Heaven is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death

I was watching a Discovery program about the sheer scale of the vastness of space and the awesomeness of things at the atomic and subatomic level, and it occurred to me that if there were a god, I would think he'd prefer you contemplate the trillions of stars in space on your Sunday morning. Everything on our little blue dot seems trite in comparison.

 

Science Fails at totally understanding the Brain, that I know.

 

I see nothing wrong with what Hawking says, at least in theory. He is right, as a scientist, to note that the brain does shut down upon death.

What is a bit controversial, and against the scientific method, is him then assigning a motive to those who do believe in a 'heaven' without proving that is their actual motive.

 

If he were replying maybe his theory would be something like this:

1. Evolution selects for traits that create an advantage for one genetic pool over another.

2. Pattern seeking is a highly useful trait. Knowing that a deer walked on this particular trail yesterday morning, and so may do it again today. Knowing that on this particular hillside in early autumn there are berries to be harvested. Knowing that you can bone the other cave man's wife safely on the first full moon of spring because that's when he's always out harvesting mammoth testicles. Seeing those patterns makes it much more likely genetic material gets passed down.

3. An unintended side effect of wiring an organism for ridiculous levels of pattern recognition is religion. "Sun always rises above dat mountain on longest day of year. Who do dat? Gorrack, the Mighty God of the Hairy Mammoth Testicle."

4. Once you invent such a god, it's pretty easy to think such a god really, really cares about your death, soul, afterlife, etc. Since death is the most terrifyingly consistent pattern of all.

Obviously, this is speculative on my part. He'd probably come up with something much smarter and lacking in testicles.

 

I agree with his scientific arguments, and think similarly due to a lack of proof regarding a "heaven", whatever form that may take. I just find him then assigning a generic and stereotypical reasoning behind this man-made construct of "heaven" to all who believe in it to be a bit of a reach. There are plenty of philosophical arguments to be made for why cultures have put faith in an afterlife; simply saying "you're afraid to die" is a bit of a disappointment coming from such a learned and intelligent man. Then again, he is a true scientist, and the philosophy of faith-based beliefs problem doesn't interest him much.

 

I'm one of those "spiritual but not religious" people. I believe that there's something out there, but I have a hard time believing in an established religion, mostly because I do not trust the words of men. If it was written by men, it can be twisted and false. I think that something happens after we die, but what it is I do not know, and I can not conjecture as to what it might be.

 

There's only one way to know for sure, until then I'll put my faith in the Lord.

Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 

Thanks for this BFW

I fight my "death" demons on a daily basis. Its crazy how powerful they can be. I never really read the passages you shared so thanks

 

Anyone wanna hear my theory of higher dimensions? It unifies physics with religion. It explains every phenomenon in the physical, spiritual, and imagination worlds, using its basic unit, the idea.

See, the mind is higher-d and the brain is 3-d. A universe passes through its next higher d. So time relative to a specific d (e.g. 3rd or 6th) is the next-higher d (e.g. 4th or 7th). The 3-d body dies in 4-d time, but the mind or spirit live eternally relative to the 3rd d, although finitely relative to their own d.

If I keep talking, we get into relativity (a frame of reference is a 0-d point, which I call an idea) and the 1-d lines linking them (making all ideas relative to each other). The highest d unifies all ds below it. Since it includes all knowledge and power it's omniscient and omnipotent. I have the detailed structure of a psychology worked out using higher ds, but let's just save this for the book I will probably never write. I wrote this stuff down in a couple thousand pages in 1974 and I haven't touched the stuff since. It got me an A in a couple of upper-division psych courses back then.

 

A clear case of grade inflation.

 

How come no one ever wants to hear my theory of higher dimensions? Back then even the professor told me to get lost. I gave my oral presentation in about 3 sittings and he told me I had an A. Then I came back and started talking some more and he told me to get lost, I already had an A.

 

plus the fact that odin carries a large hammer and jesus was nailed to something

 

Why? Instead of getting a God who kills Ice Giants, the Blazers received a Man who is a Glass Giant. At least Jesus could turn water into wine for the depressed fans.

 

If you don't trust the things written by man what makes you think there is "something out there"?