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But what evidence supports the theory of heaven and hell? I mean, according to the Hindus and Buddhists, we’ll be reincarnated rather than going to heaven/hell

But what evidence supports the theory of heaven and hell? I mean, according to the Hindus and Buddhists, we’ll be reincarnated rather than going to heaven/hell. We could read the Bible, or the Qur’ān, or the Vēdas, or the Buddhist scriptures, or any other religious text… but how would we know whether any of them holds truth?

vkou 1y ago
That's the whole point of faith. You're supposed to believe despite evidence.
- philsnow 1y ago
  (Which is why, of faith, hope, and charity, only charity will remain with us in heaven / in the beatific vision)
- Tijdreiziger 1y ago
  Why should you believe despite evidence?
  - vkou 1y ago
    Because if you don't, you'll face social ostracism, physical censure, and a promise of deferred spiritual punishment. When those pressures or promises of rewards aren't present, people rarely stumble into any particular religion.
jagged-chisel 1y ago
You have faith that your choice is the right one!
- dangus 1y ago
  There are approximately 10,000 religions in the world. What brain damage do I have to receive in order to believe that I have any realistic statistical chance of picking the right one?
  - em-bee 1y ago
    you don't pick one at random. you pick one that makes sense. what makes sense for example is the positive impact a religion has on the world. which religion is doing the most good? that alone will narrow down the selection to a few dozen if that many. besides the good it does, another question could be: what makes sense to you? which religion has the better answers to explain the world in which we live in today? take the issues and questions that matter to you, and then look at the answers and see if they are satisfactory. keep searching until you find the answers you seek.
    - freedomben 1y ago
      This is the "by their fruits you shall know them" argument (which I think is among the stronger arguments for the record), but I've personally used this to try and find a "correct" religion and what I discovered (personally of course) is that there is good and bad in essentially every religion. Using this as a standard is basically impossible. But if you took it at a high macro level and did narrow down to a few dozen, those are still terrible odds. If I have a 1 in 36 chance of picking the wrong religion and being damned, I think we need a better standard of evidence to narrow this field a bit. Unless of course you believe that a loving (some would say omni-benevolent) God would think it's reasonable to torture 97% of his children who are actively searching him out, just because they picked the wrong church. (that's not even considering all the others of course).
      - em-bee 1y ago
        once you have narrowed it down, it is reasonably realistic to deeply investigate the remaining ones. there is good and bad in essentially every religion have you looked all the major ones listed here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups for me the standard of evidence is the search for the truth. that means, keep searching until i am satisfied. it could take a lifetime, and maybe that's the point. don't just make a choice and then blindly accept everything from then on.
    - Tijdreiziger 1y ago

vkou 1y ago

That's the whole point of faith. You're supposed to believe despite evidence.

philsnow 1y ago
(Which is why, of faith, hope, and charity, only charity will remain with us in heaven / in the beatific vision)
Tijdreiziger 1y ago
Why should you believe despite evidence?
- vkou 1y ago
  Because if you don't, you'll face social ostracism, physical censure, and a promise of deferred spiritual punishment. When those pressures or promises of rewards aren't present, people rarely stumble into any particular religion.

jagged-chisel 1y ago

You have faith that your choice is the right one!

dangus 1y ago
There are approximately 10,000 religions in the world. What brain damage do I have to receive in order to believe that I have any realistic statistical chance of picking the right one?
- em-bee 1y ago
  you don't pick one at random. you pick one that makes sense. what makes sense for example is the positive impact a religion has on the world. which religion is doing the most good? that alone will narrow down the selection to a few dozen if that many. besides the good it does, another question could be: what makes sense to you? which religion has the better answers to explain the world in which we live in today? take the issues and questions that matter to you, and then look at the answers and see if they are satisfactory. keep searching until you find the answers you seek.
  - freedomben 1y ago
    This is the "by their fruits you shall know them" argument (which I think is among the stronger arguments for the record), but I've personally used this to try and find a "correct" religion and what I discovered (personally of course) is that there is good and bad in essentially every religion. Using this as a standard is basically impossible. But if you took it at a high macro level and did narrow down to a few dozen, those are still terrible odds. If I have a 1 in 36 chance of picking the wrong religion and being damned, I think we need a better standard of evidence to narrow this field a bit. Unless of course you believe that a loving (some would say omni-benevolent) God would think it's reasonable to torture 97% of his children who are actively searching him out, just because they picked the wrong church. (that's not even considering all the others of course).
    - em-bee 1y ago
      once you have narrowed it down, it is reasonably realistic to deeply investigate the remaining ones. there is good and bad in essentially every religion have you looked all the major ones listed here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups for me the standard of evidence is the search for the truth. that means, keep searching until i am satisfied. it could take a lifetime, and maybe that's the point. don't just make a choice and then blindly accept everything from then on.
  - Tijdreiziger 1y ago