Is there a version of eternity...

greenberg said:
Enmos -

You seem to think that if there is no pollution, no fighting, no killing, no dying - then there is no life?
How do you come to that conclusion?
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How did you extend "teeth taking forever to rot, thus not rotting" to "no pollution, no fighting, no killing, no dying".
I'm curious now..
 
greenberg said:
Hm. If my teeth would take forever to rot, then they wouldn't actually rot, right? So in eternity, I'd actually keep my teeth, and in a good state at that! And if this same principle is applied to other things - like worn knee joints, blocked arteries, greying hair etc. - then eternity would actually be quite nice. No rotting of teeth, no wearing of knee joints, no greying of hair ...
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Enmos said:
If you say so. It isn't all down to your physical state, though..
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greenberg said:
Sure. But if the same principle as mentioned earlier on the example of teeth etc. in eternity applies also to other phenomena, then eternity doesn't seem bad at all. Imagine: no pollution, no fighting, no killing, no dying - wouldn't that be nice.
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Enmos said:
No life.
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See what I mean ?
 
Enmos said:
I know, it was a response to Greens post.. but I'm waiting for Greens explanation. Possibly I didn't get what he meant.
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It seemed like you were making an assertion. If you do not have those things (on the list) you do not have life. Is that what you meant?
 
I did.

Still....

It seemed like you were making an assertion. If you do not have those things (on the list) you do not have life. Is that what you meant?
 
Huh ? I'm very confused right now..
Either I completely misunderstood Green, or I'm the only one that did understand him.

:shrug:

He is applying his "not rotting teeth" principle to everything and arrives at 'no death'. If that applies then it must also mean 'no life'.
 
Enmos said:
Eternity will last forever. No one really wants to live forever, trust me.
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Some claim they do. How long is forever? All the time there is? All the time you have? Is it more than a moment? Less? How do I know I'm not already living forever?

Greenberg, why do you assume you don't decay for eternity? A long logarithmic slide into oblivion?
 
I just had a thought, but I'm not sure if it's big enough for its own thread...it might be a bit off-topic...well, it is off-topic, but it concerns eternity, so it's not all that off-topic...

Anyway, hasn't anyone ever wondered just what the hell the point of a heaven would be? Think about it...doesn't the whole notion of it sound ridiculous? The idea of spending forever someplace? Aside from that, what's the point? Couldn't a god just as easily let us blink out of existence at death? Don't you think that's better than having to contemplate eternity? Better yet, how would it be worse? It's not even an "all or nothing" question, since you'd never know you were missing out.

Anybody?
 
JDawg said:
I just had a thought, but I'm not sure if it's big enough for its own thread...it might be a bit off-topic...well, it is off-topic, but it concerns eternity, so it's not all that off-topic...

Anyway, hasn't anyone ever wondered just what the hell the point of a heaven would be? Think about it...doesn't the whole notion of it sound ridiculous? The idea of spending forever someplace? Aside from that, what's the point? Couldn't a god just as easily let us blink out of existence at death? Don't you think that's better than having to contemplate eternity? Better yet, how would it be worse? It's not even an "all or nothing" question, since you'd never know you were missing out.

Anybody?
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I agree that it's ridiculous, especially if you count in the free-will aspect.
Seems to me the biblical heaven and hell are pretty much the same thing :D
 
Enmos said:
I agree that it's ridiculous, especially if you count in the free-will aspect.
Seems to me the biblical heaven and hell are pretty much the same thing :D
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I wonder sometimes if the whole idea of the afterlife is meant more to comfort those who fear their own deaths, or those who grieve lost ones. I wonder which one it was originally supposed to serve...

Because it's a really basic premise. I mean, eternal life is the perfect cure-all to what must have just been a shitty existence in those times, but it's not very imaginative.
 
JDawg said:
I wonder sometimes if the whole idea of the afterlife is meant more to comfort those who fear their own deaths, or those who grieve lost ones. I wonder which one it was originally supposed to serve...

Because it's a really basic premise. I mean, eternal life is the perfect cure-all to what must have just been a shitty existence in those times, but it's not very imaginative.
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I'm leaning towards war. What could be a better motivator to die for your God than to know you won't actually die at all, but instead receive the biggest award of all ?
Or more generally, control over the people (not just the heaven and hell thing, but the whole of religion)
 
I think it's really interesting that it stuck for so long.. perhaps throughout the millennia some sort of selection took place.
 
Enmos said:
I'm leaning towards war. What could be a better motivator to die for your God than to know you won't actually die at all, but instead receive the biggest award of all ?
Or more generally, control over the people (not just the heaven and hell thing, but the whole of religion)
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Still, death is at the center of it. So by what you've said here, it sounds like you believe it meant to serve those who feared death itself, rather than the loss of someone they love.

See, I tend to think it goes the other way. We have such elaborate funerals and burials and tombs and things of that sort, I tend to think that the notion of the afterlife and all of that stuff was simply to ease grief rather than fear. I think using it as a reward in war probably came later.
 
Enmos said:
I think it's really interesting that it stuck for so long.. perhaps throughout the millennia some sort of selection took place.
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You mean that faith has lasted so long? Or specifically the belief in an afterlife?

Don't you remember being a kid and believing in something like Santa, or the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy? Or the monster in your closet, or under your bed? When you don't know the answer to something--when you can't know the answer--it's very easy to just give it attributes anyway. Consider the nature of faith--it's all about death. Every reward of faith comes in this supposed afterlife--not in mortal life, but the afterlife. All of it is centered around things we just don't know. That's why it's stuck.
 
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