A lunatic who thinks that he can fly goes to the 100th story of a high rise building and jumps out the window. He really believed that he could fly. He plummeted to the ground and died. The truth is, he can’t fly. The consequences for believing strongly in what is obvious a lie was his death. How many of you are like the lunatic in their belief.
We are all human, spawned from our mother. As we get older, some of us look at the evidence, or lack of evidence and form our own presuppositions that lead to our beliefs. There are people who think that God does not exist. But how can men who arrive at their belief based on their own understanding ever claim that what they say is the truth? They cannot, for they are mere men. And at best, what they believe in can be called theories, not truth.
However, the Bible is supposed to be the Word of God. It tells the truth about the reality of God and of the afterlife. Here is something that can say for certain that what it says is true. If we do not believe what it says, then we must necessarily find an alternative explanation to the truth which in itself, cannot be proven true. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain should your alternative belief be proven false, and it will be proven false because whatever the Bible says has or will come to pass. The trouble with unbelief is that it leaves you with nothing.
A lunatic who thinks that he can fly goes to the 100th story of a high rise building and jumps out the window. He really believed that he could fly. He plummeted to the ground and died. The truth is, he can’t fly. The consequences for believing strongly in what is obvious a lie was his death. How many of you are like the lunatic in their belief.
We are all human, spawned from our mother. As we get older, some of us look at the evidence, or lack of evidence and form our own presuppositions that lead to our beliefs. There are people who think that God does not exist. But how can men who arrive at their belief based on their own understanding ever claim that what they say is the truth? They cannot, for they are mere men. And at best, what they believe in can be called theories, not truth.
However, the Gurū Granth Sāhib is supposed to be the Word of God. It tells the truth about the reality of God and of the afterlife. Here is something that can say for certain that what it says is true. If we do not believe what it says, then we must necessarily find an alternative explanation to the truth which in itself, cannot be proven true. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain should your alternative belief be proven false, and it will be proven false because whatever the Gurū Granth Sāhib says has or will come to pass. The trouble with unbelief is that it leaves you with nothing.
The real value of philosophy is not to add knowledge, but
to remove the crap one gets fed for two decades.
It is not about learning there is a santa claus, but
in learning there is not a santa claus. to leave childish
beliefs behind. The belief in god is no different then the
belief in santa claus or the easter bunny. It is not about
adding beliefs, but removing them. Strip it down.
For example, the need for extra beliefs is like having
a car with all those extras, power this and that,
leather seats, and gadgets out of the ying yang.
but a car can go the other way and that is the car
I want. A simple basic car that can get me from
one place to another. The belief in god, doesn’t simplify,
it complicates. It has baggage, trucks loads of baggage
I don’t need or want. Growing older is about simplifying
one’s life, not making it more complicated.
And the means to simplifying ones life is philosophy.
getting rid of the mental baggage.
There are, have been, and will be countless religions in a myriad different forms around the globe. The Zoroasterian religions (these include Christianity, Judaism and Islam, along with quite a few other, forgotten ones…) all tend to claim that theirs is the only way to salvation. Better still, all claim that their holy scriptures (which are partly the same) to be THE word of God.
So, even if we limit our choice to these three religions, there are four choices available to us:
•Judaism
•Christianity
•Islam
•Atheism
As we only have the word of the great persons of these religions that only theirs is the One True Faith, let’s say that one of these four choices will lead us to the truth. Assuming that all choices have an equal justification, we can assume that each has a 25% chance of being true.
Now, what are the consequences of our choice? The “table” below illustrates the post-death consequences, organized by the one faith that ends up being the right one.
Christianity:
If picked: Infinite life (numerical value infinity)
If not picked: Eternal punishment (numerical value -infinity)
Islam:
If picked: Access to paradise (?) (numerical value infinity)
If not picked: Oblivion (?) (numerical value -infinity)
Judaism:
If picked: (I really don’t have a clue…) (assuming a numerical value of infinity)*
If not picked: (See above) (assuming a numerical value of -infinity)*
Atheism:
If picked: Nothing, 'cos you’ll be dead (0)
If not picked: Nothing, 'cos you’ll be dead (0)
*These assumptions based on the fact that most religions tend to reward the faithful and punish the non-faithful.
So, if picking one of the religions, there is a 25% chance of a gain of a value of infinity, 50% chance of a gain of a value of -infinity, and 25% of a gain of value 0. With atheism, the chances are 75% for -infinity and 25% for 0.
So, odds are that we are getting our eternal punishment (or the equialent thereof). Of course, this kind of thinking leaves us with dice instead of the truth, but what can you do?
Ah, so there we have it, a mathematical rationale for choosing religion over atheism. At this point I would like to introduce my own faith, infinitism:
Infinitism:
If picked: Infinite happiness in this life and in infinite afterlives (numerical value infinity)
If not picked: Infinite happiness in this life and in infinite afterlives (numerical value infinity)
You’re are all welcome to convert, but if you don’t feel like it that’s ok too because infinitism guarantees that you will be infinitely happy anyway!
And there are those who believe God does exist. But how can men who arrive at their belief based on their own understanding ever claim that what they say is the truth?
As for every other religious document? At least explain how the Bible speaks absolute truth while everything else is a untrue. One might contemplate how much hypocrisy is in that decision…
Any other history book can tell you what HAS come to pass, and any bum standing on a crate in the middle of the street can tell you what WILL come to pass.
Only from a religious perspective. And how convenient that is.
Truth is wisdom because nothing else can be truth; and we can never know that our wisdom is truth for sure but for our own beliefs. Therefore, only our beliefs can be truth. The only truth possible, then, is our wisdom.
I would argue that we can only believe what we experience and process. That argument is very narrow because we can believe in mathematical concepts that have been proven on paper but we haven’t experienced them first hand. Calculus is one of those mathematical fields that is used in inventions we use everday, But we haven’t processed the calcuations in our minds and the same time. We believe in the mathematical problem once we solve it on paper. We know a remote will turn on our television by pressing the correct button. But is we question all truth then it where Descartes left us. He tore down reality then only gave us "I think therefore I am " as a way of rebuilding what we believed.
One of the unforgivable sins of religion is that it takes philosophy, dips it in bullshit, and then serves it up as the real thing. The OP is a prime example of the fetid results.
A lunatic who thinks that he can fly goes to the 100th story of a high rise building and jumps out the window. He really believed that he could fly. He plummeted to the ground and died. The truth is, he can’t fly. The consequences for believing strongly in what is obvious a lie was his death. How many of you are like the lunatic in their belief.
We are all human, spawned from our mother. As we get older, some of us look at the evidence, or lack of evidence and form our own presuppositions that lead to our beliefs. There are people who think that marilyn manson does not exist. But how can men who arrive at their belief based on their own understanding ever claim that what they say is the truth? They cannot, for they are mere men. And at best, what they believe in can be called theories, not truth.
However, the Book of doom is supposed to be the Word of Satan. It tells the truth about the reality of Satan and of the helish afterlife. Here is something that can say for certain that what it says is true. If we do not believe what it says, then we must necessarily find an alternative explanation to the truth which in itself, cannot be proven true. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain should your alternative belief be proven false, and it will be proven false because whatever the Book of doom says has or will come to pass. The trouble with unbelief is that it leaves you with nothing.
Sorry Xunzian…but I had to steal this joke and repeat it…it was so good…
Before electricity was expiremented on by Ben. Franklin, Many theories existed. After he proved his was most practical, the rest fell away.
In essence there should be only one truth…and only one God. For the Athiest, one perfection in knowledge, in being,in Goodness etc…He is God. Call him what you want.
The more you model your life towards perfection the more you should discover what to believe in, at the end of the day your belief will do you (and society) no good, only your spirit and character will count. These will need nurturing and maintanance. The Bible, whether you like it on not, has proven to do this best. If you want fact, consider what the worlds best seller of all time is. Then ask yourself why would it sell more than any other books.
Sure some people still prefer candles, but ask yourself why so many prefer electricity? Until we find a better source…let’s always stick with what works best.
How can truth be a tool? Truth is a property of sentences - that is to say, a sentence can be true or it can be false.
It is true that I had ham sandwiches for lunch today. Pythagoras’ theorem is also true. Most people would probably say that the trivial knowledge that I had lunch today is less useful than Pythagoras’ theorem, yet they are equally true.
I.L.P., everytime I have seen the Bible touted as the best selling book of all time, they clarify that they are modeling, based on the Bible’s sales, from current sales back to before such things were counted.
If you go by raw counted sales, the Little Red Book should still edge out the Bible (but this is changing). Should we say that the Little Red Book is the best tool for cultivating morality?
Or, even if the Bible has overtaken the Little Red Book, should we agree that The Little Red Book is the second best tool for moral self-cultivation?
