A book which I think might make any atheist or agnostic reconsider their beliefs

[FuZoR]

highly doubtful 🙂

THE FORCE IS STRONG IN THIS ONE ;-)

edit* hey wasnt this on Penn and Tellers Bullshit? something about near exp death. oh well this sorta reminds me of that episode.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: bubbasmith99
you guys are really quick to dismiss anything even remotely religious. you're also showing lots of ignorance of the subject matter. revival of the body from a state of death is never doen via drugs. it's done via electric shocks or some other other method that brings the vital organs back to life. you think that if i was in a car accident and lost lots of blood and flatlined, they'd start pumping me full of LSD?

whatever. i'm just suggesting you check out the book. there's no need to be so rude about it.

Take a look at your thread title and maybe you will see where you asked, begged, pleaded to be flamed. The book might be interesting, might change some minds, might raise some questions, but "will change the mind of any atheist or agnostic"

 

[Siddhartha]

Belief is not enough for me. I have to experience everything personally otherwise all I hear is a person or a lot of people talking about what they believe in.

 

[XZeroII]

You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

 

[Brutuskend]

I think you can believe in a after life without buying into the whole religion package.
I do.

Just because some part of you may live on after death does not necessarily mean there IS or ISN'T some supreme being pulling strings.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof.

How can you possibly know that? No one has ever proven any religion correct. If they could, plenty of people who didn't previously beleive in it would liekly convert.

Now, unless you can provide proof that some religion is in fact true,you should probably stop making up ideas about what you think other people would do under cirrcumstances you create.

 

[Ronstang]

No offense to you or your beliefs but books like this tend to play to the people who already "believe" by reinforcing their picture of things, but they rarely contain any new and amazing evidence that would change anyone who believes to the contrary. People write these books to MAKE MONEY, not to enlighten the heathens, so of course they just cement what religious people already feel......it's called marketing.

 

[feralkid]

<<it's done via electric shocks or some other other method that brings the vital organs back to life>>







No, that's from the Mary Schelly book titled "Frankenstein"

 

[feralkid]

sorry, double post.😱

 

[Kemosabe1447]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

Agreed

 

[RyanM]

Yeah. I've read about "near death" experiences. It's yet another turd of pseudoscience put out by the ever-adapting Christians who keep losing ground to science.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

It very much depends on your definition of evidence. A book of collected second-hand experiences is hardly evidence for or against the existence of god. It's important to detatch the existence of god from the existence of an afterlife of some sort as well.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Kemosabe1447

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

Agreed

Actual evidence?

LOL!

 

[Brutuskend]

Having actually READ the book I can say that I don't think the author was trying to PROVE or DISPROVE Gods existance one way or the other. Just that from peoples experiances it seems that some part of them lives on after death.

I don't think religion really has any part in it at all.

He did say that all people reguardless of their beliefs experianced more or less the same thing.

 

[xirtam]

Originally posted by: MachFive
Yeah. I've read about "near death" experiences. It's yet another turd of pseudoscience put out by the ever-adapting Christians who keep losing ground to science.

Not just Christians.

 

[Bootprint]

I wonder how you can remember anything after you've left your body, memories are just chemical changes in the brain.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Originally posted by: Bootprint
I wonder how you can remember anything after you've left your body, memories are just chemical changes in the brain.

Given how well medical science understand's the human brain, I don't think you can say that with any degree of certainty whatsoever.

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: xirtam

Originally posted by: MachFive
Yeah. I've read about "near death" experiences. It's yet another turd of pseudoscience put out by the ever-adapting Christians who keep losing ground to science.

Not just Christians.

For the most part. Religions that derivate from Judeo-Christinanity tend to be the most fervent "defenders of the faith," so to speak.

You don't see too many books from Islam and Hindu backgrounds that try to warp science to fit their needs.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Having actually READ the book I can say that I don't think the author was trying to PROVE or DISPROVE Gods existance one way or the other. Just that from peoples experiances it seems that some part of them lives on after death.

I don't think religion really has any part in it at all.

He did say that all people reguardless of their beliefs experianced more or less the same thing.

If you live to tell the tale, you didnt die 😉 so its impossible to say that this is proof of anything. As a matter of fact i think the near death experiances are just what happens when the brain hits 3 minutes+ without oxygen.

As far as the out of body experiances, theres a strong possibility that the body is still aware of its surroundings even in its last minutes. Touch, hearing, smell, and sight may still be functional, you may just be unable to respond. The "light" could very easily be flashlights in the eyes checking for dialation, or strong lights on operating tables.

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: Woodchuck2000

Originally posted by: Bootprint
I wonder how you can remember anything after you've left your body, memories are just chemical changes in the brain.

Given how well medical science understand's the human brain, I don't think you can say that with any degree of certainty whatsoever.

Really? Last I checked, they haven't found any sort of Modem or Wi-Fi connection that beams our experiences on this plane of existance to a soul on another plane.

So either the memory is stored in this brain or not. Which seems more likely?

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

Unless they experience something like this themselves. Sometimes it takes a lot to 'prove' to someone a thing that is taken on faith. Most of the time, it never works. What it takes is a serious self examination - to see that no formula or proof in this world will explain the intricacies of life or the universe. Some of us are in awe of the beauty of these things, and it causes us to give thanks to whoever or whatever is responsible for what we see as life and our surroundings. Plato's treatise on the human condition of that being akin to a person tied up with blinders on seeing reflections of candle in a darkend room (with no possible way of 'seeing' the candle) it may be what these people are experiencing. We sometimes get glimpses of things hard to explain - love, joy, peace, but they're short lived. Perhaps these people are experiencing something that cannot be explained within the confines of our perceptions. Another philosopher (can't remember who) explained it in this way: Imagine a world where everyone could only see in black and white. Take one of those 'people' and enable them to see color. How would that person explain this perception to all the others??

OK, I'm off my soapbox - where's Moonbeam when you need him???? 🙂

 

[Yax]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

I saw Bruce Almighty yesterday. I saw GOD in the movie; therefore, proof that GOD exists can be found in that movie. I must admit, God looks alot like Morgan Freeman.

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: yellowfiero

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You are wrong. People who don't believe in religion will never belive in it when provided with actual evidence or proof. They just mock the author w/o ever even reading it.

Unless they experience something like this themselves. Sometimes it takes a lot to 'prove' to someone a thing that is taken on faith. Most of the time, it never works. What it takes is a serious self examination - to see that no formula or proof in this world will explain the intricacies of life or the universe. Some of us are in awe of the beauty of these things, and it causes us to give thanks to whoever or whatever is responsible for what we see as life and our surroundings. Plato's treatise on the human condition of that being akin to a person tied up with blinders on seeing reflections of candle in a darkend room (with no possible way of 'seeing' the candle) it may be what these people are experiencing. We sometimes get glimpses of things hard to explain - love, joy, peace, but they're short lived. Perhaps these people are experiencing something that cannot be explained within the confines of our perceptions. Another philosopher (can't remember who) explained it in this way: Imagine a world where everyone could only see in black and white. Take one of those 'people' and enable them to see color. How would that person explain this perception to all the others??

OK, I'm off my soapbox - where's Moonbeam when you need him???? 🙂

I am an artist. I see beauty in everything that exists in this world. I can't go anywhere without thinking, "I could just sit here and photograph/draw all day."

And every day, I thank the Universe that evolution gave us the ability to appreciate it's beauty.

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

however, the ONLY people who reported feeling terrible and tortured were people who attempted suicide.

If they tried to commit suicide they were obviously depressed or had suffered a serious enough tragedy to drive them to take their own lives. I bet they had some pretty bad dreams too when they were alive. Is it any suprise that an oxygen deprived unconcious brain of a suicidal depressive would come up with something pretty negative?

 

[gopunk]

why the f*ck are christians always trying to get me to change my mind. i don't try to change theirs, they should do the same for me. i'm going to hell, get over it :|