"In their innocence, I thought they would go to heaven," Yates told Dr. Lucy Puryear about five weeks after the June 20, 2001, drownings. "I just -- since they were so young," she stammered before trailing off and starting to cry.
Andrea Yates did not believe that killing her children would result in their actual non-existence. Andrea Yates believed in the afterlife - life after death. Andrea Yates believed that death wasn't really death, but just a passageway to another dimension or stage of life.
And that is the problem with life after death and afterlife belief. Such beliefs remove the real meaning from the word "death". Why don't we take a look at the dictionary definition of death:
The act of dying; termination of life.
Death is, by definition, termination of life. The phrase "life after death" becomes meaningless. It's like saying "bachelorhood after marriage".
Of course, many afterlifers will take issue with my use of the dictionary definition. Many afterlifers would respond by saying "death only means termination of life as we know it in this reality" or something of the sort. Well then I ask them in response "then what word would actually describe the termination of life, period? The concept exists, so it needs a word."
And in popular usage, people recognize the dictionary definition of the word death that I quoted. Ask any John Doe on the street if they agree that the word "death" means "termination of life" and they will certainly agree with the definition.
When one believes in the afterlife, then that person cannot believe in "death" or "termination of life". Death becomes redefined to mean something other than "termination of life". Instead it becomes a term to describe a way to achieve a different life, and an allegedly better life.
Andrea Yates recognized as much. She believed that the afterlife would somehow be better than this existence, and she wanted her children to go there. I daresay that Andrea Yates murdered her children out of love. She clearly murdered them because she believed she was helping them, as crazy as that sounds.
And afterlife belief is most definitely crazy. It rules out, a priori, the ability for the existence of an individual's consciousness to be terminated. If belief in the ability for a person to die is removed from one's belief system, then it's hardly wrong, in that person's eyes, to die or to even murder someone. Andrea Yates did what any faithful true Christian should do out of concern for their children: send them to the afterlife - the better life. According to Christianity (and indeed all afterlife beliefs) those kids can't really "die" anyway.
Afterlife belief makes people do crazy things. That's because the afterlife is a crazy belief, and society (somewhat unknowingly) admits as much when it collectively responds with moral outrage at the infanticidal actions of Offspring Murder Club members such as Andrea Yates.
So many Americans share the beliefs of Andrea Yates: belief in a God, in an afterlife, in a blissful Heaven and an agonizing Hell, and belief that death isn't really death, but just a transition to another kind of life. So how do these people justify their condemnation of Yates' actions? Andrea Yates isn't being prosecuted for disobeying God's will, but for taking the lives of her children. She is being prosecuted for her murderous acts to the sovereign individual lives of her children. The only way that Yates’ fellow God-fearing Americans can justify their condemnation of her is through admitting the truth: that death = termination of life or conscious existence, and that there is no afterlife. And the beautiful part is that they implicitly admit this fact when they condemn Yates.
Afterlife belief negates death, and when you ignore the reality of death, you become much more susceptible to it (either by getting yourself killed or killing someone else).
Afterlife belief is anti-family. Afterlife belief is hazardous to the lives of everyone. It's either the afterlife, or us. So let's all go out and kill us some afterlife! Do it for the children!
8 comments:
Aaron, check my newest entry on Goosing. You should appreciate it.
Will do Franc :)
the End Times are nigh...sigh.
http://www.theweekmagazine.com/article.aspx?id=1554
This argument also applies to abortion. Christians believe the souls of aborted fetuses go directly to heaven, so what's the big deal?
Interesting article Cay, thanks.
I think that the end times calls will intensify as religious influence wanes in the west.
Olly,
We don't have to sound off you'll do it for us.
Now to tangents....
Who cares if you throw away this life in the hopes for another. Why should Aaron or Olly care?
What difference does that make in an atheists estimation of the scheme of things. And, for that matter, who can say what Andrea did was wrong.....after all maybe she was just trying to improve her own existence. You can't really blame her for that can you?
Aaron writes:
"Belief in an afterlife devalues the one life that actually exists: this one."
That's a lot of dogma from someone whose foundations are necessarily shifty. I mean come on....can a moral relativist really tell anyone they are devaluing anthing?
You can't have it both ways Aaron. Well I guess you can when anything goes....but again I'm guilty of being an absolutist....so in my estimation you can't have it both ways.
Some would admit that not having it both ways is pretty logical.
But that's it. Isn't it? Atheism thrives on the notion that thought is reality. If ye think it, or ye theroize it, it must be true.
Thus Aaron says that belief in the afterlife is devaluing this life so naturally it is true.....and if I being an atheist claim that nothing has value, I am right too. We're all right! Yippy!
Listen up man, if you are still maintaining this mess of a blog, email me at Snip3rWolf@gmail.com, and be prepared to see all the proof of the existance of an afterlife you need. I'm also happy to point out your general stupidity and arrogance, as well as a clearly biased view, void of rational thought. Again, if interested, email me.
Absolutely! The existence and permanence of death is why Jesus died, and why his resurrection was so astounding. Without the hope of being reanimated in a new and improved form, we are lost/deleted. It is possible to consider the term "saved" (in the Christian sense) to be the same as saved in the computer file sense. A computer program is saved--but it requires a computer to run on. A soul can be saved...but it requires a body to run in. Saying you have an eternal program doesn't make much sense if it doesn't have anything to run on. The pity of not being saved is that your soul program will be deleted.
Apart from Christ, you are completely right.
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