How real is this analogy?

Question

An atheist is like a lobster in a water tank......in a seafood restaurant. They are content with being in the tank, eating & living, until the big hand comes down, swoops them up!, and throws them onto the fire.

Answer 1

Wow... what a vivid picture you put in my mind. Nice comparison.
;)

Answer 2

Atheists are often not content. They would like to to think there is something greater than themselves. They would like to think that death is not the end-all of their existance. Rene Descarte stated that no thinking person could look at a tree and not believe in God. Modern physics, astronomy and biochemistry is zeroing in on the factualization that the universe cannot be the result of chance, nor is evolution even remotely possible. But, agreeing that there is a prime mover is not the same as accepting religion as a source for enlightenment. Religion has brought the Inquisition, slavery, the Crusades, and the destruction of the World Trade Center. I don't see how warning someone that they are about to be tossed in the fire can improve the athiest's perspective on religion.

I believe that the athiest is more like a blind man who is being pulled in so many different directions by so many different religious teachings thet he is effectively paralyzed. He can't decide which way to go because his guides are all urging him in a different direction.

Answer 3

Ha ha ha...I like it....ha ha ha....

I would like to disagree with you on a couple of minor but I think relevent points if you'd let me contribute from a Buddhist view, it might give some insight to ponder, as a Buddhist you understand that I don't consider a Deity as other's might and as this is about Athiests then I suppose that this would put me in that category.

As a Buddhist then....I'll follow the analogy given.

I suppose I am one of the Lobsters and the water tank is analogous to human Life. The restaurant then I suppose would be the Christian Heaven..do I have the analogy correct...? I'll assume I do...for the exercise in thought.

As the tank is human Life then you yourself are also living in there with me. The resaurant is a seafood one, so all the Life in the tank is on the menu, the fire is an obvious reference to the Christian Hell I imagine....however the fire is used to prepare the lobster for consumption, not to burn and then discard the lobster.
The analogy doesn't work for your ideology you see. According to Christian Doctrine, I as one who doesn't Love your Deity would go straight to Hell...the fire ....and stay there and not be consumed later...do you follow...?That's one point I'd like to highlight.

On another, if you were sharing the Tank with me then that would make you part of the restaurant's menu. I'm sure that your Deity would not be eating you as one of His children but would cherish and nurture you. Unless you were Living in a seperate tank and therefore by definition another Life, which doesn't follow your analogy but is a seperate line of thought.

I'm sure that I see your references correctly and that you are trying, rather unsuccesfully to imply that your Deity is going to throw me on the fire on the Day of Days...do I have the reference to the End of Days correct...? However to answer your question as to how 'real' your analogy is to the ideology you yourself follow , it is a dismal failure I'm afraid.

However that said, I would encourage you to keep trying as practise makes perfect. Perhaps you could modify the analogy to include a 'throw out the Athiest lobster' clause in the menu or similar. Or include a bigger tank with walls for the different types of lobster, you know one area for us better lobsters and another area for them so that they never mix and never communicate and never learn etc....

I'm impressed at the divisive attempt you've made especially considering that only a few days ago your Deities' son had a big birthday. I see that there are some Christians that are Sunday only or Christ's day only....maybe you really do need to practice your analogy...try to think of one which is inclusive of all Faiths...would you even consider it...? Does the term Love your neighbour have any meaning to you at all...!!? Or does this only mean Love your better lobsters...! Really I'm curious....how do you get to Heaven....? Simple question....no pressure....

Peace my friend...really from one of them..lobsters
a Buddhist

Answer 4

The irony is that this analogy shows exactly what the atheist is rejecting: the deity in most religions that is a made-up being projected from people's own thought systems. Believers and atheists both focus on this made-up being, with believers focusing on the reward/punishment aspect as motivation for belief. This made-up being hides the real god because we selfishly demand that our made-up gods be reality.

Answer 5

By its definition, an analogy is not real. If it were real, it wouldn't be an analogy. Your analogy supposes a lot about what lobsters in captivity recognize about that captivity, and the veracity of your own beliefs, which are no better supported than the beliefs of those "lobsters." Finally, in the Judeo-christian interpretation of God and Hell, the atheist lobsters would have to crawl into the pot themselves, not be thrown in by God, because as I understand it, God doesn't send people to Hell. People choose to go to Hell. In your analogy, God is certainly sending people to Hell. If that is how you think about God's relationship with non-believers, you are somewhat out of step with established theology. You seem to have more of a "Vengeful God" theory as opposed to the "infinitely loving and forgiving God."

Answer 6

Not very realistic at all. With lobsters in a tank, there's proof that there are lobsters in a tank. We know the lobsters are, in fact, lobsters. We know what they're there for. It's all a fact.

As for atheists, well, we don't know for certain that there is a malevolent deity who is going to reach down here and toss them into the fire. There's no proof that atheists are meant to be god's food. There's no proof that the earth is a giant tank where everything is handed to us. And there's certainly no proof that god is even there or that there is a fire waiting for them. Since there's no proof, it's a very faulty and cruel analogy.

Answer 7

Not quite... more like a bowling ball, waiting to feel the Hand come and use it. And it often happens that atheists are used by God in mysterious ways. T here are many who have come to th Truth because of that.

Answer 8

Not very real I'm afraid. A lobster is a bottom feeder. Leviticus prohibits consumption of such creatures and since we all know that Judaism is the one true religion and all the rest just cheap knock offs the only conclusions possible are that G-d would never handle a lobster or that all gentiles are cannibalistic by default.

Answer 9

not quite accurate...i don't think the poor little lobsters are content at all because they are not living the way they were intended to live. We are the same way...when we reject God's best for us, no matter our befief system, we will always be unfilfilled.

Answer 10

no no no, this would be a great analogy if it went like that: "A religious person is like a lobster..."

think about that, a religious person lives in their own world waiting for that hand they've been hearing forever to come and get them

if you use religious person instead of an atheist in that analogy then it sounds right because atheists are not happy when their freedom is limited

Answer 11

It is completely unrealistic. No one has seen the big hand come down and swoop up an atheist. No one has seen this fire. And atheists don't live in a closed in area - that would be the religionists.