I heard this scenario on NPR:
The Christian friend of an atheist was dying.
Weeping, the dying woman asked her atheist friend to please return to Christianity so that she could die knowing her close friend would not be sent to hell. (I know this sounds manipulative, but it seems the woman strongly held this belief and was sincere.)
The atheist woman tried to be reassuring without ridiculing her friend's beliefs. However, she would not say she believed something she did not.
How would you handle a similar scenario?
.
2007-01-06 14:12:49 · 24 answers · asked by NHBaritone 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Probably just try to comfort her as much as possible, and maybe while I could not lie I would at least let her know that I will make sure to live a life that she would be happy to see me in...
2007-01-06 14:18:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
That is manipulative. The fact that the woman strongly held this belief and was sincere does not change that.
I would have to say, "I'm sorry. I love you, and will miss you, but I won't say that I believe something if I don't. You have to focus on doing things your own way right now, don't spend this time worrying about me.
2007-01-06 14:18:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
If it would make a dying person feel better I would lie to them no problem. If it would ease their pain and costs me nothing then why not do it. It is not going to change how I think honestly. I tell little kids that Santa is real for as long as they can believe it too. I see no harm in these things. There is no manipulation involved here on my part.
Mind you, if she was to recover then all bets are of and I would torment her about religion the rest of her remaining life.
2007-01-06 14:18:28 · answer #3 · answered by Barabas 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, the last thing to do would be to disagree with her beliefs right before she died. In daily conversation, that's fine, but when someone is DYING you should do everything you can not to hurt or upset them. I would probably lie and say that I would convert back, OR I would tell her that I would keep an open mind about religion. It would be intolerant not to...people always talk about fundamentalist Christians, but there's fundamentalist atheists too.
2007-01-06 14:23:59 · answer #4 · answered by G 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would probably do the same. I would tell them, "don't worry, I'm not going to hell at all."
Let's say the athiest did convert, only because their late friend asked them to emotionally. What value would that be? Wouldn't it be a false conversion? Would God accept them into heaven knowing that their conversion was not done out of true faith but out of remorse? A person cannot suddenly believe something they don't believe, they must be convinced with reasons that make them believe. So this "converted" athiest would go through the motions but still not believe. So they would still go to Hell, wouldn't they?
A person can't believe something just because someone else wants them to.
2007-01-06 14:21:24 · answer #5 · answered by romulusnr 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would have told her that I was not going anywhere, and that I couldn't make myself believe if I wanted to. I wouldn't have been able to pull off the lie anyhow. This is why I don't make it a point to tell many people that I know that I am an atheist.
2007-01-06 14:18:49 · answer #6 · answered by Alex 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not an atheist, but I have doubts.
It is situations like the one you described when I lean towards believing.
I would soothe my dying friend's worry and promise her that I will return to the church. And I will try to do as I promise, but I probably will break the promise before she dies if she takes too long to kick the bucket.
2007-01-06 14:15:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
OMG! LOL....I had two people I know do this...one was a good friend of mine crying how we (her friends) are going to hell.
and another girl, who told a group of us "you are all going to go to hell" and she was sobbing,
we all (about 10 of us) felt really bad for her, and comforted her saying "it's ok, don't cry" and "don't worry, we aren't" but she was crying saying "yes you are, you're going to hell"......
but we should have said F**K YOU!!!! Presumptuous, self righteous little twit.
I have to think back on all the ways Born again Christians I've known through the years are such A**Holes.
ANYWAY...back to the question,
Don't you know they are supposed to get brownie points in heaven for converting people? Also, she believed her friend would be with her living life much like this in heaven...together, forever.
So, yeah, I'd just humor her and say, YES! you are so right! God forgive me, Jesus save me>>>>!
What harm could it do, hey, I'm a nice gal.
2007-01-06 14:16:48 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I cannot apologize for my beliefs it like my Christian family dying just so I can stop being Jewish (yes I left Christianity for Judaism) I'm just not going to, people have to respect each others beliefs.
2007-01-06 14:17:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Laugh maniacally.
But in all seriousness if they were truly my friend I would have imparted this wisdom unto them many times before now, I can't go somewhere that doesn't exist.
I might try to put it slightly more nicely but whatever I would say would boil down to the idea that there's no afterlife so there's nothing to be afraid of.
2007-01-06 14:16:35 · answer #10 · answered by Lucifer 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋