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Doctors Claim Suspended Animation Success
Philoneist.com writes to tell us the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that US doctors have developed a process to induce hypothermia in trauma patients, shutting down their bodily functions for up to three hours. The process has been proven about 90% effective in trials with pigs and now the doctors would like the go ahead to test it on humans who would "probably die" under normal care.
I'm a Christ follower but I have many problems with Christianity and the overall Body of the church. Your questions are some of the more frustrating ones because the average Christian is so holier than thou when they answer it.
I like to ask other Christians:
Why they celebrate birthdays and not conception days (they're so adamant at trying to control non-believers definitions of "life").
Why they believe one ascends to heaven immediately upon a man saying they are dead.
Why they believe that one who has no brain activity but body life might still be considered alive on this earth.
The answers to all three questions are basically: we shouldn't, we won't, and we will never push our views on non-believers. The Bible is pretty strict about holding other believers accountable for their actions, but we should be leaving the rest of the world alone.
I know what you mean. I ask why he would allow there to be anything bad in the world. Free will doesn't cover it.
People who say that aren't really thinking about that God supposedly created *everything*-- not just the Earth and its creatures, but dark and light, up and down, good and evil, happiness, laughter, spleens, hydrogen, etc. Why not just create the universe so that there is no bad, no evil, nothing to ever be upsetting?
If one responds to this suggestion by saying that this would make the world seem dull or pointless... well... God didn't have to create dullness or boredom or pointlessness either. If one responds by saying that God only brings the righteous to Heaven and the Earth is our proving ground... why did God have to make wickedness and bad people? Why not make everything wonderful for everyone all the time forever? Everyone would be worthy of heaven... or heck, put everyone on there to begin with!
I can't think of any reason that God would make the universe where bad things could happen to anyone, unless (A) he made mistakes and didn't intend for the bad things, (B) he actually wants to screw with us/watch some of us fail, or (C) he's not the only one in control.
In any of these cases, God wouldn't be what the Bible suggests, and also he wouldn't really be reliable to come through on this whole heaven thing.
It's not that I don't want to believe in God... I'd love to know that there is a place I go after I die that is even better than living. But it makes no sense that God created a universe like this. It makes no sense that people like murderers and adulterers and rapists make God sad and angry... if he didn't think up these concepts and incorporate them into his universe, they wouldn't even be there.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
I think because singing "Happy Fuckday to You" just isn't very family-friendly, when you get down to it.
Only in puritanical societies is sex a family un-friendly thing. Sex is the reason we have families. Without it, there's no offspring, and no families. It's ironic that people will adopt such deep close-mindedness that the very thing that is reponsible for their existence is deemed dirty and unworthy of being discussed in a family.
It's that mind-bending lack clear thinking that makes me an x-xtian.