<DIV>Ralph,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So your argument is; you don't believe in the afterlife because of a few cherry picked quotes taken out of context from a book you don't believe is true and written by an omniscient being that you don't think exists?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>OK, do you know of anyone that is persuaded by your argument?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ralph, you don't know that there is no afterlife, because you cannot know that.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Best Regards,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Donovan<BR><BR><B><I>Ralph Nielsen <nielsen@uidaho.edu></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><BR>I already gave you the answer, Donovan. I wrote:<BR><BR>If people knew that there is no life after death, only life before <BR>death,<BR>they would live their lives more realistically.<BR><BR>And if the religionists would read the Bible more
carefully, they<BR>would know that there is no life after death. The Hebrew Bible (O.T.<BR>in Xian propaganda) had it right. An ancient writer explained it this<BR>way. He had the God Yahweh (the LORD) tell the first man, "By the<BR>sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the<BR>ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you<BR>shall return" (Genesis 3:19).<BR><BR>This straightforward statement about human mortality was taken out of<BR>context by Xians and twisted into a sorry tale about human depravity<BR>in the theological theory of Original Sin. They perverted the ancient<BR>Adam and Eve story into a sick yarn about hereditary punishment for<BR>all of their descendants for all time.<BR><BR>Death is a fact of life for all beings. Neither humans nor any other<BR>animals are destined to live forever. The ancient Hebrews knew this too.<BR><BR>"Then the LORD God said, "See the man has become like one of us,<BR>knowing good and evil;
and now, he might reach out his hand and take<BR>also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"---therefore<BR>the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the<BR>ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east<BR>of the garden of Eden he paced the cherubim, and a sword flaming and<BR>turning to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24).<BR><BR>The ancient Hebrew writer is simply explaining why we don't live<BR>forever. We are not being punished for anybody's sin; we most<BR>certainly do not "deserve death," as Xian sickos love to proclaim. We<BR>are products of the planet earth; we are made of dust and to dust we<BR>shall return.<BR><BR>So be it.<BR><BR><BR>Ralph,<BR><BR>"If people knew that there is no life after death, only life before <BR>death, they would live their lives more realistically."<BR><BR>Tell us how you know for fact that there is no life after death? <BR>Curious, how someone could possibly know
that?<BR><BR>Best Regards,<BR><BR>Donovan<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>