Thoughts on the Afterlife, ghosts, and spirits.

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

Well, just because something looks like it was designed, doesn't mean it is/was designed. We do not have a definitely designed or definitely not-designed universe to compare ours to, so while it may sound good on the surface to say that the only "rational possibility" is design by intelligence, that's being a bit disingenuous. There's no basis for that.

I'd love to have the names of the physicists you are referring to, though, so I can check out their work. I am not aware of any physicists that say this.

However, I will say that I fail to see how the idea of Many Worlds is any more "absurd" than an invisible cosmic daddy in the sky designing things.

And yes, if Planck's Constant were a different number, things might not work properly here for us or whatever - but that doesn't mean that it could NEVER be a different number. Perhaps there's another factor that would need to be adjusted along with Planck's Constant and everything would chug along just fine again.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

Television is possible because a bunch of folks got together and figured out how to make one. Much in the same way a hammer is possible. Or a sanded block of wood. One need only observe that certain things have certain properties, and when combined, they make something else.

There are plenty of things you could stick together that won't make a TV, or a hammer, or a sanded block of wood. Just because we can stick some things together to make that happen is not evidence of design.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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. 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.

Why does there have to be a reason?

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

This atheist does not point to the Big Bang and say that's evidence there's no god. Nor do many atheists I know. This atheist does, however, point out respectfully that if there can be a First Cause that is an Uncaused Cause (aka a god), then the Big Bang could also be an Uncaused Cause, particularly if, as you said before, intelligence isn't necessary for life to reproduce. Why should it be necessary for the origins of the universe?

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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!?

Which god should I have faith in to make sure I don't go to his/her bad place? How do I know which is the right one? I don't think I have enough time in a day to make sure I'm doing all the right things for all of the god ideas out there.

Can I not just be a decent human being, and on the off-chance that there is an afterlife, be okay, on account of I'm a good person?

It would take a lot of time out of all of our days if we had to pay proper respects and do all the right things for each and every deity out there to avoid going to his or her respective potential Bad Place.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

That's just it - "things just simply don't have to be" full stop. They don't have to be created or designed. They don't have to be NOT created or NOT designed, either - we just haven't got any empirical evidence for that yet. I'm keeping my eyes peeled, though.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

Lots of bodies don't decay sometimes. It depends on where and how they were buried - the chemical makeup of the soil, the type of tomb. They've pulled ancient bodies out of bogs in Scotland that didn't decay much, due to the chemicals and such in the bog perserving them. All sorts of things factor into that.

And out of body experiences may also just be the workings of the human brain, which is a fascinating and wonderful device we should all be pleased to have.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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

Maybe it's just this simple:

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

Well, and why WOULD there be? It goes both ways, no?

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

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.

I was raised very strict Catholic - doilies on the head and mass 3 times a week and CCD for years and all of that - and here I agree with you. There are many misconceptions about what the Catholic Church believes. JPII was fine with evolution, for example, though Ratzinger seems to be messing that up a bit now.

In fact, it was a priest when I was about 10 that taught me how to view the Bible with a critical eye and read it for the beautiful stories, metaphors and life lessons it contains, rather than taking it as literal truth. Thanks, Father Palko! You were awesome.