I’ll go with agnostic until proven one way or the other. Having said that, I’m pretty sure I will be agnostic when I die.
I’ve made a pact with several people that we would let each other know what happens when either of us died. So far 2 of them are long gone and not a word yet.
So my best educated guess is when you die, that’s it, lights out, nothing more. I’m hoping I’m wrong because if I’m right, what a letdown it will be.
But then again, if I’m right, I’ll never know it.
Quite an enigma. No?
Welcome to the "beyond human comprehension" zone that I referenced.
No one can say for sure how God exists or how he/it operates. I kind of harbor a belief that when people pass on and go to an afterlife, they are then granted access to a giant book that reveals all the mysteries of the universe and the purpose of our existence.
You're on the same train of thought I am, though. Ultimately, our universe had to be created by something or some higher power. Matter doesn't just suddenly pop up one day and exist on its own. So who or what created it? And why? No one can slam a fist on the table and say "Yep, this is exactly how it happened!" with any certainty. Some higher being had to kick-start the whole thing. That's the only logical explanation I can come up with.
Those who mock people for believing in creation always amuse me. Believing all life forms came to be from random explosions, random gatherings of cells and random formation of life and colonies? If I used this same font size, the odds of that happening are probably 1 with enough zeroes behind it to stretch around the planet...to one. I think a lot of atheists are afraid to take any leap of faith because they just don't want to comprehend what might be on the other side, so they effectively choose to simply ignore it. Humans aren't the highest form of intelligence out there IMO...at least I certainly hope not.
What irks me is when either a fundamentalist or a hard-core scientist claims to have everything figured out and then pretends that invalidates any counter arguments. Simple science such as carbon dating can prove that the earth has been around for much, much longer than the 4,000 years or so which the church claims. Also, some things which science/biology has proven to be healthy for the human body are in contrast with the teachings of the church.
On the other hand, believing purely in evolution also requires its own level of faith. There is no evidence that a great matter of mass exploded and formed the earth, on which one day human beings just started walking out of the sea after being created from a random mass of living matter. Plus, we've all read stories about true miracles on earth...terminal cancer patients experiencing miraculous unexpected healing, people inexplicably coming back to life after being declared dead, etc. There is just no rational or logical scientific explanation for many events like that.
When I was around 10, a second cousin of mine had a grandma who was about to check out. She was in the hospital with some kind of illness...she fell asleep one day, the heart monitors went flat...and the nurses/docs started to fear she was dead. A few minutes later, the heartbeats returned. She opened her eyes and talked in great detail about seeing heaven...it was beautiful beyond comprehension, etc. She claimed the very last thing she saw was her husband emerging from the heaven (he had died a few years earlier). He smiled and told her "it isn't your time yet" before she came back to consciousness. From what I know, she never really talked much about her husband before that. It just seems too unlikely that the whole thing could have been dismissed as either a fabrication or just some vivid dream...
My minor in college was world religions, and what I learned was pretty fascinating.
But do I believe in God, I am on the "NO" side of the fence. I used to believe it, until I started reading the bible from cover to cover and read so many contradictions, it just didnt make sense.
Dinosaurs existed, we have proof of that... but you would figure something that huge would have been mentioned in the bible.
Adam and Eve had 2 sons, Cain and Abel. Then Cain killed Abel. So God banished Cain and sent him out...... So he went to the City of Nod and took a wife. Wait... Where did the city all of a sudden come from? Where did all those people come from that populated a city?
Noahs Ark supposedly held 2 of every animal..... yet how did the Polar Bears, Penguins, Moose, Platypuses, etc., Make the trip from their home continents to get to the ark?
God would talk to people, show himself through "Burning Bushes", have miracles like "Parting the Red Sea" and such.... yet he does nothing like that in this day and age.... why?
So many questions I have about the bible that make no sense.
But do I believe in God, I am on the "NO" side of the fence. I used to believe it, until I started reading the bible from cover to cover and read so many contradictions, it just didnt make sense.
Dinosaurs existed, we have proof of that... but you would figure something that huge would have been mentioned in the bible.
Adam and Eve had 2 sons, Cain and Abel. Then Cain killed Abel. So God banished Cain and sent him out...... So he went to the City of Nod and took a wife. Wait... Where did the city all of a sudden come from? Where did all those people come from that populated a city?
Noahs Ark supposedly held 2 of every animal..... yet how did the Polar Bears, Penguins, Moose, Platypuses, etc., Make the trip from their home continents to get to the ark?
God would talk to people, show himself through "Burning Bushes", have miracles like "Parting the Red Sea" and such.... yet he does nothing like that in this day and age.... why?
So many questions I have about the bible that make no sense.
I have answers for every one of your so-called problems with the Bible. Most of them are hog-wash. I'll start with one for you to chew on: Noah's flood was a localized flood which didn't require every species on earth to
be on the Ark. The idea of a global flood is a modern fable.
Why does the Bible have to mention dinosaurs? It's not a science text-book at all? Besides it does mention huge beasts...
Here's a clue on the Cain/Abel question: Adam/Eve had many other children, and they lived hundreds of years old. Do the math.
I have a younger Brother that doesnt believe in God either.....#1 I say well OK then even if everything in the Bible & God is all BS it still gives people HOPE & I see nothing wrong with that.......... #2 Everything on earth & the rest of the universe had to be created by a God or higher power..Everything could not have just been "here" already...To that he says Oh well that was the Big bang theory that created the universe & everything in it & to that I say OK then who or what created the big bang?.......It really is that simple that God does exist...People try to make the simplest things so damn complicated or refuse to believe there is anybody higher or more powerful than themselves...
