Deism Plus an Afterlife.

[David Sklansky]

Are there any religions that believe that God got the ball rolling but then doesn't interfere until after a conscious creature dies? (Besides Sklanskyanity of course).

[Aytumious]

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Are there any religions that believe that God got the ball rolling but then doesn't interfere until after a conscious creature dies? (Besides Sklanskyanity of course).

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Why bother with the afterlife? It just muddies the issue and takes away from Sklanskyanity, IMO.

[David Sklansky]

"Why bother with the afterlife? It just muddies the issue and takes away from Sklanskyanity, IMO."

Sklanskyanity requires a belief that God will reward and punish in some way depending on whether the sum of your good behabviors outweigh your bad ones. Since there is scant evidence he does this while you live, it must be afterwards. But I can think of two mechanisms for this that are a lot less farfetched than heaven and hell (besides the fact that Sklanskians don't expect that the rewards or punishments need be infinitely great or terrible.)

One mechanism would somehow make use of the ideas I presented in my essay An Unexpecteded Ending. It is the last chapter of Poker Gaming and Life and I give my permission for it to be reproduced on this forum. (I have no scanner.)

The other method involves this idea that just before you die, or expect, to die you life flashes before your eyes. I know someone who is not religious who had this happen to them. If this does happen and if somehow this period seems infinitely long to you, it would be a sort of punishment or reward (for non sociopaths) as they contemplated their past actions for what seemed to them, to be an eternity.

[Aytumious]

I went back and reread the original Sklanskyanity post and am curious whether you think a system of reward/punishment in the afterlife is necessary for humanity to function. If you answer no, then an afterlife becomes unnecessary since its sole function is to reward or punish, at least in this case.

[Jake (The Snake)]

The appendix exists.

[David Sklansky]

Without it Sklanskyanity would not be a religion.

[Aytumious]

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Without it Sklanskyanity would not be a religion.

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Fair enough, although I do think a religion could exist that did not rely on a belief in reward/punishment in the afterlife or in miracles.

Actually, Zeno just posted some quotes that would embody any religion I would be a part of:

" It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systemtically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbound admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

-From Albert Einstein, The Human Side, ed. H. Dukas and B. Hoffman (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1981).


" I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own - a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we can dimly preceive, and try humbly to comprehand even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature."

-Albert Einstein, from Living Philosophies A Series of Intimate Credos, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1933.

Perhaps Sklanskyanity could change it's core beliefs to better reflect the scientific bent of the majority of the posters on this site. I'd happily go on missions to promote such a religion.

[Jake (The Snake)]

David,

From what I know, there are some Deists who believe in an afterlife. I think in general most do not, but it is not required that a Deist not believe in the afterlife.

Also, does the afterlife of Sklanskyanity occur outside or somehow apart from our universe? It would seem the Law of Conservation would prevent it from occurring in our universe.

[David Sklansky]

Before I go to the trouble of fine tuning and establishing more details of Sklanskyanity (a religion that prides itself on not having to many precise details by the way). I need to find out something. Perhaps you theologians out there could help me with this.

Did Jesus Christ get laid a lot?

[daryn]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
One mechanism would somehow make use of the ideas I presented in my essay An Unexpecteded Ending. It is the last chapter of Poker Gaming and Life and I give my permission for it to be reproduced on this forum. (I have no scanner.)


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yes! someone do this, i've been dying to read it ever since drudman recommended it to me a long time ago. yeah yeah, i should buy the book.