B (41:13)
It is true that evolution has a reason for implanting within us a moral sense, and that many things humans deem right will allow more people to survive and therefore pass on their genes. But there are many things that do not fit that, such as child molestation or slavery, yet we still consider them evil. Evolution does not care about pain and suffering. In terms of evolution, the only question is, am I capable of passing along my genes to children who can do the same? Anything that doesn't affect that is irrelevant to natural selection. There are behaviors that are beneficial when a majority of humans do them, but nothing is right or wrong. But I believe that right and wrong are as real as anything. If that is the case, there is already something outside of testable science in existence. Also, our ability to sense such a thing must come from somewhere other than chaotic natural selection. If one is driving along and sees a series of rocks spelling out danger cliff ahead, one can decide whether somebody is responsible for such a sign, or if the rocks randomly fell to resemble such a message. Not at all likely, but hypothetically possible. What a person cannot do, though, is feel the rocks fell that way by chance and still expect the message to reflect reality. Similarly, for us to assume our ability to sense right from wrong points to a real thing. Such a sense must come from some other source than the unthinking random forces of the universe. And a force that has intentions that affected the nature of mankind and that is concerned with matters of right and wrong, begins to seem very much like some kind of supreme being or God, doesn't it? If you have followed the argument so far, we can go on to explore the likelihood of some sort of afterlife. If right and wrong exist at all, the Supreme Being must be subject to them as well. While we can imagine many features of the universe being different, good and evil are not interchangeable any more than it's possible that 2, 2, 5. Even if you ascribe absolute power to this being, as many religions do, such a being still cannot do literal nonsense, so this being cannot have decided what is right or wrong and so must be governed by them. Therefore, a being or force that created us owes us justice and fairness. This life is clearly not always just and fair, and justice inconsistently applied is not justice at all. So there must be some sort of existence other than this one in order for this being to give us all justice. An existence where our actions in the present world have fair consequences. Keep in mind that even as a Christian, I'm not talking about heaven and hell, as many people seem to conceive of them. No eternal torture or unchanging reward beyond giving us justice for our actions in this world. I have no real idea what the next existence is like. I suspect that given our physical brains, we have a finite amount of computing power. Even if we were shown another existence, we would not understand it, at least not in our present form. We must remain in major ways who we are, though, because there is no justice in applying consequences to one being for the actions of another. As I don't know what the next world will be like, I don't know that I can fully say what the purposes of this life are other than to say that doing good is the the single most important thing. Perhaps the skills and knowledge we acquire here will be useful, but who knows? I don't even know whether or not we will be reunited with our loved ones. But I sincerely hope that is the case. My sister, my only sibling and best friend, died of leukemia at age 21. Of course, I have moments of doubt and worry that I will never see my sister again. I cannot speak for you, but in my case, I have to recognize that this feeling comes from fear and and not from any new piece of evidence making me rethink the odds. By the same token, I sometimes fear that something terrible will happen to my husband or future children. There is no rational reason to think so. Our minds sometimes just naturally go to the things that we find most horrible. Thankfully, in this case, reality is what it is, regardless of how we feel. That's one reason I reject the notion that an afterlife is, quote, too good to be true. Just because loving relationships or health are so good doesn't prove that I don't have these things. I imagine that you've heard all of these ideas before. There are many approaches to your question other than the one I have used here, but this is the one that helped fundamentally change my worldview. If you have any follow up questions, I'd be happy to try answering them. Whatever conclusions you come to, I hope that doubt and fear, though they never entirely go away, stop being a problem for you. I think you deserve that much. Regards, Natasha.
