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The Atheist belief is sad indeed.
- Thread starter Reverend Rick
- Start date
What would be valid in Pascal's Wager?
It isn't even good....it just is.It's a good thing...
I disagree. Pascal's Wager is very shallow. It falls down in the fact there are thousands of different god concepts how do you choose the right one? Also on the fact that it assumes you can just choose to believe or not believe.
In my experience there is no concious choice involved it is more a summation of yourself so to change beliefs you would have to change as a person.
How do you see it as helping you remain religious?
Skwim
Veteran Member
It was like finding out there's no Santa Clause, a disappointing and melancholy moment.However, as I began to understand its self-delusional nature I began to appreciate how fortunate I was to breakaway from it. Now I regard the belief in a god as an unfortunate necessity more than anything else.
The Neo Nerd
Well-Known Member
When i realised that there wasn't a god i was too young to understand the ramifications.
It wasn't until i was in my late teens that i started pondering them.
And yes it was a liberating feeling. No fear, no guilt etc. I was also quite angry with the church for imposing these fears and guilts on society as a whole.
But i have come to terms with it and now respect each individuals right to believe what they want but a healthy disrespect for organised religion of any kind.
-Q
It wasn't until i was in my late teens that i started pondering them.
And yes it was a liberating feeling. No fear, no guilt etc. I was also quite angry with the church for imposing these fears and guilts on society as a whole.
But i have come to terms with it and now respect each individuals right to believe what they want but a healthy disrespect for organised religion of any kind.
-Q
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
God wasn't there at the orientation.....
When I cast my beliefs of God aside I realised this as being the default mode from my birth, and that this moment "as is" remains pure, natural and untainted, free from influences from bias and opinion of which requires no embellishments and further additions to fully appreciate. I hold no sadness or fear as I age and get older feeling the bones creak and joints ache. When life and living is all over and I'm dead again, I realise now this is something which has already been fully experienced firsthand. That makes me happier and more at ease towards the time where I once again, can embrace and appreciate nothingness for a spell.
no-body
Well-Known Member
When I was a hardcore Atheist part of it was being against something that motivated me. This is the worst reason to be an Atheist and is why I'm not anymore.
For the true Atheist it is I believe deriving a strength from reality. The fact that we only get one chance to do it, there is no cosmic justice and humanity is all we have gluing us together is a psychological source of strength for some instead of the existential crippling it is for the bulk of us.
I respect this immensely since for so many (including myself) it is what leads to the crutch of religion and spirituality.
For the true Atheist it is I believe deriving a strength from reality. The fact that we only get one chance to do it, there is no cosmic justice and humanity is all we have gluing us together is a psychological source of strength for some instead of the existential crippling it is for the bulk of us.
I respect this immensely since for so many (including myself) it is what leads to the crutch of religion and spirituality.
ellenjanuary
Well-Known Member
When there was a gun in my face, I made a point of saying my last words; "I love you, Gwyneth Paltrow." When I stood on the side of the road as these gang-bangers tried to do us in a drive-by; I laughed and took another swig of my beer. "Jeez, these mofos can't shoot." When they told me it's cath lab or death, I looked at my Gwynnies on my arm; took a ride upstairs. Laughed there, too. "What do you mean, groin camera; how can you tell me that's not going to hurt?"
All this talk about death, and my box of Gwynnies dies in the middle of my rant...
Just that, in numerous instances where death (even worse-severe pain) was a very real and immediate possibility; I didn't even think about praying to god, heck, I really didn't even think about death.
I'm not an atheist, but I find Reverend Rick's words to be quite condescending.
Which demonstrates my reason why it is not a good tool to convert someone from non-religion to religion. I'm agreeing with you here.
No argument here either.
Because I have nothing to lose. Religion gives me comfort. If it is false comfort or not does not matter.
dust1n
Zindīq
Not nearly as sad as I would be if Christianity was true, or any religion for that matter.
dust1n
Zindīq
Makes me feel rather normal actually.
There was not some magical moment of conversion away from theism. It was a gradual process for me over the course of a couple of years.
In contrast to many atheists, I didn't find it liberating. I think that's because I didn't believe in one of those angry, jealous, threatening sorts of gods to begin with anyway. I believed in a loving, understanding, encompassing one instead, so there wasn't much to be liberated from.
But I didn't really find it sad either. In addition to losing belief in gods, I found that there wasn't really anything that my religion explained or offered. I came to view my old belief as a flawed worldview, and I came to realize that all of the responsibility for my life was my own.
Yes, there are true atheists. I'm no more of a Christian than I am a Muslim or a Scientologist. Maybe I've got a hint of agnostic hinduism or panentheism in me somewhere, but I'm an atheist for basically all intents and purposes. I just don't believe in any gods.
No, I would not pray on a crashing airplane. Prayer just isn't a part of my worldview anymore. So I don't think I'd be any more likely to pray than you would be to start chanting "Hare Krishna!" on a crashing plane. I don't really even see the purpose of praying in the face of death. What would I say? Would I try to tell the gods something they didn't already know? If there are any gods out there capable of reading thoughts then I guess they've already read mine so there's not much to say.
No, death does not make me sad. The concept of an eternal life just doesn't really appeal to me.
What does it comfort you from?
I'm not an atheist, but I find Reverend Rick's words to be quite condescending.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Reading all these well thought out posts makes me feel like a superstitious old fool. On the surface I can understand why the religious look so ignorant if not down right crazy, look at the company some of us keep.
Organised religion has more wrong with it than right these days. It is hard to remain religious if not for the occasional inspiration that keeps my faith alive.
Condescending? I hope not, if you mean the title of the thread, well I admit I wanted you all to click on this thread. All in all I think this is going well.
Dan4reason
Facts not Faith
I see death as something harmful but it does not depress me because to me death is just a fact of life. I am just grateful that not only that I am lucky emough to exist at all but my existence is just so wonderful. I was lucky enough to be born human with the ability to reason and think and actually control my life. I am also greatful to be born a being with the ability to feel and have the oppurtunity to experience such great joy. I am also greateful to be able to live in a first-world country where I do not nead to go through such misery and labor to survive and have a better oppurtunity to pursue happiness.
Death and sadness are unfortunate but if I just see the glass as half-full I will be ignoring how lucky I am to have anything in the glass at all. What I wish is as I approach death I will have a feeling of happiness toward all I have experience in life and maybe a little sadness about leaving. Approaching death hopefully will encourage me to actually get something out of what I have.
Living for eternity does not sound good at all to me because it may all become boring to me. I would one day experience all I had to experience and every new day would just be more of the same. In order for something to be truely appreciated it should be limited.
Danmac
Well-Known Member
Since there are no scientific methods to test for a God, all atheists are acting on a hunch. Unless they are privy to scientific data they are keeping to themselves. Oh I know they pull the old "cant disprove a negative" spiel, but science is not in the habit of forming premature conclusions about the unknown. So I suppose those who boast that they have science on their side, are the first to abandon it so they can hold to an opinion that massages their fancy.
What we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts. -Huxley
I find it sad that anything you would be happy about would make me feel worse. Just as anything that goes right in my world affects you in a negative manner. I guess we both can take comfort in at least one of us is happy all the time.
That about sums it up. But we give our hunch a fancy name....Occam's Razor.