Why has religion retained its appeal?

[RootsBooster]

I don't expect anything Snailboy. Yes, I plan ahead, I have to, but in realistic terms, I'm aware of each day potentially being my last. I expect nothing because no one is guaranteed tomorrow, as I've already stated.

 

You're missing Snaily's point entirely.

 

He believes his phone (or insert other subject - car/life, etc) will switch on because it is a reasonable assumption to make based upon experience and positive history of it doing so reliably. This is the evidence he uses.

He isn't saying he knows it will switch on and he doesn't discount the possibility (or someday, the inevitability) that it won't. There is no evidence to suggest that it likely won't switch on.

 

Getting back to your belief, if you're going to insist on your comparisons;

 

-You believe in something greater than yourself (an extremely ambiguous statement which could apply to anything from coral reefs to elephants, to child prodigies, a solar system, the universe itself, etc) but you are unable to define or even loosely describe or explain what this thing is. Your argument doesn't make it past this point really because you can't even outline what it is you're trying to argue.

 

-You tried comparing this to dark matter, which has a 'beginning hypothesis', you tried saying that there's a beginning hypothesis in the bible too (post#81) yet you also state that you don't believe in any gods at all (post#60), so this point is irrelevant to your belief. This is a logical fallacy commonly known as a red herring.

 

-You claim that everything you look at tells you 'there is something greater' (stated in a belittling way, post#65). You could apply the same (false) logic to a puddle, that its very existence shows that someone poured it there from a bucket, or that because a tree exists on the hill, a man must have planted it there.

Without any evidence or reason, you are simply jumping to a conclusion. This is a logical fallacy, much worse than simply reserving judgement.

 

-You repeatedly display that you don't know the difference between 'evidence' and 'proof', this makes any reasonable discussion with you on this subject almost impossible, as you are inadvertently moving the goalposts each time either one is referenced.

 

In short, you are arguing with yourself, in a way that only makes sense to yourself.

[SnailyBoy]

I'm not troubled by it. I realise and accept that we're all going to die. That's life. No one gets out alive.

 

Your earlier posts kind of suggests otherwise. You think about dying on a daily basis. "I'm aware of each day potentially being my last."

 

You'd have to be in some dire circumstances for that to be the case, the front line of a war for example.

 

Is it something to do with your yet to be defined belief in 'something greater' out there?

[RootsBooster]

Your earlier posts kind of suggests otherwise. You think about dying on a daily basis. "I'm aware of each day potentially being my last."

 

You'd have to be in some dire circumstances for that to be the case, the front line of a war for example.

 

Is it something to do with your yet to be defined belief in 'something greater' out there?

 

I'd have to disagree with that, I'm also aware of each day potentially being my last and I think it serves well to remember. I don't have any hang-ups about it or anxiety.

That doesn't mean that any of Danot's other posts on this thread make an ounce of sense though.

Edited July 29, 2018 by RootsBooster
Left a word out

[SnailyBoy]

I'd have to disagree with that, I'm also aware of each day potentially being my last and I think it serves well to remember. I don't have any hang-ups about it or anxiety.

That doesn't mean that any of Danot's other posts on this thread make an ounce of sense though.

 

Me neither.

 

It was a little tongue in cheek response to the 'ooooh death can come at anytime' responses I had earlier.

 

It all started to sound a little Final Destination.

[Anna B]

Your earlier posts kind of suggests otherwise. You think about dying on a daily basis. "I'm aware of each day potentially being my last."

 

You'd have to be in some dire circumstances for that to be the case, the front line of a war for example.

 

Is it something to do with your yet to be defined belief in 'something greater' out there?

 

Have you not heard the idiom 'Live life as if every day was your last.'

 

It's not about gloomy thoughts, quite the opposite. It's about the appreciation of everything you have on a daily basis, ('cos it could all end tomorrow.)

 

It just makes you aware of what a great gift life is, and not to take it for granted.

[SnailyBoy]

Have you not heard the idiom 'Live life as if every day was your last.'

 

It's not about gloomy thoughts, quite the opposite. It's about the appreciation of everything you have on a daily basis, ('cos it could all end tomorrow.)

 

It just makes you aware of what a great gift life is, and not to take it for granted.

 

Yep I have.

 

That's especially pertinent when not believing in an afterlife.

[Cyclone]

There's nothing unreasonable about it. Death is death. Sure, the precise nature of it can trouble us at times, but what can you do?

 

---------- Post added 29-07-2018 at 12:24 ----------

 

I've not dismissed his health, I'm just pointing out that there are other factors to consider besides age and health.

 

The other factors being the chance of a random death by accident or violence... The chances of which are quite easily established and very low.

 

---------- Post added 29-07-2018 at 15:22 ----------

 

I don't expect anything Snailboy. Yes, I plan ahead, I have to, but in realistic terms, I'm aware of each day potentially being my last. I expect nothing because no one is guaranteed tomorrow, as I've already stated.

 

If you don't believe that you will be alive later why ever make any plans?

[RootsBooster]

Have you not heard the idiom 'Live life as if every day was your last.'

 

Getting more off topic now, that's one saying that I personally find annoying. If everyone actually did live every day as if it were their last, society would collapse!

[Cyclone]

Have you not heard the idiom 'Live life as if every day was your last.'

 

It's not about gloomy thoughts, quite the opposite. It's about the appreciation of everything you have on a daily basis, ('cos it could all end tomorrow.)

 

It just makes you aware of what a great gift life is, and not to take it for granted.

 

It's a stupid idiom isn't it.

If you lived every day as your last you'd not turn up to work and very shortly you'd find that it hadn't been your last day for the past week, but that you were now unemployed.

[Anna B]

It's a stupid idiom isn't it.

If you lived every day as your last you'd not turn up to work and very shortly you'd find that it hadn't been your last day for the past week, but that you were now unemployed.

 

You have a point, but you get the idea.