what do athiests have to live for part 2?

Question

i do have kids and it kills me to think after life i will never know any of them existed or if i even existed, this seems like an empty life to me not one that believes in something. what is the purpose of life to athiests? it just doesnt seem right to me to have nothing to live for except day to day. i do enjoy my life and its mainly because i have something to look forward to. it doesnt pain you to know if a loved one dies that they just disappear, no spirit no nothing?

Answer 1

I live life for life itself.

I would turn your question around. If you go to Heaven when you die, what are you hanging around here for? With the problems of terrorism, global warming, and nuclear proliferation, why not just take your whole family to heaven?

The atheist worldview is life-affirming; this life is all we get, so we're empowered to make the most of it.

Answer 2

Dear Legend,

Being unable to face your own immortality and the death of those around you is NOT a good reason to believe in make-believe. Unless you're Dorothy and you've got some magic slippers, wishing something were so doesn't make it so. Use your new-found wisdom to appreciate and treasure the brief time on this earth you were given and use it wisely to bring joy to your fellow man.

If we must play the theological game, let us never forget that it is a game. Religion, it seems to me, can survive only as a consciously accepted system of make believe.
— Aldous Huxley

The loss of religious faith among the most civilized portion of the race is a step from childishness toward maturity.
— Charles Eliot Norton

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.
— Bertrand Russell

Illusions die hard and it is painful to yield to the insight that a grown-up can be no man's disciple.
— Sheldon B. Kopp

I do not believe that religion has been a force for good.... I regard it as belonging to the infancy of reason.
— Bertrand Russell

Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck, a skirt to hold. What have we to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity!
— Isaac Asimov

Answer 3

Oh, you chaps! The ones here who spoke of living the life you have are right on the mark. Yes, I am an atheist. I am altogether comfortable with that fact, and I'm wondering if it was a 'choice'? If I 'chose' to call myself a Christian and observed the ritual and all that, I'd be living a lie. Meanwhile, I live, I am happy, I am, at 71, still in the warm embrace of my life's work, the classical theatre. I am five times a grandfather. Some of my grands will grow up and marry and bring life into the world. Some of my great-grands will grow up and marry and bring life into the world. And along the way my worldview, my belief in human and civil rights, my respect for women, and my rejection of bigotry (including bigotry among the religious) will live on through those kids...and their kids...and their kids. My work upon the stage, my interpretation of Shakespeare and other greats of the classical theatre shall have affected the lives and minds of people who are strangers to me, and their children, and their children's children. And so on and so on. Life after my death? There it is as I described it for you. And I have no reason at all to lust after the god of Bronze Age desert nomads.

Answer 4

It's very sad to know that I won't spend an eternity with my loved ones. Death is very sad, because it takes people you love away from you. This is all the more reason for me to cherish my family now and make every moment count. This doesn't make my life empty. It actually makes me appreciate it that much more. My purpose on earth is to love, give, and learn. I think it's better to believe we all end up in nonexistence rather than the majority of people being burned forever in hell.

Answer 5

You see its this kind of statement that starts the ball rolling towards a theocracy. Pity those who don’t share your belief system. Get many of your fellow believers to pity along with you. Come up with a plan for world wide operation called “ram the bible down their throats”. Atheists all choke to death for what Christian Doctors call “natural causes”. Hold another pity part about how the atheists should have listened to you in the first place and then point out they are in hell. If Atheist are in hell then technically they aren’t dead. Both sides win

Answer 6

I have life to live for ...what do you have? I am an atheist.

When a loved one dies they do just disappear, no spirit no nothing (i've been through this loss) and of course it is painful to lose someone you love but accepting reality is better than a false hope, I would find no consolation in that.

Answer 7

Actually, if a loved one passes away, it does make me sad to think that I'm never going to see them again. I can't deny that. However, I believe that after I die, it's no longer going to make a difference. I'm not going to be *aware* of not being with my loved ones. I'm not going to be *aware* of anything at all. No pleasure, no pain.
As for what I have to live for...I have *everything* to live for! My life is all I have, so why would I not cherish it and appreciate it and love it? I live for my family and my friends. I live for each day that I have.

Answer 8

Non existence: Eternal peace. Where were you a 1000 years ago? The same place you'll be a 1000 years from now.

After you are gone, your kids will remember you, that should be enough. You look forward to DYING? I'm not scared of it, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Answer 9

As an atheist i find it comforting knowing that I will not live forever... forever is a very long time. It makes the now that much better knowing it won't be here forever. Mistakes will be forgotten and life will go on without me.

Though, i think it is worth mentioning that atheism simply means "does not believe in gods" and therefore an afterlife is a possibility.... but an all knowing sentient creator is not. There are buddhist atheists among other philosophies... and all of them fit within the branch of atheism because they do not believe in a god.

Answer 10

I think that after we die we cease to exist, just as we didn't exist before we were born. Honestly, no it really doesn't bother me that those I love who have passed away don't exist anymore. It hurts me that they are gone, that I won't see them anymore, and selfishly that I don't get to be with them again. That doesn't compel me to belief in an afterlife, though.

The purpose of life is to live your life. The only purpose that we can have is the one that we give to ourselves. I choose to spend my life making this world a better place for those who come after me. I choose to love people and to laugh and to eat great food and learn as much as possible and create art. I recognize that this is my one go-round, and I want to make it count. It doesn't seem right to me to spend this life in anticipation of death.