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Old-Timer wrote:
I think we equate “Mormonism” with “The LDS Church” when, in fact, they are very different things – just as “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” is another very different things.
🙂 Not really sure what that means. How are they different?
How could it be bad? It’s not like you are going to know! You don’t remember anything before you were born. I hate to say it, but I think sometimes that there is no life after death. An invisible God, virgin birth, seer stone and Nephi’s family discovering the New World instead of Colombus etc.. sounds like BS or fantasy to me!
AngryMormon wrote:How could it be bad? It’s not like you are going to know! You don’t remember anything before you were born.
I hate to say it, but I think sometimes that there is no life after death. An invisible God, virgin birth, seer stone and Nephi’s family discovering the New World instead of Colombus etc.. sounds like BS or fantasy to me!
At the risk of a thread derail, Colombus wasn’t the first to discover the New World any more than Nephi. He was just the one with a good marketing team.
Quote:He was just the one with a good marketing team.
Best army more like.
Life without life after death opens a can of worms.
It implies that life has no meaning and leads to nihilism.
What does it mean for those who slave all their lives and those who die young?
It also gives a lot of weight to the idea that suicide, murder, euthanasia, abortion, and even war are all acceptable, as it implies no comeback.
SamBee wrote:
Life without life after death opens a can of worms.It implies that life has no meaning and leads to nihilism.
What does it mean for those who slave all their lives and those who die young?
It also gives a lot of weight to the idea that suicide, murder, euthanasia, abortion, and even war are all acceptable, as it implies no comeback.
By nihilism do you suggest atheist beliefs lead to a “rejection of all moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.”
I think that can be true in many cases, but imagine then the respect we should give atheists who still embrace moral principle and make life meaningful. There are plenty of them. I think their life ‘degree of difficulty’ is higher than ours.
SamBee wrote:Quote:He was just the one with a good marketing team.
Best army more like.
Life without life after death opens a can of worms.
It implies that life has no meaning and leads to nihilism.
What does it mean for those who slave all their lives and those who die young?
It also gives a lot of weight to the idea that suicide, murder, euthanasia, abortion, and even war are all acceptable, as it implies no comeback.
Or it could mean that we as a species realize it is up to us to make good things happen. It may mean that we can not rely on a supernatural being to put the pieces together. Believing there is no afterlife could just as easily propel us forward to fix the ills of the world as to create them. Religion has been around since the beginning and it is not like it has brought about peace and prosperity. Talk to the vilest criminal in jail and more often than not they will tell you they are a believer. Believing in an afterlife or not has little to do with our conduct in this life. Religious people just want us to believe that if there is no afterlife we will all run amuck and degenerate into savages. I reject that notion. The day I accepted that there may be no God is the day I was relieved and realized maybe I could make a difference.
Quote:Or it could mean that we as a species realize it
is up to us to make good things happen.
Humans as a whole don’t do that and never have. We aren’t doing that now.
We are a handful of millions standing on the backs of billions and keeping them there.
mackay11 wrote:AngryMormon wrote:How could it be bad? It’s not like you are going to know! You don’t remember anything before you were born.
I hate to say it, but I think sometimes that there is no life after death. An invisible God, virgin birth, seer stone and Nephi’s family discovering the New World instead of Colombus etc.. sounds like BS or fantasy to me!
At the risk of a thread derail, Colombus wasn’t the first to discover the New World any more than Nephi. He was just the one with a good marketing team.
It’s much more than a good marketing team! There is historical evidence that Colombus and Leif Erickson reached the New World. No evidence that a guy named Nephi and family beat them to it. FWIW, the LDS church seems like a serious marketing machine and even they don’t go around saying Nephi discovered the New World.
SamBee wrote:Quote:Or it could mean that we as a species realize it
is up to us to make good things happen.
Humans as a whole don’t do that and never have. We aren’t doing that now.
We are a handful of millions standing on the backs of billions and keeping them there.
The glass is half full or half empty.
Maybe we’re just a short-lived species, that will soon be gone, that evolved an inferior brain that cannot concieve of it’s own non-existance. I hope not, of course, but my hoping doesn’t mean squat.
Cadence wrote:SamBee wrote:Quote:Or it could mean that we as a species realize it
is up to us to make good things happen.
Humans as a whole don’t do that and never have. We aren’t doing that now.
We are a handful of millions standing on the backs of billions and keeping them there.
The glass is half full or half empty.
Humanity has a record of talking goodness, and practising evil.
One million people dead in conflict for every year since WWII. Our lifestyle relies on other’s oppression. It’s still happening no matter how we view the glass.
SamBee wrote:Cadence wrote:SamBee wrote:Or it could mean that we as a species realize it
is up to us to make good things happen.
Quote:Humans as a whole don’t do that and never have. We aren’t doing that now.
We are a handful of millions standing on the backs of billions and keeping them there.
The glass is half full or half empty.
Quote:Humanity has a record of talking goodness, and practising evil.
One million people dead in conflict for every year since WWII. Our lifestyle relies on other’s oppression. It’s still happening no matter how we view the glass.
So how is the belief in an afterlife going to change any of that?
Because the people who are exploited have some hope, and the people who exploit might at least think they can’t get away with it. Those people who slave making cellphone screens and cheap shirts etc for us have more of an existence. Of course, they should fight but they have little going for them. How has religion improved things? Quakers, and even Jehovahs Witnesses, have brought civil freedoms; the Salvation Army etc is at the forefront of helping the homeless; religious people provide the main opposition in China, and formerly in East Germany… the fight against slavery was led by Christians, and so was that for civil rights in the USA and South Africa.
Considering that most of the people in this world are religious, generally any good or evil can be traced back to religion if you want. But really it’s the few religious zealots that cause a lot of harm because they cannot listen to reason. Faith demands they ignore it and once someone convinces them that God demands they act, they must. And when a religious zealot gets in a position of power we end up with the Taliban or the Crusades or the Salem witch trials or the Spanish Inquisition, etc. I think life generally sucks for most people, so the belief that this is just a temporary trial gives comfort and hope, regardless of the truth of it.
Also, you have to wonder why so many people believe in an afterlife and nearly every culture has come to that conclusion on their own.
More wars are caused by greed than by religion.
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