SnailyBoy Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Perhaps repentance is not the word I'm looking for, but I expect they'll call out to a higher being for help, because we're taking a big step into the unknown... and while nobody has ever come back from "the other side" saying there is an afterlife, nobody has ever come back and said there isn't. Pascal's Wager, diet version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Joker Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Pascal's Wager, diet version. Kindly furnish me with the details, I've no interested in researching Pascal any further. I studied Turbo Pascal at college, and that was enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjw47 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Please go on. Not possible, I've reached a conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey19 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Someone without belief doesn't have to have rejected it, so where's that leave you? Questioning your logic ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjw47 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Rather oddly, mjw47 seems to be agreeing with me on this Not really I'm afraid. If they have reached a conclusion and have decided that they are without belief then they have rejected the idea. On the other hand, if they are still thinking about it then they are undecided. Saying " I am without belief " would indicate to any normal person that some thought had been applied and a decision not to believe taken. Saying " I cannot make up my mind and am undecided on the issue " would however indicate that they have neither rejected nor embraced belief. Saying " There is insufficient evidence either way for me to reach any logical conclusion, and I don't believe there ever will be so I will not give either possibility credence over the other. " would mean you are talking to an Agnostic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnailyBoy Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Not really I'm afraid. If they have reached a conclusion and have decided that they are without belief then they have rejected the idea. On the other hand, if they are still thinking about it then they are undecided. Saying " I am without belief " would indicate to any normal person that some thought had been applied and a decision not to believe taken. Saying " I cannot make up my mind and am undecided on the issue " would however indicate that they have neither rejected nor embraced belief. Saying " There is insufficient evidence either way for me to reach any logical conclusion, and I don't believe there ever will be so I will not give either possibility credence over the other. " would mean you are talking to an Agnostic. What you're suggesting is a 50:50 split, not leaning at all one way or the other. In an earlier post you admitted to not really believing in the Christian god, as described by the Catholic church. So, it seems your needle on the belief gauge is in the negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 There's no logical reason to believe in any kind of mental awareness after death. Our main purpose on earth is to procreate just like any other of the millions of different species we share the planet with. We are just part of a precise order of nature, coldly scientific. We are not particularly important in the grand order of things either. If the human species disappeared entirely tomorrow in a hundred years from now there would be very little left to show we had ever existed and the earth's environment much better off for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryedo40 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Perhaps repentance is not the word I'm looking for, but I expect they'll call out to a higher being for help, because we're taking a big step into the unknown... and while nobody has ever come back from "the other side" saying there is an afterlife, nobody has ever come back and said there isn't. If they repent, it means they weren't atheist in the first place. Calling out for help also doesn't mean they are calling out to a higher-being(whatever that means.) A higher-being also doesn't necessarily mean a god or God. My grandmother was an atheist and when I was a kid she suffered a stroke leading to her death. All I heard was her repeatedly screaming for my mother and, paraphrasing here a little, shouting that she's dying(she was, for a good 5 minutes, aware of what was happening.) As a young kid at the time, I found the experience of seeing and hearing my grandmother in that state quite disturbing - so her last words never left me. She never called out to a higher-being, God or repented. My grandfather, an atheist, who suffered dementia and hallucinations nearing the end of his life passed away quietly. Maybe he was too far gone with fairies to do so, but he never called out to a God or a higher being. I think many of these claims that atheists call out to a God are BS; nonsenses pushed by theists with an agenda. Even when I've been in dangerous situations, I've never called out to a God. Why would I call out to something that doesn't exist to me(it would be like screaming for Father Christmas or the lochness monster). It just wouldn't make sense to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teeny Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Why would you think that?[color="Silver Try visiting a hospice you will find many people ask to speak to a Chaplin knowing their future is short ! People want that salvation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnailyBoy Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Try visiting a hospice you will find many people ask to speak to a Chaplin knowing their future is short ! People want that salvation An atheist wouldn't, family would come first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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