How do atheists come to term with death?

[Revoltingest]

Meh....my only issue is sorting out my affairs
so that it won't be a big job for my survivors.

 

[F1fan]

I don't think any person with emotional depth can easily come to terms with death. Coping is necessary for many folks, and this can include all sort of illusions and beliefs. The trauma of loss can be debilitating for those who need to function, so it's understandable that these folks have to rely on many tactics to avoid thinking about the loss. The belief in an afterlife is certainly a very attractive thing to believe, both to cope with loss and the desire to reunite with those we've lost.

I'm mixed on whether this is a cruel religious idea or an effective way to help those in pain.

I've had numerous close calls with death in recent years and have come out of all situations with only minor injuries.

 

[Brickjectivity]

So do you believe that everyone is going to end up in eternal torment? Really? If that is the case then it really does not matter what you believe does it?

I am not an atheist. That's why I refer to JK Rowling's comment. She is an atheist and makes an interesting comment from her atheist point of view.

To me the meaning of death is that we return to the beginning to live the same life again. There are days where I am a child, others where I am a teenager, and days like today where I am an adult. They all are part of a continuum, a little strip of time that is me. I lean to the analogy that it is as if we go back to the beginning of our lives to live them over again an infinite number of times.

 

[F1fan]

Meh....my only issue is sorting out my affairs
so that it won't be a big job for my survivors.

Yeah, that's a big priority for me too. I have a huge trust fund between myself and five siblings and being unmarried if anything happens to me my part gets distributed to the others. I've thought about marrying a friend of mine so she can manage my trust fund and take care of my mom and her parents, and retire if she wanted to take care of her kid. This stuff is tricky.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

You feel the need to respond to a question asked of atheists on our behalf, do you? And further, assert that you understand 'Atheists' (sic)?

Why's that?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

So, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I am often quite terrified of death. I’m curious how atheists emotionally deal with the prospect of death.

It's funny, but I haven't noticed that belief in an afterlife, or some form of religion really helps people deal emotionally with death. Some people seem to deal with it better than others, and to some extent I think it has more to do with our ability to separate ourselves from things that we can control, from things we can't.
I'll die one day, as will everyone I know. With that simple fact out of the way, I can get on with metaphorically reading the book of life, and not stressing about what's going to happen once I've read the last page.

I do think belief in an afterlife can change the nature of our questions and worries, to some degree. I've had religious people tell my kids that their pet dog has gone to a better place...or gone to heaven...or is now playing on a farm (even!), none of which made a lot of sense, in many ways. Some also thought it was somewhat cruel that we were much more direct (or in our minds, honest) about what had happened. This obviously caused distress for my kids...they loved their dog. What it didn't cause was confusion, or a need to justify WHY the dog was dead, or whether it was fair, etc.

Atheists may stress about death, and the mileage will vary from atheist to atheist. It's often seen as an end, in our terms, I suppose. But theists commonly stress about death too. Why are good people taken? Why my mother/father/son/daughter? What's going to happen to my homosexual friend when she dies? How can I reconcile worshipping God, but also thinking the majority of the people on the planet will end up in Hell?

(These beliefs are obviously not even close to universal. I'm just making the point that atheist and theist alike can stress over death)

I think, if you're really looking for a stress-free group with relation to death, you might be better off talking to those who believe in reincarnation, or pantheist/panentheist types. Still generalising, but that's my guess.

 

[an anarchist]

What's going to happen to my homosexual friend when she dies? How can I reconcile worshipping God, but also thinking the majority of the people on the planet will end up in Hell?

I remember being a young teen in church. My pastor was preaching about how Islam was evil and Muslims would burn in Hell. As I was sitting there I started doing the math in my head. “Well gee, Muslims about half the people. Then well India is a big country and of course they are all evil Hindus... hmm most the classmates I know are atheists... By the process of elimination, I guess I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world, because it seems like just me and my church are going to Heaven.” I began to become scared at the idea it was sheer luck I wasn’t going to Hell. If I’d been any number of billions of other people, I would’ve been born in another country, into another religion. Then I’d be roasted in the afterlife.
My former romantic partner, as well as my current one, identify as gay and trans. My current partner even identifies as a witch/pagan! (We discuss this often). A few years ago, I was weighed down with the belief that people like these were doomed for eternal hellfire. I’ve gone a long way in letting go of that belief, and has helped me accept death to a greater degree.

 

[Irate State]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

Sorry, but I beg to differ. You can't speak about what two different if somewhat overlapping groups believe or don't, as if they're were a monolithic construct.
People belonging to either or both can think and feel differently than you think they think.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

What does this mean? Why do you include evolutionists in this? The theory of evolution isn't a theory of an afterlife or death. Many people that study or accept the theory of evolution are theists.

 

[oldbadger]

As someone who was raised from the get go to believe in the afterlife, I still retain that belief. When mourning the death of a loved one, my belief in the afterlife helps. However, I still sometimes become suddenly frightened by the idea of death; it will feel like I’m realizing for the first time again that I am going to die and so is everyone I care about.
The prophet Baha’u’llah stated this about the afterlife (paraphrasing). If God allowed man to see what lies after death, they would see the joys that awaits them and do nothing but rush to their death. So God has given us this fear of death. This line of reasoning comforts me when the prospect of death becomes an internal existential crisis.
So, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I am often quite terrified of death. I’m curious how atheists emotionally deal with the prospect of death.

As a Deist I do not believe in a 'self afterlife', but that is ok.
I was dead for countless billions of years before life, but that was ok.
I could be dead for countless billions of years after life, but that will be ok.
And, strangely, not part of me will die. Each part will go on, just like it did before.
It's all ok.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

Believe it or not, the Bible supports the atheists’ POV, on this issue. (It’s probably the only one!) Jehovah God told Adam after his rebellion, “You will return to the ground .... to dust you will return “ — Genesis 3:19

Unfortunately, even among those who appreciate the Bible, very few believe this idea. Most think of and believe in an immediate afterlife, but the Bible doesn’t promise this... it’s promise is that of a future resurrection. — Acts of the Apostles 24:15

So what is the condition of the dead? They “know nothing.”(Ecclesiastes 9:5) They have ‘returned to the ground.’ They are “sleeping” — John 11:11-14

As, indeed, most atheists believe.

But according to Acts 24 & John 5:28-29, even the “unrighteous” will be resurrected, i.e., given life again. (The “judgement “ they receive will be on their actions after their resurrection.) So the dead ‘unrighteous’ atheists, when brought back to life, will be pleasantly surprised, I think. They too will experience the goodness of Jehovah.

Most everyone will.....unless they were / are “incorrigibly wicked.”

(IMO, from what I understand of the Scriptures as I’ve been taught,)

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Believe it or not, the Bible supports the atheists’ POV, on this issue. (It’s probably the only one!)

Might be an interesting thread idea. I think God supports more of our ideas than you'd think.

 

[loverofhumanity]

As someone who was raised from the get go to believe in the afterlife, I still retain that belief. When mourning the death of a loved one, my belief in the afterlife helps. However, I still sometimes become suddenly frightened by the idea of death; it will feel like I’m realizing for the first time again that I am going to die and so is everyone I care about.
The prophet Baha’u’llah stated this about the afterlife (paraphrasing). If God allowed man to see what lies after death, they would see the joys that awaits them and do nothing but rush to their death. So God has given us this fear of death. This line of reasoning comforts me when the prospect of death becomes an internal existential crisis.
So, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I am often quite terrified of death. I’m curious how atheists emotionally deal with the prospect of death.

I feel the same too but Baha’u’llah has provided a very good reason why what happens to us when we die is kept from us. If we knew would we really like this place as much as we fo now? With atheists I think once they die they will be filled with joy and happiness at the life there but also regret that they did not trust in God in this life and listened to ignorant people who were sprouting there us no God or afterlife.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

Ha ha ha. Boy are you ever wrong!

I had a heart attack and not once did I feel any need to appeal to any God or divine being whatsoever.

When death comes around again and claims my form for real, nothing will change in that regard because the universe has been proven to handle things quite well as it is, without any imagination required.

 

[Justanatheist]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

Oh, how many deathbed conversions have you witnessed, or is this just your imaginative wishful thinking?

 

[Justanatheist]

I have on a couple of occasions longed for death because of pain, not existing has no fears for me. I think religious prohibitions on suicide is one of the cruelest parts of religion. To deny death to the terminally ill or others who are in terrible pain is appalling.

 

[John1.12]

As someone who was raised from the get go to believe in the afterlife, I still retain that belief. When mourning the death of a loved one, my belief in the afterlife helps. However, I still sometimes become suddenly frightened by the idea of death; it will feel like I’m realizing for the first time again that I am going to die and so is everyone I care about.
The prophet Baha’u’llah stated this about the afterlife (paraphrasing). If God allowed man to see what lies after death, they would see the joys that awaits them and do nothing but rush to their death. So God has given us this fear of death. This line of reasoning comforts me when the prospect of death becomes an internal existential crisis.
So, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I am often quite terrified of death. I’m curious how atheists emotionally deal with the prospect of death.

Most atheists I know, answer either like Bruce Willis in Die Hard or like a Poet .

 

[blü 2]

As someone who was raised from the get go to believe in the afterlife, I still retain that belief. When mourning the death of a loved one, my belief in the afterlife helps. However, I still sometimes become suddenly frightened by the idea of death; it will feel like I’m realizing for the first time again that I am going to die and so is everyone I care about.
The prophet Baha’u’llah stated this about the afterlife (paraphrasing). If God allowed man to see what lies after death, they would see the joys that awaits them and do nothing but rush to their death. So God has given us this fear of death. This line of reasoning comforts me when the prospect of death becomes an internal existential crisis.
So, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I am often quite terrified of death. I’m curious how atheists emotionally deal with the prospect of death.

Strictly speaking, I'm an igtheist.

The idea of a life after death as an aspect of reality makes no sense whatsoever. No doubt it has its comforts as a thing imagined, but no one approaches it as though it were real. And what's the point? Human life has a natural pattern ─ birth, adolescence, pairing, breeding, grandparenting, dying. That's good for everyone, since it makes evolution possible.

What if any sense organs will you have in heaven? If you're a soul, none, since your body's dead, no? How will you feel emotions without your endocrine system ─ no testosterone to feel randy, no adrenaline to fight or flight, no love hormones. If on the other hand you're resurrected, what stands between you and eternal boredom and pointlessness? As Woody Allen is said to have said, Eternity is very long,especially towards the end,

What are the rights of the citizens of heaven? Can they go where they like, revisit earth, Mars, the stars? Can they contact friends who didn't make it? Can they watch their enemies in torment in hell, and if so, is there a fee, and if so, what kind of a fee? What is the economy of heaven? Can they vote Yahweh out and Aphrodite in? Since none of these questions have answers, the average heaven-hopeful person is buying a pig in a poke.

Back in reality, the supernatural, including the afterlife, exists only as concepts and things imagined in individual brains. In reality there's no such things. In dreams and imaginings, help yourself.

So I accept that I'll die. The biological systems that sustain my life will irreversibly cease and that'll be the end. I'm apprehensive in an unsurprising way about dying, but I have no fear at all of being dead.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Hi,
Most Atheist and evolutionist are in denial when it come to death, although the facts are clear to them, the reality of it has no effect on them.
It is only when directly faced with death that some see the need to turn their attention to the possibility of a God and experience a complete turn around.
Whether God accepts this sudden conversion is another matter.

As many have commented, you are way off the mark here. I nearly died twice and God or anything similar never entered my head (no time for such) - surviving by acting was though - know which won?

 

[fantome profane]

Believe it or not, the Bible supports the atheists’ POV, on this issue.

Believe it or not, the Bible supports both sides of this issue.

And it is hardly the only issue where different books in the Bible express different contradictory ideas.