Atheists: why would you lay down your life for someone else?

Question

John 15:13 says
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
What reason would you have to do this? Please don't say something like "virtue is its own reward", because in your worldview you won't be a better person for it, you will be worm food. And when the universe goes out with a sigh (like many scientists believe will be as the end result of the Second Law of Thermodynamics) you won't even be a memory.
I know some people are out there waiting to sound smart because they think they know something about the Second Law. No duh it's an energy equation, but entropy is a consequence of it. Stick to the question! However, this is an entirely different discussion.

It seems everyone is missing the part about everyone and everything in the universe ultimately dying. Who will your good deeds really help in the end? They will all die and not remember you!

Oy vey... I'm not asking for morality-based feel-goodness. What REASON do you have if your efforts will be 100% futile?

Answer 1

Er, there are lots of reasons, mostly having to do with saving something greater than one's self.

What makes you think that someone wouldn't be a better person for it? We're all "worm food" (as you put it) anyway in the long run.

I don't think you understand atheism well enough to write a question like this - your assumptions are based on the religious right caricature of atheism rather than on the real thing (as is almost always the case with these questions that try to "catch" atheists).

You might want to just back off from this line of thinking. Atheists have thought about this stuff a lot more than you have, and you're certainly not going to come up with any clever refutation of atheist morality.

Answer 2

Out of genuine concern for a persons well-being, rather then the anticipation of reward that most religious people, in their reptilian nature, base most of their good actions on.

I notice that you keep bringing up the universe "going out". Predictable tactic of the religious. Trying gather followers by exploiting the human fear of death.

I'm sorry that you don't believe that human beings can genuinely care for each other without needing a father figure over their shoulders at all times scolding them for not caring. Some people actually reach a certain level of maturity where they don't need their parents around at all times telling them what is "right" and "wrong". Some people never reach that level.

Personally I can't think of any better way to die then saving someone else. It's heroic. Who wants to live forever anyway? How boring. An atheist dying to save someone else is actually more in line with what you believe this Jesus character did. Giving ones own life for another for reasons other then the anticipation of rewards. I guess that actually makes an atheist who gives his or her life up for someone else more "Christ"ian then the Christians themselves.

Answer 3

If you love someone (friend, spouse, child) or your respect level is high enough, when faced with and either/or death situation, you can make the decision based on your intellectual analysis and feeling for the situation. You may feel it is more important to save them than yourself or you may be in such a situation that you will die anyway, so why not save some one else. This decision has nothing to do with a diety. It is a call based on one's feelings and intellect. Athiests can and do accept "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" because it works most of the time.

Answer 4

Right and wrong need no deity to justify them, nor do they require a book to validate them. People can and do have consciences and senses of morality without the need of religion. It is only those with neither, who cannot conceive of caring for anyone or anything but themselves, who require the guaranteed reward or punishment of religion to behave in a civilized manner. Just for the record, I'm not an Atheist, but I know that much.

Answer 5

You seem to be under the impression that Atheists do not have morals. How stupid is that? I don't believe in God because religious people are the ones who seem to not have morals. What kind of person protests at a gay man's funeral? What kind of person would scream blasphamy at a scared young girl at a clinic? What kind of person would question the goodness of people who do not follow what he follows?


As for your question I would rather choose to sacrifice myself for a person, instead of a myth.

Answer 6

If it was certain that I'd die, and had no way of saving the person without being fatally wounded, I wouldn't. I'd like to be able to say I would give my life for that of a stranger, but I wouldn't. If there was, according to my perception, a decent chance I'd live, I'd try it. I like helping people, and, assuming I survived, I can only imagine how good I'd feel psychologically and emotionally for saving someone's life.

Answer 7

That was a lot of unnecessary rambling, but to answer your question, I'd lay down my life for someone else if I loved them enough. I do anything to protect the ones I love. Why? because I might feel that they are more valuable than me. God has nothing to do with it. You can have love without a sky daddy. We've done it for a much longer time before christianity was invented.

Answer 8

In order to create a society with the highest chance of my children and relatives (and in fact for more complicated reasons everyone else) to survive, just as evolution tells us to.


_______________________

Edit:

100% Futile? So, if I attempt to make society somewhat better for a little while, and succeed, this is futility?

Just because we all die in the end does not make our actions futile!

Answer 9

Atheists may sacrify their lives for other people while the theists may not. Sacrifice is related to selfless love, and not to labels.
Atheists may see great glory in protecting the nation, the human race, while theists may see only the interest of their religious group which differ to other groups in various aspects. Selfless love is related to conscious knowledge and not to blind imitation.
The good way to human unity and prosperity is not to criticize the bearers of various labels, but to seek true knowledge to discern right from wrong.
Selfless love, conscious knowledge, and friendly cooperation, please.

Answer 10

Because I have morals... I don't want someone else to die if I can help prevent it... I would feel bad if I just stood by and watched someone die... It has nothing to do with anyone or anything *God like*, It's just the way I am.... It'd be cruel to do nothing, regardless of what religious background you may have...