Hi Jane, you made several good points in your post. You said, “How can any of us know what the truth is for sure until life is over." Very interesting! You underlined the key words “for sure”. If “for sure” means 100% certainty, then I agree with you. I agree it is impossible to know anything for sure until death. But how many things do we know with 100% certainty until then? Very few compared to what we don’t. Which is why I prefer to lower the bar to around 95% certainty for my workable level of the truth. When my reason and intuition agree that the evidence supports some proposition with least 95% certainty, then I usually accept it as true. For instance, near-death experiences (NDEs) are controversial. They are surrounded by pros and cons. Are they real or merely hallucinations of dying persons? Based on my studies, I believe the evidence is at least 95% certain in favor of NDEs being authentic glimpses of an afterlife. What we believe about NDEs is important because it impacts our belief in the afterlife. The same is true for many other ideas where 100% certainty is out of reach. We may need to choose that final act of faith in what we will allow into our belief system or lose out on some life-enhancing choices. What I'm getting at is that we may not be able to wait until life is over to find out what the truth is when making choices. We often need to make choices now even though we are not 100% sure if we are right. The truth does not seem to be an either-or proposition. It seems to be the best answer you can come up with based on your current model of the world. I think the truth ultimately comes down an act of faith. In my case, the act of faith is in the last 5% certainty of something being true. This approach works for me and I will continue using it unless proven otherwise by personal experience. A final point. Your post gave me some other thoughts that I will share next in case you want to comment on what I have said so far. Take care, John.
Butting in here--my favorite sport. I wonder, John, if you might enjoy this book, Journey of the Souls by Michael Newton. Or maybe you were the one that recommended it on SOC. It is by a man who has been studying subjects via deep hypnosis to learn about the afterlife before re-incarnation. I am about halfway through. I had not found it to my liking, probably because of preconceived notions. But in telling my daughter why I didn't like it, I was caused to chew on it further. It is a book that will require my reading more than once.
You are right, of course. We can only determine the truth based on the facts at hand. If facts are lacking, faith must be the final determination. But so many people present their faith based opinions as facts and will (and have) fight to the death to defend them. There's really no point in debating what the truth is, and yet people have for eons and will continue to do so until the end of time!
Please, don't generalize...is 1. Because I send time whatever I want. 2. Because I am an educator and I don't miss a chance yto inform people. 3. Bye.
This verse, and those surrounding it, has taught me so much about why we, as humans, either believe in the God of the bible, or we don't: Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. source: https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/2-14.htm I didn't manage to read the whole thread, but I felt this was pertinent to the discussion.
Hi Mary, yes, I was the one who recommended “Journey of Souls” by Dr. Michael Newton. A lot of the case histories seem questionable. After all, he interviewed thousands of people over a period of 30 years, so it is possible some of the cases were imaginary. But on the whole, I found that most of the cases seemed authentic. Toward the end of the book, he describes how each soul prepares for its next reincarnation. Each soul chooses its parents, the body it will live in, what spiritual growth it wants to achieve in the next life, etc. Furthermore, each soul agrees to a soul contract of what it intends to do in the next lifetime. The soul contract creates the soul’s purpose in life. To achieve its purpose in life, the soul agrees that some negative events may occur because of its choices. The negative events may be a necessary part of learning what can only be learned in this physical reality. Bottom line: When I look at my life with the foregoing viewpoint, it gives me peace of mind about everything that is happening to me. Mary, I hope you enjoy the rest of the book, John.
Hi Jane, I agree that we should not debate “truth”. I don’t like debates. But I do like hearing what someone believes. Then, I have a chance to see things from their point of view. Usually, I get a new insight that revises my current model of the world a little or a lot. For instance, your post yesterday did just that. It forced me to think a while about what and why I believe something. The near-death experiences (NDEs) began my studies into the possibility of an afterlife. NDEs are very upbeat and comforting. Because of my interest in NDEs, I came across the work of Dr. Michael Newton, an atheist who became very spiritual after doing past-life regressions for more than 30 years. In his book “Journey of Souls”, he discusses at length what happens between reincarnations. His work is controversial but I believe it has the ring of truth. And still another source I currently use for expanding my model of the world is studying Eastern thought, especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Much of Eastern thought uses philosophy, psychiatry, and mythology in its search for truth. I find that Eastern culture is a very rich and wonderful way to better understanding the enigma we live in. In summary, I agree there is no point in debating what truth is, but I think it is worthwhile to share what we think the truth is. This may lead to a better understanding and more tolerance for what others believe.
Silvia, You said you believed in “Respect, honesty, decency, helping when / where you can.” I love that answer. It reminds me of the golden rule. It also agrees with what I have read elsewhere about atheists. In some secular countries, many atheists reject religion but still describe themselves as spiritual, which again suggests the golden rule. Another interesting thing I have read about atheists is that they have a lower crime. Here is what I found on the Internet: “However, data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons suggest that atheists are far less likely to commit crimes than religious people, and globally the least religious countries have the lowest crime rates. This is of course correlational evidence: it does not mean that being an atheist leads to committing fewer crimes.” Silvia, it seems that many atheists believe in a spiritual higher power, but reject the concept of a personal deity. Take care, John.
As an educator, you’ve only managed to teach those things natural to all mankind and nothing more. The whole point here Sylvia is no one here yet has told you that your particular belief system is wrong. It is what you believe and at your advanced age, I doubt anything will sway the way you believe and from what I have seen, no one has tried. Yet, you come into the fray and are being quite unabashed and extremely brash about how everyone else should believe because you used to be a teacher. You taught SPANISH, and nothing in the metaphysical realm of possibilities. ‘ You have repeatedly attacked everyone who believes in an eternal entity throughout your stay with our little community. Isn’t it strange that I probably know more about your belief system than you but yet, I have never gone against your faith (or lack of) but against the way you present your faith and the way you attack others who have a different faith than yours. Adios….
I used to be a teacher too, so you should believe me on whatever topic I might wish to speak on. In fact, I was the program chairman of the second-largest department in the college (by student enrollment) so my opinions should be taken as fact.
Well, @John Houlihan, if you want to hear what other people believe...here goes! I do believe in a higher power. The universe and everything in it had to come from somewhere. Science may be able to explain the mechanics of how the universe was created, but not the flawless genius behind it. Even though I am a believer, I'm not a participant in organized religion. I guess I'm more of a spiritual person, not a churchgoer. I believe the bible was written by living, breathing people who even then had their prejudices and strong opinions which may put a slant on what they wrote. Although a great historical source, I think what they wrote should be taken with a grain of salt. The bible has been interpreted in so many different ways it's hard to understand exactly what the original message was to begin with. There are so many stories that conflict with actual undeniable known science, it makes it really hard to believe what's written. All that being said, the bible does teach us how we should treat each other and how to be a better person. So there you go, John!