Thread:JayZX535/@comment-26094355-20160425230258/@comment-27170788-20160427192126

Maltalidenta Kwuitidherali wrote:

JayZX535 wrote:

Ah okay, so in that case, meaning is determined by your contribution to society? Seems reasonable.

But, let's look at the flipside, too. So, let's just say there is a God who created us. In that case, what we believe becomes much more important, doesn't it? If there's no God, then our beliefs have no eternal significance. Believing in God won't matter, because we'll just die in the end. But if there is a God, doesn't whether or not you believe in Him take on eternal significance? In the end, yes, it would hold significance. But that's another reason on why I call theism idealistic. It's just entirely unrealistic to say that there's anything that survives after death, let alone that it could be living on eternally. And, in effect, what does it matter anyway? You get locked into a sort of paradise, but you can never affect the world again, and see generation upon generation die. Certainly, I'd prefer the "gift of humanity" to such a thing as that. Why do you say it's unrealistic to say that anything survives after death? Once someone dies, they can't exactly tell us what they are or aren't experiencing, can they? Could, then, we not have some eternal part of us that cannot be seen or felt by any physical means, that survives past the death of the body?

That's an interesting perspective on eternity-- I can't say I've heard one like it before. But you know, if there is an eternal aspect of mankind, then that would mean that everyone lives on in some way or another. So, even though everyone does die at some point, death would cease to be the end! It wouldn't just be watching the trials and sufferings of this world, but it would be a new beginning. So you wouldn't just be watching generation upon generation die. It would be watching them enter eternity. That's not quite the same as just watching them die, is it?