I am not afraid to die, but I am.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Heraclitus


Napoleon, Ghengish Khan, Charlemagne, ect,

But we also have Aristotel, Plato, Jesus, the Bhudda, Confucius and Albert Einstein.

Bah! In a million years no one will remember them.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Arrian
I don't fear death, per se, but I do fear dying painfully. I'd like to live a long time... I generally like my life, and maybe I'll be sad to leave it. Or perhaps not. Maybe I'll be tired of it and ready to let it go. No way to know now.

-Arrian

How does that joke go?

I'd rather die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did rather than screaming in terror like his passengers.

[Ben Kenobi]

My thoughts on this are no.

Just a week or so ago, I lost one of my friends from childhood. We used to play together all the time.

He was killed in a motorcycle accident. It made me realise that the folks I care about if I am fortunate to live that long, are going to die. All of them.

That is the worst thing about immortality is that you cannot take someone else that you love with you. I can't see that when I am old, I would want to continue being separated from the folks that I love.

Of course, I believe there is a heaven, and I think that life up there would be far better down here. That's the part that interests me.

[Hercules]

Just recently there was a reported case in GB where a woman with an untreatable cancer? went to Lourdes
(France) and when she returned the Hospital confirmed the thing had disappeared.

I would like a confirmination and an explanation of that?

It doesn't happen very often as far as I know.

The point being there may be stuff outside of our current understanding that might explain such phenomena but then again?

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
I don't believe in that God, but I do believe that if it did exist it would not be such a **** as to torture for eternity those who didn't believe in it.

I believe that ascribing human personality traits to supernatural beings is a pretty silly exercise.

[Hercules]

Well that is so true.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Hercules
Just recently there was a reported case in GB where a woman with an untreatable cancer? went to Lourdes
(France) and when she returned the Hospital confirmed the thing had disappeared.

I would like a confirmination and an explanation of that?

It doesn't happen very often as far as I know.

The point being there may be stuff outside of our current understanding that might explain such phenomena but then again?

When one goes to Lourdes all he sees are wooden crutches left by those healed. I ask: "Where are all the wooden legs?"

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Agathon


The Greek philosopher whose argument you are unconsciously plagiarizing.

In my youth I came up with concepts I thought were brilliant and unique, only to learn that someone had beaten me to them by centuries .

[MattBowron]

one question for the theologeans out there: if god created us, and knows everything we're going to do before we do it, does god then know our true intentions and thus would he/she/it be able to comprehend that despite our flaws we can be forgiven for them?

for those into post-humanism: there could be the potential that in the future, if humanity survives, all humans could be resurrected via an advanced form of uploading (mind transfer) based on observation of the present from sensors added to wormholes, leading to the recording of our thoughts and experiences as they are sent out into the universe as waves and particles, thus leading to a potential resurrection of us in some future time. This idea is mentioned in the late Arthur C Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's: "The light of other days"

And for those interested in uploading: there is the Blue Brain Project, where IBM is trying to simulate a human mind using their Blue Gene L supercomputers.

And philosophically speaking: technically no particle ever really dies, so in a sense we are already made of immortal substances

and finally

Ask this question: "What cannot be created or destroyed, and has existed for all time?"

A scientist would say: "Energy"

A theologean would say: "God"

[Gatekeeper]

Hmm. This sure is a heavy thread — one not often seen in the OT anymore (that, or I just need to find more time to hang around 'Poly).

As for me, well, I've always believed that there's more to death than we know about. What it is, I'm not sure. I guess it's a matter of faith to a large degree. Also, this might sound odd, but because I believe there's more, it's hard for me to "assign" myself to a specific religion and its rituals.

Gatekeeper

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Hauptman


Adolf Hitler and Joeseph Stalin might beg to differ. they deffinatly made a lasting impact. That's the real trouble though, only the nasty ones can make a real difference.

In the 100s of billions of years in which life will exist in this universe, do you really think that because a couple of fleas on a mote of dust in a piece of fluff, killed a whole bunch of other fleas, that the universe will care?

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


In the 100s of billions of years in which life will exist in this universe, do you really think that because a couple of fleas on a mote of dust in a piece of fluff, killed a whole bunch of other fleas, that the universe will care?

No, but he should last at least as long as Rameses the II. in being memorable.

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
In the 100s of billions of years in which life will exist in this universe, do you really think that because a couple of fleas on a mote of dust in a piece of fluff, killed a whole bunch of other fleas, that the universe will care?

Hmm ... using that logic, why should anyone give a damn about anyone else, then? Doesn't that shoot the entire humanism argument to hell and back (as well as various religious/faith arguments)? I mean, if the universe doesn't care, why should we care as human beings? After all, we're just "a couple of fleas on a mote of dust."

Don't get me wrong, Chegitz, I'm not trying to be annoying here. I'm just kind of curious how one reconciles what you wrote above with your generally well-known thoughts on how folks/governments ought to treat each other. Unless, of course, you're simply playing devil's advocate.

Gatekeeper