Death being final degrades and insults our humanity

[FunctionalAtheist]

en·ti·tle·ment
inˈtīdlmənt,enˈtīdlmənt/
noun

1. • 
     
   • the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
     "no wonder your kids have a sense of entitlement"

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

The idea of the afterlife is so important to me since I want a personal private life all to myself where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want. That is the only good thing in life to me. I don't care about the personal opinions of others who say that this is childish, I need to grow up, etc. We are talking about me as a human being here and if I am just biological material here for a short while only to forever decay when I die and not live on in an eternal blissful afterlife, then that is treating me like I am nothing more than a biological organism/machine or some sort of scrap material that will just break down, die, and decay one day.

That would be utterly insulting and degrading of me as a human being for such a treatment to be given to me. I just don't understand how nonbelievers think otherwise. Imagine how the Jews felt in regards to how Hitler treated them. I bet they felt quite insulted and degraded since they were being treated like nothing more than animals and torture devices. The same thing applies to me in a situation where death is final. If death really is final, then I would feel quite insulted and degraded as well since that is treating me like I am nothing more than something to be tossed and thrown away for good like a rotting and decaying piece of meat.

I will apply this concept to religious believers as well. If there is a God out there such as the God portrayed by fundamentalist Christianity, then that would be a far worse treatment of me. That would be treating me like a slave who is expected to serve and dedicate my life to God or burn forever in a lake of fire. It would be an even worse treatment than Hitler, in my opinion. But, at the same time, death being final is also a horrible, tragic, insulting, and degrading treatment as well for all the reasons I've just explained. Therefore, that only leaves one option by which I can be treated with dignity and respect.

That would be through the New Age spiritual view which advocates the idea that we are all loved by a God who will not condemn us, send us to hell, or have us simply rot and decay away to where we are nevermore. It is the one world religion that many people are uniting under. I don't have any religious beliefs. I don't believe in a God, an afterlife, and nor do I believe in the idea that once you die, that is it. Therefore, I just don't know what to expect when I die and I really hope it is the case that I do get to live on forever in the eternal blissful afterlife of my dreams.

Do you really belive that living a good life, helping people, loving and having a family, leaving behind children, grandchildren, etc. and resting in peace without a consciousness, is degrading?

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

By whom are you entitled? Do you know what the word entitlement means?
The feeling of entitlement, without title, is childish and sophomoric. Without a grant, their is no title. Without a granting entity, there is no entitlement.

{As I read through this, I haven't even gotten to the basis of your fallacies.}

I'll just respond to this post because I feel like I have already basically answered the other posts. Again, no, I do not think it is childish. This sense of entitlement is the very reason why we would help others and care for others in the first place. If you help out your parent or loved one who is sick or hurt, then you do so because you think that he/she deserves (is entitled to) receiving help, assistance, and care. To say that a sense of entitlement is childish is no different than saying that helping and caring for others is childish and that a slave's desire to be free from his/her oppression is childish.

I think the whole idea that kind and innocent people are entitled to dignity and respectful treatment is no different than any other moral truth such as that harming other innocent living things and people for unjust purposes is wrong. I'm not sure if there is a such thing as objective morality, but if there were, then this idea of harming other innocent living things and people would be objectively wrong. The same thing would apply to how it is an objective moral truth that innocent living things and people are deserving of respect and dignity.

I will also say one last thing here which is that my desire to live for myself and my own happiness may be the very definition of selfish, but there is a difference between selfishness that is deserving of scathing and judgmental treatment versus the type of selfishness that should be treated with dignity and respect. A selfish person who harms others for the sake of getting off on the suffering of others would be a form of selfishness that is deserving of scorn and hate. It would be an unjustified form of selfishness. However, the selfish desire of a slave who wants to be free from his/her oppression is deserving of respect and dignity.

It is a form of self-righteousness, arrogance, and self-entitlement that is justified. There is nothing childish about it at all and it would be cruel as well as displaying a lack of respect and human dignity to judge this slave's selfish desire to be free as being childish/spoiled and to treat it with scorn and hate. The same thing applies to my case. My selfish desire to be happy and to live an eternal blissful afterlife where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want is justified as well and there is nothing wrong with it either.

Neither is there anything wrong or childish/spoiled about me thinking that it is insulting and degrading of me as a human being for me to just be thrown away and decay. This, too, is a justified position and is a form of self-righteousness, arrogance, and self-entitlement that is justified. I simply do not agree with anyone who would think otherwise in both the scenario I posited with the slave including my scenario.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Dude, if you want to believe in a happy afterlife because it gives you comfort, go for it. You will die one day, but you don't have to believe this is all there is. I believe in an afterlife, myself.

Do you believe everyone gets an afterlife? Like say, even rapists?

 

[Nietzsche]

That would be utterly insulting and degrading of me as a human being for such a treatment to be given to me.

I would argue that the most degrading and insulting thing is the notion that this life is just some perverted, asinine test for a life after this one.

 

[David M]

It's not like that because the situation I posed with how the Jews were being treated by Hitler justifies the position I take in my post.

Unless you are being imprisoned. degraded, tortured and murdered in the knowledge that the same will happen to your family...it really doesn't.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

Unless you are being imprisoned. degraded, tortured and murdered in the knowledge that the same will happen to your family...it really doesn't.

Then let me apply any other situation that insults and degrades your humanity besides the Hitler scenario and now it should become clear to you.

 

[McBell]

I think this is where we just have to agree to disagree. You think it is immature, spoiled, and childish and I think it is not for all the reasons I have given in this topic. Especially regarding what I said about freedom and democracy. I think my entire position here and all my reasons supporting it is a well justified and validated position and is not the immature and spoiled unjustified position that a little child would take. This might be entirely subjective though. You have your own personal view about me which holds true to you and I have my own personal view which holds true to me. There might be no way of proving which view is the correct one just as how we cannot prove any other philosophical view one has.

YOU are the one who brought up the childishness and immaturity.
I merely agree that you are being childish and immature about it.

Furthermore, you have continuously demonstrated your childishness and immaturity in this thread.
Which does absolutely nothing to convince others you are not childish and immature.

I will also add another thing here. Being someone altruistic who dedicates his/her life and serves his/her life to others is not the only way to earn the respect and dignity of others. I am a very responsible adult who takes good care of himself, looks after himself, and works hard for the things he wants and for his own goals and dreams. Therefore, I think people who live for themselves, their own happiness, and the things they want are also deserving of respect and dignity.

You will soon be needing some Ben Gay for your shoulder if you keep this up.

I think it is a dishonor to just simply look at someone with a sense of entitlement such as myself who is a mature responsible adult with a lack of respect, dignity, and name calling such as childish, spoiled, immature, etc. Again, I think this is just a whole agree to disagree scenario we have here. There is also the difference between sitting there whining and complaining as opposed to just wanting to talk things out and get things off of your mind. I am doing the latter; not the former. I am merely expressing my personal views and how I feel just like any other philosopher or other human being would. From there, I am at least trying to reason with others so that they cease the name calling and disrespect. I don't think this is childish and immature either to do so.

Seems this thread is about you childishly trying to prove you are not childish.
For the record, you are failing.
Miserably.

Lastly, we are just hardwired for the attributes that I have mentioned earlier. We are wired with this sense of entitlement towards ourselves and towards others just as how we are wired to be empathetic towards others. For me and others to somehow suspend this sense of entitlement would be no different than us trying to suspend the empathy we have for others. It's just not going to work since this is something wired into us. We are also hardwired for survival and to want to be happy. That is the reason why you see so many people wanting to be happy, have no misery in their lives, and wanting to live forever in the eternal blissful afterlife of their dreams where they can get anything they want. This is just evolution and natural selection at work here hard wiring our brains.

So what you are saying is that your childishness and immaturity is hardwired?
I suspect I am not understanding what you are actually trying to say in that last paragraph....

 

[LuisDantas]

Death being final degrades and insults our humanity

Not at all.

Quite on the contrary. It is the attachment to cravings of immortality that demeans human diginity instead.

 

[McBell]

Don't take what you've previously quoted into the context of what you've quoted below and you will get my point. It will become clear how it is not childish and immature.

please be so kind as to explain how I took it out of context.

All I did was remove the meat of your post out of all the fluff and window dressing you decorated it with.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

YOU are the one who brought up the childishness and immaturity.
I merely agree that you are being childish and immature about it.

Furthermore, you have continuously demonstrated your childishness and immaturity in this thread.
Which does absolutely nothing to convince others you are not childish and immature.


You will soon be needing some Ben Gay for your shoulder if you keep this up.


Seems this thread is about you childishly trying to prove you are not childish.
For the record, you are failing.
Miserably.


So what you are saying is that your childishness and immaturity is hardwired?
I suspect I am not understanding what you are actually trying to say in that last paragraph....

I am trying to change the views of others who think that my views really are childish, spoiled, and immature. That is the reason why I brought up the whole notion of me being childish and spoiled in the first place and attempted to rebut others who insist I am. This is because I want the name calling and disrespect to cease. The only way to do that is to engage in this sort of discussion. Therefore, here is yet another explanation I will present to you until it eventually gets to the point where it finally gets through to your head and the heads of others. But first, I will answer your questions and then get to the post.

So what you are saying is that your childishness and immaturity is hardwired?
I suspect I am not understanding what you are actually trying to say in that last paragraph....

Yes, I am saying that I am hardwired for an attribute that you, going on an unproven assumption, claim is a childish and spoiled attribute.

please be so kind as to explain how I took it out of context.

All I did was remove the meat of your post out of all the fluff and window dressing you decorated it with.

I said you took it into context of the small quote you made below in your post. That small quote was me saying that I want a personal private life all to myself where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want. But even this small quote I attempt to justify later on through this whole discussion. I attempt to justify it as a position that is not childish and spoiled.

Now, here is my post:
___________________________________________________________________________________________

How old I am means absolutely nothing to me. It has no bearing whatsoever upon who I should be as an individual and what my values should be. Just be yourself. Just be whoever you want to be and have values that are true to you. I think this whole "It's time to grow up" nonsense is nothing more than a tactic used to control the masses and make them slaves to lives they don't value and to become people they don't value. It is slavery and not allowing a person to be free to choose who they want to be and what life they want and value. I consider being your own free individual to be mature and grown up. It is taking action in your own hands, being your own man in life, and not adhering to the personal judgments and opinions of others.

This is yet another main reason why I think that my whole outlook explained in this entire packet is mature, well validated, and well justified. According to you and many others, growing up would have to mean living a life where I have much hardships and misery, I would have to somehow find value and worth in my life without my good feelings as a dull, lifeless, dead, miserable, intellectual based biological machine which I think is an impossible task, and I would basically have to become a slave to things I don't value and don't want to do. Some life that is. It is a dead and dull mechanical life to me. No thank you. I have my own way of growing, developing, and thriving. It is through a life that is exciting, joyful, fun, happy, free, and wild since that is the only life I value. It would be a personal life for me where I can be happy all I want, live all I want, and get whatever I want. It would be my own personal Disney fantasy world.

If you were to ask my mother or any of my other family members what they think of me as a person, then they will clearly tell you that I am kind, respectful, don't throw tantrums, and am very mature. They would tell you that all I am doing here is just sharing my personal views and feelings in my packets. This is already proof right here that I am mature and that other people are simply having misconceptions of me. This means that, despite my values, I am still a kind, respectful, and mature person. Don't even subject me to your moral standard if your moral standard is only going to serve to judge me, frown upon me, and name call me. If need be, then don't even consider me a human being.

Just simply disregard me as any other living thing out there in the wild living its own life and doing its own thing to be happy and survive. The fact of the matter is, I wish to be completely non subjectable to such moral standards and if that requires deeming me as nothing more than a wild animal, then so be it. In other words, all I am saying here is that I want the name calling and disrespect to stop now. Each person has his/her own value system and as long as he/she is not harming and torturing innocent living things and people and is displaying a kind spirit, then respect and dignity is warranted here.

It is instead childish to name call me and judge me. Even if I were a senior citizen right now, it would still be childish. I just think this is who I am going to be for the remainder of my life and nothing can or ever will change. Even in my 80s, I will still be that same person who lives for himself, his own happiness, plays video games and does composing for anime/video games, looks forward to an eternal blissful afterlife, has the exact same values, attitude, and outlook on life, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Lastly, I wish to know if you have also read this post as well of mine. I will quote it below:

I'll just respond to this post because I feel like I have already basically answered the other posts. Again, no, I do not think it is childish. This sense of entitlement is the very reason why we would help others and care for others in the first place. If you help out your parent or loved one who is sick or hurt, then you do so because you think that he/she deserves (is entitled to) receiving help, assistance, and care. To say that a sense of entitlement is childish is no different than saying that helping and caring for others is childish and that a slave's desire to be free from his/her oppression is childish.

I think the whole idea that kind and innocent people are entitled to dignity and respectful treatment is no different than any other moral truth such as that harming other innocent living things and people for unjust purposes is wrong. I'm not sure if there is a such thing as objective morality, but if there were, then this idea of harming other innocent living things and people would be objectively wrong. The same thing would apply to how it is an objective moral truth that innocent living things and people are deserving of respect and dignity.

I will also say one last thing here which is that my desire to live for myself and my own happiness may be the very definition of selfish, but there is a difference between selfishness that is deserving of scathing and judgmental treatment versus the type of selfishness that should be treated with dignity and respect. A selfish person who harms others for the sake of getting off on the suffering of others would be a form of selfishness that is deserving of scorn and hate. It would be an unjustified form of selfishness. However, the selfish desire of a slave who wants to be free from his/her oppression is deserving of respect and dignity.

It is a form of self-righteousness, arrogance, and self-entitlement that is justified. There is nothing childish about it at all and it would be cruel as well as displaying a lack of respect and human dignity to judge this slave's selfish desire to be free as being childish/spoiled and to treat it with scorn and hate. The same thing applies to my case. My selfish desire to be happy and to live an eternal blissful afterlife where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want is justified as well and there is nothing wrong with it either.

Neither is there anything wrong or childish/spoiled about me thinking that it is insulting and degrading of me as a human being for me to just be thrown away and decay. This, too, is a justified position and is a form of self-righteousness, arrogance, and self-entitlement that is justified. I simply do not agree with anyone who would think otherwise in both the scenario I posited with the slave including my scenario.

 

[McBell]

I am trying to change the views of others who think that my views really are childish, spoiled, and immature.

You will have to start being mature and grown up in the thread...

That is the reason why I brought up the whole notion of me being childish and spoiled in the first place and attempted to rebut others who insist I am. This is because I want the name calling and disrespect to cease. The only way to do that is to engage in this sort of discussion. Therefore, here is yet another explanation I will present to you until it eventually gets to the point where it finally gets through to your head and the heads of others:

It appears to me that you are not offering direct answers to direct questions.
I understand this may not be intentional, but you come off as though you have not thought it through very well.
Please note, I said "not very well", not "not for a long time".

How old I am means absolutely nothing to me. It has no bearing whatsoever upon who I should be as an individual and what my values should be.

And?
Maturity is an attitude, not a number.
As is childishness.

I know some people who are older than me (half a century) who are childish.
I also know some really young people who are more mature than me.

Just be yourself. Just be whoever you want to be and have values that are true to you.

So why does this above quoted statement apply to what others think?

I think this whole "It's time to grow up" nonsense is nothing more than a tactic used to control the masses and make them slaves to lives they don't value and to become people they don't value. It is slavery and not allowing a person to be free to choose who they want to be and what life they want and value. I consider being your own free individual to be mature and grown up. It is taking action in your own hands, being your own man in life, and not adhering to the personal judgments and opinions of others.

This come off as you saying that you want to stick it to the man simply because you want to stick it to the man.
Is that what you menat?

According to you and many others, growing up would have to mean living a life where I have much hardships and misery,

So instead of tying to find out what people are meaning, you have decided to dictate to every one what they mean?

And you do not see the childishness in doing that?

I would have to somehow find value and worth in my life without my good feelings as a dull, lifeless, dead, miserable, intellectual based biological machine which I think is an impossible task, and I would basically have to become a slave to things I don't value and don't want to do. Some life that is. It is a dead and dull mechanical life to me. No thank you. I have my own way of growing, developing, and thriving. It is through a life that is exciting, joyful, fun, happy, free, and wild since that is the only life I value. It would be a personal life for me where I can be happy all I want, live all I want, and get whatever I want. It would be my own personal Disney fantasy world.

Are you saying that you should not only be allowed to do what you want when you want but that every must respect you simply because you exist?

That is what it seems you are saying.
I am not attacking you, I am merely trying to reveal to you what you sound like to others.

If you were to ask my mother or any of my other family members what they think of me as a person, then they will clearly tell you that I am kind, respectful, don't throw tantrums, and am very mature. They would tell you that all I am doing here is just sharing my personal views and feelings in my packets. This is already proof right here that I am mature and that other people are simply having misconceptions of me.

No, it is NOT "proof" of maturity.
it merely means you are kind and respectful.

This means that, despite my values, I am still a kind, respectful, and mature person. Don't even subject me to your moral standard if your moral standard is only going to serve to judge me, frown upon me, and name call me. If need be, then don't even consider me a human being.

You know absolutely nothing about my moral standard.
YOU brought up your childishness and immaturity.

You probably should not bring up things you do not want to talk about.

Just simply disregard me as any other living thing out there in the wild living its own life and doing its own thing to be happy and survive. The fact of the matter is, I wish to be completely non subjectable to such moral standards and if that requires deeming me as nothing more than a wild animal, then so be it. In other words, all I am saying here is that I want the name calling and disrespect to stop now. Each person has his/her own value system and as long as he/she is not harming and torturing innocent living things and people and is displaying a kind spirit, then respect and dignity is warranted here.

Again, do not bring up topics you are unwilling to discuss.
Especially if all you are going to do is whine and fuss when you do not hear what you want to hear.

It is instead childish to name call me and judge me. Even if I were a senior citizen right now, it would still be childish. I just think this is who I am going to be for the remainder of my life and nothing can or ever will change. Even in my 80s, I will still be that same person who lives for himself, his own happiness, plays video games and does composing for anime/video games, looks forward to an eternal blissful afterlife, has the exact same values, attitude, and outlook on life, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Seems to me you do see something wrong with it.
Why else would you go to such great lengths to not only bring it up, but then flat out deny it while dictating to others what you want them to think about it?[/quote]

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

So why does this above quoted statement apply to what others think?

Because others would expect you to live a life that has no value to you and no worth to you. They would not care if such a life could never bring you any value or worth. They would just want to slave drive you and nothing more. That is the attitude that most people in this society have. This is the reason why I advocate the idea of being who you want to be and living the life that is of value to you.

This come off as you saying that you want to stick it to the man simply because you want to stick it to the man.
Is that what you menat?

Yes, because I suspect that my life can never have any value or worth besides my good feelings. I really think there is no way that can possibly happen no matter how hard I work at it. That only leaves me with one option which is to adhere to the values I already have since nothing can ever change them no matter how hard I try.

Are you saying that you should not only be allowed to do what you want when you want but that every must respect you simply because you exist?

That is what it seems you are saying.
I am not attacking you, I am merely trying to reveal to you what you sound like to others.

Yes, except for situations of harming and torturing other innocent living things and people. That should not be allowed. I should be allowed to live the only life that can ever give me value and worth since it is all I have. There is no other way of living that can possibly give my life any value and worth. Therefore, respect is an inevitable expectation here.

Seems to me you do see something wrong with it.
Why else would you go to such great lengths to not only bring it up, but then flat out deny it while dictating to others what you want them to think about it?

I actually see nothing wrong with it. I go to these great lengths to discuss it because I really want others to see how my views are justified. That way, others will finally treat me with respect and not name call me. This is something very important to me. It is so important that I am willing to go to these great lengths.

 

[McBell]

Because others would expect you to live a life that has no value to you and no worth to you. They would not care if such a life could never bring you any value or worth. They would just want to slave drive you and nothing more. That is the attitude that most people in this society have. This is the reason why I advocate the idea of being who you want to be and living the life that is of value to you.

I have no expectations of how you want to live your life.

Yes, because I suspect that my life can never have any value or worth besides my good feelings. I really think there is no way that can possibly happen no matter how hard I work at it. That only leaves me with one option which is to adhere to the values I already have since nothing can ever change them no matter how hard I try.

And that is not being childish?
Seems to me we have hugely different ideas of what childishness is.

Yes, except for situations of harming and torturing other innocent living things and people. That should not be allowed. I should be allowed to live the only life that can ever give me value and worth since it is all I have. There is no other way of living that can possibly give my life any value and worth. Therefore, respect is an inevitable expectation here.

Respect is earned, not handed out.
Expecting to be respected for merely existing?
And you do not see that as being childish?

So basically, you respect every single living thing, right?

I actually see nothing wrong with it. I go to these great lengths to discuss it because I really want others to see how my views are justified. That way, others will finally treat me with respect and not name call me. This is something very important to me. It is so important that I am willing to go to these great lengths.

Ok, you justified it to yourself.
Why the need to force your personal justifications for your childishness down everyone else's throat?

 

[sealchan]

The idea of the afterlife is so important to me since I want a personal private life all to myself where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want. That is the only good thing in life to me. I don't care about the personal opinions of others who say that this is childish, I need to grow up, etc. We are talking about me as a human being here and if I am just biological material here for a short while only to forever decay when I die and not live on in an eternal blissful afterlife, then that is treating me like I am nothing more than a biological organism/machine or some sort of scrap material that will just break down, die, and decay one day.

That would be utterly insulting and degrading of me as a human being for such a treatment to be given to me. I just don't understand how nonbelievers think otherwise. Imagine how the Jews felt in regards to how Hitler treated them. I bet they felt quite insulted and degraded since they were being treated like nothing more than animals and torture devices. The same thing applies to me in a situation where death is final. If death really is final, then I would feel quite insulted and degraded as well since that is treating me like I am nothing more than something to be tossed and thrown away for good like a rotting and decaying piece of meat.

I will apply this concept to religious believers as well. If there is a God out there such as the God portrayed by fundamentalist Christianity, then that would be a far worse treatment of me. That would be treating me like a slave who is expected to serve and dedicate my life to God or burn forever in a lake of fire. It would be an even worse treatment than Hitler, in my opinion. But, at the same time, death being final is also a horrible, tragic, insulting, and degrading treatment as well for all the reasons I've just explained. Therefore, that only leaves one option by which I can be treated with dignity and respect.

That would be through the New Age spiritual view which advocates the idea that we are all loved by a God who will not condemn us, send us to hell, or have us simply rot and decay away to where we are nevermore. It is the one world religion that many people are uniting under. I don't have any religious beliefs. I don't believe in a God, an afterlife, and nor do I believe in the idea that once you die, that is it. Therefore, I just don't know what to expect when I die and I really hope it is the case that I do get to live on forever in the eternal blissful afterlife of my dreams.

How many living organisms have had to die to keep you alive? How much room is there for all life to continue to persist indefinitely? Is there not something intrinsically valuable about taking what is limited and sharing it with others? In giving of yourself, even in totality, so that others can have the time and space to enjoy what you have enjoyed?

 

[Milton Platt]

The idea of the afterlife is so important to me since I want a personal private life all to myself where I can be happy all I want and get whatever I want. That is the only good thing in life to me. I don't care about the personal opinions of others who say that this is childish, I need to grow up, etc. We are talking about me as a human being here and if I am just biological material here for a short while only to forever decay when I die and not live on in an eternal blissful afterlife, then that is treating me like I am nothing more than a biological organism/machine or some sort of scrap material that will just break down, die, and decay one day.

That would be utterly insulting and degrading of me as a human being for such a treatment to be given to me. I just don't understand how nonbelievers think otherwise. Imagine how the Jews felt in regards to how Hitler treated them. I bet they felt quite insulted and degraded since they were being treated like nothing more than animals and torture devices. The same thing applies to me in a situation where death is final. If death really is final, then I would feel quite insulted and degraded as well since that is treating me like I am nothing more than something to be tossed and thrown away for good like a rotting and decaying piece of meat.

I will apply this concept to religious believers as well. If there is a God out there such as the God portrayed by fundamentalist Christianity, then that would be a far worse treatment of me. That would be treating me like a slave who is expected to serve and dedicate my life to God or burn forever in a lake of fire. It would be an even worse treatment than Hitler, in my opinion. But, at the same time, death being final is also a horrible, tragic, insulting, and degrading treatment as well for all the reasons I've just explained. Therefore, that only leaves one option by which I can be treated with dignity and respect.

That would be through the New Age spiritual view which advocates the idea that we are all loved by a God who will not condemn us, send us to hell, or have us simply rot and decay away to where we are nevermore. It is the one world religion that many people are uniting under. I don't have any religious beliefs. I don't believe in a God, an afterlife, and nor do I believe in the idea that once you die, that is it. Therefore, I just don't know what to expect when I die and I really hope it is the case that I do get to live on forever in the eternal blissful afterlife of my dreams.

None of that matters....what matters is what is actually true.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

I have no expectations of how you want to live your life.


And that is not being childish?
Seems to me we have hugely different ideas of what childishness is.


Respect is earned, not handed out.
Expecting to be respected for merely existing?
And you do not see that as being childish?

So basically, you respect every single living thing, right?


Ok, you justified it to yourself.
Why the need to force your personal justifications for your childishness down everyone else's throat?

You are right in saying that respect is earned and not handed out. I think I have earned it just from the simple fact that I am kind towards my family and others out in the community. I do not harm, torture, judge, or condemn others. This, alone, makes me worthy of respect and dignity.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Imagine how the Jews felt in regards to how Hitler treated them. I bet they felt quite insulted and degraded since they were being treated like nothing more than animals and torture devices. The same thing applies to me in a situation where death is final.

You can't equate these. On one hand you have people treated terribly by other people. Yes, by your peers/fellow-humans, terrible treatment is degrading and insulting. However, what makes you think that you are a "peer" with death? What makes you think that this completely natural process is poor treatment if it results in your non-existence? These ideas are ludicrous.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

You can't equate these. On one hand you have people treated terribly by other people. Yes, by your peers/fellow-humans, terrible treatment is degrading and insulting. However, what makes you think that you are a "peer" with death? What makes you think that this completely natural process is poor treatment if it results in your non-existence? These ideas are ludicrous.

Because you could still say that life itself has treated you poorly. This would pertain to natural processes. Even if there were no way for life itself or any natural process to treat me poorly, it would still be insulting, degrading, a lack of respect, and a lack of dignity to me as a person to just throw me away.

 

[Akivah]

We are talking about me as a human being here and if I am just biological material here for a short while only to forever decay when I die and not live on in an eternal blissful afterlife, then that is treating me like I am nothing more than a biological organism/machine or some sort of scrap material that will just break down, die, and decay one day.

{snip}

That would be through the New Age spiritual view which advocates the idea that we are all loved by a God who will not condemn us, send us to hell, or have us simply rot and decay away to where we are nevermore.

...I don't have any religious beliefs.

The concept of an afterlife is a religious belief, it certainly doesn't appear in science. So you do have a religious belief. However, your beliefs are in opposition to what G-d told the Jewish people. At no point in the Hebrew bible did G-d ever say that we humans wouldn't die. In fact, the Tanakh teaches us the opposite.

For example, P s a 103:13-16
As a father has mercy on sons, the Lord had mercy on those who fear Him. For He knows our creation; He remembers that we are dust. As for man-his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so does he sprout. For a wind passes over him and he is no longer here; and his place no longer recognizes him.

So to consider death as an insult flies in the face of how G-d created us.

And as this Psalm continues, an afterlife is alluded to (verse 17-19):
But the Lord's kindness is from everlasting to everlasting, and His charity to sons of sons. To those who keep His covenant and to those who remember His commandments to perform them. The Lord established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.