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For Father Reese' sake, I hope there's more to his faith than "romanticism", for, if not, it sounds as if his faith is only in his ability to be romantic unto death, not in God.

As for myself, I believe in One God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church.

For more than 15 years (from childhood into adulthood) I was an atheist, because I could not believe the seemingly incredible stories I heard in my Catholic elementary and high schools. As many of the commenters here have said, the available evidence I was willing to recognize as such was pretty thin. I am a realist, and without any reasonable proof of a non-material aspect to reality, I would not believe in it.

Then, God presented me with such evidence. On a challenge from a friend who wanted martial arts training at no cost, I began attending a free class in Tai Chi Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. I continued to be a regular attendee even after my friend stopped coming. After about a year, I began to have spontaneous, unanticipated, and unsolicited psychic experiences: knowing specifically what another person knew or was thinking, "seeing" future events before they happened, etc. [By the way, these are considered only gifts and distractions - not ends in themselves - by those advanced in meditational practices.] Having been given such reasonable experiential evidence, I began to review all existing spiritual belief systems (Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.), and was gradually led back to Christianity, then to Roman Catholicism.

I now realize there is a great deal of very reasonable evidence for the truth of Christianity that I refused to accept because of my inability to think clearly. For example, Jesus' apostles - otherwise insignificant and mostly uneducated men - willingly led lives of peaceful selflessness and sacrifice, and were persecuted and executed for not retracting when given the chance their publicly-stated belief in Jesus' physical resurrection. Jesus' resurrection certainly was such a great truth to them that they would not trade their earthly lives for it. For starters, I recommend you read the writings of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Frank Sheed, and Peter Kreeft.

Because of my experience of God leading out of my atheism to Himself, I know God is ready to speak to any person who wants to converse with Him, who is willing to listen to Him. So, if you sincerely want to know God, then continue to faithfully seek Him, and He surely will - in His own time, not yours - keep His promise to "...stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me." [Rev 3:20]

Tho. Williams says "IF" Christ and "IF" the Gospels, then the answer is yes. Those are a couple of very big "IF"s --- and of course other relgions offer much the same (e.g. "IF" Mohammaned and "IF" the Koran, the Hindus have their on "IF" their diety and "IF" their Holy Book, etc...).

Alas, as has been pointed out by others on this blog and elsewhere --- the evidence to support any of the assertions of these various relgions do not really add up to support their claims.

Very, very sad. As I feel mortaility creepting up on me I certainly understand the human need to feel that life (self awareness etc..) will continue past biological life ends.

I believe in life after death because Jesus Christ taught such and promised it in the Gospels. If one believes in Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of The Father and in the veracity of the Gospels the question has to be answered with a resounding "yes."

Father Thomas Williams
St. John's Orthodox Church
Rapid City, South Dakota

Sorry Tom Williams, your feelings, your just saying so, even multiple times, don't make it so.

You need evidence, and the more extreme the claim all the more solid evidence is also needed. The Bible, Koran, etc..., just do not hold up under thoughtful analysis (from logical, historical, and even ethical analysis).

For a start, check out the Skeptics Annotated Bible (and Koran) at this web link:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Father Thomas Williams,

So thou sayest -

But people say all kinds of things.

How many of them are true?

And where's their evidence?

There is life after death because Christ tells us so over and over in the Gospels. He appeared to His Apostles and Disciples after His death. If we accept the Gosepls while believing in Jesus Christ the question is answered for us by Christ Himself.

Father Thomas Williams
St. John's Orthodox Church
Rapid City, South Dakota

There is life after death because Christ tells us so over and over in the Gospels. He appeared to His Apostles and Disciples after His death. If we accept the Gosepls while believing in Jesus Christ the question is answered for us by Christ Himself.

Father Thomas Williams
St. John's Orthodox Church
Rapid City, South Dakota

There is life after death because Christ tells us so over and over in the Gospels. He appeared to His Apostles and Disciples after His death. If we accept the Gosepls while believing in Jesus Christ the question is answered for us by Christ Himself.

Father Thomas Williams
St. John's Orthodox Church
Rapid City, South Dakota

There is life after death because Christ tells us so over and over in the Gospels. He appeared to His Apostles and Disciples after His death. If we accept the Gosepls while believing in Jesus Christ the question is answered for us by Christ Himself.

Father Thomas Williams
St. John's Orthodox Church
Rapid City, South Dakota

To/ Brothers & Sisters....As all good people to knowing God one must be equal with God,not the grovling snivling fools that you having become. You but allow others to brainwash as abuse that you become as servants to man, an prisoner unto their deceit cunning.God having no need or wish that you come a begging as a dog,unto its master to obey on call.Get off your knees.Stand before God as your equal,thus win your freedom....Your BROTHER in ARMS..LUCIFER xxx X

To/ Brothers & Sisters....As all good people to knowing God one must be equal with God,not the grovling snivling fools that you having become. You but allow others to brainwash as abuse that you become as servants to man, an prisoner unto their deceit cunning.God having no need or wish that you come a begging as a dog,unto its master to obey on call.Get off your knees.Stand before God as your equal,thus win your freedom....Your BROTHER in ARMS..LUCIFER xxx X

Your faith aside, you sound depressed, Mr. Reese. I encourage you to find a licensed professional counselor and talk to them. One hour of talk therapy per week can work wonders on our emotional health.

"Without life after death, life is not a romance it is a sick tragedy, a cosmic joke." Tom Reese.

Let me put in my 2 cents worth along with what others (including the cut and paste copy job from Sam Harris' work --- posters that do such cut and paste job should, to be honest, provide a footnote) have provided.

Now for my take on this. I agree with Tom Reese's *feelings*. I've thought this for some time before ever reading him. I've thought it the basis motivating the New Testament --- the Old Testament's picture of the deity is one that is cruel and barbaric and generally irrational (e.g. animal sacrifice, taking as sex slaves the young women of brutally conquered tribes, slavery in general, etc...) and thus needed to be re-invented in some way or another. Moreover, Reese's response is in a way an answer to the riddle of the Problem of Evil (i.e. Why does an Omni-potent, Omni-present, Omni-benevolent --- generally the deity of Western Civilization --- allow for such things as birth defects, childhood cancer, etc.).

But unfortunately, my *feelings* (or those of Mr. Reese, or anybody else) do not mean this is a part of reality. Regretfully, the evidence to support these extraordinary feelings/conjectures/theories etc. mush have matching extraordinary evidence. Sadly, *very, very sadly*, such evidence seems to be lacking from all the religions that I've heard of to support their points of view. I can only hope that it is true, but it is only that, hope without evidence except for the extreme cruelty of it not being true.

Well, wish I could have put that better, not entirely satisfied with it, but that is my two cents worth.

Wayne,
I think you might be on to something. :-)
Well put!

Regards,
Realist

Thomas Baum,

Thank you for your kind comment.

As for God, I hope you're right...

Best wishes.

TO NORRIE HOYT AND THE REST OF THE WORLD: There is more to reality then the senses will tell us. Also God is a lot nicer than a lot of people that call themselves "christian" would lead people to believe. Hope you are doing fine. Take care. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

Father Reese writes:

" Without life after death, life is not a romance it is a sick tragedy, a cosmic joke."

Robert Frost wrote:

"Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me."

Seems to me they're on the same wavelength.

What to do? As usual, Frost has the answer:

"Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with."

In other words, when the time to die comes, die.

End of story - end of life's poem.

Lights out. Others will see the sunrise - for a time.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are forms of socially sanctioned lunacy, their fundamental tenets and rituals irrational, archaic and more importantly when it comes to matters of humanity’s long-term survival, mutually incompatible. There are names for people who have beliefs for which there is no rational justification. When their beliefs are extremely common, we call them ‘religious’; otherwise, they are likely to be called ‘mad,’ ‘psychotic’ or ‘delusional.’ ‘’ To cite but one example: ‘’Jesus Christ—who, as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death and rose bodily into the heavens—can now be eaten in the form of a cracker. A few Latin words spoken over your favorite Burgundy, and you can drink his blood as well. Is there any doubt that a lone subscriber to these beliefs would be considered mad?’’ The danger of religious faith is that it allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy.’’

Criticizing a person’s faith is currently taboo in every corner of our culture. On this subject, liberals and conservatives have reached a rare consensus: religious beliefs are simply beyond the scope of rational discourse. Criticizing a person’s ideas about God and the afterlife is thought to be impolitic in a way that criticizing his ideas about physics or history is not.’’

A zippered-lip policy would be fine, a pleasant display of the neighborly tolerance that we consider part of an advanced democracy, if not for the mortal perils inherent in strong religious faith. The terrorists who flew jet planes into the World Trade Center believed in the holiness of their cause. The Christian apocalypticists who are willing to risk a nuclear conflagration in the Middle East for the sake of expediting the second coming of Christ believe in the holiness of their cause. Such fundamentalists are not misinterpreting their religious texts or ideals. They are not defaming or distorting their faith. To the contrary, they are taking their religion seriously, attending to the holy texts on which their faith is built. Unhappily for international community, the Good Books that undergird the world’s major religions are extraordinary anthologies of violence and vengeance, celestial decrees that infidels must die.

In the 21st century when swords have been beaten into megaton bombs, the persistence of ancient, blood-washed theisms that emphasize their singular righteousness and their superiority over competing faiths poses a genuine threat to the future of humanity, if not the biosphere: ‘’We can no longer ignore the fact that billions of our neighbors believe in the metaphysics of martyrdom, or in the literal truth of the book of Revelation,’’ he writes, ‘’because our neighbors are now armed with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.’’

I have a particular ire for religious moderates, those who ‘’have taken the apparent high road of pluralism, asserting the equal validity of all faiths’’ and who ‘’imagine that the path to peace will be paved once each of us has learned to respect the unjustified beliefs of others.’’ Religious moderates are the ones who thwart all efforts to criticize religious literalism. By preaching tolerance, they become intolerant of any rational discussion of religion and ‘’betray faith and reason equally.’’

The human need for a mystical dimension to life like mysticism and other forms of knowledge, can be approached rationally and explored with the tools of modern neuroscience, without recourse to superstition and credulity.

At this time Islam is the reigning threat to humankind. Much like a gruesome, Inquisition-style Christianity of the 13th century only leads us to believe not all cultures are at the same stage of moral development,’’ I couldn’t help but think of Ann Coulter’s morally developed suggestion that we invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert their citizens to Christianity.

I will say this of Faith: it has been the foundation of every religion, every cult, every sect, every religious terrorist organization that desired to gain advocates whose will greatly exceeded their intelligence. When a religion asks that its followers believe all that it declares, and to do so without evidence, it speaks volumes of the intent and meaning of that religion. These churches, temples and mosques, they will keep their followers in the shadows of millennium past. Evolution is still howled as the great enemy of faith. It simply has the greatest following of scientists and evidence. It's not scientifically that any religion has ever tried to debunk Evolution. They brought forth no evidence. They claimed no new discoveries. Their only tactic was to point to tattered and very old scriptures -- to flip through the pages, and read the rancid words, almost as if they were pure gold. Faith does not require investigation, or evidence, or demonstration, or observation, or logical deductions. It simply requires that a person believe, in spite of what evidence may say: it requires that a person blindfolds themselves when demonstration is shown, to use earplugs when anyone speaks of logic, and to turn away at every reason for them to believe what Faith tells them is wrong. Those cults and sects which have utilized violence for the realization of their apocalyptic future -- they required nothing but the willpower and a great deal of Faith.

"Moses" Baum,

Please take video during your next god conference.

TO HENRY JAMES: I didn't receive a telegram, I met God and God sure is a lot nicer than anyone would gather from what some of the people who call themselves "christian" present Him to be. Take care, be ready, see you in the Kingdom. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

Dear Mr Baum

I just received a telegram informing me that Jesus was NOT god incarnate,
lovely man though he was.

A sick tragedy...or a miracle, to be appreciated and experienced fully while it's available. Your choice.

TO HENRY JAMES: You wrote, "When was Jesus born?
(loving teacher and morally empathetic man, btw)", I would add He is also God-Incarnate. God is a Trinity of One, I have met the Trinity. God's Plan is for All of His children to be with Him in the Kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth, and His Plan is unfolding in His Time. God is not a He or a She or an it but Pure Love. God-Incarnate though was a Man, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, the Chosen People. They are the Chosen People for the simple reason that God chose them, it doesn't mean they are better or anything like that just the Chosen People. Take care, be ready, see you in the Kingdom. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

"If God loves us, then I think he would want to meet us face to face, not just through a glass darkly."

Feh. The LAST thing a god would want is to meet us face to face.

To the Blessed Virgin Mary
(traditional Jesuit prayer)
We humbly beseech you, O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and protectress of our order, to obtain for us a heart according to the heart of the divine Son, that we who are called to this Society may rejoice in our holy vocation, and by your intercession experience his grace and assistance to be always with us.
Amen.

Life is it's own reward, and organized religion is the cosmic joke.

as a practicing buddhist i LOVE father reese

but i must lovingly say that his reasons for believing in an afterlife and the kind of god that would guarantee it are,
to use a technical term of literary criticism

Pathetic. (look it up).

Virtually all such "explanations" boil down to
"i believe it because i want to believe it, and it is too painful not to believe it."

well folks, and father, we
need to GROW UP
and accept the fact that we are going to die
with all the rich meaning that entails
which we buddhists have been explaining for 2500 years.
When was Jesus born?
(loving teacher and morally empathetic man, btw)

A loving God who created us wants to be with us again. As we grow spiritually on earth we become better people. Like wine we get better with age. Becoming more loving leads us to a better match with Pure love.

Many of the comments thus far have been an attack on Rev. Reese and fail to provide any constructive analysis. It's unfortunate considering that questions surrounding life after death, faith, God, and religion are ones that hopefully cause much contemplation for each individual.
That being said, I do not have a problem with Reese's conclusion (that there is a "happy ending"). I do have a problem with how he arrived at that conclusion. It seems in a lot of ways that Reese believes that Heaven as an after life is necessitated by the fact that there's a lot of sucky stuff on Earth—that people who have suffered deserve better. He uses the hope of a future reunion with God as a way to pacify his own fears and troubles. He NEEDS to believe in Heaven in order to survive Earth. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it's a lousy argument in this instance.
What I hope, is that people through self-examination and a thorough exploration of empirical evidence, find a belief that they believe with their logical selves.
I've found that most dogmatic religion does not provide these kinds of beliefs. What does and what also provides pacification is a belief in the universal connectedness of mankind and the inherent goodness of people.

I'm not a hippie love child-- I was born in '87 and raised Catholic.

TO HUMANITY: I know that God is real and if God was even remotely like what some of the people that call themselves "christian" then what is reality would be infinitely worse than the meaninglessness of pure chance. Take care, be ready, see you in the Kingdom. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

TO NAT EHRLICH: You wrote, "If Man is created in God's image, why are we not all just and loving?", and I respond, because we have free will. God is Love, Pure Love and just because we are made in His Image does not mean that we reflect that Image, we do have a fallen nature but we are not puppets or robots. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

But then if god is created in man's image...I understand why the god of Abraham's cult is such an evil bastard.

We may be on to something!

The delusion is strong with you, Obi Wan.

I've often wondered if the fantasy world the religionists live in during their short time on Earth ends at death, or if it continues in a new fantasy world.

Based on this column, I wouldn't ask Rev Reese what brand of soda to buy, let alone look to him for guidance for life's real challenges.

Our panelist writes: "Without life after death, life is not a romance it is a sick tragedy, a cosmic joke."

It's all the more romantic for the short time that it endures.

I'm so sorry for you that your life is so empty that it holds no meaning without a warm and fuzzy fairy tale to believe in. Perhaps you should try a more life affirming profession.

Believe what you want. I have been dead and resuscitated, and I can assure you that if there is an afterlife, it takes more than a few minutes to reach it. Is God just too busy to tend to the newly dead, or what.

Ironically, last night's (October 9th) episode of House, M.D., had the protagonist test the theory by electrocuting himself -- nearly permanently -- and reaching the same conclusion.(Incidentally, as a baptized Catholic, who has never seen the inside of a confessional, I should have been in Hell since January 27th, 2001).
If Man is created in God's image, why are we not all just and loving?

Believe what you want. I have been dead and resuscitated, and I can assure you that if there is an afterlife, it takes more than a few minutes to reach it. Is God just too busy to tend to the newly dead, or what.

Ironically, last night's (October 9th) episode of House, M.D., had the protagonist test the theory by electrocuting himself -- nearly permanently -- and reaching the same conclusion.(Incidentally, as a baptized Catholic, who has never seen the inside of a confessional, I should have been in Hell since January 27th, 2001).
If Man is created in God's image, why are we not all just and loving?

Well reasoned! wishful thinking always wins the day!

"still too many people suffer from injustice. Not only that, life is filled with disappointment and disaster even without injustice. Without life after death, life is not a romance it is a sick tragedy, a cosmic joke."

Many of us see that life can also be filled with love, hope, and joy, and if we only get this one limited shot at life, making it a good one becomes even more important. Jesus focused on peace love and the good in people (even the unsavory types like tax collectors); why do his professed followers seem so determined to focus on the negatives of this life? Why does their rhetoric stray so far from the object lesson on how to live and focus one's energies which was Jesus' life?

Would a just and loving God want It's creations to be living lives based on hope of communing with It, or filling their lives with advancing the actions of love? Wouldn't your time be better spent working to aleviate the injustice, disapointment and disasters that many in the world suffer?

You call your self a priest, but sound like a selfish toddler. Grow up. I doubt your 'just and loving God' really misses you that much, that your work here is more important. If love requires presence, then those who know God are the only presence that can communicate that love here, on this earth, and that communication should be your goal, and your reward.