The +1 Game!!!

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Rules: Give out +1's like there is no tomorrow...

But you don't believe in GOD or the afterlife so that means, in your mind, there is no tomorrow. Thus you will give out 1's since you can't take it with you and for no other reason; paradoxically those of us who have faith will exercise an eleemosynary function by donating 1's to earn Divine merit since there is a tomorrow for us, though we may not necessarily be in our corporeal form at the time.

[웃 910]

But you don't believe in GOD or the afterlife so that means, in your mind, there is no tomorrow. Thus you will give out 1's since you can't take it with you and for no other reason; paradoxically those of us who have faith will exercise an eleemosynary function by donating 1's to earn Divine merit since there is a tomorrow for us, though we may not necessarily be in our corporeal form at the time.

You lost me at 'paradoxically those of us who have faith will exercise an eleemosynary function'

After a person dies I believe they are like any other living thing that dies (a flower, a fly, an ant). I believe it ceases to exist.

But while I am living I believe there is a tomorrow....When I am dead there is not a tomorrow. Or as Spooky says, I hope I am right because otherwise God will sentence me to eternal life on fire.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

You lost me at 'paradoxically those of us who have faith will exercise an eleemosynary function'

After a person dies I believe they are like any other living thing that dies (a flower, a fly, an ant). I believe it ceases to exist.

But while I am living I believe there is a tomorrow....When I am dead there is not a tomorrow. Or as Spooky says, I hope I am right because otherwise God will sentence me to eternal life on fire.

Of course I did! I will try to limit my answer as much as possible since it takes time away from my viewing of extreme, barely-legal, hard-core pornography. You framed the preposition so I'm at a loss to understand the natural extrapolation of that logic. Eleemosynary means charity or alms-giving. Why does one do such things? If you are a sceptic (atheist or agnostic) then you do it for altruistic reasons or to show off. If you can't guarantee tomorrow, what's the point? Altruism has no reward that you can benefit from directly. You might proffer that since you are nice to party A, she is nice to parties b and c and party c then is nice to you but there is no guarantee of a return on investment. To paraphrase, Plato, "Man by nature is gregarious," so you do things so that society or your little segment of it is a nicer place for you. One caveat, Plato never shopped at a Wal-Mart on Black Friday. If you're a show-off then I fail to see the reason for such an action since your are already an Infamous Lord but public adulation is a powerful force to motivate someone. A religious person does altruisitc acts because, you might opine, orthopraxy is just the codification of atruistic principles albeit not technically altruistic since Divine credit is accrued. OK, that's a fair argument. At first instance I might agree with you but shorn of the orthodoxy of religious convenants things start to break down. GOD is LOVE so as the vice-regent of THE ALMIGHTY I should try to espouse religious pricipals and practices in my everyday life. What about atheists and agnostics? These beliefs require higher brain function but Man is not a cerebral machine. At best, Man is half-animal, if not more. So what about the limbic system, it works on stimuli no different than that of animals. Animals, we all agree, are sentient beings but they lack free will as Men have. That postulate is shared by both religious and non-religious types to some extent so let's make that our common ground. So half of everyone is animal-like. Animals do what they are programmed to do, since they lack free will and from a religious stand point they follow THE ALMIGHTY, either that or they are automatons that have been programmed by billions of years of evolution by chance (???). Man must rise over this animal-state or there will be no society, just internecine violence and animlistic behaviour. How do we do that? By following basic laws of society so that we can co-exist. Not surprisingly these are ensconced in our various religions. These little things, orthopraxy, accrue credit to the performer in the afterlife. This I believe and so do other people of faith. Why we do unto others is not important to either of us, the meaning and relevance is what separates us, that's all. I believe that there is an afterlife and you do not. Still, you comment that while you are living there is a tomorrow. If you die at 1:00PM then what? Do I cease to exist? To compare a Man with his dual nature and, in the religious context, a soul is pushing it but if animals do not exercise Free Will then religious doctrine is quite clear, they go to Heaven. What about Man? Your re-evocation of the Solipsist argument or Empirical Reality is interesting but what about realms where physical reality doesn't exist? When your heart ceases to beat and you are brain-dead what is physical reality, the answer is that you don't know. Time means exactly what when you lack the tools to measure it? I think therefore I am, but show me a thought. You might show electrical activity in various brain centres but that isn't a thought. Your mind is reality yet physical reality doesn't really exist there, just proprioceptive inputs, etc. and their manifestation in perception. To take such a tenuous hold on the physical world and use it to decry religion is an argument that doesn't hold water. What about our involutary systems, why do they do the things that they do if we have no control over them? I can't will my kidneys to function.

If a few meagre actions could get you something better, wouldn't you do it? Of course you would. Take that night school course on The Expression of Sufism in the Music of The Beach Boys and you'll be up for a promotion. It seems pretty reasonable, doesn't it? Pray to THE ALMIGHTY and do some nice things for people and you might get to Heaven, why is this manifestly different?

Finally, if, as a test of GOD, you decide to pray that the Lions win the Super Bowl, I must warn you: GOD prefers the Christians over the Lions.

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[TBoneTX 47,519]

a flower, a fly, an ant

My best childhood buddy used to pull the legs off of ants, then put them in water and watch them sink, si man.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

My best childhood buddy used to pull the legs off of aunts, then put them in water and watch them sink, si man.

That must have made him very popular with uncles. Ended up with blondes did they, X T Si man! In closing all I can say is...

+1

+1

Edited April 27, 2011 by IR5FORMUMSIE

[Jenn! 918]

You must be very proud of all the +1s you received here....I know I would be

Wow, that's a lot of +1's. I rule!