Picture this: You're lying on your death bed, dying of natural causes. The pain is excruciating, but not physical. This is your spiritual wounds that are slowly being exposed again. You wonder whether all that hogwash about that God you heard about might be true, but still your logical side begs to differ. " Where am I going after this," you wonder in complete silence, as your name is slowly being etched onto your tombstone. "Could they have been right all along?" you ask, sitting stunned because, to your suprise, you said that out loud. Quickly you reassure yourself that, "There's no such things as angels otherwise I would have found out a long time ago." Even as you quarrel with your own psyche, you sit there filled with doubt. And then the eternally poignant question resurfaces in your awareness, "But what if?" What would you do? Who are you gonna call? Ghostbusters? No, your gonna die, but would you give up your atheistic beliefs, that you have crafted over these years, in the process is the better question. So would you? Discuss.
The premise of this question is ridiculous. You speak of excruciating pain that is not physical, but spiritual. Interesting. Why haven't I ever felt spiritual pain before? Could it because there is no spirit, only your brain? So I have a question for you. What if YOU'RE wrong? What if on your deathbed Thor or Zeus is making YOU feel excruciating "spiritual pain"?
What I tried to have discussed is the oddity of the human psyche, whereby people who are close to death have these vivid spiritual experiences. Now some would say a discussion like this belongs in the Religion and Spirituality section, but I don't want to discuss the NDE's, I want to discuss whether someone would give up their atheistic or agnostic beliefs on their death bed, and replace them with more pleasing beliefs of a land in the clouds - or where ever. Essentially it comes down to whether you would give in to the pressures you felt when crafting those beliefs. Most atheists grew up in religious households, yet they rejected the beliefs their families shared, and whether they would give in to all that pressure, when the right pressure is applied, is what I wonder. Please think about this seriously. If need be, light up and meditate on this, but don't blame me when you have a dose of Reefer Madness.
You haven't had an experience that radically challenegd your beliefs yet, that's why. We humans, whether we'd like to believe it or not, need that spiritual reassurance. We need to know that after we're gone that it will not be the end.
I had a heart transplant and was put under for 3 days which i figure is about as close to death as you can get without actually dying..ive always been semi spiritual but i was definitely praying to any god that would listen before i went under..i knew there was a chance i could die but i didnt instantly become christian or whatever and believe in god i just prayed that everything would work out
[quote name='"tHe LoNLy StOnR"'] You haven't had an experience that radically challenegd your beliefs yet, that's why. We humans, whether we'd like to believe it or not, need that spiritual reassurance. We need to know that after we're gone that it will not be the end.[/quote] Not necesarily, I don't need to know that I'm gonna have an afterlife after I die, I'm perfectly fine with there being nothing after death.
And your evidence for this is........... this is why there's no point in debating with religious people in any form, evidence and facts mean NOTHING to them
This is the kind of response I was hoping for. Now would that repentance mean that you were never a true atheist? A religious person would stick to their beliefs with the same tenacity of a deluded fool. Now the question is, why don't atheists, or at least some of them, have that same comfort? Would that mean that atheism was just a phase? A christian doesn't just, one day, say to himself, " You know what, I think I want to be a muslim. I better get my airplane licence and my affairs in order." Why are atheists, and the like, filled with so much doubt? DISCLAIMER: That terrorist joke, was just that: A JOKE. I know all muslims aren't terrorists, and I know all terrorists are muslims <--- that was a typo.
People also like to believe in things that are comforting and emotionally pleasing rather than logical.
Uh ... TROLL! NDE's are a well documented fact. How you gon' dispute science, mu'fugga? this is why there's no point in debating with TROLLS in any form, evidence and facts mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to them
I get what you're saying though and i think nobody can predict what they would do if they actually knew they were going to die..i think most people would try and repent out of fear thats been implanted in their brains
Funny how you tell us what we will think and way would be going through our minds. I find it interesting how you make so many assumptions about "our" death or our final hours/minutes. Also, many people do not die on pain. That's the mindset I do not like about religion. As far as changing beliefs and thoughts, both of what you said would never happen to me. For one, I am a firm believer there is jack shit after death. Doesn't scare me at all either. No I will not worry about it, nor will I contemplate about a higher power. I will think about all the good in my life that had happened, the people I affected and those who affected me. And as I slowly die, I will likely smile, for I will be leaving this shit hole behind. I can see this thread getting out of hand, but to put it simply, not everyone, or in fact very few will be worried about religion on their death bed. I find the idea of nothing after death being peaceful, almost ideal. It's a soothing thought. I have no fear of death, and have been extremely close to it more than once. Still have no fear of it at all. I could die today, or tomorrow. When it happens so be it, it's inevitable. Sent from my iPhone using GC Forum
I said that there is no evidence of people needing spiritual reassurance. That does not make me a troll. It makes me a person with a question that you refuse to answer because there is no answer for it, your entire argument is flawed and has nothing to do with logic or reality. People want to feel like there is something more after death, but as I said before, people prefer to believe in things that are comforting and that they want to be true, rather than things that make sense. NDE's are an illusion produced by the brain to make you forget about the fact that you're about to die. The brain is amazing like that and it controls everything you feel, see, hear, etc, NOT god or any kind of spirituality. Disagree? Do you have evidence to support your claim? of course not
Lol the one guy that is even close to agreeing with you and you have to cut him down. You're the troll man.
Pretty sure if you have surgery blacked out on alcohol you would wake up..and i was told i was probably going to die when i first got heart disease and the feelings i had were nothing you could plan for
I went through a possible example, and I included the thoughts as a way to make it seem more immersive so that it would be easier to imagine. There was no ulteriour motives. It was basically a mtaphor, as people know that's not exactly how NDE's occur. But you get the point. Until you are in that situation or even thoughfully contemplating it, for that matter, your response is that of a guy who's not afraid of laying down the hurt on "Fluffy" - that is, until he finds out who fluffy really is.