To feel good about life, believe in God. To make rational sense out of life, be agnostic or atheist?

Question

Not to insult believers or say that agnostics and atheists can't feel good about life.

But this is the general conclusion I've reached after much thought and debate on how people explain their existence. Faith usually boils down to people explaining life in a way that is appealing to them, thus making sense according to the pleasure principle. While atheists and agnostics usually seek to explain life scientifically, seeking explanations that can be proven or tested with solid methods and logic, thus making sense according the reality principle.

Simply put: For believers, feeling good makes sense. For, non-believers, making sense feels good. In my experience, that seems to be the main divide between these two ways of thought.

What do you think?

Answer 1

I think neither explain why my father had to die of a heart attack when I was just a kid. Neither god nor science will ever make sense of that to me.

Answer 2

That's only because you're encountering extreme, raw views on either subjects, views that have not been refined by years of introspection and experience of life.
I find that I can not dismiss science. To do so would be childish and delusional. Rational understanding and enquiry leads us to challenge many of the ideas of traditional religion.
But the idea of God or, as I prefer to call it, a reality beyond the manifest is not necessarily simply a feel-good thing.
There are some questions science doesn't answer. What is the nature of consciensness, for example? To say that consciousness is caused by brain activity tells me nothing about its nature, what it means to say that I am me, and no other being in the Universe. Why is there matter? Is ethics simply an evolutionary mechanism? What is the true point of artistic expression? Etc..., etc...
So both ideas are not incompatible. What is incompatible with science is a certain family of religious views which infringe on scientific questions. Take the idea of evolution, for example. Do species evolve? Only the intellectually dishonest have ever concluded they do not after serious enquiry. Others believe them to be sincere. But it is not really a religious question, safe for the fact it has been spoken of in a religious text. Whether species evolve form one another or not says nothing about whether life is sacred, about whether the Universe has an intelligence of its own we can't understand - it is simply a descriptive theory, like all scientific theories. And descriptive theories do not enter into the realm of metaphysics, which is the realm of spiritual enquiry proper.

Answer 3

it variety of feels so unusual to me that atheists and agnostics consistently communicate with their kinds of theory as "rational" on the same time as generalizing all Christians as "irrational" or "gentle - feely." Is it rational for a man or woman with a finite concepts and finite senses to think of that there is not something previous what his finite information and finite perception can draw close? This being mentioned, if one have been incredibly rational, there may well be no such element as a real atheist, for one to declare for a actuality that there is not any God, you will understand that there is not any God and could consequently understand each thing there is to appreciate bearing directly to the universe. So the two that guy or woman is thoroughly irrational or he himself is God, and consequently finished insane because of the fact that he denies his very own existence. the only distinction between a believer and a non-believer isn't his rationality or lack thereof, yet somewhat the place he choses to place his faith. i've got mentioned this someplace else, each thing takes a bounce of religion. The Christian places his faith in Jesus Christ (who, by using ways, has greater historic information for his existence than the theory of Evolution does for its accuracy... yet that's yet another long argument) , the atheist places his faith in his very own constrained existence and information, and the agnostic the two does not placed his faith everywhere or he places it everywhere... and how rational is that?

Answer 4

Atheism isn't logical. And believing in God doesn't make me feel overly good about life in the physical realm. More and more, the world is turning to Satan, which is very sad.

I do personally feel great about God, Jesus, the afterlife (for me, at least), and I see every day the beauty in nature, as the Lord has blessed me to live in the country on a few acres of beautiful land.


May you know the Lord Jesus and have a peaceful eternity.


edit:

I love logic and reason, they are both God given. I am a Libertarian, and love Ayn Rand, in spite of our differences. I test as having a masculine brain, and am (according to the silly tests) a logical thinker rather than an emotional one.

Answer 5

We atheists are nothing like what the church leaders are fond of charicaturing us as. We are freethinking individuals who are able to see the Big Picture without the blinders of religion. We do not live in despair, quite the contrary; freethought is incredibly refreshing, liberating, and empowering. We are not nihilists, but lovers of life who see it as all the more precious because there's no eternal afterlife. We do not need the bribe of heaven or the threat of hell to be good people, we believe in being good for its own sake. Through science and reason, we know more about the true nature of the world we live in than a religion could ever hope to offer.

The fear of death is a natural thing, which is why you need to think hard about living your life for the moment. We are not the enemy of christians and other theists. Our quarrel is with irrationality, wishful thinking, superstitions, intellectual dishonesty, and all other forms of thinking that keep mankind mired in darkness, ignorance and hate. Sometimes i do get depressed over our utter death and annihilation, but it just renews my zest to make the most of this life.

Believers who feel good and leave others alone are good for the earth, but when they or even some of us atheists go the extreme and try to convert each other, then that's where i draw the line.

Answer 6

Well...questions can be raised on each side i suppose for this debate. One of the bigger arguments rasied by the Athiest/Agnositc side is that the bible was 1)Originally written some years after the death of jesus (i think the number is above 30) Also the original text of the bible is not known today as 2) the bible was altered by both the Anglican Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church during their great power struggle during the middle ages.

Also the fact that some people, myself included, have a very big problem with organized religion doest help the cause of the church today. It seems like most of the world struggles we know today (WARS) Stem from beliefs of organized religions. Its my personal opinion that you can be SPIRITUAL yet not RELIGIOUS, as it does have some connotations that can seem less than desirable in some situations.

Kay...im done..

-Sincerely Yours, Benny

Answer 7

Never easily put, but you managed to do it I think.

For those of 'faith', they want to be 'correct' because they realize if they're wrong, then they're wasting their time.

For those of 'rationality', they also wish to be correct for much the same reasons.

The trouble between the two is HOW they define their worlds, and by what they use in order to define it.


Rationalists use the phenomenon around them to build up what is called "science" and if one things happens then another will follow by design. An apple drops off a tree.... logic says it falls DOWN not UP.

Believers use the collected 'wisdom' of several centuries of OTHER believers to build up a similar series of 'rules'. If, however, their scriptures say the apple must fall UP then of course in their minds that apple went upwards.


What both sides have not done is come to grips with WHAT is being used as a building block for belief on the other side. If we go to Christianity for example we find God and Jesus to be the two main characters in this plot.

What people have forgotten is that Jesus had one overlying message of his time..... and not the one that you might think at first.

His message was simple; "The Old Testament is not quite right anymore". His message spread very quickly and both a 'following' and a severe animosity grew even faster. He found himself at odds with not the Romans but with his own religious leaders.

As in all things religious, when faced with dogmatic and archaic beliefs, soeone gets nailed to a cross for his beliefs and everybody else just watches......

Answer 8

Why cant believing in God make sense? I believe it can.

I disagree that people explain their existence based upon what feels good when it involves religion, for some the truth isn't a feel good thing, its just what makes sense.

Answer 9

Research Stoicism and Epicureanism, I think you'd get a kick out of how quick the Romans plowed these concepts.

Answer 10

seems acurate to me. Altho, many monotheists don't always feel good; and the same applies to agnostics and atheists.

For example, the metaphysical question: why is there a world at all?