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Here's the big surprise about what happens after death...ready?
NOTHING! Yes, that's right, NOTHING happens when you die. The same NOTHING happens before you are born.
Let me ask those who believe in an afterlife....Do you remember being a cute little fetus in your mommy's uteris? Do you remember feeling that excitement when you realized "Hey I have a heartbeat!"
didnt think so. When you die you just cease to exist. Your not here, your gone just like slab of meat you ate the other day. Every thing comes to end, even life. Sorry to bust your bubble.
I don't live a non fufilling life because I dont believe in god. I can smoke my cigarettes, I get have sex, I can choose a career, I can make money and donate it to a cause, I can lounge at the beach all day, I can see the mountains, I can volunteer in a homeless shelter, I can curse and get sh**faced without feeling guilty...etc.
I can do anything a religious person can do, and my life is meaningless and has no purpose?
Like a previous poster said, YOU choose the purpose in your life. What I dont understand is how people can let some silly little book that a man who lived in a mud hut, and rode camels daily wrote, dictate they're meaning and purpose in life. The bible is no more factual than Harry Potter.
I DO NOT need a How To book to tell me how to live my life.
thanks for the post.
I'm glad that you're happier and i think i am too :-)
The "feeling blue" that life has to end at some point is pretty much what i was talking about....but like you said, when i feel that way, i remind myself that in a way, that's even better since it would force you to enjoy this life a bit more....but then again, i often ask myself what the point of it all is! i mean, you enjoy your life, you die. you're miserable, you die. you kill, rape, steal, you die. you help others, make the world a better place, you die.
i guess it's a matter of choosing the path that allows for maximum enjoyment in life and experiencing as much as possible while here....but ultimately, i don't think it makes a bit of difference. it simply doesn't matter! :-)
I was an enthusiastic Christian until my mid twenties, took me a while to say I was fully an atheist, and mostly I am very happy with that - the only time I get really sad about it is when death rears its ugly head - my mum died last year, and my mum-in-law is terminally ill - we are sad not to be seeing them again after death, but more so in how to explain to our kids that that is how we feel (they are only 8 and 6 and still believe in Santa and the toothfairy!) I would love to have the fairytale, without all the nasty "hell" bits
I also have a lot of guilt about those who are not as priveleged as we are who have totally ****ty lives, and then nothing to look forward to after death - and especially death of a child is now very hard
I think that is the main reason my mum held on to her religion - she had a baby die at 3 days old - can't say I wouldn't try to convince myself of the same if that happened to me
For those who don't know by now, I started doubting all of this nonesense a few months ago and now, i'm happy (sort of) to be an Atheist.
I am feeling a bit strange though and i'd like to hear your views on this and to see if anyone feels the same way i do!
See, i now do not believe in a heaven and hell and so all i do in life is for this life and this life alone....I try to enjoy my life to the fullest; i try to be good to others and love my family. i try to learn as much as possible and see as much of the world as i can in the time that i have on this earth.
however, i do feel a bit sad! Sad because i'm disappointed to finally understand that THIS IS IT! before i became an atheist, i believed in a afterlife (or at least entertained the idea) but now, it's clear as day to me that all that is pure BS. that makes me sad and a bit disappointed. To suddenly realize that there is NO grand 'purpose' in life, other than reproducing, raising offsprings, and if lucky, enjoying life, is somewhat sad. Don't get me wrong...i love my life and i'm amazed everyday by life itself and the nature that surrounds me...but i do kinda wish there was something else! (but there clearly isn't!)
anyone else feel what i feel?
It's completely normal to feel that way after your 'coming out.' Join the rest of us.
You'll find that things are a lot more clearer and when you hear someone speak of their God, how much of a myth and hokey poke it really is.
I think we all wish there was something else after this life because this life is all we have and all we know. There is so much to still be discovered, so much to be learned, and so much beauty to see. I'm not agnostic (seeing as how I'm not that spiritual - I never was that spiritual even when I was a Christian) but am sort of like a 'soft' atheist. Because this life is all we have, sometimes I wish there was something after death: re-incarnation, continuation of the consciousness - something. But I realize, that it's jsut as bad, if not worse, than living eternally with a big sky daddy and golden streets (really, the idea of living eternally with no problems bore me. Where would be the intellectually stimulating debates in heaven?).
It all boils down to finding purpose in your life. You are the one that has to find it for yourself. You have to make purpose for yourself where their seemingly may be none and try to live life to the fulliest. I know, it's easier said than done, but you make your life have meaning or not. Best of luck to ya.
I'm just disappointed that other people feel it's their right to treat me like crap because I'm an atheist. Specially those people who are the perfect mixture between Ignorant and stubborn, you know, the ones that even argue against you over what atheists are supposed to believe.
I'm just disappointed that other people feel it's their right to treat me like crap because I'm an atheist. Specially those people who are the perfect mixture between Ignorant and stubborn, you know, the ones that even argue against you over what atheists are supposed to believe.
I'm just disappointed that other people feel it's their right to treat me like crap because I'm an atheist. Specially those people who are the perfect mixture between Ignorant and stubborn, you know, the ones that even argue against you over what atheists are supposed to believe.
My dad is like that.
I have my eyebrow pierced and just the other day he said that people with piercings are devil worshippers. I gave him that "did you seriously say something that stupid?" look.
Of course, that's the attitude of most people down here in the bible belt. Your either a Christian or satanical, baby-eating, devil-worshiping, animal sacrificing SOB. Ahhh, it's great living, great living!
When I discarded of the Christian myth after some 35 years or so of being caught up in it in one form or another, I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved. My life actually took on new meaning. Before that, I thought life was all about seeking first the kingdom of God. That translated into, "winning souls for Christ" (harassing people) and sitting around getting moist over imagined "signs" being fulfilled (drooling over the idea that Jesus was soon to return to kick ass). How sickening, boring and a waste of time.
I lived the early part of my Christian life in constant fear of sin and sinning. Since we believed a person could sin both in thought in deed, I had to somehow crush all those NATURAL horny thoughts of sex as a hormone driven teenager so you know how frustrating that was. I was not one to go with peer pressure and very independent, however, the church still made me feel that if I got too close to "the world" (real people) they were going to somehow contaminate me and encourage me to do bad things like thinking independently, smoke weed all day (as I am from the Caribbean), party all night and have lots of sex. I'm an agnostic now and outside of doing bad and evil things like thinking for myself, I still don't smoke weed (never have) and I still don't walk all over town sexing up everything in a dress.
Being that I just came back from my place of birth (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands), I want to point out something. For 8 years while I was in church back home, our church discouraged the congregation from attending our annual Carnival celebration which is tame compared to Rio or New Orleans or any Spring Break. We were told that Carnival was all about revelery and things devised by Satan to entertain his followers. Going there was in direct opposition to Jesus' words to "coe out from amogst them" (sinners). As a result, I ended up missing out on about 20 years total of not enjoying our greatest tradition and celebration of our culture all because of nonsense. It was not until 2006 I finally went back home for my first carnival since 1980 and this year I went back and had a blast responsibly ON MY OWN! Go HERE to see what I mean. Watch all those evil, wicked, demon posessed people havig orgies.
Ha! Good rant, Hurley. I do have to quibble with one part:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hurley89
What I dont understand is how people can let some silly little book that a man who lived in a mud hut, and rode camels daily wrote, dictate they're meaning and purpose in life. The bible is no more factual than Harry Potter.
Jesus was an illiterate carpenter. Accordingly, he didn't actually write any of his book himself. This fact, of course, only serves to make your proposition even more clear.
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My dad is like that. 
