Why would it seem odd? If a person doesn't believe in an afterlife then this life is all they got so I would think they would want to make the very best of it. Since "living life to the fullest" is subjective, there is no way to know what will make each person's life "full".
Personally, I don't believe a full life is truly possible without God and the hope of an afterlife. But thats my opinion.
I think we all want to make the best of it, regardless.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
•A belief is the subjective requirement for knowledge.
Many scientific theories were philosophy before it they were proven. But before they were proven it was philosophy and not science.
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•“Knowledge” is defined as “justified true belief.”
In order to “know,” we have our emotions, reason, perception and knowledge. There will be knowledge as long as there is a justifiable truth and belief.
With your reasoning, anything is provable just because you believe it. That's downright scary.
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•In other words, a belief can be considered knowledge as long as it is a justified truth.
•As long as a particular belief is justified, it is considered to be knowledge.
These are ideas that can make you crazy if you get into some wacky belief. How do you determine if someone's beliefs are off the deep end if you equate belief with proof?
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I KNOW there is an afterlife because my belief is a "justified true belief." I don't have to PROVE it. In fact, I'd be wasting my time to try. All I can do is share my "justified true beliefs" on the matter and then the rest is up to the recipient of my message.
The rest is up to the recipient of your message to what? Agree or disagree with your "justified true belief"? I believe there is an afterlife but I don't KNOW it, just as science has believed in certain philosophies before they were provable. But they were philosophies at that time and NOT science. There is a difference between BELIEF and PROOF.
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As for me, I made up my mind on this topic long ago. I could change my mind, I have that choice but that doesn't change the fact that at this time, I KNOW what I believe and because its justifiable, for me it is more than just a belief, it has become knowledge.
Scary. Lots of people can justify their beliefs. That doesn't make it knowledge. It is still a belief.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
Many scientific theories were philosophy before it they were proven. But before they were proven it was philosophy and not science.
With your reasoning, anything is provable just because you believe it. That's downright scary.
These are ideas that can make you crazy if you get into some wacky belief. How do you determine if someone's beliefs are off the deep end if you equate belief with proof?
The rest is up to the recipient of your message to what? Agree or disagree with your "justified true belief"? I believe there is an afterlife but I don't KNOW it, just as science has believed in certain philosophies before they were provable. But they were philosophies at that time and NOT science. There is a difference between BELIEF and PROOF.
Scary. Lots of people can justify their beliefs. That doesn't make it knowledge. It is still a belief.
The bulleted points are not my philosophies. But they serve to make my point which I believe you are missing.
God gave us a free will to choose. If we choose to, we can believe the moon is made of cheese. We don't have to prove it for it to be "justified" and become something we "know". If we believe it strongly enough, we will find justification and we will accept it as knowledge that the moon is made of cheese.
This happens all the time. Thats why we have doomsday groups that stockpile food. They believe and KNOW that D-Day is coming on a certain date and they prepare for it. They can't PROVE it but for them its knowledge and they are acting on that knowledge.
I CAN INDEED answer the question and subject of this thread. I can answer for MYSELF, based on what I know and believe and accept as truth. I can't answer for anyone else, just for myself. I can share my belief, my opinion, my thoughts. But ultimately, everyone must choose for themselves. Thats been my point all along.
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"The only thing worse than murder in the desert is to know where the water is and not tell it!"
The bulleted points are not my philosophies. But they serve to make my point which I believe you are missing.
God gave us a free will to choose. If we choose to, we can believe the moon is made of cheese. We don't have to prove it for it to be "justified" and become something we "know". If we believe it strongly enough, we will find justification and we will accept it as knowledge that the moon is made of cheese.
This happens all the time. Thats why we have doomsday groups that stockpile food. They believe and KNOW that D-Day is coming on a certain date and they prepare for it. They can't PROVE it but for them its knowledge and they are acting on that knowledge.
I CAN INDEED answer the question and subject of this thread. I can answer for MYSELF, based on what I know and believe and accept as truth. I can't answer for anyone else, just for myself. I can share my belief, my opinion, my thoughts. But ultimately, everyone must choose for themselves. Thats been my point all along.
Which means you believe in a lie. A more reasonable response would be, "We don't know what the moon is made of." Which simply means you don't have "The Answer."
The Afterlife is no different, and in fact is more of an assumption, as the moon can be seen by the human eye from Earth, from every Generation. It's interesting that the subject of the Universe has come up, as my wife and I were talking about that last night.
Do you, or anyone on here, believe that G-d is more immense and wise than the entire Universe? I do believe G-d is, as the creator is always greater than the creation.
And, what happens when we explore and uncover the mysteries of the Universe? Myths are revealed, truth becomes relevant, and 1 open door leads to a million more to open.
The idea that man can "Know" what happens when we die, but can't even penetrate a minute fraction of space and the beyond, is really quite hilarious! I think G-d might be giving us all the signals we need to understand, we know very little about anything.
The bulleted points are not my philosophies. But they serve to make my point which I believe you are missing.
God gave us a free will to choose. If we choose to, we can believe the moon is made of cheese. We don't have to prove it for it to be "justified" and become something we "know". If we believe it strongly enough, we will find justification and we will accept it as knowledge that the moon is made of cheese.
This happens all the time. Thats why we have doomsday groups that stockpile food. They believe and KNOW that D-Day is coming on a certain date and they prepare for it. They can't PROVE it but for them its knowledge and they are acting on that knowledge.
I CAN INDEED answer the question and subject of this thread. I can answer for MYSELF, based on what I know and believe and accept as truth. I can't answer for anyone else, just for myself. I can share my belief, my opinion, my thoughts. But ultimately, everyone must choose for themselves. Thats been my point all along.
Okay, you have absolutely proven my point. You believe that anything you believe is factual to you. In other words, you seem to be saying that your belief is your reality. I think that is a lie. You can't believe something into being or people would believe their loved ones healthy and back to life all the time. But reality is harsh and hard and doesn't work that way.
What you are espousing is truly scary. You are apparently saying that fact has no basis, reality has no basis. Whatever you believe is FACT. I think that is a dangerous belief that has no basis in reality. Sad.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
I remember when I went to school, that Pluto was the last known planet found in our universe, and I remember being taught and graded on the solar system, and grades were established on whether you could name all the planets in our solar system. For at that time, all the knowledge we had was that Pluto was the farthest planet in our solar system. Since then, there have been more planets that have been discovered within our solar system, which changes the knowledge that I "thought" I had back in my school days.
So... I would think it is safe to say that we are always learning, and that while we may think we know something FOR SURE... upon what is that based? For instance... the law of gravity has not been known to change in my world, at least... BUT if we consider the account that Jesus rose from the grave, and ascended into the air, then we have to understand that at some point, the law of gravity was broken, and changed.
It comes to a point where you have to admit that you know very little, if nothing at all, when you consider the scope of this universe, and the universes beyond this one, and the Creator who designed it all! Upon that realization, you must acknowledge that your faith is all you have. Faith is that which we can't see, know, or understand, and in which we place our trust in regardless of the lack of fact that we may have.... knowing that someday we will have a better understanding of eternity than what we have now... this is seeing through a glass darkly that Paul spoke of....
We also need to change our beliefs, if we are faced with facts that differ from our beliefs.
Yes. I know that's right! Of course, the problem is that things that people "know" because they were told they had to, without seeing (as Jesus said to Thomas), are exempt.
Perfect example: young-earth creationism. There is abundant evidence that the earth is more than 4 billion years old. There is abundant evidence that the universe is over 13 billion years old. Doesn't matter. There's a timeline in the Bible, and that must be believed.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Yes. I know that's right! Of course, the problem is that things that people "know" because they were told they had to, without seeing (as Jesus said to Thomas), are exempt.
Perfect example: young-earth creationism. There is abundant evidence that the earth is more than 4 billion years old. There is abundant evidence that the universe is over 13 billion years old. Doesn't matter. There's a timeline in the Bible, and that must be believed.
Yes, that's true. Amazingly, my very conservative, original UPC pastor never taught young earth creationism. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth … .” (Genesis 1:28a, KJV) He taught that there was something before people, and they were dinosaurs.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
Knowledge is such a fickle thing. Can you ever truly know 100% for a fact that your wife never ever cheated on you? You can't! Human knowledge is based primarily on trust. Whether it's trusting your senses or trusting your wife, our knowledge stems from trust. Trust is faith. It's not blind faith, but its still faith. We can't really know anything because at any time our eyes may be playing tricks on us, our wife may be lying to us, or maybe what we thought happened only occured in a dream.
So our knowledge of anything is based on faith and trust. So next time NotForSale asks how do you know there is an afterlife. Politely ask him how he knows his wife hasn't cheated on him. His reasons for believing his wife hasn't cheated on him are pretty similiar to your reasons for believing in an afterlife i assure you
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You better watch out before I blitzkrieg your thread cause I'm the Thread Nazi now!
Of course, the problem is that things that people "know" because they were told they had to, without seeing (as Jesus said to Thomas), are exempt.
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