Spidey, You're right. It is pretty simple. But that live-and-let-live exactly is the problem isn't it? [Outside of this forum], most all beliefs, everywhere in the world, in effect try to assert that their Gods are the bestest of the best, and hardly ever leave others with similar beliefs alone. It gets messier, and a lot of ludicrous, painful, outright cruel acts ensue in the name of their belief. And unless more people question the very idea or the rationality of that belief, this belligerence will continue for ever. Don't you think?
Spidey, it is not like non believers /rationalists are holding a picket rally in front of churches and temples and mosques. So why is it that you having a belief system that has a God,is superior to the belief system that does not believe that there is one and while you feel free to throw in your 'God Bless you' and 'God is great' etc at others liberally, you (as in believers) get offended and cry foul when someone disputes or denies the existence of God and expresses their beliefs? And while you peddle all your beliefs with so much certainty, you get offended when someone questions the logic and rationality and validity of those claims? If anything, rationalists do not cry foul or cry blasphemy when someone questions them. And for thousands of years, believers have managed to oppress, marginalize and persecute non believers and now that there are more people questioning these beliefs, they want to cry foul and use the 'Oh you are offending my belief' defence.
I just want to answer to the OP's question here. I was also a non-believer of rebirth, life after death etc. But 2 things changed my opinion, I am just sharing it here. Not asking anybody to agree with me or change their stance. 1.Nadi josiyam - When I gave my finger prints to a nadi josiyam reader, he completely told me life history - My birth, parents name, occupation, siblings details, my age, marriage, DH details, kids details. Everything was accurate. When I asked him how, he said that spirits of rishis actually spoke to people those days about the birth and death of humanity. Also he told that people keep taking rebirths endlessly. 2.Scientology - my friend is into Scientology and goes to auditing. She has progressed so high in that now and is able to dig her memory so deep through those sessions and actually see how she as a spirit chose her mom's womb and how she died in the previous birth and how her life was in the previous birth etc. People who die usually come back to the same family to be with closed ones. These incidents are very very personal to me and I am now leaning towards believing rebirth.
OK. So how do we explain the growing population? If the spirits are recycled through different births, we'd soon reach a state-of-equilibrium in numbers over centuries or whatever; or we'd have to generate exponential numbers of spirits over the last couple centuries in particular, of all millenia of human existence. :spin P.S. I really debated whether to post this, for I did not wish to offend any beliefs, but this question always comes up on thinking about this. And if someone could actually post a rational reply, I'd appreciate it.
Well I am thinking all the dinosaurs and species that became extinct reincarnate as humans LOL Law of conservation of life Life can neither be created nor be destroyed but can only be transformed and reborn from one life form to another life form..
Let's say I'm a theist. This would be my answer to that argument. This is of course Hinduism specific. The eternal soul or the Brahma, from which all souls are derived, is infinite. So say the Vedas and the Bhagwad Gita. You can add or subtract from infinity but the end result will still be infinite. Doesn't that make the number of potential free spirits available infinite? Of course based on this argument it would mean that most of the souls living today are first timers with no past lives to speak of. The souls being recycled are relatively fewer in number considering that the human population has exploded only in the last 200 odd years, specifically the last 50. So technically very very few people should be able to remember/channel/audit their past lives because most of us don't have any!
I dont believe one belief is superior to another belief system. I think to each his/her own. I am not speaking for others, but no I dont get offended if someone questions or discusses. As long as there is a respectful exchange of opinions I wont feel offended. Most reasonable folks wont mind a respectful agree-to-disagree, it is only when there is any ridicule or insult, then people go up in arms. As to why there is a lot of problem in society (with regard to this), there are enough political interests to "fan up" ridicule and insult and cause clashes between belief systems.
By that argument, the soul technically wouldn't have its discrete entity per-se, if it is a part of a larger infinite and it becomes a part of the whole again. So, why would any soul remembering the past make sense - technically, it was never its "own" past, but a past of this infinite whole. So either all souls would remember it, there being very little of yours and mine in it, or none of the souls would remember it, because whatever was yours or mine is no longer there when you again become a part of that whole. Does my argument make sense?
You know what you dont have to be reborn as human always, you can be reborn as animals, birds, reptiles too. Just something I heard.
