More follow up with responder 6

What happens to a person at death?

I think when you die that's it - it's over. You are gone. I wish I could say I believed in some form of life after death or some continuance of the spirit but I don't. Death is final.

What makes you come to this conclusion?

Many faiths that follow the bible have contradicting stories or beliefs or rules. Christian religions for me are the most unbelievable. The bible portrays "god" as a vengeful wrathful being. Do these things and I will strike you down to hell. I will not forgive you for doing these things and I will send you to a terrible place. With a god like that - No thanks. I have learned about other religions that believe in reincarnation or other version of afterlife/heaven/hell and I don't find solace in any of them. I'll stick with dying frees you from fear, emotion and pain. Death is the absence of all life.



Why should people take care of the poor and sick?
Taking care of others I think is a good thing. I think to improve as a race we should take care of the sick more often.

If death frees people from fear and pain then wouldn't it be helping the poor and sick to just kill them?
I do believe in euthanasia. If a person is terminal and is in excruciating pain - why not help them slip into death and free themselves from the pain and the agony. Of course it would be the patients choice and no one else should try to interfere with that choice such as government or religion.


What faiths that follow the bible have contradicting stories/beliefs/rules?
Christianity (includes Catholicism, lutheran, baptist etc) would be the one I am referring to. Prime example: whatever happens is God's will. God does things for a reason and we should not question that. So - why does the bible encourage prayer when God has already decided what shall be? Seems to me that praying is useless. Another example is that if you do one of these 10 things (commandments) god will send you to hell - directly to hell. But he is a merciful god and he loves you.


Based off of what you said about the bible I can see that you don't like it. How does just not liking something make it unbelievable?
Actually - if you change your question around you get my answer - I don't believe in God or the bible - therefor, I do not like it.

What other reasons do you have for not believing in a god or higher power?
As far as not believing in another higher power - I have not seen any evidence to support a theory of a higher power of any kind. I do believe there are other living beings in the galaxy that we don't know about be it human or another species all together but an omnipotent all knowing supernatural power - sounds a little too much like Santa Claus.


How do you determine what is right and wrong?
Part of it is the same as knowing you know. You can feel inside that your heart and brain are in sync and there is no anxiety in your body. (See next question for full detail) The other part I think is deeply rooted in childhood. I think you look back on experiences and ask yourself what is right. Since everyone had a different childhood perspective there is no simple answer as to what is right and wrong. Some believe in cultural norms or ethics or morals or whatever you want to call it. But determining what is right and wrong goes much deeper than what a culture says is OK. I rely on feelings to determine what is right and what is wrong. Again, it's the feeling that my heart and my brain are in sync. This is a very broad question and I think alot of my answer has to do with a specific right or wrong. Be it a personal decision, a question of someones business practices, a government decision, a religious practice.



Do you think that there is some objective moral standard of right and wrong or good and evil?
No. It's different for every one. I don't think with the world we live in today it could that black and white.



If rape was not illegal would it still be wrong?
Yes. Illegal does not automatically make something bad and legal does NOT make something automatically good. Rape is taking and violating someone against their will. Any act done to intentionally hurt someone and/or against their will is wrong in my opinion.

Why is what the hijackers did on 9/11 considered evil?
They killed innocent people for no other reason than they didn't like americans. They killed people because we didn't share their beliefs in Allah and they think americans are evil across the board. You want to commit suicide - go ahead and have fun. Don't take others with you. Killing in the name of any higher being is one of the worst - immoral - evil things going on. Violence begets violence. I don't think it solves the world's problems.

If there is no objective moral standard (ethic) then how can anyone say something is right or wrong?
Maybe we can't. Maybe we just decide our perception of right and wrong is the same one others should follow. I really think that as long as you are not physically or emotionally hurting some other living being that you're OK.

What if two people's feelings on what is right and wrong are diametrically opposed? Who is "right" in that case?
There is no simple answer as to who is right or wrong. Could be both, neither or one. Honestly, I think would depend on the situation. There is no way to say one person/culture/group/ideal is "right".



What if one person/culture/group/ideal feels it is right to kill off anther person/culture/group for being too short/tall or wrong color skin/hair/eyes?
Is that right or wrong and why?
It's wrong to kill others who don't believe in the same things as you do. Take for instance the Holocaust. Was it wrong for the Nazi's to kill Jews because of a different belief structure? YES Was it wrong of us to kill the Nazi's for killing the jews? No - The line I draw is the Nazi's killed the jews because of their beliefs/looks etc. We killed the Nazi's for killing innocent people. It all stems down to believe what you want. But when you hurt another living being you are committing a bad/evil act.