What's Worth Dying For? - Page 4

Is something that can not exist without our giving it existence such as worth, a determinant to react to with dying when both the sentiment and the feeling requires our own consciousness? We are not innocent, because every thought or emotion we posess and act on has only cognitive existence. It can not exist outside of our own lives, it is not an independant agent.

Should we play such head games with ourselves and dangle our own ultimate destiny to prove our convictions? Really, what is more pathetic; a belief that one's death could have meaning when there can be no proof assessed by the desceased it was or was not in vain, or, to accept that death has no meaning or purpose? This has nothing to do with fear of dying, its understanding that finality of death should be respected more when we attempt to make decisions upon things we "think" we have control over.

I can not see how any of my previous remarks is suggestive that I am evading any emotions or fears. I simply recognize that feelings are not the supreme arbitor of reality and excersise them with caution.

I think a better question might be who would be willing to sacrifice their life in the living to make someone better off? To put aside all of one's goals and interests to improve the life of another. Would we like the results?

Something worth dying for... Family? Well, if you died for you're family, you would be inadvertently creating a negative stress in their lives and depending on who they are as individuals, do more harm than good. By saying you would die for your family, you are ultimately satisfying a selfish need. By this, I suppose I am saying that any solitary situation can be twisted into an intricate web of selfishness which I wont get into generally because its off topic. This selfish need specifically would be for you not to gain exposure to the death of one you 'love'. This obviously, with the exception of some sociopaths (assuming they truly are lacking all human emotion) would trigger stress as you realise that your life would be changed; thus, you realise this conciously (or deny it conciously) and you wouldn't have to deal with that emotional stress if you were the one not there. So you would innocently (loosely using the term) heap it onto anothers shoulders.. So, basically, family would not be something you should die for, unless you could be sure that the person in question is truly going to benefit, which you never be.

For love: Again, I'd like to say that to die would be to inflict a great injury on the one you love... perhaps more so than your own family because that person has a more intimate glance at you as a person and likely spends more time with you than your family by the time you died. Just the thought that their loved one would be alive if they hadnt been in their life to begin with would be a torment that would resonate in their thoughts for years... in the best case scenerio, they get over the death but when moved on to another, find themselves wondering how anyone could love them as much as the other who gave their life. So as to be somewhat consistent, this is assuming the person who lives doesnt realise the selfish intentions of the one who died, and innocently believes it to be an act of selflessness (which I haven't truly experienced hypothetically or in real life and would love someone to give me a good example that I can't shoot down). I think I should stop there and finish up with the fact that I believe that ultimately it will be ones self they will die for, whether they are innocent to that fact or not. This is my current view, but it is flexible and the reason I came here was to get other opinions... a fresh outlook.

If I wanted to go a little bit farther, I might venture to say that to die for your biggest competition or rival might be the ultimate thing to do. Basically, if you die, theres no one to compete with to the same level (assuming you are both the most significant figures) and if this happens they will be happy for a while. But, after the thrill of winning subsides, they will realise they have built their entire existance in that respect to beating the other. (I'm talking about competetiveness, so lets assume its a quality both individuals have) In the end, they will realise the frivilties of what the have accomplished as there is nothing to do but sit there on top, and wait until you have to get off. I'll stop now before I screw myself up while trying to make myself clear.

Forgive me if I'm repeating my self but I don't have time to re read the whole thread. I recall the story of one church man who'd been interned in a nazi death camp. One day they sentenced 10 random men to die in an airless pit. He volunteered to die in the place of 1 of them. He believed that there was something more precious at stake than temporary life that being eternal salvation. Both of the man who's place he took and the other 9 he could witness to. Indeed history records that as they were locked in that pit slowly running out of air the sound of singing could be heard emanating from mound. For those who believe in an afterlife the question of what is worth dying for is bound up with the question of divine purpose and the effect of their death from the perspective of eternity.

Most people hear talk about what temporary good others might derive from there death but this is to assume death is always the end. For those who have finished their business on earth and look forward to place in heaven death is not to be seen as terrible fate. On the other hand for a man with a destiny and much still left to do on earth death is a considerable sacrifice even with the assurance of heavenly rest. He must weigh the good his death may buy against the good he believes he could do on earth. Of course from a theological point of view man can never be absolutely certain of the result apart from god which is why most who chose martyrdom do so with specific guidance.

Lol I've just been reading a lot of bios with stories of self sacrifice in.

the most important from all this world is God love. coz if u lost it u lost everything, or even if u have evrything u lost urself, so wuts good after that to live in this world...nothing is good
im not relegious by the way but just trying to enhance week point to be accepted by God

i dont believe you should die for a religion cos it cant be a very ongoing religion if youare being told you have to sacrifice (sp) yourself for it. but i do believe in dying for love so if it is a love for your god then you're more then welcome to do it. i know i would die for my love, im very very big on self harming i would never EVER do it but if for some reason he died [and please dont tell me not to] i would want to die to, i actually would kill myself, i wouldnt want to live in a world without him, i know you're probably think im crazy saying this cos im young and havent experienced much of life but i believe that i will spend my life with him, i will do those experiences with him and if i didnt it just wouldnt feel the same, it wouldnt, ive been told (not just buy friends) that i have a very mature mind for my age and whether or not you believe me it doesnt matter because youve never seen me talk or walk or do what i do so you cant really say im not mature even though im 15, love is a very powerful thing and i know with my love it is true love so i would do anything for him. and now your probably expecting me to say i would do the same for the love of my family...wrong. lets just say hate is a strong word but i disslike my family, the only ones i would care about really and truely enough to not get over is my nan and grandad they have been better family to me then my mum or brother alone. meh... i dunno...*shrugs*
toodles

Well, the answer is supposed to be the good of the nation...that is if you're a deserter like GWB.
There is only one thing worth dying for: to relieve the pain of a terminal illness.
I don't need to have my self or my family put through the stress of 'Why doesn't God take him now?'. God has better things to do than to look down and take care of me...he has proven that over the past 62 years...and I respect that...That also means that I am the one that has to look out for me...even He wouldn't penalize that.

your cool!! can i call you gramps? lol

You guys are all missing the point of this thread. What you are all unconsciously trying to do is price the human life. A life is something we all own, we all have one of. There is no way to price two entities precisely unless the two entities are converted to number values. Even then, the number values are determined by the priorities they are relative to. For instance, if money is used as a priority, a life is valued by how much money the life accumulated. If you prioritize generosity, a life's value will be determined by how much they gave to others. There can be many priorities, though, that are taken into consideration when pricing the human life. All of your answers reflect you're priorities, it really tells a lot about what each of you prioritize, or at least claim to prioritize.

I would only die for 1 or maybe 3 of my closest friends. Some ideals i would die for, but those are very few. I think that dying for something isnt the way to go, unless you are truly into it.