Whether you are atheist our a devout whatever, what do you think about this?

Question

Those who believe in an afterlife say that everyone else should also. A big part of the argument is that you live in eternal happiness in the afterlife, so surrendering yourself to a higher power is a small price to pay for eternal happiness (point well taken). I have recently been thinking about the other side of the argument as well. If there is no afterlife, how can you put a price on the large volume of time wasted on prayer and worship and everything involved in strong faith, when we are here for SO MINISCULE an amount of time. So I ask you, which is the bigger blunder? Surrendering eternal bliss by failing to committ while in this life?- Or wasting a huge chunk of time, your ONLY TIME YOU'RE EVER GOING TO EXPERIENCE on a complete falsity (basically doing the exact opposite of "Carpe Diem"- one of my favorite sayings!). This has been bothering me endlessly and I have my thoughts, what are yours?

Answer 1

At this point in my life, I am too logical to truly and fully believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell. I do believe in some semblance of an afterlife, but I don't really know what I think it consists of. I plan on living life to the fullest, treating others well, loving as deeply as possible, and learning everything I possibly can about the world around me. I don't think that the point of life is to dwell on death, which seems to be the most telling factor about religion. Possibly when I get older, religion will become more important to me, but right now I just want to be happy and make those around me happy as well. ;)

I don't think that made any sense at all. lol.

Answer 2

I've never heard anybody who believes in an afterlife say that everyone should also believe it. Each person will believe whatever they want to believe. Which is the bigger blunder? If a person truly believes there is an afterlife, then to them it is a real thing. So there is no blunder. Also, if a person believes in an afterlife, I would think that they are living their lives in accordance to what Jesus Christ taught. So even if there was no afterlife, it would not be a big waste of time.

A big waste of time is taking something like this topic and wondering what the other side of the argument would be. Hmmmm.

Carpe diem may be one of your favorite sayings, but you could still "seize the day" and still believe in an afterlife. Do you seize the day everyday?

The bigger blunder would be missing out on the opportunity to have an afterlife.

Answer 3

Who says you can't be a Christian or "devout whatever" and still live for today?

I am a Christian and I wouldn't say that I've surrendered anything that I wouldn't have already chosen to give up (or never start) in the first place.

I wholeheartedly believe there will be an afterlife...and as partially stated by another answerer, I would much prefer to continue believing so and find out I'm wrong, the believe that there's not and find out I'm wrong.

Either way, the choices that I've made, biblically based or not, have all worked together to make me the person I am...and I'm proud of that person...so after life or not, my time here was in no way wasted. I still live every day to the fullest.

Answer 4

Afterlife is a promise of what humans had before thought was introduced. Imagine millions of people in the afterlife having free thought and free will, what would that afterlife resemble.
On the other hand what would you be in the afterlife if you have no free thought or free will.
Faith and prayer can clam your fears of everyday life, seance the human mind can be tricked into believing almost any thing, the people living in faith actually have a seance of power that their path is chosen by a higher power.
I am not an atheist, but I believe faith is a powerful tool one can us in the ugly cruel world, that we have no control of.
Even an atheist has faith in something, myself I have faith I will survive and learn the truth as to why we are here.

Answer 5

I've never understood this argument at all. It's as though non-believers think that the only life a Christian lives is inside the four church walls, that they don't experience all the same joys, highs, lows and whatnot in their life because they're taking SO MUCH TIME to pray and worship. Utter nonsense. The time we're taking in prayer and worship, you're taking in yoga class, or in your reading group, or whatever fulfills you, charges you up for a day. Frankly, the issue isn't whether or not it's a waste of time, it's whether or not God is there.

If there's even a possibility that He's there, it behooves every human to seek Him honestly. And by honestly, I mean without pretense, and without the arrogant requirement that He has to conform to your sense of reason, whatever that may be.

We all still wake up in the morning, get our kids off to school, go to work, strive to succeed and make a good life for our families, to raise our kids to be able to deal with a pretty messed up world, work on having fulfilling relationships, and otherwise walk in the rain and the sun the same as everyone else. The difference is that, with an eternal mindset, the small worries of the day become less, the trust we have in God alleviates some of the stress, and we can concentrate on living the best lives we can, loving the people around us, and just trying to be good citizens. As short as life is, we all have time for that.

Answer 6

Personally, I lean towards the idea of karma and reincarnation, so for me, every moment counts in creating the future. If I want happiness, I must create happiness and share happiness with others.
I don't want to waste my life living in fear of retribution from an angry God. I think anger is a human emotion, and that the idea that God would get angry at us for not complying was devised by politically motivated power holders in the past. What better way to manipulate and subjugate people than with the threat of a fiery hell of torture for eternity? That's coercion. Frankly, that sounds decidedly like the type of behavior attributed to Satan, doesn't it? Manipulation, coercion, and threats? No thank you...

In the end, I guess we'll all have to wait and see, won't we?

For now, I am going to keep seizing the day like it may be my last, and keep sowing seeds of joy and love for tomorrow.

Answer 7

As an atheist, the answer is simple. Since I don't believe in a god or an afterlife, the question doesn't concern me. But let me also point out that if a person believes, it is not a waste of time to pray or worship.

Presumably, those actions help to make the believer a better person. And there's nothing wrong with that. I just don't need prayer or worship to be able accept the fact that someone else doesn't share my feelings. :-)

Answer 8

Gheez what a premise of thinking people surrounder the folly of their youth for an afterlife! IMHO you experience more life because you don't have to be drugged, drunk or engaging in sexual experimentation to feel things and because you know who you are and where you are going! You are free to enjoy life as is rather than needing something to feed the appetites and recolor the experience.

What I believe the question really is 1) do you have a testimony (religious conviction) that your religion is the way to follow? 2) If not and you live a semi religous life without that conviction . . . why? Why not do what you want? If you don't have that conviction, how do you have joy in your life?

Answer 9

Well, surrendering eternal happiness is considerable, more considerable than wasting time in our one life here.

If the afterlife is not real, people who believe it is real gain psychological benefits by praying because it makes them feel better. Everyone does things to make them feel good, and praying achieves that for some people.

Personally, I believe that there is an afterlife.

Answer 10

If in fact I have wasted my time, in prayer, in church, in belief, and it has contented me and made me feel good about my life - what is the harm. I will then blink into nothingness and never know the diff.

But ohhhh if you are wrong...oh oh

You say, "Those who believe in an afterlife say that everyone should also." Stick to facts. You can't speak about EVERYONE. I am a Christian and I don't give a flying fig if you believe in an afterlife or not.