Well, Atheists bother because they believe that this is the only chance they get to live, thus they enjoy the one life they have. Is that really hard to understand? (I am Buddhist btw, so I am very much in the same boat)Eisenfaust said:OK, there's joy in life, enjoy it... I'm not trying to stop you from doing that, i'm simply asking... why do you bother? whats it in aid of? and so what if others remember you? they'll just die eventually as well anyway... and "Living is awesome, we've only got one chance so let's make it kick ass" isn't really an answer... I'm asking why bother? why must it kick arse if its ultimately meaningless? every time I've brought this up, everyone's knee-jerk reaction has been "we only have one chance. we should live a good life". I ask them "but why bother?" and they just repeat themselves... its an illogical argument... the hell is the point?!Skeleon said:There are other things to look forward to besides a questionable afterlife.Eisenfaust said:But you still haven't really answered the question... why make it worth it if you'll never ever remember it again... if all you do when you die is sit in the ground a rot, whats the point of doing anything while you're alive? Anyone who remembers anything you did will end up just like you, and eventually no one will remember anything about you...
There's joy in life. There are goals you set for yourself, people to interact with and love, children to raise and educate. How is it so difficult to accept that people like living for living's sake? Life is a beautiful thing, a one-time chance, one that I wouldn't want to pass up. As I said many times on these forums before, to me, there's no intrinsic meaning of life. But we can find our own.
Oh, and something will remain of you. Whether it's even a mention in a book somewhere (or something grander perhaps?), your kids and grand kids or maybe just the memory of you in somebody else's mind. Everybody leaves an impact on this world and there's such a thing as a legacy one might want to leave behind, however small.
???, Atheists haven't helped ?? Charles Darwin was an Atheist and he discovered the theory of evolution and in turn as helped us understand creatures and how they adapted and behaved which lead to learning how to anatomy a whole lot better and learning how to cure a lot of what at that time were know as incurable deceases, Atheist figured out that people were actually being cured but they had taken ill, Atheists realised that the people they were burning, hanging and drowning were not actually witches. I could go on about this for ever.Eisenfaust said:I actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever". sigh... i just don't get athiests... and none of you have particularly helped... CONGRATS!
Strange... Since Hitler was a strong believing christian :/ziggybogidou said:I came across this Conservative, pro-creationism wiki recently and was amazed to discover that it has so many users, when it clearly avoids facts and twists the truth just to make it's articles fit in with the conservative, creationist view. Now I have nothing against having your own beliefs but it certianly surprised me that so many people can beleive that athiesm is the "denial of the existance of God". I was worried when I looked at their article on evoltion: the first thing i saw was a huge picture of Hitler. And on the front page there were pictures linking Burack Obama to communism.
So my question is this: do any of you agree with these views? and if so why?
i was talking about with this question i'm posing, not in life in general... *slow clap*Sovvolf said:???, Atheists haven't helped ?? Charles Darwin was an Atheist and he discovered the theory of evolution and in turn as helped us understand creatures and how they adapted and behaved which lead to learning how to anatomy a whole lot better and learning how to cure a lot of what at that time were know as incurable deceases, Atheist figured out that people were actually being cured but they had taken ill, Atheists realised that the people they were burning, hanging and drowning were not actually witches. I could go on about this for ever.Eisenfaust said:I actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever". sigh... i just don't get athiests... and none of you have particularly helped... CONGRATS!
it wasn't so much that i don't understand that they want to live a full life and enjoy it, blah blah blah, it was that i was questioning they're motives behind it... my ultimate point was "you won't remember, so why bother?" i just makes more logical sense to me that they wouldn't worry about it... but i can't know because i'm not an athiest so i can't really see it from their perspective...Lunar Shadow said:Well, Atheists bother because they believe that this is the only chance they get to live, thus they enjoy the one life they have. Is that really hard to understand? (I am Buddhist btw, so I am very much in the same boat)
Well, that's the point, we won't remember it. Thus we enjoy it while we can. Because of the belief that nothing is awaiting them Atheists are motivated by the fact that this life is all that they have and because they won't remember it is why they are motivated to enjoy it.Eisenfaust said:i was talking about with this question i'm posing, not in life in general... *slow clap*Sovvolf said:???, Atheists haven't helped ?? Charles Darwin was an Atheist and he discovered the theory of evolution and in turn as helped us understand creatures and how they adapted and behaved which lead to learning how to anatomy a whole lot better and learning how to cure a lot of what at that time were know as incurable deceases, Atheist figured out that people were actually being cured but they had taken ill, Atheists realised that the people they were burning, hanging and drowning were not actually witches. I could go on about this for ever.Eisenfaust said:I actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever". sigh... i just don't get athiests... and none of you have particularly helped... CONGRATS!
it wasn't so much that i don't understand that they want to live a full life and enjoy it, blah blah blah, it was that i was questioning they're motives behind it... my ultimate point was "you won't remember, so why bother?" i just makes more logical sense to me that they wouldn't worry about it... but i can't know because i'm not an athiest so i can't really see it from their perspective...Lunar Shadow said:Well, Atheists bother because they believe that this is the only chance they get to live, thus they enjoy the one life they have. Is that really hard to understand? (I am Buddhist btw, so I am very much in the same boat)
WHICH IS WHY I ASKED THE DAMN QUESTION IN THE FIRST PLACE! (sorry lunar, thats not yelling at you...)
Well, I tried, but I don't know how else to explain it.Eisenfaust said:i... was making a joke... and i wasn't trying to convince you to change your ways, i was simply asking a question... getting someone to clear it up...
But that's simply not true. Atheists have goals in life. In life, not after life. We're just as motivated to work to better ourselves as any other normal human being.i actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever."
Dammit, you just shattered my entire universe.Graustein said:While you are correct in that agnosticism is "we can't know either way", that is not deism. Deism is the belief in a non-interventionist higher power. One form of deism is a belief that "God created the universe, set up the laws of physics, and then pressed the 'go' button", but that's hardly the only interpretation.
I know this because I am an agnostic deist.
You seem to be under the impression all atheists think "there's no point". You are wrong, and I don't think you quite understand what it is you're arguing about.Eisenfaust said:I actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever". sigh... i just don't get athiests... and none of you have particularly helped... CONGRATS!
The motive is to have as much kick-assedry in one lifetime as possible. It doesn't have to last forever to be worth it, but I'm sure you'll just say that's not an answer, make some vague reference to a philosopher you know, and how atheists are idiots or something.Eisenfaust said:it wasn't so much that i don't understand that they want to live a full life and enjoy it, blah blah blah, it was that i was questioning they're motives behind it... my ultimate point was "you won't remember, so why bother?" i just makes more logical sense to me that they wouldn't worry about it... but i can't know because i'm not an athiest so i can't really see it from their perspective...
Are you implying that isn't true?chronobreak said:Just like how everyone who is against gay marriage is "homophobic". Definitions don't hold as much water as public opinion.
Not to derail the thread, but yes, that is exactly what I said. Not everyone who is against gay marriage is afraid or feels contempt toward homosexuals. Frankly, there isn't even anything to argue, because it would be incredibly hard to prove millions upon millions of people are homophobic, unless somebody can read the minds of all the proponents of our standard marriage system.Antlers said:Are you implying that isn't true?
Uh what. Suicide is for the weak.Eisenfaust said:I keep thinking, discussing with people, musing over... why is it that if atheists believe that there is absolutely nothing, WHATSOEVER after this life, they are still alive? I'm simply wondering, not ordering you all to go out and commit suicide (please don't)... but if nothing you do here matters, why do any of it? why deal with the pain? etc, etc... seriously someone give me a decent answer...
I eventually came to the, perhaps misguided, opinion that because of this, all atheists are either idiots, cowards, or not really athiest...
again... please don't commit suicide...!
Well, obviously. We're talking different sized userbases and different themes. If you expect Conservapedia to tell you all about tectonic plates, you may have a few screws loose, right?somekindarobot said:Now enter those things into both encyclopedias. While Wikipedia probably has a respectable amount of information, Conservapedia, if it has anything at all, will have a laughably terse entry. You'll be luck if you get more than a paragraph.