Is the word 'eternal' in an atheists vocabulary?

Answer 1

I think this is a great question!
And here again are answers from those who seem to believe only atheists are intelligent.
I guess, as many words seem to have different meanings depending on ones interpretation, (like slick Willie Clinton's "depending on the meaning of the word is is") it depends on the context in which it is used.

Answer 2

As a Buddhist, I suppose I am categorized as an Athiest. Personally I don't really know, I'll leave it for the experts to worry over. I'll assume I am and answer this from a Buddhist perspective then.

Buddhists have several references to 'eternal' in the Dharma...(Teaching).

There is the eternal Buddha Nature which is the 1 permanent Part of all humans, even you my learned and able friend have this as part of your nature or essence which is why I am replying to your very good question, I respect this part of you which reveals itself as the positive way in which you've posited your question.

Life to Buddhists is an eternal cycle of Birth, through Life past Death, to Rebirth as a consequence of our past actions. If we don't become a person who encourages positive consequences through our every action then we will encourage the antithesis of these as negative consequences which will have to be experienced and resolved before we can even consider becoming enlightened and escape this cycle.

Truth to Buddhists can be thought of as eternal. The Lord Buddha did teach that the 4 Noble Truths were unchanging, which can be interpreted this way..His actual words were 'unerring'...which means without error...so you can see the comparison...

I'd have to do some further study to find more, in any case here's 3 to consider....

Peace my friend from a Buddhist...in the season of joy...

Answer 3

Yes. There are many who believe that the universe is eternal, that it has no beginning or end. This doesn't mean that they don't accept the Big Bang, only the idea that nothing at all existed before that event. There may have been many Bangs in the history of the universe, as well as many to come.

Answer 4

Understand that many of the People who do not believe the things that are talked about by organized religion, have come to the conclusions that they have after years of study, prayer and countless hours of contemplation about these things. They are not confused, being mislead or any of the things that are being said about them by the people who promote these ideas.

A great number of them are some of the most intelligent people you will ever meet. They are very spiritual and often have an amazing and unshakeable faith in God. A far greater faith I might add than those who teach nonsense about a judgmental God who would allow punishment. These people often care so much about God and their faith that they have become self taught religious scholars, who can speak at great length about the parallel teachings of the world’s religions. These people do not need to be saved; they need to be listened to.

They will usually tell you a very different story from the one organized religion tells us. They speak of an unconditionally loving God that they have finally found by their ceaseless attempts to find the truth. A god that loves each and every one of us exactly the way that we are. A God that has never had a single thought of any hint of imperfection on our part. A God that has no silly thoughts of Judgment or punishment or revenge disguised as justice.

These ideas may not seem to sound like the truth to you, but this is for a very good reason. If you have been told a lie about something your whole life, when you hear the truth it can be difficult to understand because it sounds so unlike the lie you have grown accustom to.

I was raised catholic. I attended their mass 6 days a week for 9 years. Studied their religious teachings for yet another hour each day. On my own I have studied Buddhist teaching rather extensively. I also studied Confucian thought, Zen wisdom, The Bhagavad gita and other Vedic texts. The bible and the many different Gnostic texts that never made it into the bible. The Dead Sea scrolls and The Nag Hammadi works. I have actually probably forgotten more than I can remember. I’m not trying to impress you, with all of this. Just trying to make the point that I take this very seriously. After nearly 60 years of careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that most of what organized religion teaches about God, creation, and the after life is simple nonsense. It is as though religion has set its self up as the worldly authority of something that it knows almost nothing about, God, spirituality, and the afterlife.

The only way these false ideas of A judgmental God have survived this long is because of the practice of indoctrinating young children with these false Ideas when they are to young to consider the validity of these ideas from a basis of logic. These children are then given no choice in the matter, it is essentially believe this or burn in hell.

Not really much of an option is it. If these teachings were actually true would they need to be guarded so carefully with threats of hellfire and eternal damnation? Not likely.

If you would like to discuss this further you may contact me directly. If you wold rather not I can understand your reluctance.

Love and blessings
Your brother
don

Answer 5

Sure. Under the current best estimate of the average density of the universe and observations of hubble redshift, the universe will continue to expand eternally, ever accelerating, until all matter is torn apart and nothing but orbiting electron/positron pairs exist.

Answer 6

thanx for the violation notices, hey i got an idea, since christians just send endless violation notices to athiests for any question no matter how nice and respectful, why don't we have a competition to see who can get the most violation notices by writting stuff within the guide lines but stuff that stumps them and makes them send them anyways. Like we can have a winner(imaginary prise) and when we all get kicked off for asking neat question we can be reborn again with new avartas

Answer 7

Sure. As in - In search of the eternal buzz tee shirt I have. Calvin and Hobbs.

Answer 8

Sure. I think the universe in some form is eternal.

Answer 9

Sure it is. Eternal: without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing
perpetual; ceaseless;
enduring; immutable.

I do speak the English language, you know.

Answer 10

It is in mine. Is the word decay in your vocabulary ?