If everyone on the earth was destroyed except for a dozen people, it wouldn't take long for them to start acting just like the animals in order to survive.
What's the difference between humans and animals if there is no God
by JH 85 Replies latest jw friends
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zack
Humas pay taxes.
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Little Drummer Boy
Havn't read the other posts.
But, animals taste yummy with BBQ sauce when there is a God.
Animals taste even more yummy with BBQ sauce when there is no God because you get to drink more while you're eatin' 'em.
Seriously though, all of us are on a journey. In 10000 years we may find that our cats have evolved enough to carry on simple conversations with us (with words). Hell, one of our cats already has distinct vocalizations for different desires. "Owe" while standing in the living room means he wants to go outside. "A-ra-uh" while standing in the same spot means "Please run some water in the tub. I would like a drink". This is then accompanied by him walking down the hall, leading one of us to the bathroom. "Rat-rat" (it almost sounds like a bark) is a sure sign of acknoledgement of an action. "Prrruuuut" is a begging sound. Usually done while standing at the cabinet door where the cat treats are kept. "Brrrruuuu-brrrrruuu (a chirping sound) is "Where are you?". These are all very, very distinct sounds and sound nothing like the meow you would expect from a cat - although he does meow as well.
How many millenia until this creaure would be sentient like us?
Some days I could almost be a vegan.
What will we evolve into in 10,000, 20,000, or 50,000 years? Will there be powers of our minds that are only now in the earliest stages of development? Do all the ghost, magic, and spiritual stories we hear about have some basis in what we will become instead of what we arenow? Will we achieve some ultimate state of being where our physical form is no longer needed and we can convert ourselves to sentient energy of some sort? Is the natural progression of life to evolve from animal, to sentient animal (us), then to sentient animal with advanced mental powers (not us quite yet), to non-physical sentient with advanced mental powers?
Hmmm...
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JWdaughter
We have the internet!
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Handsome Dan
Toilet paper...................
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Abaddon
kwintestal
Very good point. No matter what one's religious beliefs we are the most intelligent animal. The beliefs do not change the scientific fact that we are animals, unless you subscribe to 'magical thinking' or unprovable speculation.
onlycurious
The core of this thinking really de-values us as individuals.
To you maybe. To others it means one has sole responsibility to make your life worthwhile. That's exciting. To me the idea we can only have meaning in our life if there is a god devalues us as individuals.
If I am merely an animal, and am just a happenstance that came into being because of something called the evolutionary process, then:
I am not special, I am not created, I don't have a purpose, I am not intricately made, I am not unique, I hold NO value or worth, I am not an individual,
I could go on but I am sure you get the point.
Yes. You think that about 70-80kgs of mammal is far more important than it actually is. You ASSUME you should be important in the scheme of things.I don;t think you can actually validate that assumption.
I think the need to feel more important than one actually is is one of the chief motivating factors in religious thinking, at least as far as most Western traditions go.
I am a youth worker and it is amazing to see adults scratch their heads and wonder why there is more depression, more suicide, more cutting, more anorexia, more substance abuse, more more more......
More than what? More than when? I think you're asuming somethings never happened in the past when they did, and thus your conclusions are usafe. Have you considered the good side of things now? Better education, more equality, etter health and longer lifespans? The list is extensive...
Our children are a product of a few generations being told they were NOT created and intricately designed by a loving God who cares about them, knows every hair on their head, gave them a special personality of their own, breathed life into them and called it GOOD!
These kids have nothing to live for when they are told they are anothing more than an animal
In YOUR opinion. But your opinion fails to take into consideration any of the aspects that secular people actually do value or consider make life worthwhile.
Your religious beliefs give your life meaning even though they are incomprehensible to me. My secularity might be incomprehensible to you, but that doesn't stop it having meaning for me.
Animals act upon their instincts....and we wonder why these kids just can't seem to keep it in their pants? Why? Because they are being told they are nothing more than animal. Girls are selling themselves short when all the while they are sooooo special and so loved by a God who knows their deepest thoughts, desires, and hurts.
So YOU believe. Your beliefs are not held by everyone. That is why they're called YOUR beliefs.
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funkyderek
Warlock:
If I am just "another animal", why does society have laws to punish people who act like animals?
In order to provide retribution to the victims and rehabilitation to the culprits, to protect society from dangerous people and to provide a deterrent against anti-social behaviour. (We have laws about dangerous non-human animals too.)
Where is the "animal", other than a human that can compose a piece of music?
Where is the animal other than an elephant that can lift a tree trunk with its nose?
Humans have exceptionally large and complicated brains which allow us to do things other animals cannot. Other animals have abilities we do not have.
Music, in any case, is not unique to humans.
Can someone please direct me to the ASE? (The Animal Stock Exchange)
There you go, a purely human activity, although Wall St. after opening bell bears more than a passing resemblance to a henhouse after the farmer has thrown in a handful of grain!
Anyone who believes that man is "just another animal" is a plain fool, and if they have a degree, they are just an "educated fool".
And yet we are animals. That's plain to see. Only a fool, educated or otherwise, would deny that. Specifically we are mammals. We give ourselves a genus all of our own but properly we belong with the African apes. We are more closely related to chimpanzees than chimpanzees are to gorillas. All our great acheivements, music, the stock exchange and so on are the result of our massively distended brains, themselves undoubtedly the result of natural selection, although the specific details may be unknown.
We're animals, there's no shame in it. If you wish to believe that there is an ethereal entity superimposed on the physical one, then feel free, but there's really no need.
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greendawn
Humans have an animal like physical body but they also have a spiritual dimension which sets them a world apart from all animals and puts them in a class of their own. That puts them in a position to communicate and interact with a creator.
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Paralipomenon
Doesn't interact infer a two way communication?
God must have the best PR team ever.
If something good happens, it's an answer to a prayer, if something bad happens, well it just wasn't right for God to change it at this time.
Seriously, good stuff happens to me all the time, I'd like to think it's because good things happen to everyone. I just don't need to attribute my positive experiences to someone else. -
funkyderek
greendawn:
Humans have an animal like physical body but they also have a spiritual dimension which sets them a world apart from all animals and puts them in a class of their own. That puts them in a position to communicate and interact with a creator.
How do you know humans have this "spiritual dimension"? How do you know other animals do not have it? For that matter, how do you know plants don't have it? Or rocks? Or cars?