For Atheists: What if you woke up.........?

Question

What if you woke up and the world had ended. Low and behold it turns out that God does exist. Right next to you, in the Hell line, you notice a bunch of Yahoo answer participants, who had lost faith as a result of some of your posts? What would you say to them?

First of all, I am an agnostic and have written many posts that aren't very helpful in building Faith, but am interested in how others feel about it.

I am sure I will get the obligitory, "God isn't real, so it doesn't matter" answers, but a well thought out response would be cool.

Answer 1

I make no decisions for others. They make them themselves. And my posts generally merely correct misinformation.

No one is going to lose faith because of what an atheist says unless it makes sense to them. If it makes sense to them, why would God have a problem with it?

I would probably say, "Damn, we got hosed." But I don't believe I would be in the hell line, even if there ended up being a God and heaven and all that. If I'm wrong about that then I don't want to go to heaven.

Answer 2

I think you'll find that most of my responses are well thought out. I'm an educated person.

To address your hypothetical...lo and behold, God does exist. Here are Y!A participants who lost faith. As a result of my posts? Highly debatable. Would the posts have been a contributing factor? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Nothing can be undermined that has a solid foundation. If faith is shaky and weak, it doesn't matter which wind blows, it will eventually topple.

Would they blame me? If I wake up in Hell, right next to the person who posted the posts that (may or may not have) caused me to become an atheist, I wouldn't blame them. It was my decision. But let's just assume that these atheists are blaming me. I would tell them that I did not make that decision for them. Our brains control who we are and what we do, and if their minds worked in such a way that they came to the conclusion that God does not exist, that cannot be blamed on me.

I would have to acknowledge that I was wrong, but I would not have to answer to them. They made their choices, just like I did. They can "live" with it, just like I would.

Answer 3

You could ask this same question of very religious people. What is you woke up and realized that you were in the after world. You followed your religion to the letter. You prayed morning, noon, and night all your life. You followed your church rules to the letter.
Now you learn that it's all wasted, you followed the wrong religion. If you're Christian, how do you know that the billion-plus Hindus didn't have the right idea all along ?
If you're one of the millions of Muslims, how do you know that the billion-plus Buddhists don't have it all figured out ?
Everyone is so sure of his beliefs. Can the five billion or more who believe something else all be wrong ?
There is no majority religion, and even if there was, that doesn't mean it's correct. If six billion people believe a bad idea, it's still a bad idea.

Answer 4

I don't see how encouraging people to think for themselves could ever be a bad thing. Even if it turns out I'm wrong and there are gods (insert obligatory comment about how "God isn't real, so it doesn't matter" ), at least I've lived honestly. And good for those other people for being true to themselves and actually using their brain instead of dumbly following the teachings of one poorly written book and a bunch of pedophile priests. I certainly wouldn't feel bad, because I consider it a good thing to find your own path and if I have to pay for that with hell, it was worth it. At least I didn't become a sellout or a Xian hatemonger in the process.

Answer 5

well, I asked the reverse question (I am an atheist) and I got about 10 'impossible, god obviously exists. There is no possible way' answers. I'll try to spare you that fate. Here goes:

Because I caused their downfall I would be hailed as a general in hell and their lost souls would become my cannon fodder. An army of Yahoos to storm heaven.

But in reality I would probably be the most wretched creature in existence and all the torture in hell wouldn't be enough.

Answer 6

Even though my wiife does not believe, I personally would intervene, not only for her behalf, but for all agnostics, and make a plea for you.

I do not think that a failure of faith should condemn one to hell, especially if you have lived a good life.

Hearing the story of how my wife lost her faith is enough to be a serious challenge to one who does believe.

Now, if you are in that Hell line for OTHER reasons, then you plead your case as you see fit.

Answer 7

The problem with the question - directed at atheists - is that atheists do not accept the notion of "heaven" and "hell" to begin with, so there is no way you are going to get any Atheist to even speculate about that "hell-line" LOL. I mean, what if somebody posted a question "What if you wake up and discover there really IS no God" (Of course, that does beg the question "wake up where?" but that's a whole 'nother issue lol). I am sure that you wont find any "true believer" on the planet who wouldn't just say "Oh, that's ridiculous. I can't even consider that possibility because I KNOW there's a god"
Well, my bet is that the same applies to all atheists. They are going to say the question is unanswerable, because first you are basing it on the notion that there is a heaven and a hell, and where atheists are concerned, that goes right out the window from the start.
Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of "believers" think that because a person does not believe in the existence of a "mysterious invisible superbeing", that automatically means he doesn't believe that there might be some other dimension of continued existence after physical death. There actually is a mountain of evidence that suggests strongly that when we leave this physical world, our "essence", our "personal consciousness" our "soul" for those who are more comfortable with that word" probably does somehow transition to some other plane of existence where the person continues to be aware of who he was...... and simply goes on to an infinite existence as some kind of disembodied intelligence. Indeed, it's rather an interesting thought that "God" might turn out to be the totality of ALL disembodied intelligence, merging together as a mighty reservoir of knowledge, wisdom, experience and ability.
Truth is, we just don't know. This person or that person can argue all day long about how absolutely, and unquestioningly certain he is... and how he KNOWS this or that to be the truth. But the ONLY truth is that he doesn't know, because belief is not knowledge. I am always fascinated by the presentations of those who claim to be able to "communicate with the departed". Oddly, you never hear them say one single word about how they asked this or that "dead person" what it's like over there, and how they occupy their time and what-all goes on etc. etc. etc." and what that "dead person" has said in reply. If I were talking to one of those Psychics, I really wouldn't want him or her to tell me that my belated mother says she really approves of the husband she never got to meet in life. I'd want her to tell me, through that psychic, a whole bunch of stuff about what-all's going on on her side of the fence. LOL. - wouldn't you?
As to your question about whether an atheist might feel "guilty" for posting something on Yahoo Answers that caused a believer to lose his faith - come ON. Do you honestly think that a deep,sincere, solid "Believer" could be swayed by anything a total stranger said on an internet site? I'd put it to you that if somebody DID change what he already believed, it would be either because he wasn't too firmly committed to that belief to begin with, or else that person put up such a darn good argument for an opposite concept, he was "sold" on the logic, the rationality, the conviction of that argument. I mean would you suggest for a moment that we should NOT speak truthfully about our personal beliefs on a particular subject --- in case we might cause another person to change his mind about his OWN position.? If you think that, then you would surely have to consider all those "staunch bible thumpers" who feel compelled to get out there in public, not merely to express their own personal beliefs but to actively seek to compel others to join them in their convictions.
Yahoo Q & A is not only a forum that enables people to share actual knowledge, but also a place where we can sincerely exchange what is in our own minds about the way we think, and the way we perceive certain concepts and issues that are common to us all. It would be pretty wacky if we had to stop and think to ourselves "Ooops, I had better lie about what I personally think - or give a wishy - washy response, just in case by some chance, I do such a good job of my answer that I cause that other person to change HIS mind. No, I think that if we felt obligated to apply that kind of constraint, we would no longer be expressing ourselves with any truth or sincerity at all.

Answer 8

Given your "what if" statement that (1) I am an Atheist, (2) God does exist, (3) Athesists are all going to Hell, and (4) those who lost faith were no longer saved....

I'd say "well, sucks to be us, huh?"

Answer 9

Atheism implies rejection of belief in a supernatural God. Therefore Christians are atheists with regard to Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Krishna, Mars, Baal, Isis, Cybele, Jupiter, etc. etc. So your question should be - What if you woke up and lo and behold it turns out that God does indeed exist. Her name is Aphrodite and she is jealous and is now majorly pissed off at people who have believed in other gods. Then all the other gods speak up and scowl and they too are mad at you for ignoring them. Now you have a real problem. If you had chosen to be an atheist with regard to all 10,000 gods, then there's likely to be only one of them pissed off at you for not believing in him. But if you have chosen while living to believe in just one of them, you're in deep doo-doo because you have made thousands of divine enemies. How much safer then to be a total atheist in this life.

Answer 10

What you are referring to is the xtian version of the end times....I would laugh out loud at the absurdity and irony of it all and still be glad of my choices. I want nothing to do with their god and find him to be utterly despicable. That religion goes against my morals, my principles and my qualities of compassion and empathy. I would get busy preparing my "speech" for judgment day so I could let that horrible 'god' know just what I thought. As for those who lost faith due to my words....I would do nothing and feel nothing for them other than contempt for those who will not think for themselves and be responsible for their own choices.