Why the idea of the afterlife dichotomy is irrational

(The date and time are dummy values to be updated when the meeting is scheduled.)

Western religion

Western religion encompasses the following four major religions:

• Zoroastrianism — emerged by 600 BCE
• Pharisaic Judaism (now Rabbinic Judaism) — emerged about 200 BCE
• Christianity — emerged in the 00s CE
• Islam — emerged in the 600s CE

The following four concepts first appeared in Zoroastrianism and were eventually assimilated into Pharisaic Judaism, from which they were inherited by Christianity:

• Monotheism
• Satan
• Apocalypticism
• Afterlife dichotomy — heaven vs. hell

Islam took these concepts from Christianity and Pharisaic Judaism.

Afterlife dichotomy

The idea of the afterlife dichotomy has caused great contention among Pharisaic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as to the proper means of salvation from ending up in hell. I'm not aware of Zoroastrianism participating in this contention. The main contention originated in Christianity in the 300s when Constantine favored Christianity and when the Christian church in Rome began suppressing the practice of Judaism and the practice of polytheist religions.

After Islam emerged in the 600s, the main contention was between Christianity and Islam. But after the Reformation of the 1500s emerged, the main contention was between Catholics and Protestants. This contention died down with the European Enlightenment of the mid 1700s, which led to the concept of freedom of religion, as enshrined in amendment 1 of the United States constitution.

Looking back on the period 300-1800, I offer the following conclusion:

• The idea of the afterlife dichotomy has proven to be one of the most destructive ideas ever invented by humans. [Human Life, fig. 12.3 (see end note below for full title of book)]

Disproof of afterlife dichotomy

On February 8 1999, having believed in the afterlife dichotomy since childhood, I was shocked to discover that I could prove that the idea of the afterlife dichotomy is irrational. The problem is that it is irrational to partition a virtue-vice continuum into two discrete categories of virtue vs. vice, heaven vs. hell. I refer to this as the problem of boundary breakdown. I could see that the problem of boundary breakdown would apply to every salvation criterion, thereby proving them all irrational.

In the meeting, I will present these ideas for discussion.

Reference: Philip Bitar, Why Human Life Makes Sense, Edition 5 (2023), chapter 10

Meeting times and locations

Time is PST or PDT, depending on time of year, X = TBD:

X:00 pm in-person — Marysville Library, 2nd meeting-room door on LHS of entrance hallway

X:15 pm online — link to be posted here before meeting

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