Atheists believe that their life in this world is all that matters and that it doesn't get better than this...

Question

but how many atheists have really thought about how short this life is compared to the rest of time and how relatively insignificant our time here is compared to eternity?

Many people die relatively young and with little or no warning such as in a car accident. But, even if someone lives to be 100, if they are 30 or 40 now, they would only have 60 to 70 years. What percentage is that of eternity?

Answer 1

Yes, they do seem to believe that, which is one thing I cannot figure out. If they believe this is it, why are they here sitting in front of a computer screen and not our enjoying THIS, THEIR only life.

I have witnessed non-believers who, in their older years lived in abject fear of death, questioning that all their lives they had scorned any thought of an afterlife and realizing that, in their belief, the end, the real forever end, was closing in on them.

I never saw a non-believer die with a look of peace on their face...but I have seen Christians who died in joy.
**JENN**

Answer 2

Considering most Atheists know that the age of the earth is 4.5 billion years and the Universe is some 12+billion years I think we have a pretty good grasp of how short and insignificant our lives really are.

The time the human race has spent on the earth compared to its true history is like the last 30 seconds of a twenty four hour day.

Mathematically, any length of time is insignificant compared to eternity.
The Universe is finite and not eternal.

Answer 3

Mathematics is a different section. There is no "percentage" of infinity, eternity being infinite time. The fact that life is so insignificant relative to the universe is precisely the Atheist point. The brevity of life is but one argument for why no rational being could judge the value of an individual based on the choices made in one life, much less reward or condemn that person for eternity based on 75 years of struggle. From that perspective, the believer is much more ridiculous.

Answer 4

well seeing that i grew up as a Catholic and am rapidly turning into an Atheist i believe that i can answer this question. to me, i do not think that there truly is a heaven or hell. i have no reason to believe taht my "spirit" will live on. who and when did someone say there would be a heaven? i think eternity is a bunch of bunk. catholics want people to believe taht because they do good actions and praise God that they will be rewarded by going to heaven. where is it documented that heaven is a good thing. people get this mental image that because this great thing we call God is there that it is automatically a good thing. if you believe that, is it not the one you call God that killed many people because of how they acted? (Soddom and Gomhorra, Noah's Ark, etc.) i mean god does not seem as patient and forgiving is you believe these stories...... all i am saying is that what is wrong with believing that this is it. i truly believe there is really no point to life and the best you can do is make kids so that your "legacy" can continue

Answer 5

I have often thought of eternity God who could passably want to live for ever. Wouldn't you get bored to death. No thank you. I am perfectly satisfied with what this life has to offer. I have a good life and I am able to enjoy it to it's fullest without being caught up in all the fantasy. You people waste half the life you are given thinking you will get something more. But if that's the way you want to live your life. Don't let us Atheist discourage you. xx

Answer 6

All religious people must be paranoid freaks with the shakes because if I lived in fear of going to a burning lake of fire I would do whatever my minister and congregation would say. Why focus on something that could happen when you could live life instead of live fear. Get the Hell out of your shell. CARPE DIEM!!!!!!! Thats what the world is here for. For us to experience it.
I'm not saying go to the garage, get the chainsaw and hack your neighbors apart because you think it's fun. Be a good person.

Answer 7

Our time here is of course insignificant in the grand scheme of things. In the largest sense of the universe, we are no more important than a grain of sand on Mars. The only true significance we have in THIS place, THIS time, is the one we create for ourselves. I'm ok with that. I don't need some imaginary afterlife to make me feel good about my time on Earth.

Answer 8

Percentage of eternity? That's an undefined value, my friend.

Look, no one knows how the universe came to be. We don't know if there are other universes. There are theories on this, of course, but there are somethings that aren't just unknowable, we can't begin to define them because we can't observe them. And that which is totally unobservable -- like other multiverses entirely -- by definition don't really exist.

But, writing off whatever we don't understand as 'God' doesn't help me think about undefined values things at all.

Answer 9

That of course is the religious rational. I don't want to die, so I will believe in eternal life. Atheist base their beliefs on science and demonstrable fact, regardless of where it leads.

Answer 10

The flesh will perish !!

Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isa 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Isa 40:6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isa 40:7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
Isa 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.