Hold Me-Thrill Me - Is this the fruit of evolution? Is this what lurkers should look forward to? Dark days in sad thought with no hope?
I see no benefit to atheism.
I can assure you from my perspective, and that of may other atheists, we don't live in "Dark days in sad thought".
When I was a believer, I did not live my life for some future life. I believed because I really believed, whether I thought it was good or not. I considered what I believed "the Truth". That fact is, a lot of "bad" came with that belief. Self-righteousness, insensitivity towards others, serious personal stress, self-dishonesty, etc. Accepting a falsehood as truth did nothing to improve my quality of life.
Much improvement came after leaving the JW, and I did not become an atheist overnight. It took 5.5 years to come to that conclusion. I basically went from JW to non-denominational Christian, to finding inconsistencies with Christian history, exploring Catholicism, researching more history, science, etc., declaring myself agnostic, because that was the only honest assessment I could make of my belief, to finally coming to terms with accepting the god of the bible was just as much a myth as any Greek or Roman god. It was a matter of intellectual honesty in the end, and nothing could be more liberating.
A life based on fact and reason is a good life. I can stop worrying about making some invisible friend angry, over normal human tendencies, make decisions based on real-world concerns, work to help others within the constraints of real-world parameters, etc. There is no sadness or darkness in any of this.
The only thing that saddens me today is seeing those still trapped in a web of fear, believing in some man made myth of a god who will destroy them for simply failing to live the way it wants them to.
d4g
