h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i just read you comment on this entry about god being evil, and then read your comment on it. I never was able to have a conversation who beleived in reincarnation, and would love to talk/debate my beleifs with you. If thats ok with you. I am athiest, i have been for about ten years now, i am 20 now. I am pretty open-minded and i dont get mad over things like this unless you downright say "your wrong, im right" because...well, if you dont get that, then we shouldnt talk. i hope to hear back from you

Hello, HumanMan42! I've been absent for a while, and I'm back only sporadically, but it's good to hear from you!
I am a Christian who believes in Christian Universalism, which means that I follow the 1st century theologian Origen, in believing that all beings will eventually attain what is called by us Christians, 'salvation'. (Which if you are an atheist, will not be a concept you're comfortable with.)
Reincarnation is my theory (one of two of them) as to how that might happen - that all people come to God. Because God always wants to 'save' people - it's people who don't want to come to God! At the end of one life, someone who has not been a believer might be 'recycled'... Second chances!
Let me know what you think about that.

ok, so i see what you mean, since i am athiest, when i die, i will come back to eath in a new (human?) body, and will have (once more?) chance to live life loving god/jesus (correct). In which case when i die, i will be embraced in heaven by god.

Although i am Athiest, religion is still terrably fascinating to me, i long talking about it with new people all the time. Some people are the "YOU ARE WRONG" type, and those get on my nerve, the "YOU ARE WRONG, but its your opinion" type are the ones i like talking to.

I have just recently changed my...Religous status (that sounds awkward) from Agnostic, to Athiest. I do not beleive in any higher power other then the complexity of the human mind being able to create a high being.

Their is this movie that i highly recomend anyone watching is called Waking Life, its by Richard Linklater (he made dazed and confused). In the movie they talk about afterlife, former lives and whatnot. The one these two people explain it as .

When you die, your brain still has 6-10 minutes of brain activity left. So your brain can still technicly dream. dream time and waking time are completely differant. Since you can fall asleep and have very long in depth dreams in a matter of second. And real life time is ... normal (i use normal loosly). So in those 6-10 minutes you can relive/have a new life, go to heaven. Then if it happens, you can come back to life (for whatever reason), have retain these memories.

its "a proven fact" that this can accur. I find that to be pretty interesting.

My outlook on reincarnation is that their isnt. Simple as that.

I am sure you have been asked this before, but i will go ahead and ask.

Ok, I am guessing that you beleive that men where created by god. So thousands of years ago, their were however many people, now, their are many many many more. What do you have to say on that subject? New souls? The devil is making souls? If their are new souls is that why only some of us can remember pass lives?

i apologize for anything that might offend. you can ignore anything if you want. I am just bored at work, and in need of some intelligent conversation.

My name is Casey, I live in Napa California. I am male, 20 years old. And really bored.

hope you find this conversation as interesting as i do. if not sorry once more


casey

i also am sorry for my typos, i am to lazy to fix, i blame it on the ergonomic keyboard i am using

Hello, again! I hope I can help with your boredom... If you've changed status from agnostic to atheist, then it seems obvious to me, that you've put a great deal of thought into it all.

About your question - which is an interesting one. One possible answer is that there aren't actually any more people alive now than there ever were! J Richard Gott, the physicist, estimated that the total number of people who had ever lived on earth was 70 billion! So, there are plenty of souls to recycle. However, I believe that reincarnation is not for everybody.

Another answer is, that there are billions (as Bill Bryson points out in 'A Short History of Nearly Everything') of habitable planets out there. If, as I believe, God is in charge of all worlds, not just this one, then God can recycle all those souls, and possibly send ours to there. So, in a theoretical reincarnation, we could be s! Those are some initial ideas.

I have to say that I accept reincarnation less than I used to before. But I still have a core of belief in it, because unlike C S Lewis, I do believe in second or even third chances!

those answers are new to me, very interesting. so since their are...lets say 7 billion people alive right now, and if we are just going for the just earth idea, then what is happening to the other 63b? heaven...hell?

and for the second one, that is brilliant. i love that.

And as far as thinking about my beleifs..yeah, i think alot about them. I mainly debate with people in hopes that they can change my way of though. Becuse i realy want to beleive that at one point i will get to see some people i have lost in heaven. If i knew that, many things would be so much easier.

what is you thoughts on homosexuality/gay marriage, and abortion... if you dont mind me asking. thank you for helping me get through some bordom at work, i am at home now, but i enjoy talking to someone who talks back. And your answers are quite interesting.

casey

Hi! Maybe the other 63 billion are in heaven, or hell, or they'll be along later (or they've gone to Betelgeuse.) I do believe hell is only temporary...

Oh - my thoughts on homosexuality, gay marriage and abortion? That's sticking my neck out, isn't it? No, really, I've been into those topics here on h2g2, and people always get very emotional... Suffice it to say, that I am opposed to induced abortion, except where it is necessary to save the physical life of the mother, which as far as I know, is very rare. So, IMO, there is too much abortion!

As for the other topics, I'd rather hold my peace, if that's okay...

no problem.

i do beleive that abortion is wrong in alot of cases. stupid wemon who dont use the protection, and just end up getting an abortion.

as far as rape/to young goes, i think its alright. also if the mother is unfit, but that one kinda goes both ways, becuase she can still give it up for adoption.

just so you know, i am not one of those people that will get mad at an opinion. because everyone has their own.

I just recently had a conversation with an ex girlfriend of mine about christians/catholics/etc, about how they (for the most part) pick and choose certain things in the bible to follow. Their are the normal, accept gog into your life and you will be embraced when you die and go to heaven, and sins, and so on. But some dig deeper and choose not to accept some things. not to prod, but gay marrige, the bible does say that is wrong, but some choose to ignore that.

what is you look on that? as far as choosing things in the bible?

Hello, again!

As far as gay mariage etc goes, I'm agin it, as my old Mum would have said - so I don't pick and choose as far as that goes...

Where some people *seem* to pick and choose, IMO, is that the Bible comprises several different types of writing all put together. Myth, story, history, poetry and literature... also, correspondence, as in what are known as The Epistles. There are two equal errors in my view - taking it all absolutely literally and as valid for all time (some things, such as the strictures from Leviticus that some people like to quote, are directives valid only for a certain people in a certain time and place.) The other error is to reject all of it, and often that's because those rejecting it have been badly put off by the literalists!

the bible to me...

i see it has a handbook for good behavior. It helps ones self to become a more caring and thoughtfull, respectfull, kinder person. I do beleive that jesus was a real person. And that he did die (sacrificed himself) in hopes that his actions would show people the errors of their ways. I dont think that he knew it would become...this... (for lack of another word) phenomenon that is the religions today. I respect all religions. Givin some more than others (less like rastafarianism) (more like buddhism) because they have devoted themselves (or say they have) to a beleif. givin sometimes that they take it a little to far, but for the most part their heart it in the right place.

I am athiest, some christians i know dont get it. how could i not beleiv in something that is right in front of me. but to me, as long as i am happy with myself, i am a good person, i love life, then thats all that matters. If their is a god, and me not beleiving in him is going to send me to hell for eternity, or a week, or untill i repent, then he needs to rethink this bible thing.

also, whats up with the bible refurring to people as sheep and god as the shepperd...i havent read the bible in a while.. (4 years) so i might be forgetting something...

is it just the "follow me i know the way" kind of thing...because its a kind of cutdown

Hello, again...
I have to disagree about Jesus founding a religion. I don't think he wanted a religion, with all the implications of legalism, but that he did intend to found a movement - that his message was intended to be Good News, which afaik is the meaning of the word Gospel...

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It's not for not believing, as far as I know, but for your distance from God - God having provided Jesus to bridge that gap, and a person who doesn't accept that bridge to God, cannot be with God after this life, hence Hell. As I've said, I am an Universaliist, and don't believe that all chances end at the end of this life... That being said, it makes better sense to accept God's own way to God, in this life - it'll save time, misery and effort later!


You're on the right track about sheep and shepherd... The shepherd leads the sheep, but also protects them - shepherds were expected to risk their lives, saving the sheep from predators!
That's my view on all this...

i agree with you about jesuis starting a movement not a religion. and thats exactly what i think it should be.

All my life i have been the best person that i could be, i have endured many hardships, and have though alot with my standpoint with...him.

i have always come out with the same ending. I tell some "bible toters" atleast i am trying. I would rather spend my life wondering if it is the right choice then spending my life wondering if i had made the right one. Because god is always waiting.

My last girlfriend is a pretty big christian, her parents too. They dont really like me, but they dont show it to my face. They just tell their daughter that i am just a test she has to endure, that i am the figur of the devil here to take her to the side of evil. I laughed when she told me that. Because i was sapposed to "get her drunk, get her pregnant, get her to smoke weed" and all sorts of bad things. when...ive been straight edge for 6 years. (dont smoke, or drink...trying to stop drinking soda though...its hard). I told them one time to their face "i guess being a good person isnt enough for some people". I think that got to them, then they started not pushing her away from me so much.


alright, enough about that.

you have a nice day today.

Casey

Hello, again! It's a lovely sunny day here, and I've been out doing a training course. Here I am now.

You are so right that God is always waiting - God wants everyone to come to God...

Your girlfriend's parents sound as if they have the usual distrust of the daughter's boyfriend - and then some! They should not be so judgmental... IMO. Obviously, you didn't lead her astray - they should have had more faith in her!

But of course, she knows you better than they do... Keep thinking, looking, wondering... It's all up to your choice, after all. No one can make you become anything - no one but God that is, and God won't make you do anything you don't want to do.

Have a good day!

thank you for this conversation. i enjoyed it.

back to work for me.

if you ever wanna chat, send a message


casey

TTFN, and nice talking to you...