This page: What believers call 'spiritual reality' appears to be inconsistent with most single God religions. Christianity and Islam appear to be inconsistent when they deny the reality of personal reincarnation.
Spiritual Warfare is a term that implies that Human Beings have souls, and that we are in spiritual battle against evil spirits, Jinn or Demons, and there are also good spirits. Principally the religions we are interested in state that Demons and Jinn come from Satan, and good spirits and Angels come from God but such distinctions are not relevant in this essay. I have used the word "Materialists" instead of "atheists" as there are branches of atheism that believe in a spirit world.
Friction
Theists find it provocative when atheists deny that there is a spiritual world and call it 'deluded'. Theists feel this is a self righteous insult by science-obsessed materialists. Materialists find it provocative when theists call it a "spiritual reality" and say "materialists deny spiritual reality". Materialists find this is an arrogant and self-righteous insult. Occasionally I feel that each side of this argument purposefully uses words that the other finds annoying. But much of the time it is best to ignore it as they are simply the terms people are brought up to use and they are not necessarily insults. I use the word "spiritual world" in place of "spiritual reality" as I feel "spiritual reality" primarily points to souls, whilst modern theories hold that spirits can exist without the need for souls. Hence the term "Spiritual world" for the type of existence these spirits lead.
Consensus and Experience
Muslims and Christians who believe in a spirit world tend to state that because so many people have experience of entities like this that they must, reasonably, be based on some kind of truth even if it is a truth we don't understand.
People who do not agree that there is an alternative spiritual reality will reject the above argument readily saying that all such occurrences can be explained in terms of culture, psychology, biology and the subconscious. But this results in a stand off: Where materialists and spiritualists are simply assuming that they're each correct. Materialists are assuming that science will not, in the future, discover that Spirits could be true. Spiritualists are assuming that science is wrong: Spirits are not all caused by Human subconscious. Atheists will claim that because we all share common biology and our minds are structured in similar ways that similar kinds of illogical beliefs will surface and that common experiences are results of a common physiological response to normal events. Theists will assume that behind this there is actual spiritual warfare between our own souls and good and evil spirits.
Both sides of the argument feel they are more rational. It cannot be shown which is the correct view. Both sides argue from experience. Materialists say that because they do not assume that such things exist they do not interpret events in spiritual terms and therefore do not experience any spirits, "because they do not exist". Spiritualists say that because they "acknowledge the existence" of spirits that they really do experience them. Both parties experiences are based on their own assumptions and neither will be able to sway the other through logical argument over whether experience is true or not.
This essay, from here, assumes that Human Beings do experience events that can be classified as "spiritual". I would like to show that although monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Islam are wrong in their beliefs, scientists would also be wrong to deny the possibility of the supernatural. Finally, I explain how such phenomenon can be explained even in a scientific and atheistic universe. I conclude that because the phenomenon are explainable without God that they are not proof that God exists even if there is a spiritual world.
When are souls created? How are they created? Monotheistic religions do not believe in re-incarnation and their adherents have not reported pre-birth memories. Therefore, in Christianity, our souls are created and used only once rather than being recycled.
The Birth Process of Life
Egg. Sperm. You know the basics. During fusion, a series of carefully controlled molecular reactions fuse the 2 gamete nuclei together inside the egg after a single sperm has penetrated. The process is well documented. At what point during this process does the soul get created or inserted?
It seems quite ridiculous to pinpoint a particular point in the process and say 'here - this is where the soul is created' as the process is slow and there is no particular or pronounced jump from gamete to stem cell. The chromosomes are mixed gradually. It is not normal for people to say a single cell is conscious or has a soul.
If souls are created when egg and sperm meet then it is logical to assume that all species have souls. This would mean that billions upon billions of souls are wasted, their bodies dying well before any of them get a chance to live any kind of life. This would appear to imply that either continual reincarnation occurs, or life itself is pointless. This is why:
Life is useless
If souls exist and there is no rebirth then it implies that life is useless. At some point the soul will appear. People die during all stages of life. I will mention those who die a very brief moment after their soul appears. If it possible for these beings to reach their fate (heaven or Paradise) in the same way as living souls after only having exist for a brief moment it implies that all of life is pointless and without meaning or worth. This is because the final destination is the same for very short lived lives and drawn out ones. In fact in many religions those who die very young are in a better position and according to some Christians babies go immediately to heaven. We might as well all start off dead, and not bother with life at all. It would be humane to kill all of our children in order to ensure their entrance to Paradise. This is not an acceptable conclusion.
or
Reincarnation occurs
If resurrection was true, souls would not be pointless and fleeting. These quick deaths would be insignificant compared to the grand scheme.
Related pages:
Supernatural Phenomena of Willpower do not reqiure the existence of souls:
"Quantum soul, carnal Will power, even life after death and spirits could be explained through (occult) science without the need for a God to exist. God would not be an automatic assumption merely if we found that "spirits" exist.Magic can be explained through two separate methods both of which do not require either good or evil forces, but natural scientific causes:
Ghosts and communication with the dead can be explained in terms of electromagnetic patterns, Chaos theory and Quantum Physics (aside from the normal explanation of delusion)."
"Souls: Supernaturalism without Souls" by Vexen Crabtree 2004
There are many ways of explaining the world and God only need exist if you assume it does. Except for the assumption there is no reason that God needs to exist: Everything seems to be explainable without God. The added assumption that God exists adds complications and complexities to reality that are necessary. God has all the hallmarks of something that doesn't exist.
Souls don't exist
Not only are the affects of supernatural willpower due to natural patterns of forces, not souls, but whatever we mean by the word "soul" is not a logical reality.
"God doesn't need souls in order to control our consciousness, God can revive and restore our consciousness as it sees fit. The existence of immaterial souls is not required to explain any supernatural phenomenon or magical events associated with willpower or even life after death. There are insurmountable problems with the physics of how souls would interact with our bodies. Souls do not exist and have no reason to exist.""Souls: Supernaturalism without Souls" by Vexen Crabtree 2004
"Abstract thought allows us to take things to extremes. We can feel love for people who we have never seen based on their personality and communication alone. The communication medium is irrelevant. Due to our increasing capacity for empathy, we feel that others love us in return and feel we are in touch with their emotions. This is based on the feelings we have towards them, based on our own abstract thought and these are all in turn all based on our assumptions on the relationship between what is real and what is abstract.It is possible to create an abstract personality, based on abstract thought processes, like politics and religion, but based around a concept or idea. Frequently, the conclusion we feel when we do this is that we are looking at God himself.
Our need for unconditional love, our abstract philosophical minds and the way our very emotions and world view are led by our abstract representations of what we think is real can conspire to create in our minds an abstract source of love. Something we want and need since youth, and something that can frequently be lacking. The all-loving abstract god, the all-knowing and all-powerful being that we create in our minds matches all of those abstract ideas we attribute with our parents while young "
Conclusion on God
If we reject reincarnation and the experiences people have of reincarnation/past lives and explain them away using psychology and chemistry then exactly the same principle should be used on the experience of Good and Evil spirits: The conclusion is that based on the evidence either Reincarnation is true or monotheism is false. It is unlikely we can accept one set of experience and reject the other as the amount of records for both beliefs are very great. As spirits and the supernatural can be explained in an atheistic universe, using the Quantum Soul, Solipsism or Chaos Theory, it seems that God is not necessary for even the parts of the supernatural that may be true.
Conclusion on reincarnation
Reincarnation, without God, requires the existence of souls. With God, it does not. If we accept that science refutes the existence of souls then if reincarnation is true God(s) must exist.
If we accept that spiritual experience is a result of Human nature and physiology then we can reject any argument from experience that there is a spirit world as we accept that such experiences are scientifically dismissible.
If we accept that souls and reincarnation exist, but God does not, we are accepting some extreme and occult Quantum Soul theories that have yet to be taken seriously in the academic world.
In my mind I accept that out of the two conclusions:
or
I know that my reasons are emotional rather than intellectual. My emotions and occam's razor tell me the second is more likely.
By Vexen Crabtree 2002 Sep 16