J. said:
In response to spaffe's post, JayK and IotS pretty much summed it up. I can't really add anything to it.
Like JayK has been saying, you either believe in ghosts/God/afterlife, etc, or you don't. There really is no middle ground. I'm not saying that ghosts and a God are the same, but both are extra-ordinary "beings", and to believe that one exists and to totally ignore the other is not a firm stance. Both have offered zero tangible evidence of their existence.
Sure, ghosts are usually regareded as something super natural, but how that would validate the existance of the jewish-christian-muslim god (which I assume that you're refering to, since you used a capital "G"), and all the jibberish surrouning it, is something I don't understand at all.
Now the thing is, I'm not an atheist, to be that and also belive in the existance of ghosts at the same time would obviously be pretty stupid.
Personally spaffe, I'd like you to explain how ghosts can exist (which means people have souls/spirits, which means an afterlife), but you find the dea of God and Heaven/Hell to be foolish.
Well basically because I'm firmly convinced that the whole doctrine of christianty (and all other organized religions for that matter) is man made in order to make the "thing" (or call it God, Brahman, Jahve if you like) more understandable and tangible for ordinary people, and also for the leaders to use it for their own ends; money, power etc. Heaven and hell are things I regard as constructions made by the clergy in order to control people, but just because the thelogicans are wrong, doesn't mean that a supernatural force doesn't exist.
So there's really no contradiction. One can quite naturally belive in the existance of a soul, a force of sorts and rebirth without acknowledging the existance of the christian god -- after all that's been the case for the vast portion of the planet's religious history.
People believe what they want to believe, and that's fine. But how can you, personally, go around stating that the idea of a creator/God is ludicrous, yet belive that some spirits/souls remain on earth to move candlesticks and look at people from roofs of houses?
Hehe, well I don't belive in all ghost stories (most of them are most likely the result of misunderstandings, lack of sleep, confusion etc) and as I've said I don't oppose the idea of a god (only how most people define and think of it), but the function of the doctrines surrounding religion is (in most cases) to secure the power of a choosen few and keep the people in line, not because they're true.
But on the other hand how can one be certain that it is the souls of people that remain? Perhaps through some glitch in the fabric of space/time people or some part of them can at certain times get stuck there. I'm obviously only speculating since my knowledge of phyisics and similar subjects is quite rudimentary; but what I'm saying is that just because there are ghosts, or strange events related to ghosts, doesn't mean there's an immortal soul. Sure it's the natural conclusion from someone within our culture, but it isn't necessarily so.
