Does God exist? (16 Viewers)

[Slidey]

NTB: I fear other people's deaths sometimes, and I fear pain sometimes. Juxtaposing 'fear' in these cases with how I feel about dying, I have to conclude I don't 'fear' death.

It's possibly a holdover from when I was a kid and didn't fear dying because I thought I'd continue life with God (and thus, it makes perfect sense to me why some religious people also wouldn't fear death).

I definitely think 'fear' is something that can be trained.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Not wanting something to happen or feeling grief or devastation about it happening doesn't equate to fearing it. Nor does fearing something mean you would be devastated if it happened. E.g. I fear heights, but I do not become an emotional wreck when I am in a high place. Likewise I do not wish for my parents to die and I will be very sad when they do but I'm not afraid of them dying. It's not something I think about and feel fear over; when I think about them being dead I feel a mildly unpleasant sensation, comparable to imagining physical pain, but it's not fear. There is a difference, however blurry the distinction might be for some people.

 

[emytaylor164]

NTB: I fear other people's deaths sometimes, and I fear pain sometimes. Juxtaposing 'fear' in these cases with how I feel about dying, I have to conclude I don't 'fear' death.

It's possibly a holdover from when I was a kid and didn't fear dying because I thought I'd continue life with God (and thus, it makes perfect sense to me why some religious people also wouldn't fear death).

I definitely think 'fear' is something that can be trained.

I dont fear for that reason, i do not not want to die eventually either, when it is God's time, i know i will be in heaven with him.

 

[Graney]

I'd never say I fear death, rather I would feel anxious when close to death.

 

[Enteebee]

NTB: I fear other people's deaths sometimes, and I fear pain sometimes. Juxtaposing 'fear' in these cases with how I feel about dying, I have to conclude I don't 'fear' death.

Have you considered that you are 'coping' with an underlying anxiety, which will occasionally come to the forefront as a fear when faced with an unshakable acknowledgment of your mortality?

There is a difference, however blurry the distinction might be for some people.

Do you agree that if you love being rich you fear not being rich etc etc?

 

[*TRUE*]

Have you considered that you are 'coping' with an underlying anxiety, which will occasionally come to the forefront as a fear when faced with an unshakable acknowledgment of your mortality?



Do you agree that if you love being rich you fear not being rich etc etc?

Nah , she might do what she can to avoid losing her wealth but having done that she probably just gets on with life...
Unless she is totally unbalanced.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Have you considered that you are 'coping' with an underlying anxiety, which will occasionally come to the forefront as a fear when faced with an unshakable acknowledgment of your mortality?



Do you agree that if you love being rich you fear not being rich etc etc?

No. I might fear not being able to support myself, but that's a concern for anybody, not just rich people. The idea of losing income might be annoying or unpleasant, but as long as I can still live comfortably the idea would not arouse fear in me.

Personally, I don't fear things that I don't percieve as being able to harm me; certainly losing a bit of money is not something to be afraid of. Becoming destitute or homeless, yeah, probably.

 

[emytaylor164]

Nah , she might do what she can to avoid losing her wealth but having done that she probably just gets on with life...
Unless she is totally unbalanced.

yeah i think that is a pretty shallow thing to be scared of.

 

[Enteebee]

The fear would be losing your money, not the actual state of not being rich (much like fear of death I suppose, no one actually fears the state of death, just losing life). But I don't see how you could claim to love being rich if you didn't fear losing your money.

No. I might fear not being able to support myself, but that's a concern for anybody, not just rich people. The idea of losing income might be annoying or unpleasant, but as long as I can still live comfortably the idea would not arouse fear in me.

Obviously the fear wouldn't be that great for everyone (as I've said in the past we can usually compensate for say... loss of income by saying 'well I still have my health' or whatever). Though I would imagine that if you're someone who loves your money, your big house, your nice lifestyle etc that upon hearing of bad economic news etc you would feel fear. Now obviously you don't fear just because you love 'money' but you fear that you won't have as nice a lifestyle etc

I'm wondering when you say basically as long as you can still live comfortably you wouldn't have any fears if you're imagining a fear has to be something which leads you to having a terrible life... I mean I'm aware that you could still cope with the idea of losing say.. your job, but the fear is there.

 

[*TRUE*]

The fear would be losing your money, not the actual state of not being rich (much like fear of death I suppose, no one actually fears the state of death, just losing life). But I don't see how you could claim to love being rich if you didn't fear losing your money.

people would love being rich because they think it brings them happiness in some form.
they wouldnt totally fear losing their wealth because i think deep down they would know truly it doesnt bring them happiness , just pleasure , and pleasure and happiness do NOT HAVE to be abent in the absence of wealth.
Death brings nothing to fear. Its the end , or the beginning of something new.
I can see a person with doubts to do with FAITH fearing death , someone who wonders if they die will they go to hell , but for Christians , atheists , ha! Why worry

 

[Slidey]

Have you considered that you are 'coping' with an underlying anxiety, which will occasionally come to the forefront as a fear when faced with an unshakable acknowledgment of your mortality?

Fucking Christ man, you're now trying to 'prove' I fear death by claiming I have anxiety issues? No, I certainly don't. I've had an existential crisis before, and even then, death was never an important focus to me - God was.

I truly and honestly don't care about death; I don't fear it, I don't love it, I don't hate it, I'm not scared of it. Is that so hard for you to grasp?

I give up. I suspect you're just trolling.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

The fear would be losing your money, not the actual state of not being rich (much like fear of death I suppose, no one actually fears the state of death, just losing life). But I don't see how you could claim to love being rich if you didn't fear losing your money.



Obviously the fear wouldn't be that great for everyone (as I've said in the past we can usually compensate for say... loss of income by saying 'well I still have my health' or whatever). Though I would imagine that if you're someone who loves your money, your big house, your nice lifestyle etc that upon hearing of bad economic news etc you would feel fear. Now obviously you don't fear just because you love 'money' but you fear that you won't have as nice a lifestyle etc

I'm wondering when you say basically as long as you can still live comfortably you wouldn't have any fears if you're imagining a fear has to be something which leads you to having a terrible life... I mean I'm aware that you could still cope with the idea of losing say.. your job, but the fear is there.

We probably define fear differently. I love chocolate, but that doesn't mean I am afraid of never being able to eat it again. Because not eating chocolate cannot do you any damage. Just like losing money cannot harm you (up to a point, obviously). If I was rich I'd be very happy indeed, but if I was to lose some of my money, as long as I could still live comfortably, I would not fear this happening, even if it meant making some sacrifices (which if I were rich would probably just mean giving up some stuff that I didn't really need anyway). There are things that are more worth fearing the loss of than money...so to fear that just seems a bit silly.

 

[Enteebee]

Fucking Christ man, you're now trying to 'prove' I fear death by claiming I have anxiety issues? No, I certainly don't. I've had an existential crisis before, and even then, death was never an important focus to me - God was.

I truly and honestly don't care about death; I don't fear it, I don't love it, I don't hate it, I'm not scared of it. Is that so hard for you to grasp?

I give up. I suspect you're just trolling.

The fight or flight response is activated due to a fear http://health.howstuffworks.com/fear.htm, you claim to have felt such a thing when you were having your near death experience... I think this means you fear death. TBH the way you guys act when questioned about your underlying beliefs is much more like a christian than someone who's a little bit open minded, since I've had the 'you're acting like a theist' thing thrown at me.

We probably define fear differently. I love chocolate, but that doesn't mean I am afraid of never being able to eat it again. Because not eating chocolate cannot do you any damage. Just like losing money cannot harm you (up to a point, obviously). If I was rich I'd be very happy indeed, but if I was to lose some of my money, as long as I could still live comfortably, I would not fear this happening, even if it meant making some sacrifices (which if I were rich would probably just mean giving up some stuff that I didn't really need anyway). There are things that are more worth fearing the loss of than money...so to fear that just seems a bit silly.

Then I'd say you never 'loved' being rich if you don't fear not being rich. As for your chocolate example... I'd say you might have an extremely minor manifestation of something like a fear but obviously because a) You don't like chocolate THAT much and b) There's replacements to chocolate you never really feel anything at all.

 

[*TRUE*]

The fight or flight response is activated due to a fear http://health.howstuffworks.com/fear.htm, you claim to have felt such a thing when you were having your near death experience... I think this means you fear death.

That has to do with wanting to preserve your life. Beinbg scaredof death is only one possible reason to want to preserve your life. I have better reasons , and so do other people.

 

[KFunk]

I'd never say I fear death, rather I would feel anxious when close to death.

In what way are you distinguishing between fear and anxiety?

 

[Enteebee]

That has to do with wanting to preserve your life. Beinbg scaredof death is only one possible reason to want to preserve your life. I have better reasons , and so do other people.

If you want to preserve your life... if you fear not living.... then you fear death. That is all that death is, death is not living.

 

[*TRUE*]

If you want to preserve your life... if you fear not living.... then you fear death. That is all that death is, death is not living.

Erm , i dont fear not living.
I just like living.

I dont have a reason to fear not living.

 

[Slidey]

The fight or flight response is activated due to a fear http://health.howstuffworks.com/fear.htm, you claim to have felt such a thing when you were having your near death experience... I think this means you fear death.

You keep changing the definition of fear to suit your needs.

Do I get an adrenaline rush in intense situations? Yes. Am I scared of death? No. I do not think you can say somebody is fearful if they are not scared.

 

[Enteebee]

What do you mean change the definition? TBH I'm just using my own colloquial definition which is a mixture I think of what psychologists would say is both fear and anxiety.

Do I get an adrenaline rush in intense situations? Yes. Am I scared of death? No. I do not think you can say somebody is fearful if they are not scared.

I don't think you can claim you didn't feel fear if you felt the flight or fight response, what you feared was death... I guess another way of saying it would be that you were scared, I can't see what you were scared of if not the loss of your life. If someone put a gun to your head, do you believe you would feel the same flight or fight response? What is that in response to? It would appear to be in response to your being scared of dying.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Erm , i dont fear not living.
I just like living.

I dont have a reason to fear not living.

exactly.

I'd like to put off dying for as long as I can because I like being alive, so if my life was threatened I'd fight to keep it, but that's not the same thing as being afraid of dying. I just don't want to go until I really have to. You could say the same thing about getting out of bed in the morning - I will prolong my time in bed as long as I can because I like sleep and my warm bed, but that doesn't mean I am afraid of the prospect of getting out of bed, I just won't do it until I need to.