Is it better never to have been born?
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  Is it better never to have been born?
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Author Topic: Is it better never to have been born?  (Read 3089 times)
True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #25 on: February 28, 2017, 01:02:52 AM »

Then how did evil come to be? I'm not going to foist off the blame for mine own evil impulses on an unseen Adversary or my ultimate ancestor, yet clearly evil exists.
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Beet
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« Reply #26 on: February 28, 2017, 01:12:08 AM »

Antonio V and muon2 express my thoughts perfectly in this thread.
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Blue3
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« Reply #27 on: February 28, 2017, 01:14:51 AM »
« Edited: February 28, 2017, 01:23:26 AM by Blue3 »

Then how did evil come to be? I'm not going to foist off the blame for mine own evil impulses on an unseen Adversary or my ultimate ancestor, yet clearly evil exists.

Our environment, along with some baser instincts, and some bad parenting.

That doesn't mean the core essence of each person, of the experience of life, and of the universe itself aren't good.

Metaphor: the bones and blood are good, but the skin is flawed in spots, the parents didn't know or teach them not to spend too much time in the sun and most don't have good instincts about it... and some don't handle it well and make the skin condition worse and maybe even have it spread to their organs and heart... but the blood and bones remain good and unaffected.
(probably poorly thought out, don't analyze it too deeply, I just thought of it, but I think my overall point is made clear)
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CatoMinor
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« Reply #28 on: March 01, 2017, 01:38:35 AM »

I can only speak from my Christian standpoint but I imagine the only way it would be better would be for those who willingly choose to walk away from the Father and cut themselves off from His love and denying themselves the joy of being with the Lord in eternity.

The problem with arguing that existence allows for pain and pain is bad is, again this is just coming from my Christian view, that Christ promised us there would be pain and there would be suffering yet the reward for abiding in Him is greater than all the hardships of this life. As one pastor put it, can e no day of Pentecost without having gone through Calvary.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
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« Reply #29 on: March 05, 2017, 10:42:58 AM »

Scott, when combining the content of this and the other thread, it's no wonder that some posters worry about you. I can't provide any particularly eloquent answer to this, and Antonio's first response or two stole my basic points (that the two are incomparable). Your reference to the experience of depression essentially refutes your claim regarding mindset; the facts of your consciousness, as opposed to material surroundings, have determined how you perceive and experience the world.

I would also argue the claim that we can comprehend non-existence. That's absurd. Non-existence is not something we can record or describe because it would lack any adjective applying to it. We can list qualities--you feel nothing, you think nothing, you are nothing--but such is absolutely beyond our ability to conceive because, if we were there, we would have no capabilities with which to perceive or communicate it. Contemplating non-existence, or nothingness, is an idiotic rabbit hole of circular logic.

In regards to the ability to experience pain and pleasure, from an evolutionary standpoint (not that I'm some sort of scientist), these things exist as mechanisms by which people gauge their surroundings and experiences. Obviously, there is much distortion of this in our day and age as pleasure receptors can easily lead one into pointless, if not outright harmful, situations. What you call "romanticizing" life involves value judgments. You yourself make them when you assert that pain is "more impactful" and, thus, more important to one's experiences. I don't mean to sound like an optimist or a humanist or any one of "those people", but I can't help but be struck at how selfish bleak denunciations of the temporal world sound. If life is as awful and black as you say it is, and thus has no ontological meaning, no purpose, and so on, I would still choose to persist, knowing the logical weakness of doing so. This is partly because in my current situation (alive), I can at least perceive, contemplate, and assign value; I can try to understand. Removed from the world, I can do nothing.
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RINO Tom
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« Reply #30 on: March 10, 2017, 09:41:18 AM »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Wonderful_Life

Grab a glass of red wine, watch this movie and find God.
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Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers
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« Reply #31 on: March 25, 2017, 03:11:35 PM »

Since, I have moved here to Cali, I haved changed that way of thinking. I am in a program and the comradry here is great. And my family in Chicago, misses me as well. But, the wonderful aspects of living here in Oakland outweighs me going back home in the near term to Chicago. We will see what happens next. But, I will stick it out.
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RFayette
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« Reply #32 on: March 25, 2017, 07:17:12 PM »

If you're Judas Iscariot, sure (Matthew 26:24).  Not for most people though, I believe.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #33 on: March 25, 2017, 07:29:24 PM »

I kind of regret making this thread and it would be my preference that people not continue posting in it.  Same with the other one.  I'm sorry.
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