Some of you guys post very interesting angles in this thread, and I
have enjoyed them imensely. Corrie's faith in his religion and
willingness to debate is admirable, Eric's excellent logic is
stunning. Old Cop hit the nail on the head pointing out that religion
does indeed serve an important tranqualizing purpose in life; indeed
it has withstood the test of time. All human races partake in worship
of some sort.

But let me develope my "double-sided" coin theory a little further.
Inevitably, a discussion like this always includes elements of
life-after-death. Life, again to me, is a very relative thing. My
animals have brains and feelings and moods... Does my dog go to a
heaven? How about my really retarded nieghbor? How about a co-joined
at the head infant that dies in the seperation attempt? The
difference between all of these is primarily body to brain weight
ratio, and interactive developement of same. (other evolutionary
factors, dna, etc also play in too.)

I agree with Eric that everything in this universe, no matter how
complex, can be distilled down to simple physics, chemistry, etc;
elementary elements with complex relationships that if we had enough
time and money, could be described and demistified. I mean if I had
enough time and money, I could build a practical mach.80, pressurized
single engine jet in my hangar. So what is love, death, faith, etc.
I believe these are complex chemical reactions within your brain that
give you your being; your soul; your conscience. This beleif, while
sophisticated, does not contradict the original dead sea scrolls, or
any other faith for that matter.

Let me tell you why I believe this is true. All life forms measure
time differently. To a mayfly, who lives out his whole life in a
single day, 24 hours is a lifetime. But to me there aren't enough
minutes in the day to get anything done on my airplane. A day is
nothing. To my computer, (granted never will be an intelligent life
form since it runs MS products) nanoseconds are a lot of time to
carry out instructions in the CPU. Einstien's relativity in a
biochemical application. And then it seems, that the measurement of
time can change within the same organism. During a checkride or
harrowing event, I can attest, time slows way down for me. It seems
like it takes forever.

I suspect that when we die, the mechanism that measures time is
altered. As your brain decomposes, seconds turn to years, minutes
turn to infinity. You indeed do suffer in a hell of guilt if you've
been a telemarketer or lawyer all your life. OTH if you are happy
with who you were in life, and how you treated others, and how they
viewed you, and only believe in a fantasic afterlife.... you decay in
bliss. It lasts forever to you, because time keeps slowing down as
measured by your O2 starved brain, so your "soul" never even makes it
to the funeral. It's stuck without sensory or time input in a coma
forever. (but I'll have to ask Dead Ed about this theory to confirm
its plausibility. ;-)

This would mean that both camps are partly correct in their "faiths."
The athiest is right that all things are physical, and the devote
religious follower is right to want "last rights" from a priest to
get his mind right before he gets stuck into low gear nano-second
time.

pac "lie in a box" plyer
(email and spellchecker are inop. Thanks Bill Gates.)