Atheists... Your life is pointless

yes, I should break out the Maker's Mark.

I'll wait.

But I think you're assuming then, that they believe that implicitly life here means nothing. And that's not true. Anyone who knows true believers know that that's nothing more than a characterization of a believer - like Popeye is of a sailor - all sailors grow muscles when they eat spinach and all believers are just sitting around here on earth waiting for the afterlife.
That's crap!

I can't even post on that other thread where they've decided that believers need to anthropomorphize things they don't understand - and that non-believers are arrogant enough to believe that they've 'seen the light' and can lead others to it- it just makes feel happier to be me (to tell you the truth).

It's great to see Gus again. I thought he sunk into his swamp.

gus is one of those guys who will survive almost anything that comes his way. He lived in a swamp as a kid.

Isn't Gus is the primordial swamp whence god sprang from.

First and foremost, there is NO God. This world is truly just a cosmic evolved ongoing experiment. The truly stupid Bible thumpers are pathetic in their machinations about God and Jesus. They participate daily in an amazing waste of the human mind and thought processes. There is so much to discover about the 100 million planets like ours avery day. We need minds that can divorce themselves from the crappola of religion and deism and help in the scientific explanation of this amazing universe!

Welcome to the forum.

As a fellow atheist I concur with most of what you say. However, your statement: "We need minds that..... can help in the scientific explanation of this amazing universe! " begs the philosophical question of the problematic relationship between the terms I have italicised. This is the window of "opportunity" through which some academic theists claim to "see the face of God". See for example references to Polkinghorne (Cambridge physicist and Anglican priest).

You have shown some faulty logic. The mistake you make shows your myopia 'causwe you think an atheist is amoral or immoral.

Atheists also are interested in being upstanding citizens and raising their children with ethics and morality. Most atheists I know feel the consequences of their actions because it's a choice that comes from their good upbringing. Belief in God doesn't guarantee a good behavior or even morality or common decency.

Atheists don't require a supreme force/creator/God (or gods) to motivate or inspire them. They'll do good just for the hell of it and they'll be just as well remembered for their deeds as the next person.

Ragman,

Again I speak as an atheist who agrees with your central argument. However, atheists like us need to be aware of a counter-argument....that our "morality" is historically and socially conditioned by a culture of "believers". Indeed, philosophers like Heideggar have argued that such conditioning is at the core of the very language with which we think and make sense of the world. Therefore we cannot resort to straight "logic" in our rejection of deism. In my opinion we need to show the negative social and practical consequences associated with irrational beliefs rather than to argue about the bases for "morality".

The very fact that Christians believe that their life is a key to another world, the “afterlife”, shows that they don’t think that this life is of the utmost significance.

This world is just a means to an end, which is the next life, the “afterlife”. Of course, Christians believe that this life is important, but they do so only in terms of getting to heaven, and not because they believe it’s the only life they can be sure they have.

Atheists value this life because this life is the only one they can be sure they have, and that very idea, that we each have only one life to live and try and do something significant, gives life that much more meaning and beauty, a kind of transient and fleeting beauty, whereas the emphasis for Christians in this life is on making sure you do what’s right in order to get to the afterlife.

That is the highest pursuit in a Christian’s life, is it not? What else could be more important for a Christian than making God happy by doing what he tells you to do, and doing what necessary to get to heaven?

Surely, in a Christian worldview, the planet can become overwhelmed by global warming, but so long as you adhere to God’s law, then that doesn’t matter.
That’s the point someone else was trying to make, that what happens in this world is of no consequence, providing that you the Christian, abide God’s law, which is the most important thing in a Christian world.

okay ep - I'm not going to pretend for even a second that I know what all Christians believe or that all Christians believe what I believe.

I can only tell you what I think. And again, I think that what you're presenting here as representative of all Christians is a caricature of a Christian (or any believer who aspires to an 'afterlife' or 'better life' or 'different life' in any way).

do you think that part of why they believe what they believe and practice what they practice might be because they believe that it will lead to a better world (in essence 'another world') here and now?


Again, I can't speak for all Christians but I know that this is the only life that I can be sure that I'll have. Just as I know this minute is the only minute I can be SURE that I'll have. (oops - I just had another...but you know what I mean).


I don't agree that that's where the emphasis is. I was always taught that the emphasis is on how I live my life on a day to day basis - this life- the only life I have as of this moment.


not in my opinion or experience.

Another caricature.


No. Honestly, I don't really understand how someone could say they're a Christian and be against universal health care. Or say they're a Christian and support racist agendas or discriminatory practices. Or say they're a Christian and live selfishly in any way.

I think you should take a broader (or maybe less broad and closer look) at what being a Christian is supposed to mean.

To me, being a christian should mean that I'm less individualistic and selfish in terms of how I live in the world and view my neighbor- and more caring and cognizant- because there is something greater than myself that I am a part of.

A friend said he was following this blog and I should check it out. I did but it just made me feel sad and tired and hopeless until I came to this entry. (My whole family are atheists). Jesus is my savior and redeemer but I agree that trying to argue someone into knowing and loving our Creator is impossible. You either are called and have a personal encounter with God or you don't. I was an athiest for 46 years. Sometimes God puts people in your way to witness to, but you can't really do it much with words, you have to show them in the way you live.
All I know for sure is that my life is not pointless, and I don't fear for the future.

why doesn't God call to the atheists?
why you and not me?

Pookie, Your personal encounter with god is nothing but your imagination.

Please describe to us what your god looks like? Also, what was your discussion about? Did he answer you? If so, what did he say?

welcome to A2K pookie. Just as no one can be argued into knowing and loving the Creator...no one can be argued out of knowing and loving the Creator, so it would be beneficial to compare notes and work towards helping mankind...whatever our faith. Not waste time trying to talk people out of their beliefs.

It seems that your grasp of life didn't improve with your encounter with god (was it a close encounter of third kind?)

I didn't meet god and I'm under the impression that my life is not pointless and I don't fear the for future..

Pookie, I'm an "atheist" who feels that the historical Jesus had much to teach us about how to live. In that sense he was a "savior": he tried to save us from the consequences of our egoism, selfishness and moral stupidity. But he was no supernatural being come to REDEEM us from the transgression of mythical anscetors.

You are being extra gentle and kind, sir. God bless you!

Maybe it's the Franco-English getting in the way but this seems a little patronizing as does this facetious remark




Good! , you and pookie arrived at the same point from different directions thus disproving the thread title and illustrating why it's possible to coexist with different faith-based beliefs.