One issue raised was that of near death experiences. These experiences seem profound and change many peoples attitudes about death. Several people who experience this say they no longer fear death. However, many scientists who study these experiences are coming to the conclusion that they are more like dreams than some sort of spiritual experience. These experiences could be the last thoughts of the brain as it readies to shut down forever. Or they could be spiritual, but I see no reason to believe they are.

Has anybody ever noticed that most, if not all, religions deal with your "soul" after you die. But none of them offer any explanation about a "Soul" before you were born. I am so curious as to how this Soul somehow didn't exist before birth, so it was created by matter, if it is created at conception. But when the matter dies that created it, it continues to live. This is a contradiction that seems very disturbing to me and many other people. But nobody seems to wonder because it doesn't matter if you existed before birth, but after death is very important. This issue needs debate and I think the religious community has the obligation to address concerns like this.

H

• Re: Notes on some messages below - Tön/">Tön - January 8, 1999 - 22:34 UTC
  • Force behind Religion - H - January 11, 1999 - 21:22 UTC
    • Re: Force behind Religion - nåte - January 12, 1999 - 00:09 UTC
    • Re: Force behind Religion - Tön/">Tön - January 12, 1999 - 00:37 UTC
      • Re: Force behind Religion - nåte/">nåte - January 12, 1999 - 01:13 UTC
        • Misc. - H - January 13, 1999 - 11:00 UTC
          • me...a relativist? dont think so... - nåte/">nåte - January 14, 1999 - 01:39 UTC
            • Re: Historical claims and evidences - Tön/">Tön - January 14, 1999 - 13:14 UTC
            • Christian world view. - H - January 14, 1999 - 16:00 UTC
              • Re: Christian world view. - nåte - January 20, 1999 - 03:15 UTC
                • Re: Christian world view. - Tön/">Tön - January 24, 1999 - 13:49 UTC