RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
Well of course it is. Have the courage of your convictions; if what you see is a Godless universe, that perception necessarily informs your view of the world.
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God gives my life meaning
- Thread starter Starlight
- Start date
Well of course it is. Have the courage of your convictions; if what you see is a Godless universe, that perception necessarily informs your view of the world.
Atheism is a theistic position/stance, not a worldview. Atheism may be a part of what constitutes a worldview, but it's not a worldview in and of itself.
That said, if you wish to debate on whether or not atheism, theism, etc. are worldviews, please create your own thread to do so. This is not the topic of this thread.
Then, if you wish to debate the rationality of atheism, and whether or not it is an informed position, then create another thread, because that would be off-topic from whether or not atheism is a worldview.
Starlight
Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
atheism is a worldview
Again, please see my previous post. I really don't want to put on my mod hat this morning. It needs washed.
If that's the case, great. I'll find out then. In the meantime, I live my life as if there is no god, meaning I don't read holy book or pray or congregate with others every week to discuss it.
Maybe, but that question is presently unanswerable.
I don't believe that he or anybody else knows more than nothing about gods and possible afterlives. Nor do I believe that there is any reality so tempting that I would leave this world before my natural time to see it. I'm content to wait here and live this life.
Can you explain how God gives meaning to your life?
My spiritual experiences have (imo) given me the awareness to uncover and realize the types of mindset, attitude and vocation that would be most meaningful and fulfilling for me personally. Not sure how it tracks with your question.
No. My Humanism informs my view of the world, with Atheism a simple answer to the question - 'Do you believe in gods?'
I doubt I need any lessons in courage from you.....
What is and isn’t a non-religious worldview?
‘The English word ‘worldview’ is a translation of the German weltanschauung, which literally means a view of the world. A worldview is a person’s way of understanding, experiencing and responding to the world. It can be described as a philosophy of life or an approach to life. This includes how...
Do convictions have courage?
Should they have any?
I would think not.
It is really a bit sad that people might find the need to find courage in convictions. Maybe we are finding some mismatch of meanings of words here, I don't know.
The way I see it, convictions should be informed by available evidence and revised when the evidence encourages that revision.
Courage isn't really something that factors in, nor should it be.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
You surely will, and that will settle the matter once and for all.
Meanwhile you cannot pretend to believe what you don't believe. I understand that.
I live my life as if there is a God, since I believe that God exists, but I never pray or congregate with others to discuss it. I would find that very boring.
How?
I believe that Baha'u'llah and the other Messengers of God knew about God and the afterlife, things we cannot know.
I believe there is another reality that will be much better than this earthly reality, but I would never leave this world before my natural time to see it.
I'm content to wait here and live this life, as as long as I know I can continue to progress and become a better person, and as long as there are people, cats and other animals and nature, which make my life worth living.
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Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Make a thread on it.
vulcanlogician
Well-Known Member
Because anything can give someone's life meaning. For a while, especially in my youth, Star Trek was incredibly meaningful to me. I was a lonely lil' nerd at one point, and Trek was one of the few things that gave my lonely, pathetic existence meaning. God could just as easily fill that role (whether he exists or not). The fact that believers actually think God is real works even more in God's favor as an object that supplies meaning.
After all, I was never under the illusion that Star Trek was real, yet I found meaning in it.
Long story short: human beings find meaning in all sorts of things, fictitious, real, or otherwise.
If you want to hear a good philosophical demonstration of how God specifically can provide meaning to a believer, Soren Kierkegaard did some pretty good analysis. It's been a while since I've read it. But even as a young college-aged atheist, I thought his arguments were pretty impressive.
If someone made a thread saying that writing gave their life meaning, would you question that? Neither should you question how people derive meaning from their belief in/relation to God. People find all sorts of things meaningful for all sorts of reasons.
@Starlight in response to your opening post:
Making sense of the world is special. Some of us have to get by in a world which makes no sense to us, and I think that is more common than not. Some of us try to make the world make sense. We require it. Some of us fly through life as if holding ourselves up by our own ears. Others insist that, no, there must be ground beneath us, and all things should be measurable and not contradict. Its like the difference between using a recipe for your meal and just adding things until your food tastes good, but its more extreme.
Thought experiment:
I have an image that I imagine sometimes of an adult who gets into an elevator expecting to reach a new floor, but upon opening the door not only is there nothing outside and the elevator is only visible on the inside. There is no ground outside, but instead darkness and stars in all directions. Nothing in life has prepared the person for this situation; but I think people would have two main approaches to this situation:
I think there are two ways that people usually cope. There are people who expect and demand for things to makes sense, and there are people who do not. There have always been both kinds of people. We have people living both ways, and we cannot always tell who is who, and the two do not easily understand on another. They survive in different ways, and we cannot usually be both. We usually are one kind of person or the other. I think. The ones who demand for things to make sense have the flaw of presuming that there is some sense to things. The ones who do not have a different flaw of carelessness. Each person may find the other to be suspicious. One seems overly cautious and the other dangerously flippant.
Person #1
The sense-demanding person suddenly in that weird elevator decides to make sense of it. Perhaps they freeze, try to remember what was supposed to be there and to act like nothing weird has happened; or perhaps they call an ambulance to have themselves taken to a psychiatrist. Or they take a step out into the stars, presuming it must actually be a floor and that the situation is all in their head. The point is that even though the situation seems ridiculous, they must have sense and be able to associate the situation with their understanding.
Person #2
Opposite the other type of person simply accepts the situation. They are used to things not making sense, so they decide that the elevator actually has reached a floor containing absolutely nothing. The situation is impossible yet they are used to living with things which make no sense: trees sprouting from the ground and people flying in giant metal tubes and images and sounds sent thousands of miles effortlessly. This strange magical situation does not feel particularly unusual in their way of thinking.
Each kind of person has advantages and disadvantages.
God:
Now suppose that each of these people believe in God. That is fairly typical, because lots of different people believe in God. People of all kinds believe in God.
The sense-demanding person demands that God make sense. The non-sense-demanding person does not. Both believe in God. It happens.
Making sense of the world is special. Some of us have to get by in a world which makes no sense to us, and I think that is more common than not. Some of us try to make the world make sense. We require it. Some of us fly through life as if holding ourselves up by our own ears. Others insist that, no, there must be ground beneath us, and all things should be measurable and not contradict. Its like the difference between using a recipe for your meal and just adding things until your food tastes good, but its more extreme.
Thought experiment:
I have an image that I imagine sometimes of an adult who gets into an elevator expecting to reach a new floor, but upon opening the door not only is there nothing outside and the elevator is only visible on the inside. There is no ground outside, but instead darkness and stars in all directions. Nothing in life has prepared the person for this situation; but I think people would have two main approaches to this situation:
I think there are two ways that people usually cope. There are people who expect and demand for things to makes sense, and there are people who do not. There have always been both kinds of people. We have people living both ways, and we cannot always tell who is who, and the two do not easily understand on another. They survive in different ways, and we cannot usually be both. We usually are one kind of person or the other. I think. The ones who demand for things to make sense have the flaw of presuming that there is some sense to things. The ones who do not have a different flaw of carelessness. Each person may find the other to be suspicious. One seems overly cautious and the other dangerously flippant.
Person #1
The sense-demanding person suddenly in that weird elevator decides to make sense of it. Perhaps they freeze, try to remember what was supposed to be there and to act like nothing weird has happened; or perhaps they call an ambulance to have themselves taken to a psychiatrist. Or they take a step out into the stars, presuming it must actually be a floor and that the situation is all in their head. The point is that even though the situation seems ridiculous, they must have sense and be able to associate the situation with their understanding.
Person #2
Opposite the other type of person simply accepts the situation. They are used to things not making sense, so they decide that the elevator actually has reached a floor containing absolutely nothing. The situation is impossible yet they are used to living with things which make no sense: trees sprouting from the ground and people flying in giant metal tubes and images and sounds sent thousands of miles effortlessly. This strange magical situation does not feel particularly unusual in their way of thinking.
Each kind of person has advantages and disadvantages.
God:
Now suppose that each of these people believe in God. That is fairly typical, because lots of different people believe in God. People of all kinds believe in God.
The sense-demanding person demands that God make sense. The non-sense-demanding person does not. Both believe in God. It happens.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I have found a lot of meaning in many fictional TV shows I watch. Some of them have God themes but others like The Way Home are just for the entertainment, but even though it is only for entertainment it has a lesson to teach about living in the past vs. the present, and accepting what we cannot change.
Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
Yes, certainly God gives my life meaning. What could I have without God?
TagliatelliMonster
Veteran Member
Why not?
TagliatelliMonster
Veteran Member
How is that what he said?
It's not the idea of finding purpose in general that I struggle with.
I can get how sonething like writing can give one's life meaning. Creating something that can be an inspiration or object of beauty for others is a service. Writing can make the world a better place.
But service to God would be futile, no? If God is perfect no matter what, then anything you do for God has no effect at all.
What I'm struggling with is the idea of a life's purpose and meaning in the absence of purposeful or meaningful actions to make up that life.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Because I do not believe that I have absolute free will to act on my own behalf and change my life.
I have hope with God because I believe that God can and does help me.
You ask the right questions. God's recognition is a favor to us. We can't benefit nor harm God.