No, not meaningless. Just because there is no transcendent, supernatural
meaning to life doesn't mean that we cannot *provide* meaning. This, I think,
is one of the central misunderstandings. Strict monotheists, like Jim, are
incapable of understanding a purpose to life without God. That's OK; it really
is. It's his way of seeing the universe, and I respect that. However, his
mistake
is in assuming that, since he can't see a meaning without God, there therefore
cannot *be* a meaning without God. He is displaying a tremendously egocentric
view (which is ironic, since he is arguing that materialism is the philosophy
that should lead to egocentric views), and he is not granting for the fact that
people can see things differently from him and still manage to function
perfectly
well in socieyt.
> You see, there is no literal
> 'spirit' within the human body - that idea is pure nonsense,
> and might I add, completely disproven by science.
I have never said that the idea of the immaterial spirit has been "completely
disproven" by science. I know better than that -- science cannot be used to
make claims about the supernatural (or the existence or nonexistence thereof).
Of course, my personal opinion is that there is no God, there is no "spirit"
in the supernatural sense, and that there isn't *anything* supernatural. But I
recognize that that is merely my opinion, and I may well be wrong.
> When we
> think, the process occurring is analogous to the workings of
> a computer - simply switches turning on and off as the neurons
> constantly tick over.
>
>Monotheist: The concepts of right and wrong cannot consistently exist in
> what you acknowledge is a meaningless world. A certain
> transcendent, objective moral standard is missing from your
> worldview.
There is no such thing as an "objective moral standard". Christianity doesn't
have it any more than materialism does.
_____________________________________________________________
| Russell Stewart |
| http://www.rt66.com/diamond/ |
|_____________________________________________________________|
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | diamond@rt66.com |
|_____________________________|_______________________________|
2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2.