For atheists, what do you expect in the after life?

Question

Do you have christian friends? What do you say about them? How can you convince one to become an atheist? You can't convince me. I'm a christian forever. I am dumbfounded why you are an atheist. Tell me. Thanks fo all who can share their views.

I'm sorry about the word "dumbfounded," it should have been "wondering."
I had wondered too many times already so I finally asked the question.
Thanks to all who voiced out their thoughts.
I respect your beliefs. I just wanted to know your thoughts as much as I inquired also about other religions.

Answer 1

I expect that I will be dead, just as my long dead grandparents, pets, and assortment of swatted mosquitoes are dead.

I have no inclination to convince you nor my Christian friends to give up your faith, but I do want to convince you to leave faith out of the laws of the US and other nations.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 2

Do you really think you can fit in a debate about the existence of God here!!

I respect you that you're a Christian but I think you should perhaps accept that some people don't share your views, you shouldn't be 'dumbfounded'.

You do base your religion on a book that was, arguably, written and changed by over 200 people over 1500 years. Its first book, Genesis, has pretty much been disproved by anyone with the faintest idea about scientific fact. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, wars throughout the middle ages, Northern Ireland - death and destruction all emerging from a belief in your God. Not only that, but American Right Wing Evangelical Christians spread fear and mistruths throughout their communities (look at Jim Jones??) and continue to roll up to Church every Sunday in their gas guzzling 4x4 trucks (I thought the planet was God's creation??) The Catholic Church refuses to condone the use of condoms in Africa to stop AIDS. I have worked in an orphanage in Tanzania for kids who have lost both their parents to AIDS. I think you should perhaps go too, it may alter the way you think about certain things.

Maybe I'm wrong...but perhaps you should appreciate that 5 billion odd people in the world don't share your beliefs. Don't be dumbfounded, just try and understand other people. The world is a varied, different and wonderful place. I know some atheists who are the most hard working, decent and moral people I could ever have the pleasure of meeting. Have you been to a muslim country and met good people there? My life was saved by a decent, kind muslim. How about a Buddhist country? The attitude of 'us' vs 'them' is probably why the world is in such a mess right now!

I recommend you watch 'A Life of Brian', a very funny British film satirising the life of Jesus. It caused uproar in the Christian community. If you can watch it, and smile, you'll be half-way to understanding why some people don't share your views. It's not a personal attack, and most atheists have no desire to wind religious people up. It's just a bit of fun.

Answer 3

I'm not expecting, nor do I want, an afterlife. I plan to be dead after I die, so I make THIS life count. The absolute LAST place I'd want to spend eternity is with a God who would drown, sicken, and slaughter millions, plus repeatedly COMMAND his followers to steal, kidnap, enslave, torture, rape, forcibly abort, and kill other people. Read the ENTIRE Bible and see what's REALLY in there. I have.

Yes, I have Christian friends. Fortunately, they are the rare, respectful type who mind their own spiritual business. Most of them have no clue that I am an atheist. It's not a big deal.

Like most atheists, I truly couldn't care less what beliefs YOU choose for YOURSELF, as long as you don't try to push them on anyone else. I've NEVER tried to convince anyone else to become an atheist. Not everyone is ready for true freedom of thought and belief; the peace of not believing that some jealous celestial bogeyman is controlling everything, granting wishes, and/or poised to smite people; or to take full responsibility for his/her own actions.

If Christians need a God or book or a Top Ten list to keep them from lying, stealing, or killing people, then I wouldn't dream of trying to convince them not to use it. Atheists are good people without all that stuff. We know that a God is not necessary. Just as an atheist can't convince you to become an atheist, you CAN'T convince an atheist to worship the Hitler-God of the Bible, even if he did exist.

Answer 4

I don't believe there is an afterlife. Death is the end of consciousness.

I do have Christian friends, and Christian family. I say that their beliefs give them peace, but those beliefs don't make death any more for them than it is for anyone else. Death is the end of consciousness.

I don't try to convince anyone to become an atheist. I'm glad you feel so strongly about your beliefs. How about a deal? I don't try to "convert" you and you grant me the same respect.

I don't believe in god/s because there is absolutely no evidence that any exist. I am dumbfounded that people can believe such things without some modicum of evidence.

Answer 5

Most atheists aren't out to convince or convert believers to their way of thinking. We express our views on the topic -- admittedly the minority view -- and get labeled as everything from "angry" to "satanic" for them.

Many atheists are dumbfounded that, at the dawn of the 21st century, the need to invest time and emotion in superstition and false beings is still not only needed around the world, but maybe more rampant than ever.

Yes, I have Christian friends, many of them. I expect nothing in the afterlife, because I don't believe there is one.

Answer 6

There is no afterlife. Yes, I have Christian friends. I doubt that I can convince them to become an atheist. Most people don't convert because of one person with a good argument. There are many stories of people having an instant conversion to Christianity or other religions. But that is because the arguments for religion tend to be emotional in nature, so people convert in the spur of emotion.

On the other hand, atheists tend to go through a longer process of introspection and study. Still, I think I have given many religious people things to spur their thinking. That's really my main goal. Ultimately, it is up to the person to understand.

If you want to read a good book about atheism, try Richard Dawkins' book, "The God Delusion". It is very well written.

Answer 7

I do not need to convert others, I live with a Roman Catholic and we get on great, with me being Atheist and her being Roman Catholic.

Basically I do not believe in an afterlife, I am a naturalist in that I believe the physical existence we know and experience is the only one there is, there is no supernatural world beyond it. Hence I have no expectations of any afterlife. And I am an atheist because I do not believe in the Christian God, nor do I agree with what those that do believe in him tell me I should do. This, my personal beliefs are my motivation because it has taken much time and thought to reach them and some measure of criticism and attack of them, they are not going anywhere.

Answer 8

1). Not really sure what to expect. I think we create our own experiences of the afterlife. Eventually we remerge with the Tao.

2). Yes.
3). Nothing.
4). What for? They're happy.
5). Good for you.
6). Swell.
7). I can tell.
8). Because deities are merely metaphors for something beyond human comprehension, an attempt to define the indefinable. Once understood this way, it is hard to see them as real. I can sense behind them to the Source.

Answer 9

~~~w.l. ,,,, I have no bias nor prejudice against christians. I have mostly christian friends, as I live in a country that is 90% such. I NEVER attempt converting nor prosylitizing to christians. The afterlife is a place where the Time/Space Continuum does not exist. Once a lifetime is completed on earth then we have a "Judgement Day" where we meet with our Spirit Guides and have a Life Review (St. Peter's "Book of Life") and our Actions are Judged as we "Experience" the Emotions and Effects of our Actions as they affected others, both Positive and Negative (similar to James Stewart and his Guardian Angel as they preview his loved ones without him). This "Review" is the result of The Akashic Records(see Edgar Cayce the christian Sleeping Prophet) and this is weighed against our Soul's Stage of Growth(similar to your level of grade in hi-school or college), Consequently you are given "rewards or penalties" (good/bad karma).,,,And then one prepares for Incarnation into the next Lifetime for another "session" of Earth School. ~~ Of Course this is a very short Synopsis.

Answer 10

I expect nothing from the after life because there is no after life. I have never tried to convince anybody to become an atheist and unlike you I would not try to force what I think onto others

Answer 11

If you are a theist, you believe in God because someone else has told you that God exists. All babies are born with no beliefs and are taught to believe in things. That’s why babies born in the Middle East are likely to grow up Muslim, babies born in Mexico are likely to be Catholic, and babies born in Utah are likely to be Mormon. They are handed their beliefs by the people around them. It’s not that the evidence for Islam is more compelling in Iraq than it is in Utah, it’s just that if you are raised in Iraq you are likely to only be exposed to information about Islam. If you are raised in Salt Lake City you are likely to be inundated with primarily Mormon messages and culture. Additionally, you are not likely to question something that everyone around you believes. Could all of the people you respect and love be wrong? Well, all of the differing religions can’t be right, so a good chunk of the world’s population has it wrong. But not you, right?

I believe what I believe because I have been honest with myself about the problems in the Bible. I have exposed myself to all of the arguments and evidence I could find and I drew an honest conclusion. I did not choose to be an atheist. I am an atheist because by definition I do not believe God exists. I couldn’t make a decision to start believing in God any more than you could make a decision to start believing in Santa Claus.