"Why believe in something awful...

...when you can believe in something wonderful?"

Catholic priest to his atheist friend (Fleabag S02E04, BBC TV)

Why do so many people think it's awful that they are going to die?

Doesn't the finite nature of life make it more precious?

@fmf said
...when you can believe in something wonderful?"

Catholic priest to his atheist friend (Fleabag S02E04, BBC TV)

Why do so many people think it's awful that they are going to die?

Doesn't the finite nature of life make it more precious?

"Life", is eternal.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

The question, "doesn't the finite nature of life make it more precious?", is diametrically opposed to the "nature of life" fundamentally. It is the twisting of the truth about the very character of the nature of life, which is that "the life" is forever.

Only then, when life is understood as eternal, is life "more precious".

@secondson said
It is the twisting of the truth about the very character of the nature of life, which is that "the life" is forever.

"Life is forever" is an assertion that you are unable to back up with any proof ~ your own certainty and earnestness notwithstanding. But we do have approximately 100,000,000,000 human beings who have lived and who all died and there is not a jot of evidence that any of them still exist in any shape or form of "life".

@secondson said
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

But this ancient text does not make me believe that "life is forever". For me, the finite nature of life makes every year, month, week and day more precious and worth savouring. I don't see the benefit of spending any of that precious time hoping or assuming that there is some continuation of life once I die.

@fmf said
...when you can believe in something wonderful?"

Catholic priest to his atheist friend (Fleabag S02E04, BBC TV)

Why do so many people think it's awful that they are going to die?

Doesn't the finite nature of life make it more precious?

I guess you could also ask why believe in the futility of life if you can believe in hope and meaningfulness.

@dj2becker said
I guess you could also ask why believe in the futility of life if you can believe in hope and meaningfulness.

"Futility"? I get that hope of immortality, so to speak, creates 'meaningfulness" for those who believe in it, but I don't see any "futility" in life, at least, not in mine.

Quite the opposite, I see life as a wonderful opportunity and I personally don't see how that is enhanced by hoping that my life, in some form, might be everlasting.

@secondson said
Only then, when life is understood as eternal, is life "more precious".

Actually, I don't think the proposition - that there being an unlimited supply of something makes it precious - rings true.

@fmf said
"Life is forever" is an assertion that you are unable to back up with any proof ~ your own certainty and earnestness notwithstanding. But we do have approximately 100,000,000,000 human beings who have lived and who all died and there is not a jot of evidence that any of them still exist in any shape or form of "life".

"Life" has existed, as "evidence[d]" by all the universe, for as long as time-out-of-mind in every direction.

You have no "proof" to the contrary.

The deaths of "approximately 100,000,000,000 human beings" is only "evidence" of physical death, and isn't "proof" of anything other than that.

My assertion that life is eternal is "more precious" than the idea of eternal death, which the assertion that life is finite is.

@fmf said
But this ancient text does not make me believe that "life is forever". For me, the finite nature of life makes every year, month, week and day more precious and worth savouring. I don't see the benefit of spending any of that precious time hoping or assuming that there is some continuation of life once I die.

You can "savor" the time in the here and now, but don't forget it's temporal.

There are "more precious" things to come in the here-after promised by God to those who believe.

You are making the mistake of contrasting the "savouring" of this temporal existence with "spending any of that precious time hoping or assuming".

I'm not in doubt. I enjoy life. But this physical frame will die. I will be resurrected to eternal life. I savor that as more precious than this temporary existence.

If you think your demise is final, that death will swallow up your life in the grave, and that's what you look forward to, and that is what gives you meaning and impetus to your motivation to savor the temporal, then it will pass with you.

What's so "precious" about that?

@fmf said
Actually, I don't think the proposition - that there being an unlimited supply of something makes it precious - rings true.

It would if you knew it was true.

If you were a heroin addict an unlimited supply would be precious.

Eternal means an endless supply of time. God's life in me means my life will never end. The life of Christ is eternal life and is most precious.

@secondson said
If you think your demise is final, that death will swallow up your life in the grave, and that's what you look forward to, and that is what gives you meaning and impetus to your motivation to savor the temporal, then it will pass with you.

What's so "precious" about that?

Living life is precious. It is a wonderful opportunity to be grabbed and embraced.

@secondson said
The deaths of "approximately 100,000,000,000 human beings" is only "evidence" of physical death, and isn't "proof" of anything other than that.

It's proof that we all die. If you have proof that all 100 billion or so humans who have ever lived are still living in some shape or form, I am willing to listen to what it is.

@secondson said
My assertion that life is eternal is "more precious" than the idea of eternal death, which the assertion that life is finite is.

Translation: you like your idea that you will live forever more than the idea that you won't.

@secondson said
If you were a heroin addict an unlimited supply would be precious.

A limited or uncertain supply of heroin makes each fix all the more precious.

@fmf said
Living life is precious. It is a wonderful opportunity to be grabbed and embraced.

No one should question that, unless they are starving to death.

Thing is though, you think life is finite, that it ends abruptly upon the death of the body.

That, by all rights, is inferior, and severely limits the appreciation for life as an "opportunity to be grabbed and embraced" because there's a limit to it.

On the other hand, eternal life, and the scope of appreciation for it far outweighs the limited, finite and temporal opportunities that a single lifetime can provide.

There's no comparison.