This was from a two-on-two debate with Dr. Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens on one side and Rabbis David Wolpe and Bradley Artson Shavit on the topic of what we do and do not know about the afterlife. The full debate can be found at:
I'm not impressed by Dr Sam Harris' rhetoric at all. His basic argument is that there may be conscious life after death but it can't possibly like anything religious texts say and perhaps some time in the future science will be able to confirm or deny an after life. Christopher Hitchens denied the possibility of life after death completely and instead bemoaned the fact some unscrupulous people use the fear of death to control others cloaked in religion - forgetting that the Bible condemns such action.The Bible refers to them as "wolves in sheep's clothing.
As for the Rabbis, I was really disappointed. The only thing they seemed to disagree with the Atheists about is that religious metaphors of an after life are not harmful. They failed to defend the validity of our own scriptures and stand for the sovereignty of God. Instead they seemed way more secularized and often agreed with the atheists.Becuase they failed tto stand for God, Hitchens and Harris won this one hand down.
Debunking Christianity: Sam Harris On the Brain Vs. the Mind
During my debate with an atheist I likened the mind to software and the brain to hardware.
ReplyDeleteWhen the hardware becomes too damaged, by age or injury, the software can no longer express itself through that medium but that does not mean that the software--the code, the ones and zeros--no longer exist.
I agree. I don't know why Sam Harris doesn't see that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he doesn't see it because there is no evidence that the "mind" is analogous to software. Mariano asserting something doesn't make it so.
ReplyDeleteBut if you insist on sticking with this flawed analogy, I must point out that if the hard drive is physically damaged, the little ones and zeros can in fact go away.
You miss what Mariano said. No surprise. You don't know what software and hardware are. Software tells hardware what to do. If hardware is damaged and can no longer carry out the instructions of the software, that doesn't mean something is flawed with the software - it is still intact.
ReplyDeleteCarrying the analogy further - appropriately - the hardware is our bodies - flesh - brain; that which exists in space that we can interact with via our physical senses. The Software is the mind. Sin is the virus in that software.
WE all need to be reformatted and rebooted. Only Jesus can do that. And When Jesus returns we get an upgrade.
ReplyDelete