Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: kosta50; YHAOS; Alamo-Girl; Diamond; xzins; TXnMA; shibumi; Quix; Texas Songwriter
Being "ensouled" is a postulate and not a fact.

And yet it is a fact that human beings have for millennia believed that humans have souls, that there is an afterlife, and Dike — Justice — is the fundamental law of the universe. As evidence for this, may I mention the anonymous text, "Dispute of a Man, Who Contemplates Suicide, With His Soul" — from the Egypt of the First Intermediate Period (c. 2000 B.C.), an early literary reflection on the experiences of life, death, and immortality.

And then I could mention the Pamphyllian Myth, the Myth of Er, of Plato's Republic, in which a man descends into Hades, and sees the judgment of souls going on there; and then is permitted to return to the world to tell his fellow men of what he has seen.

"Soul" may be a "postulate" to you, given the basic form of your thinking (reductionist and skeptical). But your thinking does not determine reality — even though you might like it to.

Another fact: If you are right about the non-existence of souls, then some seven millennia of human history — experience, thought, artistic creations of all descriptions, etc., regarding this issue — is WRONG. And we all had to wait for you to come along to set the record straight — at last.

You wrote:

...might prevails in all instances and for all times and in all things.

If that were true, Hitler would still be in power. Or at least he would have been until his death by natural causes.... After his death by suicide, Hitler's "truth" fell apart. The point is Justice is stronger than might. Right is stronger than might.

Truth is incalculably more powerful than might. It is also more powerful than opinion — doxa — including your opinion.

All the collective might of the human race past, present, and presumably future, cannot eradicate the truth of the human soul. Only a fool would try.

Have to go eat dinner now; but I'll be back....

629 posted on 09/05/2010 4:56:41 PM PDT by betty boop (Those who do not punish bad men are really wishing that good men be injured. — Pythagoras)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 628 | View Replies ]


To: betty boop
...might prevails in all instances and for all times and in all things. If that were true, Hitler would still be in power.

It is true, because ultimately more might came against Hitler, than he could muster.

630 posted on 09/05/2010 4:58:12 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 629 | View Replies ]

To: betty boop
Someone above stated "might is right" (Rex-lex argument). It seems that a materialist affirming a moral code (that of right and wrong) is a step in the right direction. The Moral Code has a "Code-giver" follows. The declaration of survial of the fittest is the same as saying the fittest survive because they are fittest...circular reasoning and therefore meaningless. Stating that man reasons and is farther developed than other animals requires the affirmation of "non-physical" 'evolution' (if you will), yet the materialist, physicalist denies there is anything other than the physical. Thus they must deny reason, rational thought, and logic to be consistent with their Weltanschauung. Now I do not deny that the materialist are rational (at times), but they simply must borrow from my Weltanschauung to make such affirmations. (See Romans 1:20 & following). How does matter give rise to the nonmaterial. Clearly mind is nonmaterial, as is logic, reason, and ratial thought, yet we all, Christians and Philistines alike (I like to use the word Philistine when I can) lay claim to those abstractions. But only the Christian worldview can account for immaterial, invarient, abstractions. Why, for example can we rely on the Laws of Logic (in a random world)...why do the laws of logic repeatedly in a contingent realm of experience continue to have such success? It seems that in a theistic world the laws of logic make sense, because in the theistic worldview there can be abstract, universal, metaphysical entities such as the laws of logic. (I will be asked to clarify the metaphysical nature of logic so I will do it now. I should say that the laws of logic have a metaphysical nature) In the materialists world one cannot begin to account for the laws of logic, or laws in general; the laws of thought in particular, laws of nature or life from the fact that it is nothing more than electrochemical complexes depolarizing, repolarizing, activly transporting across cell membranes, etc. In the materialist world there is no reason to have this conversation because they are just physical-chemical reactions acting in random world. Now I do not say atheist, materialist do not prove anything. They simply cannot account for what they are doing, down to and including mental processes. Sentience is the word. It should be considered.

This argument is the argument for consciousness and it simply dethrowns materialism. Karl Popper said, (paraphrasing) that the brain is a magnificent piece of equipment we carry for life which allows us to access the physical world. As C.S.Lewis said when asked if he had a soul, he responded, "No, I am a soul, I have a body."

631 posted on 09/05/2010 5:49:39 PM PDT by Texas Songwriter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 629 | View Replies ]

To: betty boop; YHAOS; Alamo-Girl; Diamond; xzins; TXnMA; shibumi; Texas Songwriter
And yet it is a fact that human beings have for millennia believed that humans have souls

That makes it a belief, not a fact. Just as I said. Just because you believe something doesn't mean it exists.

But your thinking does not determine reality — even though you might like it to.

Neither does yours. I do, however, differentiate my beliefs from facts.

Another fact: If you are right about the non-existence of souls, then some seven millennia of human history — experience, thought, artistic creations of all descriptions, etc., regarding this issue — is WRONG.

I did not say souls did not exist; I said that enosoulment is a postulate, not a fact. There is a huge difference.

You wrote: ...might prevails in all instances and for all times and in all things. If that were true, Hitler would still be in power

No, because Hitler was opposed by a greater might. The might of the Allies prevailed.

Truth is incalculably more powerful than might

Nonsense. The victors write the truth; their version of it.

It is also more powerful than opinion — doxa — including your opinion.

Then we are in the same boat, because it is more powerful than your opinion as well. And "doxa" means a lot more than just opinion. It actually means praise as in orthodoxa, the right praise, not the right opinion.  

All the collective might of the human race past, present, and presumably future, cannot eradicate the truth of the human soul. Only a fool would try.

The truth of the human soul is that it is a postulate. Show me a soul and then call it a fact. Just believing in Santa doesn't make Santa real, except in the minds of naive children—and apparently some childish adults.


633 posted on 09/05/2010 8:44:21 PM PDT by kosta50 (God is tired of repenting -- Jeremiah 15:6, KJV)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 629 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson