Thoughts on the Afterlife, ghosts, and spirits.

[fringed n fab]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

I'd like to put in my two cents on this; hopefully without anyone feeling that I'm getting on a soapbox or being preachy.

Here's what my thinking on this basically boils down to; and I really do feel that it's a reasonable way of looking at things - -

1.) There's certain "physical constants" that have to be EXACTLY the correct number in order for life to even be possible. I don't mean "life as we know it," necessarily, I mean that there CAN'T be life without it. One of them is called "Plank's constant," just to throw out an example. Those constants - EVERY SINGLE ONE of them - - - are EXACTLY what they need to be in order for life to exist.
I mean, that say a constant were 6.000003 instead of 6.000002 - there would be NO life. (Don't nail me on the percentages, anyone who knows more about this than I do - obviously I'm just throwing out random numbers in order to try to make my point.)

There's two and only two possibilities at that point, given the above.
The first is that there's literally millions of alternate universes, with an almost infinite number of physical constants, one of which - this one - just happens to have the correct ones. That's just absurd, it really is. And physicists think it's impossible from an energy point of view. The only other rational possibility at that point is design by intelligence. i.m.o., of course.

2.) Believe it or not, in some ways I think the universe is an incredibly SOFT place. Don't get me wrong, I know that many people have rough lives, etc., but that ultimately boils down to being someone's fault, not a problem with the design of the universe. Just for example, out of all the literally infinite possibilities, why should television be possible??? THINK about it, you have to have capacitors, resistors, metal has to be capable of broadcasting a signal, glass has to have properties which make it possible to put a coating of phosporous on it, the phosporous has to be able to glow certain colors to make the picture on the screen, the "electron gun" has to be able to shoot electrons at the screen in the first place - and that's an example from the 1940s. Computers are MUCH more complex than that. And I think natural things are the same way - water, for example, as the basis of life - - it has EXACTLY the properties which are necessary so that blood can bring nutrients and so on to the cells.

3.) Intelligence isn't necessary for life to reproduce. In fact, just the opposite is true. I'm not saying that evolution didn't happen. But it wasn't NECESSARY for intelligence to evolve. Especially not at such a high level. The existence of intelligence is (i.m.o.) contrary to the idea that everything evolved without any intelligent design to happen. I feel that it just simply never would have happened; there's no REASON for it and so there's no impetus behind it - unless there was a Creator.

4.) I believe personally that the Big Bang happened. I think it's amazingly clear at this point. But the atheists try to point to that and say that it's evidence that there's no God. I think that's absurd; in fact, I feel that the exact opposite is true. Maybe I'm putting to much faith in "cause-and-effect" here, but it seems silly to me to think that all this would have come about in exactly this way (planets forming, etc.) without there being a "design" behind it. The odds are literally astronomical. But the MAIN thing is - it just simply never would have happened. TIME didn't even exist before the big bang. So it's not like there was this whole bunch of empty space waiting to be filled and all that happened is a few trillion years had to elapse until finally it happened randomly. There was no time. It just suddenly HAPPENED, and no one can understand why.

Here's another thing that's occurred to me - - - I'm not saying I DEFINITELY think it's true that there's a hell. But what if there IS? What if there's literally a one in a billion chance that if one doesn't at least make an honest effort to simply have Faith, then one will go to hell, LITERALLY for forever. I mean like, take 10 to the hundredth power years, and multiply that by a billion centuries. After that amount of time, God comes to you and says, so how do you like the VERY FIRST INCREDIBLY SMALL FRACTION OF A PART of burning in hell for forever? Some people feel that the idea of hell is absurd. My answer to that is - - - given what we're talking about here - - - SO WHAT!?

I also feel that the very complexity of the universe is something that indicates that there's a God. Things just simply don't have to be as complex as they are - time, space, physics, math, all of that stuff. Again, there's just no reason for it to be the way it is. There's literally an infinite number of other possibilities.

On top of all of that, I feel that there IS physical evidence that there is a God. An example is the (claimed) fact that the corpses of people who have been named as Saints have been dug up and examined (probably when being moved from one location to another, etc.) They don't decay, sometimes. That's FREAKY, and for me it's a "waker-upper." Another is these "out-of-body" experiences that people claim to have. I realize it can be argued that they're just dreams, but given the above, I don't see enough reason to question it.

Here's another idea that's occurred to me - - -

Maybe it's just this simple:

Is there a God?
Why WOULDN'T there be???

I feel that a bit of Faith is a healthy thing, and if I'm wrong, it just simply doesn't matter.

One other thing I'd like to point out - - - I feel that many people have certain misconceptions about the Catholic Church, and where they are in their thinking. (Not to open a whole can of worms, there...) MUCH of what people think is Dogma in the Catholic Church is actually just considered to be metaphor. The Adam and Eve story is a perfect example of that. Check out the New American Bible sometime, it flat-out says that the Adam and Eve story is an allegory and as much as admits that evolution probably happened.
These people aren't as stupid and uneducated as some people think they are, in fact, no where near. (i.m.o. again, of course.) And there's actually a Vatican Observatory - has been for centuries. I saw the astrophysicist/priest who runs it interviewed the other day, he's VERY bright and openly advocates, without any problems from higher-ups at the Vatican, the possibility of life on other planets and the big bang theory.

Anyway, when you put that all together, it boils down to a big huge yes for me, that there's probably a God.

Well GT at least you believe in something. I always say I'd rather die believing in something, than nothing at all once the lights go out. To me that'd be one sad lonely death. I wouldn't want to be one of those people who don't even go through the whole afterlife tunnel experience and white light, and instead just horseshoe right back through the Left Door into another Godless creation again (if thats so*) There are good souls and there are dark souls for a reason. More on that later but I've also heard and read from many people who've "visited" and described this sad, dark, lonely place, called The Holding Place, others may call it Purgatory, where theres nothing but sad, lonely depressed, LOST souls walking around all over with the blankest of expressions in their eyes and faces, and that is where ones are supposed to go until they recognize God or accept him and they'll remain there until they do so. I wouldn't want to be in such a place when I die. I want to go out at least believing in something than nothing at all in my heart. But that's just me and my beliefs. Everyone's free to believe what they will. This isn't church and I didn't start this thread to preach to anyone. Just stating what (I) believe.