Misery Loves Company

[strollingbones]

are you a j.w.?

 

[Meriweather]

You don't have to believe in heaven to want to make the world a better place

I'm thinking about the best each of us can do is to make the part of the world in our personal vicinity a better place. People who try to take on the entire globe seem to be making a mess of it. People who believe in heaven have an already created design and are attempting to implement that design here on earth. Others seem to want a design that suits self. How do you see it?

 

[Skull Pilot]

You don't have to believe in heaven to want to make the world a better place

I'm thinking about the best each of us can do is to make the part of the world in our personal vicinity a better place. People who try to take on the entire globe seem to be making a mess of it. People who believe in heaven have an already created design and are attempting to implement that design here on earth. Others seem to want a design that suits self. How do you see it?

People who believe want what suits them as well you said it yourself they want to make earth like heaven.

 

[Meriweather]

are you a j.w.?

Are you asking about me? No, Jehovah Witnesses gave up on me a long while back. They no longer want to drop by because all I want to talk about is my Catholic faith.

 

[strollingbones]

heaven on earth is the jw way....only so many go to heaven but the rest enjoy heaven on earth

 

[strollingbones]

thanks for answering....fastest way to stop the j.w.s is a no trespassing sign they wont violate that

 

[Meriweather]

People who believe want what suits them as well you said it yourself they want to make earth like heaven.

What do they believe heaven is like? (A bit perplexed here. If people don't believe in God/heaven, how are they envisioning heaven?)

 

[Meriweather]

heaven on earth is the jw way....only so many go to heaven but the rest enjoy heaven on earth

Yes. It is my understanding they take the 144,000 in heaven as a literal number, and that earth will become like some sort of subdivision (my word, not theirs).

I'm speaking of Kingdom living, even when someone's home is a cesspool on the earth as we know it now.

 

[Meriweather]

The supreme presumption is to claim that such personal revelation cannot be.

Who teaches personal revelation cannot be?

 

[Meriweather]

or mans ego cannot accept that he is merely a blink...on or in the cosmo

Are you suggesting that man has an ego, but not a spirit? If all the brain consists of is animated sediment, no spirit, which nerve processes control the ego--and for what purpose? Doesn't that seems an odd thing for animated sediment to take on?

 

[Meriweather]

seems christians tend to live for this promised afterlife...everyone wants to get to heaven but no one wants to die

Kind of like vacations for many of us who enjoy our jobs: We don't want the vacation to end, but we also look forward to going back to work! (Or vice-versa.)

 

[Skull Pilot]

People who believe want what suits them as well you said it yourself they want to make earth like heaven.

What do they believe heaven is like? (A bit perplexed here. If people don't believe in God/heaven, how are they envisioning heaven?)

You said "People who believe in heaven have an already created design and are attempting to implement that design here on earth. "

Then you say that others want a design that suits themselves

Well when you believers try to make the earth like heaven are you not choosing a design that suits yourselves?

Seems to me you are doing exactly what people who don't believe do

 

[Compost]

I've met atheists that seem happy and many who are kind. What I find sad about atheists is their lack of hope, their unwillingness to consider that there is something greater than themselves, that life has meaning beyond our own little abilities and accomplishments. Does that equate to misery loves company? l'm not so sure about that. It seems to me that in terms of faith or lack thereof, many atheists prefer to be the only smart one in a room full of believers. They make fun of believers who gather together to praise God. That attitude doesn't seem conducive to their gathering with their fellow nonbelievers to celebrate how they've cleverly found the truth.

My favorite line from atheists is, "You think you have something I don't, but I know you are just pretending, otherwise I would have it, too. What you have is either an overactive imagination or a defective brain--maybe both."

Imagine a blind person approaching a person of sight and announcing, "You think you have something I don't, but I know you are just pretending, because if you have sight then I would have sight as well. You just have an overactive imagination and are a liar as well."

That is precisely why I don't try to convert atheists.

 

[strollingbones]

i am not much on the spirit thing.....yes man has an ego and a superego and an id

man has a need for external containment....i find that odd...i tend to practice internal containment

 

[TNHarley]

i am not much on the spirit thing.....yes man has an ego and a superego and an id

man has a need for external containment....i find that odd...i tend to practice internal containment

me either. I dont believe in souls, spirits, ghosts, goblins, vampires or any of that mess.

 

[Meriweather]

You said "People who believe in heaven have an already created design and are attempting to implement that design here on earth. "

Then you say that others want a design that suits themselves

Well when you believers try to make the earth like heaven are you not choosing a design that suits yourselves?

Seems to me you are doing exactly what people who don't believe do

To clarify: Heaven has its design, to be obedient to the will of God. This is what believers want here on earth as well. Do non-believers desire the will of God? If not God's will, whose will?

 

[there4eyeM]

Life is the only thing that 'matters'. Mattering is only something that humans concern themselves with. It doesn't exist anywhere other than in humans. Each life is all that is important, and only while it is being lived. It is as if the universe begins and ends with each person. Arguing that it exists after the person is no more is moot and has no more than academic sense.

In your opinion, what matters most? Matter or spirit? Do both exist?

Thank you for the question.
The material doesn't have any consequence beyond what makes up our bodies while life is within and our perceptions are operating. Words like 'spirit' can be so easily taken in so many ways that we must hesitate to employ it, but for want of a better, spirit/mind/soul is all that counts.

 

[Meriweather]

The material doesn't have any consequence beyond what makes up our bodies while life is within and our perceptions are operating. Words like 'spirit' can be so easily taken in so many ways that we must hesitate to employ it, but for want of a better, spirit/mind/soul is all that counts.

Do you believe intelligence can exist without a physical body?

 

[there4eyeM]

The material doesn't have any consequence beyond what makes up our bodies while life is within and our perceptions are operating. Words like 'spirit' can be so easily taken in so many ways that we must hesitate to employ it, but for want of a better, spirit/mind/soul is all that counts.

Do you believe intelligence can exist without a physical body?

I can't say that I believe that, but I admit the possibility.

 

[Skull Pilot]

You said "People who believe in heaven have an already created design and are attempting to implement that design here on earth. "

Then you say that others want a design that suits themselves

Well when you believers try to make the earth like heaven are you not choosing a design that suits yourselves?

Seems to me you are doing exactly what people who don't believe do

To clarify: Heaven has its design, to be obedient to the will of God. This is what believers want here on earth as well. Do non-believers desire the will of God? If not God's will, whose will?

Everyone does what suits them. Even though you say you're doing god's will it is what suits you. You are doing exactly what nonbelievers do.

I don't know any atheists that are trying to change the world to their view.

Personally I'm one of those leave no trace people so I plan living my life with as little impact on the planet as possible. That suits me