Being a child of the internet and having read many thousands of comment threads on Facebook and Twitter in my time, there is one common theme which always arises: Religion. Not only do you read these Religion vs Atheism threads online, you hear them around campfires and over pub tables. I am not an Atheist but I am anti-Religion. For me Religion is an attempt by smart people to make money from an innate curiosity in the human mind.
The thing which frustrates me about reading and hearing these arguments is that the atheists seem to fail quite consistently at making religion seem outdated (for lack of a better-fitting but less offensive word), which to me seems like an easy task. So I would like to point out one concept in popular religion that I think does this quite well. I am no trying to offend people here, and I am quite open for debate on the subject and don’t see this point as a “death knell” but more of a “sticking point” for most popular religions.
The subject I would like to talk about is Heaven (and Hell). If I ever find myself dragged into one of these debates, I like to ask the religious person to describe to me their concept of Heaven. I have never once heard a description which made me think “ooo that would be nice for the rest of eternity”. It seems that most religious people fail to grasp how long eternity actually is. Even the most blissful description of Heaven becomes my idea of Hell if it were to last even 100 years, let alone 100100100100100100100etcetc^etc years. Similarly, any amount of pain lasting a long enough time would just become normal and stop hurting.
I’m going to try and make some irrefutable points which lead down a sort of logical pathway to hopefully get at least one religious person to see that the existence of a true Heaven is impossible.
To be conscious and experience anything, a brain and sensory organs are required. If not please explain to me the mechanism in which a “floating spirit” receives sensory input.
In fact, to be “you” at all, your exact brain has to be replicated or somehow transported to a different realm. If you are not “you” then you don’t get to experience your reward for being a good little subject in this life.
The human brain is designed to detect abnormalities in the sensory inputs it receives. If presented with the same stimuli repeatedly, it begins to ignore it.
There is also a certain capacity for pleasure chemical reactions in the brain, which when reached cannot be exceeded. Once all the serotonin, dopamine etc. has been used up, there is a period of misery the human must endure.
I believe these points show that to be able to enjoy anything or feel pleasure, there must in fact be periods of misery. To find anything interesting, you must have periods of boredom. What you are actually left with, in a “Heaven” that allows for pain, misery and boredom is something that looks exactly the same in the world we currently live in.
There are actually several other points that can be made if you concede that to be "you" you must have your brain. However I have made the main point I wanted to make, the point which I think is the hardest to argue against. Again, please let me know if you have a way around my argument. I am always interested in hearing people's concepts of Heaven and would very much like to be proven wrong. What would you be happy doing for the rest of eternity?
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