is this question so important? Is it conceivable that a person who has never entertained the question could still live quite happily? What of the people who answer the question wrong, isn’t it true that they can still live a successful life? So why is this question of such importance?
If you are exploring the existence of god, then asking whether he cares what you do or believe before you know if he exists is a bit pre-mature don’t you think?
Post a Comment
<< Home