by Laika 69 Replies latest jw friends
I think some compassion is called for. A lot of people come here hurting.....damaged...... in pain. They may not express themselves elegantly or as tactfully as they might on reflection.
I suggest some study of Buddhism - as it starts with the proposition that either there is no God(s) or they don't get involved helping humans.
I don't think we can say, 'life has no meaning'. What meaning does a person want it have to have?
metatron
"In a self vreated impersonal universe ther cannot be any meaning."
Why Not?
marking to read...thanks
If we lived the life of Gandhi a million times over, or an extreme Hitler where we gassed every man, woman and child alive, any of those actions would be totally meaningless in the big picture of all that is.
Imagine a man is knocking on your door right now. You answer it and he says he is here to kill you.
Do you reply, "OK, go ahead, it doesn't matter anyway." ????
Of course not. Because it matters. To you.
Must be having a bad Saturday, time to go for a nice hike in mother nature.
Mother Nature matters to designs.
So to be an atheist then, you must be a nihilist... You are just a series of random events, you are no more valuable than a dog turd.
I don't ever want to hear believers attack atheists again for being "rabid" in their "beliefs." You people have cornered the market on insults. I just commented on another thread in which the OP wrote that atheism is behind all mass murders.
Excuse me now, while this dog turd cleans her guns before another jolly night of spree killing.
This is the song I sing while I gun down everyone I see:
"I'm in love, I'm in love with Attilla the Hun, Attilla the Hun, Attilla the Hun.
We'll pillage a village and kill everyone. I'm in love with Attilla the Hun!"
Thanks all, lots of responses so I can't really give you all the time you deserve...
ADCMS,
Then you got the wrong impression. My argument is that most atheists do not live consistently with their beliefs, I know they assign meaning and value to their lives, but if they were being honest with what their worldview means then they wouldn't.
Fernando,
Have you ever read anything on the 'Christus Victor' view of the atonement.
OTWO,
In your philosophy how does it matter if I 'waste' my 'brief moment'? When you are dead and the universe no longer exists will it matter to you whether you 'wasted' your life or not? Will it matter to the Universe?
pseudo,
good post, I hope you have time to comment later as well. :)
Terry,
How is arguing there is a difference between problem and solution in a dying universe anything but delusion?
I mostly agree with your paragraphs 3-5 but then I'm not a fundamentalist, dualist or JW, so that is not surprising,
GoodGuyGreg,
If you agree with me how do you not see the problem? I don't mind if you or any other atheist/theist/whatever wants to assign their own meaning to life, but if someone is an atheist and argues that a theist is not 'living in reality' but then argues that they can find a meaning or purpose in their worldview, then I have news for them: They are, at the very least, not living in reality either!
cantleave,
If we create our own meaning and purpose, how are we not deluding ourselves or creating our own fake reality?
MrFreeze,
Nothing delusional about 'accepting the world for what it is' but if an atheist is not a nihilist he is not accepting his world is what it is, that's the delusion, and is delusion regardless of whether or not any theist is right or wrong about reality.
designs,
I'll read more on charge conservation, thanks. :) I had quite a good Saturday, but I do love hiking, hope your weekend is also going well!
Lisarose,
I am genuinely pleased you are pursuing your passions, seriously, good for you! But if atheists are right it really doesn't matter whether you leave the dying world a better place or not.
Captain obvious,
I don't think we're too different either. :)
This_suit_doesnt_fit,
Start by not referring to me in the third person, and then maybe not quoting me out of context please. ;)
Satanus,
Well, I know atheists don't all share the same opinions on everything... I'm not trying to claim Christians (or anyone else for that matter) are better than atheists.
DJS,
Don't look now, but you apparently responded to a post not worth responding to! ;)
Damn, I wish I hadn't made the dog turd comment :( as many of you seem to think I was saying I believe atheists are not more valuable than dog turds, but I don't believe this, absolutely the opposite! I just meant that I don't see how an atheist can assign value to any one thing or person that puts them above anything/anyone else, and I used an extreme, and apparently poor, example to illustrate this.
This is just pointing out what I see as an inconsistency in most atheists beliefs, it doesn't mean I think atheists are evil, valueless, or responsible for most of the mass murders or evil in the world!
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley
metatron,
On reflection I have to agree I apparently didn't express my OP elegantly or tactfully!
ctrwtf,
I think I've already explained that.
rebel8,
Well if I allow him to kill me it doesn't really matter in the big picture does it? Isn't the only reason it matters to us because we evolved a fear of death and not because of any actual logic?
I used to fear that my life would become meaningless if I left WT and their promise of a panda-petting paradise. After all, WT had told me that my life would be empty and meaningless if it weren't for the Bible and their interpretation of it.
Quite the contrary, once I acknowledged that I don't have all the answers, I became less depressed. My life has more meaning because I've been able to walk away from the empty promises and ugly threats of WT. I found there was a choice between:
1) sitting around crying about how little I was and how brief my life might be, or
2) I could learn things, enjoy life, and make the best of whatever time I have.
I chose the later... which means I should stop posting here tonight and either go out and have fun, or do some studying for my student research project.
Keeping in mind that I'd rather not spend the evening pondering the futility of life, any suggestions on how a single dude could have some fun in a big city?
