Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Really? Not even a little bit? It does me, I hope that there is some sort of afterlife even though there's no evidence to support such a thing. Surely this sad little short life that we have can't be all there is to it, it hasn't been pleasant for me and I want more damnit!! Even if I have to come back as a cow or pig or even a gnat that would be okay I guess, at least I would know that it doesn't all end at death.
I can understand that. And I have got to bring up again the reverse Pascal's wager and the comforting doctrine of the atheist afterlife.
The evidence would suggest that there is no afterlife so rather than waste this life longing for what doesn't exist, it is best to live this life like it was the only one you have.
On the other hand, if there is an afterlife, the evidence suggests that a god handing out entry tickets to the favoured and using the rest to run the boilers is nonsense and there is no sure way of knowing where is the right place to buy entry tickets and what is the right price.
Rather than opt for the wrong God, better to go with the more reasonable option and suppose that, if there is an afterlife, it is as natural as birth, life and death and we all get it irrespective of creed or even our deeds. If there is an afterlife, in the atheist view, it is guaranteed and nothing to worry about. Ain't that more comforting than a Jack Chick God sitting on a badly - drawn ziggurat with an ayatollah - scowl and damning to perdition those who misinterpreted Titus 2.3?
Since it is nothing that we need worry about and nothing we need to earn, much less through the absurd ticket - price of a particular mode of thinking, it is the best bet to live this life as if it was the only one we get and any sort of afterlife is a guaranteed bonus.
Really? Not even a little bit? It does me, I hope that there is some sort of afterlife even though there's no evidence to support such a thing. Surely this sad little short life that we have can't be all there is to it, it hasn't been pleasant for me and I want more damnit!! Even if I have to come back as a cow or pig or even a gnat that would be okay I guess, at least I would know that it doesn't all end at death.
1. There were billions of years that passed before I ever existed. Sure, I'd be interested in being able to travel through time to see what things were like, but it doesn't really bother me that I can't.
2. I'm sorry life hasn't been pleasant for you, and I don't at all begrudge your wanting more. The fact is, though, that almost everything that happens in the universe happens without any regard for human desires. In fact, aside from the fact that it leads people to reject rationality, I think one of the most pernicious things about religion is that it leads people to think that they should be hoping for some reward, reality, or hope beyond the confines of their own real lives.
Now, if we can drop all the banter about evidence, proof, etc. etc. I would like to know, do you hope there is some sort of afterlife? Why or why not? What would your perfect vision of an afterlife be?
I have found that it is better to not believe in or hope for an afterlife.
It makes focusing on this life and making the best of it that much more urgent.
I'm not being sarcastic, but I honestly can't even entertain the notion of an afterlife because it's so fallacious and full of fantasy. When I was a child and pre teen? Yeah, it was fun to think about an afterlife, but once I started learning things like physics and our empirical nature, all the fantasy kind of went out the window.
I really like the Matrix, but I don't consider it possibly real, as it's entertainment.
This question takes me back to the spot in one of my favorite movies "The Green Mile" where the prisoner, minutes from being executed, asked the gaurd if he thought the afterlife was where a person was taken to the time that was happiest in his life and live for eternity......That would be my fantasy of what I would like an afterlife to be.
Boy; I dunno. I thought she loved me at that instant, (she was, after all, crying that fact out over and over...) but then later, she married someone else who was not near as wonderful as I was!
I can dream though, huh? So... spirit me away to that moment, please.
In real life nearly all of the atheists I interact with have a fear of death. Not so on internet forums.
When I was younger I would have said the same, fear of death wanes with age. Nor based on your clear lack of understanding of the difference between atheist and agnostic, you're probably letting your lack of understand cause you to not be the brightest bulb on the tree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150
In real life nearly all of the atheists I interact with would like to believe there was a God but are not convinced. Not so on internet forums.
Those aren't atheists, they are agnostic
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150
In real life nearly all of the atheists I interact with would love to know there is life after death, but are not convinced. Not so on internet forums.
Wouldn't that be easy. Live life however you want on earth with no consequences, and then be entitled to a life of eternal bliss.
For the billionth time: the vast majority of atheist's don't believe we can live our lives on earth without any consequences. That is something you keep bringing up, but next to no atheist believes this way. It is foolish. Quit being foolish.
As for being entitled to a life of eternal bliss: what?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Quite an idea!
