If you don't believe in a higher power then what is your reason to live or even be good people? what is it that pushes you to do good if you do do good?
2007-06-21 11:48:10 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
no god is not the ONLY thing that pushes me to do good...seeing others faces when i help or comfort.....sorry I didn't make it clear...sheesh sooooorry
2007-06-21 12:03:31 · update #1
and that is still not the only reason....what i am getting at is that it is everything else with the exeption of a higher power.....maybe? either way i should have stated no put downs of religions so whoever else answers please no put downs.........
2007-06-21 12:05:14 · update #2
is the idea of heaven the only thing keeping you from going on a killing spree or taking your own life? didn't think so.
I'm a good person because my mom and dad raised me right.
2007-06-21 11:51:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
I do it because I enjoy it. I believe that if you do a good deed or something nice for someone it should be because you want to. Not because you are hoping for some kind of reward or to score brownie points with the invisible sky wizard. It seems many believe that although God, Allah, Odin, or whoever although an omnipotent being has the perceptive skills of a 2 year old and cannot tell the difference between genuine kindness and merely sucking up. If I were a deity I would punish them twice as hard as a regular sinner.
I live because I enjoy being alive and experiencing the world around me. Are you saying that because I am atheist I should sit in my room cutting myself and writing crappy poetry? I am sorry but I have a zest for life and enjoy living it to the fullest. I enjoy experiencing it all and do not believe the human experince should be hindered by foolish superstitions.
2007-06-21 19:27:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rock hard, are you only good because you are scared of being punished if you are not? Or because you can't think of a single reason for being good other than that the Big Man says you ought to be?
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There you go - you've answered your own question. It doesn't take belief in god to make people moral or do good. In fact your exercise should have proved to you that belief in god plays no part in it at all. Hopefully you are now better able to appreciate that atheists are morally responsible without having to believe.
2007-06-21 18:55:04 · answer #3 · answered by Bad Liberal 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I believe that the way people behave is directly proportional to the way they were raised. I don't need to believe in fairy tales about "God" or "Heaven and Hell" to make me be kind to others.
My reason to live is a combination of many things. Self preservation, wanting to raise kids and enjoy life are just a few. As long as you have something to look forward to, you have a reason to live. Unfortunatly, nobody knows what happens after death, but instilling fear in people by threatening them with hell is not why I am good to others. I merely have no reason to act "evil".
2007-06-21 19:33:34 · answer #4 · answered by holtebr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
might as well throw my two cents in. One does not need a belief in a higher power in order to be a moral individual. we are products of our upbringing, and watching how our parents interact with individuals at at an early age forms our ideas on morality, empathy, and social behavior. If you look at very young children, those who have grasp or concept of the deeper meanings of religion, you will see them empathizing with each other. I can cite an example today, as my son (19 months old) went over to a little girl who had fallen on a rose bush and tried to comfort her. No religious upbringing taught him that, only by witnessing how myself and my wife interact with my other children taught him that. One could almost argue that empathy is ingrained, but can be lost or gained over time (strengthened or weakened through interaction). This is not to discredit some of the moral teachings of religion, but given as a whole it is a decidedly unpleasant affair, with no need in the 21st century. Do we need the idea of God and a fear of eternal damnation in order to stay in line? what about the unsavory aspects of religion (religious intolerance, discrimination, etc.)? Should we be religious, or is spirituality, the idea that there is some sort of higher power, a better thing? As for a reason to live...that's a bit of a silly question. Every living thing attempt to stay living, be it plankton or a person. Religion doesn't give someone the desire to live... it's the desire to live itself that pushes us on, makes us keep on fighting. You could also argue that the desire to pass on our genes to the next generation makes us fight to live. A selfish, atavistic reason, but a very plausible one nonetheless.
2007-06-21 19:59:55 · answer #5 · answered by Worzel Gummidge 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
What is my reason to live? seriously, do you think with out god there is no reason to live? How hopeless and shallow for you. Is god the only reason that is keeping you from being a bad person? Again, how sad to think so little of yourself and other people that you need a god to be good. I push myself to do good because I AM good. I love my life because it IS MY life
2007-06-21 18:54:18 · answer #6 · answered by punch 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Being a good person is just basic human morals, people shouldn't need guidance or threat of punishment to do the right thing. And life is good, should I be suicidal if I am atheist.
P.S. You didn't even spell it right. Don't pretend to know for a second what it's all about.
2007-06-21 18:54:59 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
wow, how many times has this been asked? is it really so difficult to understand that people are good without fear of eternal damnation? that we can have empathy for other people and that's what makes us good people? that doing good can make us feel good ourselves and create a nice decent society to live in? i'm sure if you asked most religious people why they are good people they'd say the same thing, it's human nature to care for others. there are good people and not so good people, belief or lack thereof has nothing to do with it.
my reason for living is that i happened to be born and i quite like being alive.
2007-06-21 19:05:47 · answer #8 · answered by AJ 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your reason to be a good person is based off fear of something higher than you? So you are truely not a good person then and are instead only afraid of the consequences.
2007-06-21 18:54:52 · answer #9 · answered by Scott B 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Morality came out of intelligence, not religion. When our brains grew larger, we became conscious of the consequences of our actions. Most religions are hardly what I would call moral. I try to a good person because I will die easier knowing I was. I can die easier knowing I left the world a better place than when I entered it.
2007-06-21 18:53:09 · answer #10 · answered by Starvin' Marvin 3 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Same reason as everybody. Respect. Live and let live.
Shame that religious people are being good for the wrong reasons.
2007-06-21 18:51:59 · answer #11 · answered by thethinker 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋