CreateDebate


Debate Info

49
43
Believe It Don't Believe It
Debate Score:92
Arguments:36
Total Votes:94
More Stats

Argument Ratio

side graph
 
 Believe It (38)
 
 Don't Believe It (27)

Debate Creator

BurritoLunch(6566) pic



Do You Believe There Is Any Form Of Life After Death?

I'm afraid I don't believe it, although, since time and distance are both relative, you will always be alive from the perspective of somewhere else in the universe.

Believe It

Side Score: 49
VS.

Don't Believe It

Side Score: 43
2 points

I've had several paranormal experiences during my life so I know there is something there but I don't know what it is. I'm just an observer. I don't think ghosts are alive therefore I don't consider being a ghost being alive after death. There is a presence there but not a life. On the other hand, what the hell do I know anyway? I just have my opinion.

Side: Believe It

I've had several paranormal experiences during my life so I know there is something there but I don't know what it is. I'm just an observer. I don't think ghosts are alive therefore I don't consider being a ghost being alive after death. There is a presence there but not a life. On the other hand, what the hell do I know anyway? I just have my opinion.

I was absolutely petrified of ghosts and the paranormal when I was a kid. But with no direct experiences then as soon as I hit about 19 or 20 I stopped believing in it all. These days I find horror films based on the paranormal really boring, whereas as a kid they would absolutely frighten the crap out of me.

I have had a few strange experiences, but nothing which is outside the realms of logical explanation.

At 16 I had an out of the body experience which seemed very real to me at the time. In hindsight however it did happen shortly after I had smoked pot for the second or third time ever.

I used to go ghost hunting as a teenager with a few pals of mine, back when I still half-believed in the paranormal. A few strange events there, like seeing a man walking through a field in the middle of nowhere at 3am. But I'm fairly sure it wasn't a ghost, just a farmer.

In fact, thinking back, there is possibly one event in my life which I can't explain rationally. That isn't necessarily to say a rational explanation doesn't exist for it, mind you.

When I was really young, maybe 9 or 10, my parents went out and they must have taken my brother with them because I remember I was in the house alone. It was the middle of the daytime otherwise I'd have probably been afraid, but I remember going upstairs to use the bathroom. When I came out, my parents' bedroom door was to the far left of me. It had been fully closed because I checked it on the way up, but as I came out of the bathroom I watched the door actually open from a closed position and creak eerily ajar.

I still remember at the time that it sent me into an absolute panic and I raced down the stairs. No windows were open anywhere in the house so it was very strange. It never happened again so eventually I just put the memory to one side.

Side: Believe It

Yes. I believe sinners go to Heaven if they repent of sin and receive Jesus as Lord, and sinners that do not, go to Hell.

Watch me.
Side: Believe It
1 point

Yeah, I do. I don't think the bodies we are in are our only form, and there's been some strange things that are hard to explain. It's one of those things that is hard to solidly prove and is more belief born from personal experience and from other's experiences.

Side: Believe It
Jace(5222) Clarified
1 point

What strange things that are hard to explain?

Side: Believe It
Miocene(707) Banned
0 points

In your case the inquiring mind ponders the question, is there life before death?

Side: Believe It
1 point

In your case the inquiring mind ponders the question, is there life before death?

That's not the inquiring mind I'm afraid. That's the low IQ mind which cares about nothing outside of money and power, and comes here only because it is jealous of those which do. Have a nice day.

Side: Don't Believe It

I don't believe it. I believe our conscienceness is biological, not spiritual.

Side: Don't Believe It
BurritoLunch(6566) Clarified
1 point

I don't believe it. I believe our conscienceness is biological, not spiritual.

Fair enough. I don't think consciousness is understood at all, by anybody. Even if its causes are physical, does that necessarily mean than consciousness itself has to be physical?

Side: Believe It
shoutoutloud(4303) Clarified
2 points

Reading my argument again today - I probably sounded more confident than I intended. I do consider myself an agnostic atheist, some things we just cannot know, and probably will never know. And life after death, and whether our consciousness is physical or not are one of those things that I'd never intentionally have a confident opinion on, it would always be; this is what I lean towards as being the truth.

That said, Ill respond to your response - if the causes of consciousness are physical, does that mean that the consciousness itself has to be physical.

Honestly I can totally get on board with that, we aren't robots, we aren't controlled by our instincts. On the contrary we analyze everything, not just factors that are relevant to our survival, we analyze ethics as well.

So in that regard, there is something about us humans (and other species) where you could argue that this doesn't make sense biologically, because biologically we should only be concerned with survival and procreation.

However!!! I would still argue that if something has biological causes, then that thing will still die when the cause has died. If something has physical causes, then it depends on those causes to stay active.

Side: Believe It
2 points

No. Death is "lights out". That's all there is to it. Face it!

Side: Don't Believe It

No. Death is "lights out". That's all there is to it. Face it!

Well, this is where it gets interesting, because the brain doesn't die when the body does. It shuts down gradually, in stages. Many scientists have measured electrical activity in dead brains and even cultured living cells from them.

Side: Don't Believe It
AlofRI(3294) Clarified
1 point

So, the light flickers a little before it goes out completely. That's not surprising. When it's out, it's out.

Side: Believe It

No, as there is no means by which we could evaluate or even logically infer the afterlife. Just as well, most incarnations of such a concept make additional unsupported claims that just add what is already a seemingly insurmountable burden of proof.

Side: Don't Believe It
BurritoLunch(6566) Clarified
1 point

No, as there is no means by which we could evaluate or even logically infer the afterlife.

You don't need to evaluate or logically infer the afterlife to believe in it so your answer makes no sense logically.

Just as well, most incarnations of such a concept make additional unsupported claims

I didn't ask you whether other incarnations believe in the afterlife. I asked if you believe in the afterlife.

You basically came in here and wrote a paragraph about how you aren't going to answer the question. How pointless.

Side: Believe It
2 points

You don't need to evaluate or logically infer the afterlife to believe in it

Then the belief would be arbitrary and unjustified.

I asked if you believe in the afterlife.

And I answered why I don't, both to the concept in general as well as particular representations of it.

You basically came in here and wrote a paragraph...How pointless.

It was two sentences that directly address my perspective on the issue, but ok...

Side: Believe It
1 point

There is some form of life after my death, insofar as what I regard as my body will decompose and convert to other forms of life, but that life is nothing to do with my conscious self which is annihilated in death.

Side: Don't Believe It
1 point

No, I believe that once I die, all life will die with me.

I will make sure of it, von neumann style :)

Side: Don't Believe It