<DIV>Ralph,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Quit with the strawman arguments. I never set out to prove anything. Your saying so is a outright misunderstanding, or intentional deception to try and avoid answering my question.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I will ask it again, for the THIRD time:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"How can someone KNOW that there is no afterlife?"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Don't say it is in the Bible. Show me how someone can KNOW for FACT there is no afterlife. The Bible reader can only believe there is or is not an afterlife, but they still don't know for FACT, as you claim. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you cannot answer that, then your statement, "And if the religionists would read the Bible more carefully, they would know that there is no life after death.", is a flat out lie. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just so there is NO confusion. I am not interested in convincing you of an afterlife. Nor debating the Bible with you. I just
want to know, how in your mind, anyone can KNOW there is no afterlife?</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">Donovan is playing games again. He set out to prove that we all <BR>deserve to die and, furthermore, that we deserve to be punished after <BR>we die, in an alleged afterlife. He has not proven this at all.<BR><BR>I, however, have shown that his religious claim cannot be true <BR>because it is based on Xian distortion of an ancient Hebrew <BR>etiological story. Evidently Donovan doesn't believe that the Bible <BR>is true, and he doesn't believe what God said about no afterlife for <BR>humans.<BR><BR>Donovan also distorted my statement. I wrote, "And if the <BR>religionists would read the Bible more carefully, they would know <BR>that there is no
life after death." I didn't say that I know that.<BR><BR>However, it isn't up to me to prove that there isn't, it's up to <BR>Donovan and other Xian believers to prove that there is. And whether <BR>something is true or not does not depend on the number of believers <BR>one can persuade. It depends on the evidence.<BR><BR>Ralph<BR><BR>><BR>On May 18, 2008, at 9:51 PM, Donovan Arnold wrote:<BR>> Ralph,<BR>><BR>> So your argument is; you don't believe in the afterlife because of <BR>> a few cherry picked quotes taken out of context from a book you <BR>> don't believe is true and written by an omniscient being that you <BR>> don't think exists?<BR>><BR>> OK, do you know of anyone that is persuaded by your argument?<BR>><BR>> Ralph, you don't know that there is no afterlife, because you <BR>> cannot know that.<BR>><BR>> Best Regards,<BR>><BR>> Donovan<BR>><BR>> Ralph Nielsen <NIELSEN@UIDAHO.EDU>wrote:<BR>><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, 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 <BR>> 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></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>