But a fairly standard practice is believing in said god prior to entrance to these hallowed grounds…so there would still be no chance for wayward sheep such as us…which leaves the damnation option…
1 Like
Are you planning to live on somehow after the worms eat you? If so please elaborate.
Planning? No. Unlike many believers, my postmortem aspirations, or lack thereof, do not shape my day-to-day activities.
Hoping? Sure. Why not? Its not like I have anything to lose by wishing upon a star that somehow I will live on after my body gives out.
If this is the discussion you wanted to have, you could have phrased it much better.
3 Likes
Aha. The fault in my logic. I’ve realised this while thinking the issue over and have come to the conclusion that on my deathbed I’ll swap to whatever religion/afterlife takes my fancy at that time. No point dying an Atheist under my arguments premise.
Still I could be hit by a bus and lose the swapping option and be stuck with damnation.
So you do want to be wrong, but not about Gods existence but instead Afterlife. An Afterlife for me seems very appealing and through God seems more probable than a star.
Exactly. This is why I posted the image of the seven layers of hell (Dante’s Inferno).
It doesn’t work that way at least not in Christianity.
I’ve always wondered why it’s acceptable to believe in a “god” purely based on stories and myths, even why some thinks it’s ridiculous not to believe or have blind faith, but it’s unacceptable to believe in santa or the tooth fairy. Not meant to be tongue in cheek, totally serious. Or, if I said, I believe my god is a flying spaghetti monster, that’s unacceptable, but a zombie vampire with a beard is widely accepted.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong inherently with religion. It offers community, friendship, etc. The whole “it steers your moral fiber” point of view, IMO, seems unnecessary, as I believe things like being a nice person, helping others, not killing people, are principles of basic human existence and one shouldn’t need religion to tell them that. Even the title of this thread “non-believers”, puts a negative light on those who “don’t believe.” It would seem so foolish to just blindly believe anything other than religion, but if you don’t believe in religion, many look down upon that.
2 Likes
Thought God was forgiving. Redemption.
As the thread starter, it was done as I was proposing a question to Atheists, of which I am one.
Do you hope you’re wrong?
God is, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to just “swap” your atheism for Christianity on your death bed in order to enter heaven. God knows your heart and your true intentions/reasons. Belief, true belief, can’t be faked.
It has been a long time since I read The Inferno. Do people who cynically practice religion for personal gain (social, financial, etc) without any “true belief” occupy a more hellish spot of Hell than a simple atheist?
I would hope God would at least throw me a little respect for keeping it real.
Ha! The last line made me laugh out loud, those are the brownie points I’m looking for as well if it comes right down to the pros and cons list at the pearly gates
Speaking specifically for myself, at some point in my life belief stopped being about stories and myths (your words) and more about observations. To me, it is incomprehensible to think that everything we can see and not see and everything that has existed and will exist occurred randomly and by chance.
Probably the single event that cemented my faith more so than any other single event occurred on the 1st day of a biology 201 class. Cell theory - a cornerstone of chemistry and biology (things I know very little about). I learned that day that one of the tenants of cell theory is that all cells come from previously existing cells. That obviously begs the question, where did the first cell come from then? The answer, we don’t know. We can’t replicate the creation of a cell at least not at this point (maybe @Aragorn can correct me here).
I certainly have my issues with religion, though.
I honestly don’t remember, it’s been at least 10 years. I think non-believers were a higher ring.
What if I truly do believe. God can’t deny someone who’s exactly the same as someone else whose going in based solely on basis that ones been a Christian for 80 years and ones been a Christian for 8 days. Christians get into Heaven, that’s the jist of it. No matter time spent as an Atheist. Bloke on Cross next to Jesus converted on his deathbed and was allowed.
Then you’re good.
The afterlife issue is not a huge issue to me, because i will have no conscience thought and there for cannot be bothered by it. When a family member dies, i am sad because i will never ever see that person again. But when i die, and if there is no afterlife, i will not be bothered by the fact they do not great me at the gates, because ill be dead and just not exist. And I am totally cool with that, in fact i am much more ok with that than the whole idea of being totally conscience for ever.
Solid. I’ll revise the Bible just in case He checks how much I know.
When you die you will never see anyone currently who you love, doesn’t that bother you? Given the chance wouldn’t you rather see them again?
Sort of like rolling a die and getting a seven. And there’s is no one to role the die, and the die doesn’t exist.
I don’t think I’m first circle. I’ve been baptized and I’m a confirmed Catholic, which makes me an apostate, also possibly guilty of heresy. I don’t think I’d get to hang out with Aristotle.
1 Like
I think famously Darwin did a last minute swap but his family denies this.
Proper question:
Why don’t you do a last minute swap and avoid the possible damnation?
Of course I would rather see them, but again, once I die it literally can not bother me. I know longer exist. If dying meant you’re basically lying there with your eyes closed and i had conscience thought, it would probably bother me a hell of a lot. But again, i believe that will not be the case. I just won’t exist. I accept that, and live my life accordingly.