Afterlife: Is There Life After Death?

"A number of parallels have been drawn between the Christian views of Jesus and other religious or mythical domains.[5][1] However, Eddy and Boyd state that there is no evidence of a historical influence by the pagan myths such as dying and rising gods on the authors of the New Testament, and most scholars agree that any such historical influence is entirely implausible given that first century monotheistic Galilean Jews would not have been open to pagan stories.[5][4] Paula Fredriksen states that no serious scholarly work places Jesus outside the backdrop of 1st century Palestinian Judaism.[6]"

This is from the scholars who strongly refute those who would keep pounding out this OLD canard of New Testament Christianity being influenced by pagan myths.


What makes you think that their myths were original with the pagans? They were always borrowing from others. The "Three Kings" were from Babylon, yet they were quite aware of the Old Testament prophecies of the birth of the Jewish Messiah.

Yes--Christian theologians have always known that December 25th was an unlikely time for the birth of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church was (and still is) heavily influenced by paganism. They chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of Jesus because they wanted to substitute a "holy day" for an unholy one (the Saturnalia) which was more or less celebrated throughout the Roman Empire.

Yeah, wikipedia isn't the best source.:laugh:
And I've never said pagan myths were original. I'm sure stories are borrowed or copied from one another.

My point solely was that the bible was written well after these other myths and stories were already circulating. You CANNOT prove that some or even much of it wasn't copycated because most of the reference was from hearsay then eventually written later.

How one believes in an afterlife is just a matter of faith since it can't be proved (or even unproven) that there is one. I used to believe there was a god, but more and more evidence from science has explained to me why there isn't one while people who don't have evidence just claim on faith that there is.

And you don't have to be sad, sorry, or pray for me to hope that god touches me (that would be against free will). Since I've actually realized it, I've been a lot happier because I don't treat or look at anyone (including homosexuals, abortionists, Muslims, etc.) any different while other christians who claim being non discriminatory are in some way.

I'm okay with just being worm food after dying.

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I've never understood the snobbery about Wikipedia. In this case, they were quoting recognized scholars.

Because it can be edited. You did fail to recognize the scholars that opposed.

YOU cannot know that.

I can easily prove that the bible was written well after jesus life and re translated. Do you deny that?

There is NOTHING in science that "explains" that there is no God. And I say that with some authority as I am married to a scientist who is also a Christian. I have also known a number of scientists who would never even propose atheism. The ones who do (like the late Carl Sagan) often aren't even first rate scientists. They have chosen their position as a matter of their own arrogance.

Anecdotes aren't evidence. I can say the same with scientists who easily will refute that the is no god. And the best scientists have been able to accomplish feats that prayer to god hasn't (unless you claim that invitro is somehow god's work).

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"...I can easily prove that the bible was written well after Jesus' life and re translated. Do you deny that?"

The writings that compose the New Testament were written within the lifetimes of the eye-witnesses whose testimonies are recorded there. The entire New Testament, in its present form, has existed AT LEAST, since the Codex Sinaiticus was composed ca. 330 A.D. Even earlier are the writings of the early church fathers which quote EXTENSIVE passages from New Testament writings. It has been said that we could reconstruct the New Testament from those writings alone. Many of them were written in the early 2nd century. No other writings from antiquity have undergone such extensive study and authentication. And you fail to recognize the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls in authenticating the Old Testament. We can be sure that the Bible we have today is entirely reliable. The original Hebrew and Greek texts are constantly being translated even today---what of it? We still have the original texts to keep everyone honest. We even have fragments of the original manuscripts which have been revered and treasured down through the centuries.

"...Anecdotes aren't evidence."

Neither is disbelief. Just because some scientist expresses his personal disbelief does NOT mean that "science" denies anything which has to do with faith.

If a person claims to have knowledge about "god", or "his" existence: This person is delusional, intellectually dishonest, and (most likely) dumb as ****.

If a person asserts the logical Non sequitur: "god exists because science can not disprove the existence of god" (i.e. an Argument from ignorance / negative proof): This person is intellectually dishonest, and quite dumb.

If a person asserts that “god exists, because of example A” (e.g. "it's written in the bible", or "the shape of apples perfectly matches the shape of our hands, creating a perfect ergonomic grip", or some other equally retarded ****), this person does not value logic, he/she does not know what constitutes evidence, is delusional, intellectually dishonest and is dumb as ****.

This topic does not belong in the 21'th century....

This topic does not belong in the 21'th century....

People far more intelligent than you can imagine have posited the existence of God.

They were NOT "handed down orally for a long time". The gospels were in circulation in rudimentary form in the churches immediately (they were spoken of in the Book of Acts) and the Epistles were circulated in the churches as soon as they were penned. You are quite wrong but you will no doubt believe what you want to believe.

Yeah, adam and eve (another laughable story of how the Earth was populated) were writing on fig leaves to make sure that their story was passed down correctly to writers of the bible.:laugh:
Thanks for the entertainment.

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"...You are not going to tell me that Albert Einstein was a theist now are you? Because I can assure you, he was not..."


Even though Einstein was officially "atheist" he would make frequent references to "God" (as many physicists do). Physicist, Roger Penrose, while also "officially" atheist, has said, "I think I would say that the universe has a purpose, it's not somehow just there by chance ... some people, I think, take the view that the universe is just there and it runs along – it's a bit like it just sort of computes, and we happen somehow by accident to find ourselves in this thing. But I don't think that's a very fruitful or helpful way of looking at the universe, I think that there is something much deeper about it." Geophysicist, John Baumgardner (of Los Alamos National Laboratory) is a Christian.

The brilliant geneticist, Francis Collins (past head of the Human Genome Project) outright says he is a Christian, as does the eminent geneticist, J.C. Sanford.

Emeritus Law Professor, (and past law clerk of Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court) Phillip Johnson is a Christian.

And there are many, many more brilliant individuals too numerous to mention.



"...And even if that was the case, it would be completely irrelevant. Because appealing to authority does not give any credit to your argument/position...."



And the ancient Greek Sophists were able to prove the most absurd propositions using formal logic. I am not "appealing to authority"---I am refuting your contention that only "dumb" people believe in an afterlife. You might want to be careful about who you are calling "dumb". I have often observed that those who throw that insult around loosely, frequently display their own ignorance.

I know that we would all like to believe that there is something after we die, but honestly, who knows. I guess we will not know the answer until our time comes.

Yep, I have ghosts and they are dead.

Absolutely!! And where you spend it is the biggest choice of your life.

Yep!