Zone1 An agnostic makes a promise he can't keep...

[1srelluc]

That's not sufficient. Your child will want to know what happens to her after death. What's your answer?

 

[Blackrook]

Doris Day's song doesn't make sense as a life philosophy. If you want something in life, you have to go out and get it. If I hadn't done all that work getting into law school, studying hard in law school, and studying hard for two bar exams, I wouldn't be a lawyer today. People who do nothing and just let life happen never get what they want.

The same is true about heaven. If you want to go there, you have to do what it takes to get there. For a Catholic like me, it means staying away from women after my divorce. I've just recently resolved this issue. It was a very difficult struggle.

 

[BreezeWood]

People who do nothing and just let life happen never get what they want.

seems their contentment would be not wanting anything - true, is certainly not being a lawyer.

 

[GLASNOST]

..... Your child will want to know what happens to her after death. What's your answer?

As an Agnostic myself my reply is "No one knows."

 

[Arlette]

Doris Day's song doesn't make sense as a life philosophy. If you want something in life, you have to go out and get it. If I hadn't done all that work getting into law school, studying hard in law school, and studying hard for two bar exams, I wouldn't be a lawyer today. People who do nothing and just let life happen never get what they want.

The same is true about heaven. If you want to go there, you have to do what it takes to get there. For a Catholic like me, it means staying away from women after my divorce. I've just recently resolved this issue. It was a very difficult struggle.

But you divorced. It's over for you.

 

[zaangalewa]

I saw a movie where a man is answering his niece's questions about God and religion. The answers to all her questions was "I don't know."

But then, he said, "What you're really asking is whether we'll all be together afterwards, the answer to that is 'yes.'"

I find this sequence amazing and also pretty stupid.

The man is presenting to his niece the agnostic point of view. But if he doesn't know the answers, he can't promise anything to her about the afterlife.

Do people not understand that?

You did not understand what he said. Whatever will come - she will not be alone because he will share whatever will come with her.



Translation of one of the comments to this song:
I am 60 years old and terminally ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As I can no longer speak or walk, I listen to the song several times a day. The song keeps my head up. Many thanks to Andreas Gabalier!

----
He sings:

For us all is defined a time to go
Like a leaf dripping in the wind, we go back to our origins as children
When the blood freezes in your veins
When your heart stops beating and you run to the angels
Then don't be afraid and just let yourself go
Because there's something after life, you will see
...
Sooner or later we'll meet again
Soon I'll watch from above
On my old day I'll lay me down with thanks
And will close my eyes for all time
...

 

[zaangalewa]

Doris Day's song doesn't make sense as a life philosophy. ...

Totally wrong. We know something will come - we do not know what it will be. => "Keep your eyes always open! Be ready if something goes 'wrong'". This song in the very wonderful interpretation of Doris Day tells this truth with a lot of realism and hope.

 

[zaangalewa]

I'm agnostic, and my answer to a kid would be don't ask God for favors, live your live as best you can, and hopefully He leaves you alone.

And what has this to do with agnosticism what you would say to this very hypothetic kid? Why not to ask god for favors? What means "live your life [¿]as best[?] you can". And why should god leave her alone?

 

[zaangalewa]

We want answers but apparently we don't really need them.

"Life is like to jump out of an aeroplane without parachute". So it is perhaps true what you say. But don't tell me you do not like to know who threw you out of the aeroplane. And why?

 

[1srelluc]

And what has this to do with agnosticism what you would say to this very hypothetic kid? Why not to ask god for favors? What means "live your life [¿]as best[?] you can". And why should god leave her alone?

Youb do you and leave others to their own devices.

 

[zaangalewa]

Youb do you and leave others to their own devices.

Eh? I am an agnostics on my own. Agnostics are not atheists. And in general is agnosticism not a religion. Atheism is a belief, a religion. Agnosticism is a philosophy. An agnotiscs not knows whether god exists or not exists. The problem: An agnostics is able to believe in god or not to believe in god but not able to believe that god exists and not exists the same time - even if god really could exist and not exist the same time (Basic question: ¿Did god exist when he created existence?)

Even if god really would exist and not exist the same time - what an allmighty god is able to do - an agnostics would be wrong to believe so on reason of philosophy because this produces an inconsistence in the form how to be able to think.

So indeed agnosticism forces someone to believe in god (or other godly forms of spirituality) or to believe the opposite. This is not a question of probability.

And tell me please who gives you any right to speak in the name of all others - excluding me on my own. Superarrogance is not a religion and also not a philosophy. Superarrogant assholes "think" they are god or gods on their own.

 

[zaangalewa]

As an Agnostic myself my reply is "No one knows."

As an agnostics I never would say so. I would say "I do not know". I also do not know whether all people do not know this. And I would continue "but I believe ... " or "but my experience is ...".

And in general I think the answer "Whatever will come I will be with you." is a very wonderful answer - if this is really the own will.

 

[zaangalewa]

... The reason we believe God exists is that the alternative is too terrible: After death, we simply cease to exist. ...

Why should this be terrible? If this is the will of god - who cares? Your not existing you?

 

[SweetSue92]

I saw a movie where a man is answering his niece's questions about God and religion. The answers to all her questions was "I don't know."

But then, he said, "What you're really asking is whether we'll all be together afterwards, the answer to that is 'yes.'"

I find this sequence amazing and also pretty stupid.

The man is presenting to his niece the agnostic point of view. But if he doesn't know the answers, he can't promise anything to her about the afterlife.

Do people not understand that?

People do not like the consequences of their own beliefs, and in my experience, generally do not want to face them.

 

[zaangalewa]

Given the existence of an energy that is labelled " soul" , the anecdote answers are very reasonable .
Unfortunately Cult Christianity does not understand the reality of Soul being eternal throughout all Time .

To believe in a soul without body is not essential for the belief in god. You do so by calling the body of a soul "energy". But also energy was created.

Others -- as per my view ---have a different and perhaps wider and deeper understanding of Universe, and how the" Godhead " is the sum of all Souls and not a separate entity .

The universe (or also the multiverse) is creation while god is creator. I do not think your understanding of the universe is wider and deeper only because you like to deny that something could meta-exist what made the universe (or multiverse) although it is impossible for us to find anything out about this. When we say for example "god made everything out of nothing" then the nothing is not a dark emptyness for example because a dark emptyness is something. When you first try to find out what's the nothingness god used to create everything then you will understand why "god" is the highest concept we can possibly have. God trancends not only everything he transcends also the nothingness. The strange thing: this "concept" is totally independent from us. It's far from our understanding to understand god.

... but Don Camillo understood ...

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

I saw a movie where a man is answering his niece's questions about God and religion. The answers to all her questions was "I don't know."

But then, he said, "What you're really asking is whether we'll all be together afterwards, the answer to that is 'yes.'"

I find this sequence amazing and also pretty stupid.

The man is presenting to his niece the agnostic point of view. But if he doesn't know the answers, he can't promise anything to her about the afterlife.

Do people not understand that?

Well I would never describe a person who believes they will be sentient after death as "agnostic".

 

[zaangalewa]

Well I would never describe a person who believes they will be sentient after death as "agnostic".

Because unreal atheistic abstrahots in the universities "conquered" the expression "agnostic" for atheism. Specially the noble price idiot Richard Dawkins was weaving natural science (natural philosophy) and atheism into an unphilosophical unity. Indeed everyone who says "I believe in god" is an agnostics. And all people of all religions - including atheism - are able to be natural scientists. No one has to be first an atheist for to become a natural scientist - except the professor who decides this is an atheist. But "god" (creator) is not really a subject of natural science. "Creation" is the subject of natural science. And the neverending discussion in the English speaking world "creation vs evolution" is an absurde fake-discussion. Creation and evolution are totally different things. Evolution was created like every other natural law. In the very first moment of the universe also all of our natural laws had been in the universe - also this natural laws which we currently still do not know. Natural laws do not evolve. The problem of natural scientists is it that they do not know - and never will know - why this is so.