A few recent reports are claiming 500,000 and there's a skull in china
they are claiming 1,000,000. Hopefully there will be more old fossils
found to verify those dates. I'll remain skeptical for now. That would
put homo sapiens in a separate family from Neanderthal, we're competing
cousins that intermingled. The concept of god is new to mankind and the
belief in spirits is more ancient. Evolution shows us that whatever
humans believe is completely made up, manufactured for our own comfort
in answering complex questions that don't have answers. For hundreds of
thousands of years we've been burying our dead after sprinkling them
with red-ocre. This practice has been found world-wide, would that mean
it predates emigration? A practice so ancient every human brought it
with them? Is it a learned practice? Why red paint? And flowers. I've
never heard of a christian burial using red-paint.
On 9/25/25 12:43, Bill Prince wrote:
I see that all a bit differently.
Homo sapiens have existed by some estimates for ~~300,000 years, and
organized religion in its various forms has been around for 10-11
thousand years. So for almost 97% of the time humans have existed,
there was no organized religion. Maybe there were other nature-based
beliefs going back a bit farther, but there may have been as many
belief versions as there were families or tribes or whatever.
If there is a god, I have a hard time believing they would "punish"
someone for not worshiping them during a lifetime. Further, which of
the several religions is the "correct" one?
I think if you live a just, fair, and empathetic life, that should be
reward enough; especially if there is no clear choice.
That said, I know Georgia has had experiences/conversations with her
dearly departed parents and sister. Maybe there's something there, and
maybe it's random synapse activity. Who knows?
In any case, it's not my position to tell people (or preach) how they
should or should not live. I just hope they have the same level of
fairness that I have for everyone else.
bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
On 9/24/2025 12:30 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Easy to see why. I understand your rationale.
Irrespective of history, we either survive death in some form or we
don’t.
I don’t have enough courage to even entertain the notion we do not
survive death. Especially in light of 100,000 or more near death
writings and videos all largely describing the same experience.
Moreover I had a direct physical experience with my son Adam after he
died.
So, not hedging your bets seems risky to me. It costs you nothing
really to cover your bases. If there is some form of afterlife, is
your situation there dependent on any decisions you make while here?
Some say yes. Surely there are some best practices describing how to
make the most of you sojourn here. Lots of opinions about that.
I am more of a universalist in nature.
If all you have to do was recite a holy incantation to get a nice
country home with a pool and a cook, hey, tell me the magic words. I
am all in.
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