Why do people believe in god?

AlexG said:
They believe because they DON'T want to?
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How do you know that?
Did you ask them?


Mind you, this isn't an exercise in projection, or at least shouldn't be.
You are making claims about other people's private states. So you better have evidence that what you say they think and want, really is what they think and want.
 
Signal said:
How do you know that?
Did you ask them?


Mind you, this isn't an exercise in projection, or at least shouldn't be.
You are making claims about other people's private states. So you better have evidence that what you say they think and want, really is what they think and want.
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Ah, another in your series of 'We can't ever really know anything' posts.
 
Michael said:
Actually, ALL evidence supports the notion that death of the brain results in death of the individual.
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- for others, may be.


Official science seems to be the domain of and for extroverts.
An introvert does not perceive themselves from such an extrovert perspective, and would consider other possibilities - such as that there is more to an individual than what other people say there is.
 
Michael said:
The death of the brain is the end of existence. Most people don't want to not exist, and so they make up Goddesses and Gods and Heavens and Hells and the more sophisticated make up reincarnations. But, rest assured, when your brain dies, you die. More than likely, no more you - ever.
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Do you then consider someone unconscious or in a coma to be dead?
 
Signal said:
- for others, may be.


Official science seems to be the domain of and for extroverts.
An introvert does not perceive themselves from such an extrovert perspective, and would consider other possibilities - such as that there is more to an individual than what other people say there is.
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I am about as introverted as they come. My introspections (and personal experiences) have led me to the opinion that what we think of as "mind/soul/consciousness" is a property/function of the brain. The perceived duality is an illusion.
 
Knowledge91 said:
. If your prayer coincide with the Will of God it probably won't happen,
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this statement would make more sense if it said 'if your prayer did not coincide with the will of God then it would not be answered.'


but if your happiness directly figures into the outcome of humanity, maybe just maybe he will help you win the lottery.
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ya still have to go out and get a lottery ticket.
IOW you cant just sit on your butt and wait for God to act.
 
Mind Over Matter said:
Do you then consider someone unconscious or in a coma to be dead?
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That depends on.

If the brain is still alive, then the person is still alive albeit unconscious. I've been knocked unconscious, I was not "dead", no one would say so, but I was "unconscious" which is why we have the word "unconscious" or "loss of consciousness". A person who has had their brain splattered across the wall is not described as "unconscious" but as "dead". If a person were to have their hangnail ripped to shreds, they're still alive.

Dead brain = Dead individual = Individual ceases to exist
 
Only in theory can one forever walk the 50-50 fence (Signal comes to mind), but in the practice of everyday life one tends to lean one way or the other, in their doings, and, lacking perfect information, but still having info, that is done via probability:

Are these really equi-probable?

1) The brain controls the person, as known and shown, so when it dies and decays then what is does is over, making for no more person.

2) The person goes on after death because an unknown part endures, perhaps called a ‘soul’.
 
Michael said:
That depends on.

If the brain is still alive, then the person is still alive albeit unconscious. I've been knocked unconscious, I was not "dead", no one would say so, but I was "unconscious" which is why we have the word "unconscious" or "loss of consciousness". A person who has had their brain splattered across the wall is not described as "unconscious" but as "dead". If a person were to have their hangnail ripped to shreds, they're still alive.

Dead brain = Dead individual = Individual ceases to exist
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Brain death is more tricky. The absence of cortical activity (brain death) is often termed persistant vegetative state. The body can sustain life, but the 'person' has gone. Thoughts?
 
Mind Over Matter said:
Brain death is more tricky. The absence of cortical activity (brain death) is often termed persistant vegetative state. The body can sustain life, but the 'person' has gone. Thoughts?
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This is a sensitive/touchy situation, and I don't have an answer...

But in these cases the body is usually being kept alive through various "artificial" means. Even though (I think) there have been cases of people returning from such states, I don't know how long I'd want you to sustain me in the same situation.
 
A discussion we had in bible study..

what constitutes a 'person'?
(the discussion revolved around God as a 'person')
does one need a body to be a person?
 
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