Posted by Adam on November 10, 1999, at 22:30:02
In reply to Re: God & depression etc...(Fascinating discussion!), posted by Bob on November 7, 1999, at 14:40:06
The concept of God is now so far removed from my psyche that it
seems to have lost its meaning.I do remember times praying, long ago.
I always thought Pascal's wager (the idea that it was in fact rational
to believe in God because the stakes were so high-to be pious and wrong
is to have lost a finite span of amoral licenteousness, to be athiest
and wrong is to face eternal damnation) could be turned on its ear as
an argument against faith: to reward a life's span with eternal bliss
or affliction is unjust in either case because to reward or punish any
finite thing with an infinite thing is to make something out of nothing.
It occurred to me that even if there was a God, there could be no heaven
or hell, no afterlife really, and no reason to pray.There is reason to live, though, because life, bad or good, is all I
had. It seems incredibly hard to fathom, the idea of being a sentient
creature that some day will no longer be, that when the body dies I die
and that no memory of vestige of the self will remain. It is impossible
for me to imagine a state of being nothing at all, and this inspires
more awe and fear and wonder in me than any concept of an afterlife ever
could.
poster:Adam
thread:14368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991108/msgs/14985.html