Atheists what if you are wrong?

Question

Okay- You say there is no GOD, just for argument's sake what if you are wrong?

If you have to face GOD on judgement day will you just say to him..I denied you and I am ready for my punishment

Or will you beg for forgiveness? or try to plead your case why you denied him?

Now you might ask me the same question? What if I am wrong?
Well then I guess I will just end up in the dirt with all of you..

Answer 1

This is one good point! Wow!

Answer 2

I am a Christian... but I find your question flawed. On the outside of course, I know what you're trying to say.. but really.. it was that last part that you said that made me want to make a comment.

You said "What if I am wrong? Well then I guess I will just end up in the dirt with all of you.". Well.. That's not necessarily true. What if you (and I) were wrong.. and the right "religion" was to follow Allah? or Buddha? or someone else? What if the "right" way was to Mother Nature? What if she says that those that follow God are going to be banished to a volcano? Then, if you were wrong, you could spend eternity in a volcano...

My point is that.. It isn't just a two way street... It's not just the Atheists that disagree with Christianity. There are other religions as well.. And your suggesting that if you were wrong about religion, then the outcome would just be "nothing".. you could be sadly wrong.

All that being said, I myself chose Christianity because I believe it to be right, but I don't think that others should HAVE to choose it..especially based simply on an idea of "I'll believe it just to save my butt"..

Answer 3

Sort of a Pascal's Wager type of arguement. Look it up.

As for what I'd do if I were to be judged. I wouldn't beg for forgiveness at all. I try to be a good person and I do a pretty god job of it. I would simply stand on my record. If I am to be judged for using my abilities to the best of my abilities (ie, using rational thinking to turn to atheism) then so be it.

As it stands now, I am in a position to live a fulfilling life and I don't think theists can say the same thing.

I don't fear "being in the dirt" as you say. There's something really amazing about being worm food when you actually understand the world. On my deathbed, I know what will become of my body and I'm kind of excited about it in a way. You, on the other hand, would be praying and praying that you don't go to hell and there would be that fear that you might. Sorry, I wouldn't want that on my death bed at all.

Not having an afterlife as a fall back, I'm forced to do with my life whatever I can do make an impact. Hopefully my children will remember the love I showed them, and pass on that love to their children, etc, etc, etc. That's the only way any part of me is going to live beyond my own death, so that's a huge added incentive to be the best father I can be.

Answer 4

What if you are wrong and there is a god that only sends vegetarian musicians to heaven? Are you ready to risk your soul by eating meat and not learning music? What if allah is the right god? etc etc.


Pascal's wager:

"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"

This is, of course, false.

Some of the problems with the argument:

* The implied assumption that god may exist (with a 50% probability, no less!)

* The assumption that there is an afterlife with a heaven and hell

* The assumption that the god cares about belief in him/her above all else

* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.

* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. You have lost a great deal, from time praying to a nonexistent entity (some people pray several hours a day!!!) to morality (your god may ask you to hurt other people) and much more besides.

* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?

* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.

For more:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/wager.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html

Answer 5

The atheist who would be wrong would at least have made a mistake in judgement.

Sadly the so called Christians on here pushing fundamentalist views extremism and zealous zeal are actually doing Christianity immense harm. Churches are loosing congregations fast - even Catholic ones.

Why? Could it perhaps be the fact that so many people calling themselves Christian and pushing "Their" religion are shaming people away from a religion that had a loving, inclusive and forgiving God before they got hold of it?

Whatever happens to atheist - they will be at the back of the queue - behind the egotistical bigots wrecking Christianity from the inside!!!

Buy your asbestos socks and underwear now!!!

Answer 6

If there is a God I don't think He'd be petty enough to send me to everlasting torment just because I denied him. After all there is no evidence on Earth to prove He exists, and all the religions of the earth are so confusing and believe different things, how are we supposed to know what to believe? If He wanted us to believe without a doubt, He should have created A.Some credible evidence B. Robots not capable of using the brains he gave us or C. One religion so that everyone would believe the same thing. Any God that I could believe in would be a loving forgiving God and would understand that religions on earth were so corrupted that I chose to believe in none of them at all.

Answer 7

Its all based on faith. Its either u believe or u don't. I do. Karma will do its thing to the atheists. And I doubt very much so that we are wrong. People say that there is no evidence of God. But, I have to ask the same question. Where is the evidence that there isnt one? What did we do? Pop out the sky? The whole things ridiculous and I pity the people who will suffer in hell because of it.

Answer 8

If I am wrong and the Christians are right, I guess I will burn in hell. But if God is good, I will not need to apologize, nor will I be punished for not having believed. Any reasonable God would not expect me to believe when there is no evidence of his existence on earth.

Answer 9

If I am wrong, all I will have to say to God is that I was honest with myself and I lived a good life, helping those who are less fortunate than me. If he does not accept that, then I want no part of him and I will be glad to go to Hell.

I would like to think my good actions are more important than my inactions.

As for you, if you are wrong, you have wasted the only life you will ever have on worshipping something that is not real.

Answer 10

If I am wrong I will neither ask for forgiveness nor accept punishment. God really should do a better job of revealing itself, if we are to believe this misogynistic bronze age version of God. If god made my brain, god should know that.

By the way, this question is asked frequently. If you are not satisfied with the literally thousands of answers about it that have already been given, might I ask the response you seek?

Answer 11

Pascal's wager. There's at least 2800 names of gods that are believed in by various religions around the world. There's probably more, but we know of at least 2800 by name. So technically, you and I are both atheists. I just believe in one less god than you do. You only have at best a 1/2800 chance of being right over me.

As to what would happen if I came face to face with God... well, what happens happens. I would hope that "God" is intelligent enough not to need US to stoke His ego for Him every second of our lives, and will be intelligent enough to care more about what type of person we were rather than if we kissed His tushie sufficiently.