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Oh-hey21 t1_j54syu3 wrote

Reply to comment by AGuyOnYT in /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | January 16, 2023 by BernardJOrtcutt

Appreciate the question. I'm not sure where I fall in terms of religious or atheist, but I'd like to think I'm somewhere in-between.

Is your perspective not just a collection of what you know and how you react given what you know?

My decisions help me make future decisions. I have foresight based off of what I already know/have seen in the past. I have no direct control over outcomes, but I can accurately assume some outcomes.

I feel like I'll get a slap on the wrist for this one, but how do you justify God? What is God, other than the creator of all? How did God come to be? How can you have a God but no way of creating God? Are there other Gods? Does this make us simply a science experiment? What is our purpose for this God?

This all feeds in to why I also find it hard to believe there is no God, or creator. We are advanced organisms - the most complex that we know of in terms of everything we know. We live on a planet that exists in a universe, both of which we don't truly understand the beginnings of, nor do I think we ever will - how can we?

God seems like a very easy out for the unknown and unexplainable. I don't like that.

This may get twisted, but I have recently taken up the mentality that I am my own God. I feel I have the most control over my life. Obviously there are external factors that I cannot foresee or control, but for the most part, I control my life. Everything I know exists through me. My existence is my reality is my everything. I have no proof or concept of what may come after life. We have thoughts of a heaven, purgatory, greater unknown.. but we have no clear proof of it.

I want to believe there's an afterlife, that there's some hidden mystery that suddenly becomes unlocked, but at the same time, why does it matter? What is the point of existence if we're merely puppets of a God with no true free-will or perspective?

If we truly want to figure out everything in the universe, I think we need to put God in the back seat and look for other explanations.

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AGuyOnYT t1_j56lezn wrote

Appreciate the response. I don't claim to know anything about God other than that he (default pronoun for simplicity) is the creator of all. God did not come to be. That would make him a part of his own creation. Something cannot come from nothing, so God was always there. I don't know our purpose either or whether there even is one. I also don't believe free will can logically exist.

Regarding the afterlife, I would point you in the direction of Near Death Experiences (NDEs). These are the closest things we have to scientific proof of an afterlife. I was originally a skeptic, but after watching UVa's presentation (linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KhtRnbl8ZE), I believe NDEs are real and a currently unexplainable phenomenon - not just anecdotal accounts of wishful thinking. It's likely there is some extracorporeal mode of perception that still feeds to our brain. This can seemingly be triggered by certain NDEs.

Outside of NDEs, I don't have a clue how an afterlife would manifest for us if at all.

I think science will continue to help us make breakthrough discoveries that offer sound explanations for what we observe. What we learn of existence will also help us on the way to determining God's nature. Just remember that the explanations provided through science are not empirical and can be disproven or revised in the future (I.e., Newton). Although, they are effective and practical - real for all intensive purposes. It is our collective observations that are empirical, after all, each individual's reality is shaped by their own knowledge and observation.

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Oh-hey21 t1_j576obd wrote

Why do you believe free will cannot logically exist? Do you have more to add to it? I feel it's a bleak outlook considering our lives have already been paved. What is the point of existing if we are predetermined to do whatever it is we do? I've tried to make sense of it and fail to string together something I'm comfortable with. Curious to hear more.

I'm aware of NDEs, and have a hard time coming to any conclusion. I'll have to check the video when I have a little more time. Thanks for sharing!

Science is fantastic, but you are right; it isn't a static and will exist to be disproven, questioned, or modified (just like everything else).

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AGuyOnYT t1_j57ep6t wrote

Essentially, the process by which we choose has to have been created and determined in nature by God if God is the creator of everything. This is not necessarily a conscious decision on God's part, but nonetheless his doing.

I believe the point to existing is independent of free will existing. In a general sense, as we are living creatures, it is to reproduce and maximize our lifetime endorphin secretion. However, this will vary from person to person depending on how goals are prioritized. Factors that contribute to one's goal in life are determined by God as is everything.

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