Atheists: What is there to live for if you do not believe in any kind of an afterlife?

Question

I am sure this has been asked, but I want some fresh answers for myself.

I'm not being mean or rude, I seriously want to understand your point of view.

I apologize for not researching the amount of times this question was answered. I am sure that many questions get asked repeatedly, but there are always new users around and fresh answers to be had.

Thanks to the people who have given an honest, heart-felt answer. I appreciate that. It seems that in any group of people, there are always the ones that make everyone look bad though.

Answer 1

i think the fact that people are nasty because you have a question is wrong. If you dont believe in God or an afterlife, thats your perogative, but dont judge someone because they want to know more about you. I believe that everyone believes in SOMETHING. If you dont, then you have no one to turn to when everything is bad. Everyone needs something or someone to believe in, or their life will feel empty.

Answer 2

How about the reverse - why do you feel the need to believe in one? Would you have anything to live for if someone was able to prove that the afterlife and everything tied to it didn't exist? Are you suggesting we all need to jump off a bridge, since we obviously have nothing to live for?

Look, I didn't ask to be born. But I was, and I'm going to live my life the best way I know how. I have to concern myself with this life, the only one I have, and not sit around praising a sky daddy I've never seen, waiting to die, to live on a cloud forever. What's the point of that? My life kinda sucks sometimes, no one's is always great. But you have to deal with the here and now, not be passive and hope things will get better in the "next life."

Answer 3

You asked what is there to live for if there is no afterlife.This means you consider the present life as worthless. Is there another life after the afterlife? If not, what is the reason for living the afterlife if that is all that there is.

People tend to focus so much on the afterlife that they cannot live their life to the maximum. People that do not believe in an afterlife tend to live their life to the fulliest and they are genarally quite caring for those around them because they do not believe that someone will help the poor, the sick etc. They believe that they must care for them now and here.

Answer 4

You try to make this life as good as you can for yourself and others.
You try to be part of a human brotherhood that existed before you got here and pass the best parts of that on to the next generation.
Understand that, like Faster than light travel, the universe is under no obligation to give us anything merely because we can conceive it. Survival of synaptic patterns after brain death is not possible by any known means. That doesn't mean that we don't want it.
But exactly where is it?
If it's not there, then what you have is incredibly precious and should be guarded and ultimately shared. At least share the best parts.
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

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Yes, it has AND no doubt will be asked again...my guess several more times before the night's over? Perhaps we need to draft a form letter for those who are obviously question-challenged?

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Has someone accused you of being rude? Not I. Boringly redundant, yes...but certainly not rude.

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I'm seriously refusing to give it, again.

Answer 6

I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say, “Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose,” but I'm anticipating a good lunch.
— James Watson (Nobel Prize winner; discovered double helix molecular structure of DNA)

Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.
— Carl Sagan

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
— Douglas Adams

Answer 7

Life and it's great. I don't think of and pine for something that will happen in the great beyond, I have the ability to fully enjoy life because that isn't a part of my life. I have a loving husband, a loving family & friends, a roof over my head and a job that puts food on my table for myself and anyone else who cares to join me.

Life is a wonderful experience when you actually decide to live it instead of focusing on something in which isn't proved to exist.

Answer 8

Friends, family, love, good music, good books, love of learning, sunrises and sunsets, a day at the beach, laughter, the first snow of winter, a baby's first smile....I could go on and on.

Why not enjoy the life you have here and now? Is your own life so miserable that you need an 'afterlife' to tolerate it? That's depressing.

Answer 9

To leave the planet behind as a better place for my future children.

I would actually hate life, if there was an eternal afterlife. I wouldn't be able to see the point of living, if there was no end to it. Anything becomes useless when it has no ending.

Answer 10

I live in the moment, which is all anyone has. I do not need an afterlife to make my life here good and worthwhile. I feel some people throw their lives away because they are so fearful of what happens after death.