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Originally Posted by Sweetie
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...and following it to the end, it seems clear that the theists all think that the cosmos is arranged according to their dogma. The universe came into being as per their scriptural message and there is an afterlife and it conforms to how they were taught.
When it was pointed out that the theists were seeing things in black/white, either/or dichotomies, their response effectively was:
"Yeah... There are no other choices other than heaven or hell."
Um... That's a logical fallacy, is it not? A false dichotomy?
How about nothing? There is nothing after death. No afterlife, no heaven, no hell, no limbo, no purgatory, no Elysium, no Hades, no Sheol.
Then there are those, including Paul, who believed in various levels of heaven. Y'know, "7th heaven" and the "third heaven"...perhaps Paul and the early founders of Christianity thought that christians would have to climb through the various levels of heaven. And, what about Dante? Was his view of the Inferno not legit, by christian standards? Hey... He's got several levels of hell.
I'm convinced that those who construct these comfortable scenarios do so with the conviction that they are amongst the "good guys" who will enjoy eternal reward because they've hewn to the "right teachings" and "lived an exemplary life" based upon what they, or some earlier visionary, imagined was necessary.
From my view, it's mostly self-delusion.
Now, that's not saying I don't have my own delusions. I suspect I do. Like the fact that humanity has the ability to think and act in its own interests as a species on earth. Everything tends to show that it is not the case, yet I continue to hold that it might just be possible.