DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
I'm an atheist, but many of my friends and loved ones are not, so I have developed a respect for people and viewpoints that are not my own. Just setting the stage, so you know where I stand and don't have to second-guess any agenda I may have.
I listen to a 70's station a lot, and they play the song 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', where Johnny bets his soul. It got me thinking.
I do not have a soul. No one does. But do I have the courage of my convictions that I would willingly sign it away, knowing it's an empty contract, written by a fool?
I posit a scenario:
You spend an evening with your friends with good wine and good food, talking about all sorts of philosophical things. You get into an animated discussion with them about the notion of God and souls and you find yourself vehemently and confidently defending your assertions against an onslaught of pro-god arguments (whether they are sincere or merely Devil's Advocate arguments is a matter of how well you know your friends).
As the night wears on, eventually discussion peters out. Your friends all drift off home or to sleep, leaving you with just one close friend. He re-opens the discussion, oddly mischievously, like he's a whole different person than you knew. With a twinkle in his eye, he asks how strong your beliefs really are and, out of his smoking jacket, pulls a scroll and puts it in front of you to read. In a nutshell, it says he will give you riches beyond your wildest dreams of avarice if you simply sign on the dotted line in your own blood. The catch of course, is that the Devil will "take your eternal soul" when you die.
Now, nothing supernatural has actually occurred. I could very well pull that whole thing off as a lark at the upcoming Hallowe'en party. What I'm saying is: this is not a surreal or hypothetical scenario, it could certainly happen, just as I say.
You know he is full of it. He's not the Devil, since the Devil does not exist, and you have no soul, so there's no harm in signing the contract, since there's no such thing as a soul. The only thing he is really asking of you is to demonstrate how strongly you stand behind your belief that you have no such thing as a soul. He gives you a (sterile) sharp to prick your finger and a quill to write with.
Do you sign?
(I've deliberately only provided only yes/no options - no waffling. Quibble as long as you want, get all the answers you need. When all is said and done, do you sign, or do you walk?)
I listen to a 70's station a lot, and they play the song 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', where Johnny bets his soul. It got me thinking.
I do not have a soul. No one does. But do I have the courage of my convictions that I would willingly sign it away, knowing it's an empty contract, written by a fool?
I posit a scenario:
You spend an evening with your friends with good wine and good food, talking about all sorts of philosophical things. You get into an animated discussion with them about the notion of God and souls and you find yourself vehemently and confidently defending your assertions against an onslaught of pro-god arguments (whether they are sincere or merely Devil's Advocate arguments is a matter of how well you know your friends).
As the night wears on, eventually discussion peters out. Your friends all drift off home or to sleep, leaving you with just one close friend. He re-opens the discussion, oddly mischievously, like he's a whole different person than you knew. With a twinkle in his eye, he asks how strong your beliefs really are and, out of his smoking jacket, pulls a scroll and puts it in front of you to read. In a nutshell, it says he will give you riches beyond your wildest dreams of avarice if you simply sign on the dotted line in your own blood. The catch of course, is that the Devil will "take your eternal soul" when you die.
Now, nothing supernatural has actually occurred. I could very well pull that whole thing off as a lark at the upcoming Hallowe'en party. What I'm saying is: this is not a surreal or hypothetical scenario, it could certainly happen, just as I say.
You know he is full of it. He's not the Devil, since the Devil does not exist, and you have no soul, so there's no harm in signing the contract, since there's no such thing as a soul. The only thing he is really asking of you is to demonstrate how strongly you stand behind your belief that you have no such thing as a soul. He gives you a (sterile) sharp to prick your finger and a quill to write with.
Do you sign?
(I've deliberately only provided only yes/no options - no waffling. Quibble as long as you want, get all the answers you need. When all is said and done, do you sign, or do you walk?)
