Question for everyone?

Question

Someone just posted this as an answer to an earlier question of mine today:
So you want a gray area? Since all of mankind contains good and evil, therefore the endgame is the ultimate outcome of good and evil. Otherwise, what point is there to life? Why be good if all you have to look forward to is floating in space? If i am wrong, then all I have lost is a belief in a myth, but if you are wrong, hen you have lost your immortal soul.

Do you think when people talk like this they know how absurd it sounds? What motivates someone to tell another person that they will lose their immortal soul?

Answer 1

This is just a restatement of Pascal's Wager. The thing is, you DO lose something if you make a definitive conclusion in the absence of sufficient evidence. You lose the integrity of your mind. And you lose the capacity to actually find the truth, if you have made a false conclusion. I am satisfied that the evidence shows that Christianity is a false conclusion. That's why they stress "faith"-- because it has no facts!

Answer 2

It would help if you posted the question you posed for the person to give that response. I don't think it's that absurd at all. Who knows how serious they were. Some people believe there is an immortal soul which can be lost. You faith is in science, which is fine, but just know that you cling to a religion that is an attempt at pure logic, while he clings to a kind of science of human perception that attempts to reconcile man's need for meaning without the use of logic. Logic is lost on most people because that's written in the genes creatures on earth. The brain also has a god portion because clearly the mind works with such abstractions and creativity that it seeks some kind of skeletal structure on which to hang the meat of purpose. Perhaps that sounds absurd but I am an agnostic and I take science and certainly Darwin with a grain of salt just like I take religion with a grain of disdain. You don't have the answers any more than any great scientist did. It's about the search, and some quit the search because they don't have the born make up to continue it. They can't be taught at a certain point and that can't be changed.

Answer 3

Fire and brimstone preaching represents an effort to gain recruits through fear. They are revealing their own motive to worship: a fear of hell.

Notice how this individual sorts out the consequences and chooses a course to a desirable outcome. This isn't love of scripture god, it is gambling.

Of course, if some -other- god is in charge, belief in scripture god may lead to the big soup bowl in the sky and a loss of his/her immortal soul.

Fanatics grip their beliefs so fiercely they cannot see any possibilities beyond those permitted by their belief. They require a belief in their rightness, for any alternative means they are wrong and that is, for them, unthinkable.

They can't imagine the possibility they might be wrong.

I suspect people like this suffered a great deal as a child, ridiculed whenever they made a mistake. So they construct a belief system where, not only can they never be wrong, but they cannot permit any evidence to challenge their rightness.

Faith is a security blanket. Some wrap themselves within the blanket to the point where they can see nothing -but- the blanket.

Answer 4

There is some of all kinds out there. The saying "if we were all alike what a boring place it would be" somewhat applies. But, you have to remember, people say pretty much anything these days. Chances that a person who would say something so absurd knowing how absurd they sound is probably not likely. They probably believe this themself. It could be due to lack of education, lack of proper teaching, some belief they picked up along the way and made the choice to follow it. The best thing is to just let it go and be happy/proud that you know better and that you will be okay in the future when they may not.

Answer 5

What motivates another person to say or do anything is difficult to know .. without knowing that person on a personal basis. Many of these questions ask for opinions. That is all they are giving .. is their opinion on the topic. It may be absurd to you, but others may take it very seriously as an answer. It is up to each person to judge for themselves how seriously they want to take on another persons opinion. You felt the answer was absurd. That is all that really matters. What motivated the other persons answer ? .. Who knows ? Maybe their own background and belief system. The important thing is that you don't have to agree with it .. nor does anyone else. Again, it is only an opinion. Good luck ! :)

Answer 6

answering your questions last to first.

Their religion.
They don't know what absurd means because they are not that intelligent. They are followers, never question anything.
I have never thought you to be wrong. I have only considered your statements to be your beliefs.
We have to be good because that is what our parents have taught us. Be good for esteem, be good for mankind. It takes too much energy to be negative or cover up when you do wrong. Religion did not invent morals. Religion did not invent doing what is right or wrong. PEOPLE have adopted religion and used it as a magnet behind them to draw others to follow. Obviously it works for the mass.
They keep on talking about good and evil, give the alternate a chance, see what they can do, you guys have had 2000 years. How much more time can we give you?

Answer 7

"Immortal soul" always confuses me. As far as I can tell, what people call the soul is nothing more than the interaction of our brain cells, and nothing less than the very essesce of our lives and consciousness. Metaphorically, it is a flame which is snuffed out at the termination of life. It, unlike the body, ceases to exist after death.

Answer 8

No, I do not think they have a clue how absurd it sounds. Their motivation stems from a belief that they have it all figured out and the rest of us are just treading water.

Answer 9

This is the absurdity: That you asked this question of everyone (non-believers as well as believers). Wouldn’t it have been better to confront the answerer only, or, at the very least, to pose this question to like-minded individuals? But, of course, you felt the need to ridicule the answerer.

So, what motivates you to ask questions of this sort? Is it to obtain knowledge that you don’t possess? Or, perhaps, it’s to fuel your unbelief and justify your narrow-minded views?

Answer 10

An inflated sense of self-importance. Whether the person realizes it or not when they says something like that they are creating an atmosphere of dislike because an arrogance and smugness is inherent in the answer.