if you don't believe in god or an afterlife...?

Question

where do you think you go after your soul leaves your body...that is assuming you do believe you have a soul..and if you dont...do you think you just shut your eyes one day and dont wake up or remember anything..can anyone who believes there is no afterlife give me any point to thier worldly life...if you believe thier is no consequence...wouldn't we all give in to our deepest darkest urges and not give ash.it what we do as there is no punishment...not that we are all like that but those who feel guilt if they have done something "humanely"wrong would feed off that guilt and continue to commit crime? people can say its religion that breeds crime...well my point is...abuse of religion breeds crime..a true follower of any religion breeds peace..i know this wasn't my original point but one thing leads to another and all that...anyway whats your views???

Answer 1

A saved soul will immediately be with Jesus when we die...

Answer 2

All human beings have a soul that is composed of a complex of seven energy centres that correlate to the major nerve plexuses within the central and autonomic nervous system. In the Sacrum (Sacred) bone at the base of the spine the Maternal aspect of God, the Holy Spirit records the entire life of the individual and about three days after death occurs, the Holy Spirit of the individual travels up the spinal column and collects the Spirit (Reflection of God) of the individual from the heart and leaves the body. [Those that have had near death experiences often report seeing a light at the end of a tunnel, this is their attention’s view of the soul moving through the spinal column. The light actually indicates they have led a balanced lifestyle and are on the right path.] In more spiritually evolved souls the spirit will depart from the body from the fontanel bone (at the crown of the head) and leave a small blood spot. An evolved soul determines its own path while others will rest until rebirth. The former life will then determine what type of parents and family they will be born into and the general state of health a combination of the parents well being and the shadow of the individuals former life.

Ignore this at your peril!

Answer 3

You should read books on philosophy and ethics, which are the basis for atheism.

I myself am an athiest - personal reasons why of course, desipte both my parents attempting to bring me up as a devout Christian.

The belief in a soul is an aspect of Christianity - so if you don't believe in "god" [sic] I am assuming you mean Christianity, and therefore you won't think that something invisible and undetectable flies out of your body if or when you die.

People die because of medical reasons, car accidents, drug overdoses, drowning etc etc etc etc, they don't usually "just shut your eyes one day and dont wake up or remember anything".. besides everything else, I don't see how you can remember anything if you are dead, and no longer have a functioning brain or other vitals to effectively exist. Think about it.

There is a great point to worldy life, I'd argue moreso when you are not emphatically religious. For starters, we are on this world for such a short amount of time, so why impose rules and restrict yourself whilst on this earth? It doesn't make any logical sense.
The world is a beautiful, beautiful place -- just living, and being able to breathe fresh air, go on beautiful holidays to appreciate the difference in nature, having and raising a family, learning and growing and achieving -- I don't see what religion has to do with 'life' at all. I think that you will have more of a chance to experience life and all it has to offer if you do not contantly feel guilty for wanting to do something radical or unethical or illegal or whatever. It's human nature and it's natural to want to enjoy life like this, so religion in itself defies all commonsense in every aspect.

There are also about a hundred thousand different religions on this earth. Assuming that you are fanatical about your religion -- how do you know you haven't made the wrong choice? What if the only true faith is Hinduism? Or Islam? All this time you have been praying to one god, and in fact there are thirty? Do you really think that there are 6 BILLION people on this earth right now that are in fact wrong about their personal spirituality, and you happen to be right?

You can be a murderer and you can be religious. You can also lead a happy, beautiful and wonderous life and believe in 'carpe diem'.... like me! :)

I know a lot about this because I have studied it and its philosophy for many years, which in fact turned me from a Christian into an atheist. I think all religious people need to do so as well, hopefully it will open more than a few eyes.

Glad you asked though, I love debating this kind of stuff!

Answer 4

There is no such thing as a soul haha. We care about our fellow humans and want everyone to have the best life possible. And a true follower of a religion does not breed peace. Unless you are a Christian who ignores the entire Old Testament and revelations. And only live your life by Jesus’ teachings. And not any of the horrible murderers found throughout the bible. An imaginary god is not what keeps you from committing crime. You just have compassion for your fellow man. People do bad things because of bad education. Not because they are evil but because they have been taught or influenced to act the way they act. Your preacher may say atheists are bad people but statistics say otherwise. How is the thought of us just dying so hard to believe? I would think believing in a god when we know we evolved and the universe is self mantained would be harder.

Answer 5

Um... If you don't believe in the afterlife, you probably don't believe in the soul.

I consider the soul to be the personality of a person, but this personality is judged solely on the chemical and electrical signals sent by the brain along with genetic coding (translation: I believe that such a "soul" is purely physical in nature).

Death is the end of physical life. Thus, I believe it to be the end of the "soul." You just cease to know anything anymore, since you cease to exist.

Just because you don't believe in the afterlife does NOT mean that you have no morals. Punishment in life can always help keep morals in place, such as jail time. The afterlife is not the only form of punishment, after all. (Of course, this is assuming that someone hasn't the morality to not do things bad just for the sake of being a good person.)

Answer 6

I don't believe in "souls". My brain does the thinking, feeling and remembering, so when it's dead, that will all cease.

When I die, I will go in the ground to feed the worms, same as everyone else. Circle of life.

My personal point in life is to help others, but everyone has a different one. A God is not necessary for that. Atheists make THIS life count because it's the only one we get.

There are consequences and punishment for atheists who commit crimes. Heard of jail? Most criminals are Christians, but there are some atheist ones, too.

I was taught to be good and to help people because it is the right thing to do, and it is how I would like to be treated (ethic of reciprocity, a la Confucius & Muhammed). Atheists are good because WE want to be, NOT because we think a furious sky fairy is watching and waiting to smite us, or because we are hoping to cash in on some kind of eternal reward. People who need a God, Book, or Top Ten List in order to behave and not kill people, should definitely not become atheists.

Read the entire Bible. God repeatedly COMMANDS his followers to kidnap, enslave, torture, rape, and kill other people. That breeds violence, period. Fortunately, most modern Christians don't obey God's commands. Atheists don't admire or worship killer Gods - it's a matter of principle and morals.

Answer 7

Most Atheists are those that don't believe in an afterlife and they also don't believe in a soul because soul is a religious concept. So, when you die, thats it.

That does NOT equal with "there is no punishment?".

Tell me, don't you live in the same world I do? And isn't the world a better place when everyone isn't trying to hurt each other all the time? Yeah, I think so too. So, I'd rather live in a world where others aren't trying to hurt me so I won't hurt others because its just a vicious cycle.

There is no eternal punishment, but punishment for wrong doings will happen here, in this life.

Answer 8

Don't believe in god or afterlife, and don't believe in the existence of a soul.
But I do have a concept of right and wrong, and I think my conscience, based on humanist principles, serves me better than a lot of religious folk's! I do not need the thought of eternal hellfire to prevent me from doing wrong to others, nor can the idea that it is the will of god prompt me to do so!
The idea that atheists must be evil because they are godless is an old, old, strawman argument that does not stand up to examination.
Richard Dawkins put it well; Bad people will do bad things, good people will do good things. But to get good people to do bad things, takes religion!

Answer 9

What exactly do you think a soul is? What properties does it have? What part of 'you' resides in the soul?

If it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia. How could a straightforward chemical, injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time? If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical.

How about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are? How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain - We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage. Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on. Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'. We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain.

So, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'? As far as I can ascertain: Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.

Answer 10

There is consequence - in THIS life.

You commit crimes, you go to jail. You treat others badly, you have bad relationships that fail.

When you die, your "soul" dies along with your brain... because that's where your "soul", aka your individuality, comes from.

Also why, if you have a frontal lobotomy, your "soul" changes in the most amazing ways...

I can think of many examples in the Bible (and I'm sure in other holy texts) in which "true followers" did anything but breed peace.

Answer 11

I try real hard to believe in god..but then I look at our nation and other nations who pray on their knees several times a day and they starve. Nations who are real devoted and their ravaged with disease.So then I wonder why god lets these devoted followers suffer?One of my friends believe that someone made up religion to control the masses.And I can see that. As for a afterlife I believe we are reincarnated to another life and the life we get is in tune to the life we lived before.