Atheists... Your life is pointless

Pardon me for exaggerating but I think most people support churches not so much for the "good" that they do in THIS world but for what they do that promises to benefit them in the OTHER world. This life is of little importance for most theists; it's the (fictional) afterlife that counts for them. For that reason I suggest that there is little point to the life of theistic/fundamentalist Christians. Our spiritual life is best directed to a this-world religiousity.

Pardon me for exaggerating but I think most people support churches not so much for the "good" that they do in THIS world but for what they do that promises to benefit them in the OTHER world. This life is of little importance for most theists; it's the (fictional) afterlife that counts for them. For that reason I suggest that there is little point to the life of theistic/fundamentalist Christians. Our spiritual life is best directed to a this-world religiousity.

Well--if you think that it is understandable that the conclusions you come to follow automatically.

Which is another way of saying that your conclusions prove that what you think is the sensible thing to think and thus we should all think as you do in order to avoid being labelled idiots.

I am glad that what I think is not posited on the notion that "this life is of little importance for most theists" .

Have Christians not historically put down things of "the World", in favor of Heaven?
Oh, and the ubuiquitous notion of "things of the flesh" tends to deprecate our bodies with its instincts in favor of our fictional souls (when understood literally in the fundamentalist perspective)

Peoples financial support of the church in this life will have absolutely no effect on what is after.

I am curious as to what you deem to be the meaning of "benefit them in the OTHER world". The support they give to the churches is for the benefit of others in need. Christians and atheists alike. When our church sends huge amounts of money to Haiti or other areas where the need is great, they do not ask whether the benefit is for Christians. The benefit is for ALL who suffer.

If this life is of little importance to theists, then why do they bother with this life at all? Why do they try to help others? Why do they strive to have good educations, jobs, houses and cars just as anybody else does?

I suggest that there is a huge point to the life of theistic Christians. Just as there is a point to the lives of agnostics and atheists.

I agree with Intrepid here. I don't think charity, whether practiced by a Christian, another religionist, or the irreligious, has anything to do with a putative afterlife, but is just a response to the present need.

Even the mealy-mouthed psalm singers who only do these sorts of things to make themselves look devout and compassionate are doing it to impress their contemporaries, and not to suck up to god.

Intrepid, I heartily concur with your cogent assessment of caring.

But hang on, what is the point to life (for believers, agnostics and atheists), you forgot to tell us?

I wonder why Setanta pickes out from the whole range of people who give to charity the mealy-mouthed psalm singers. Assuming they are mealy-mouthed of course and have a monoply on mealy-mouthedness.

One might just as easily smear every act of virtue that ever happened in the facile manner Setanta employs and deduce that every act of the charitable sort is undertaken for some selfish motive which is not immediately apparent to onlookers. Even anonymous charity sacrifices might be seen, at Setanta's level of cynicism, as selfish, in that they flatter the self-esteem of the giver in ways superior to that of the exhibitionist giver. A suck up to the self or a suck up to society.

And no doubt those things happen. But Setanta's post only homes in on mealy-mouthed psalm singers and I can't comment on the personal motives of such a nebulous concept, some being tinkers, some tailors, some sailors, some soldiers, and some candle-stick makers and some being rich and some poor and some beggars and some thieves.

Setanta's post is a fine example of how people of his persuasion would conduct themselves if ever they were to be entrusted with power. Jews, kulaks and many other people collected under a name are easily stereotyped and persecuted.

If I knew that I would indeed by among the elite. Alas, I am but a mere mortal and have no knowledge of the meaning or point of life.

Life is it's own "excuse," it needs no justification.

It might need some justifying to any children if they dare ask their parents to justify their reasons for landing them in it.

Life is a chemically supported algorithm. Might as well ask "Why is there Pac MAn?"

I would tell my children that they were brought into this world to be good secular humanists, and to enjoy their lives.

On the comforting assurance that they have not been landed in it I suppose.

Unfortunately, they have been landed in it.

Somewhere on earth, a child starves to death every five seconds. Why doesn't your all-poweful and all-knowing god put a stop to this?

Because we have free will it is said.

Cute!



ATHEIST IN THE WOODS
An atheist was walking through the woods.

'What majestic trees!
'What powerful rivers!
'What beautiful animals!
He said to himself.


As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him..


He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him..


He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer.


He tripped & fell on the ground.


He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.


At that instant the Atheist cried out,
'Oh my God!'

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.


As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky.

'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.'
'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?

Am I to count you as a believer?

The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'?


'Very well,' said the voice.


The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

'Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.'

Are you saying that it is the free will of the child to starve?

No, I would say it's the free will of people who would blame the problem or lack of a solution to the problem on a god so they could look the other way while children starve.

If we all made it our business to make sure children were fed before we exercised our free will in other directions- no children at all would have to starve.

In other words, if we wanted to change that - we could- or at least that's what I've read.

How can you blame a god you don't believe in for the inefficient and unfair distribution of food and resources which result in the starvation of children?

Seems a little illogical.

Amen