If the afterlife isn't there, and the Atheists are right...?

Question

Hello, my name is Phil.

I was just wondering what your opinions on my question are:

If Atheism is correct, if there is NOTHING after death, if we DID evolve from monkies and when we die we're going to rot...

What is the point of even living?

Why don't we all just kill ourselves now instead of waiting 75 years?

If I have nothing to look forward to, why even bother with life?

Accumulating wealth? What good is it when you're DEAD?

Enjoying yourself? So? You're going to end up DEAD anyways

If God doesn't exist and I just rot in a wooden box, I don't want to waste my time living! Then again, thats impossible because my time is worthless...

But you get the idea; if there is no afterlife, whats the point of living and then being buried?

Ice cream is still good after it melts.

Answer 1

You truly need to get a life.

Answer 2

Could not a similar argument be made FOR the afterlife? If nothing in THIS life ultimately matters, why not throw yourself heroically on the nearest hand grenade and save some useless time? There are things in this life worth doing, even though they don't "last". I don't just mean ice cream and Ferrari rides. I mean the satisfaction of helping someone else live a less miserable life.

Is MY personal supernatural security the only thing that matters? Should nothing motivate me but the anticipation of a reward for putting up with all this worldly foolishness? Believers can get very narrow-minded about the continuity of the material world, assuming that it will always go on in the same way (until God puts an end to it) because it doesn't really matter.

My children and their children will live in this world after I'm gone. I want their life to be at least as good as mine, but too many "fundamentalists" are endangering that hope by their heedless disregard for ruinous economic, political, social and environmental issues that "don't matter".

The point is, I live, I contibute, I die. WE live. Our species learns, adapts, achieves. Is it truly a greater sin to permit the death of an innocent fetus than it is to make the entire Earth uninhabitable? If our species goes extinct, or if some other speces can't take up where we left off, then my turn at life truly will have been wasted.

There is something important going on in this world, something bigger than we can see, more enduring than any single human civilization. Otherwise, why would God be torturing us with this "pointless" illusion?

What is the "afterlife", really? Can you describe it? What exactly happens there? Yet theists put far more faith in this mysterious realm than in the world they can actually sense. If you can't make something significant out of this corrupt, temporary life, you're not ready for "etermity".

Answer 3

Well unlike many christians, I enjoy life very much. While there really is no point, I live each day as a person who takes in all of the happiness and love around him. I love being with other people and enjoying every second I have. I am both aware and understanding of my surroundings as I live my life by my own personal code of morals and ethics. I don't even give a second thought to the ideas of "the meaning of life" and "divine plans" and why we are here. I'm just enjoying it.

Answer 4

There is but isn't an afterlife. There is only what you believe their to be. You see we live inside others, no one really exists. We are what others believe us to be. Thus, when we die we become nothing but memories inside of other people. These memories will bind us to where the individual in question believes us to be. The ones who remember us choose. Heaven means that they believe we lived a full and happy life. Hell means they believe we lived a regretful existence. This is the mental, this is the afterlife. This is the truth.

Answer 5

don't you see
that makes your time more worth while
you only have around 100 years to enjoy yourself and you do what you enjoy and not try to impress some deity
also animals do not have an after life
and humans, being animals, also have no purpose except to keep the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle and the circle of life going
Here's another thought for you
if god was perfect wouldn't he create perfect man and put him in heaven and not have this silly period of "life" on this planet. Christians may tell you that this life is a test and that if you are good then you will go to heaven. Why wouldn't god make humans naturally good. Also why would god create Satan, when god is all knowing and would forsee Satan's rebellion, unless god needed statan to run hell. In this case, God would have flawed logic because a perfect deity would not create man, an image of himself, to be an evil species.

Answer 6

If you're going to heaven when you die, why do you even want to live?

(Seriously, I'm surprised you don't see the irony of your own question here.)

You're suggesting that because this is the only life we've got, then we should just kill ourselves and get it over with? That's completely backwards.

I want to live because it is in my nature to want to live. Just as it is in yours, and in every plant and animal on earth. You have been told lies about how there is a magic place after death where everything is superduper, and that makes you feel good, and makes you fear death a little bit less.

But you still fear death.

And that's natural.

We atheists are not afraid to admit the truth though. And once you get past the truly backwards way of thinking that is religion, you'll find that life without the magic place is not as tragic as you think it is.

Nonbelievers value every moment of their lives, because they know it's the only one they've got.


And to Chelsea below, who asked why dont' atheists desire anarchy, if there's no god to punish us in the afterlife... there are many reasons for that. But don't you think the fact that atheists DON'T desire anarchy is proof enough that one doesn't need a god to have ethics?

Answer 7

Religion offers no more purpose than atheism. Religion gives life purpose within existence but it has no purpose to offer for existence as a whole. And that is because it couldn't. The lack of purpose is not because there is an empty space where purpose should be but isn't. It's because there is no space for purpose to exist. Purpose is a meaningless concept when we are talking about existence as a whole.

My philosophy is that if in life you stop to smell the roses, and they smell wonderful why do you need a purpose?

Answer 8

Right.

And in atheism, since you believe in no god, possibly along with the idea that since their is no god, humans don't have any other wordly master on earth, why not anarchy? Why let someone "above you" in a political or governmental standpoint control the things you do, since you're apparently so against the idea of a spiritual god doing the same thing? If you don't believe in punishment in the afterlife, then who gives a **** about punishment now?

Answer 9

God is real and there is a Heaven and Hell. But, if for a moment I play the advocate and there is no life after death, then isn't life still worth living? The memories, the smells, the tastes, the touches, all the great things the World has to offer. All the people you can know and love(or hate..lol) and all the wonders. Yes, there is bad and Evil, but there is also fun, laughter and Joy. So, even IF there is no afterlife, Life is STILL worth living. Thanks, and have a great day.

Answer 10

Kind of a sick question.

The point of living: your life is your own.

Why don't you kill yourself: Do you hate your life? Enjoy those75 years, do something positive.

Life is its own reward, look forward to tomorrow!

Why such a negative attitude. The gods don't exist and your life is a temporary condition. You are going to end up DEAD. You will cease to exist. No more you. The clock is ticking. Take the limited amount of time you have and do something GOOD, for yourself, for your children, for the world. And lighten up a little.

Answer 11

Are you suggesting that accumulated wealth is worthless to an Atheist ? What does a real religious person do with his money after death ?If you've figured a way of taking it with you, let everybody in on the plan.
If you don't want to waste your life living, all I can say is Good Bye.