The part where this connects to the bible and the afterlife is that Jesus attempted to give a compassionate moral framework to people who weren’t being taught that by any one at all. He’s the Louis Pasteur of the soul and you’re speaking as if the knowledge of bacteria was always self evident to anyone who cared to think about it for a minute.
If your point is that Jesus taught good morals to people, then I agree, assuming you can even trust that those stories from the Bible are true. Although I think it’s wrong to assume Jesus was the first person to teach a similar moral framework. The Golden Rule existed and was taught broadly long before Jesus ever lived.
But I believe the point you are arguing is stronger than that. From your first comment, it sounded like your point is that believing in an afterlife is critical to discovering morality, and that is a teaching of the Bible (and Jesus?) which I disagree with.
The Golden Rule is a wonderful thing IMO, at least as a principle to be used with judgement. But the religious baggage can be shed without losing the value of that moral principle; I don’t need to believe in Christianity or an afterlife to agree with the Golden Rule.
it sounded like your point is that believing in an afterlife is critical to discovering morality, and that is a teaching of the Bible (and Jesus?) which I disagree with.
My point was more or less the other way around; believing in an afterlife makes discovering morality critical. Morality exists independently and is valued independently of the afterlife.
If there happens to be an afterlife it would be excellent if it self sorted the groups into similar personality types, where the moral get to hang out together and be moral while the immoral spend time tearing one another to shreds.
If there isn’t an afterlife but life has been satisfactory living morally is probably the best bet for a pleasant transition into oblivion; satisfying memories and a willingness to let go of earthly attachments would go strongly towards keeping ones final moments from being an anxious wretched mess.
If your point is that Jesus taught good morals to people, then I agree, assuming you can even trust that those stories from the Bible are true. Although I think it’s wrong to assume Jesus was the first person to teach a similar moral framework. The Golden Rule existed and was taught broadly long before Jesus ever lived.
But I believe the point you are arguing is stronger than that. From your first comment, it sounded like your point is that believing in an afterlife is critical to discovering morality, and that is a teaching of the Bible (and Jesus?) which I disagree with.
The Golden Rule is a wonderful thing IMO, at least as a principle to be used with judgement. But the religious baggage can be shed without losing the value of that moral principle; I don’t need to believe in Christianity or an afterlife to agree with the Golden Rule.
My point was more or less the other way around; believing in an afterlife makes discovering morality critical. Morality exists independently and is valued independently of the afterlife.
If there happens to be an afterlife it would be excellent if it self sorted the groups into similar personality types, where the moral get to hang out together and be moral while the immoral spend time tearing one another to shreds.
If there isn’t an afterlife but life has been satisfactory living morally is probably the best bet for a pleasant transition into oblivion; satisfying memories and a willingness to let go of earthly attachments would go strongly towards keeping ones final moments from being an anxious wretched mess.