2007-07-07 05:33:37 · 27 answers · asked by ? 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Why would you want immortality? That's no sort of reward. Eventually you get so sick of 'eternal life' that you would want to never have to be conscious again.
Besides, I don't know why people get so upset by the idea of not being alive. It couldn't be any worse than sleep and sleep is just fine.
I think it's an ego thing, you know, like people thinking that some supernatural creature who created/knows/sees everything would bother with the everyday details of a single, irrelevant human being.
2007-07-07 05:38:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
The only immortality possible is through your kids carrying on the line, if that gives you a kick. Why should anyone want immortality? If you came back as another person, you wouldn't know you had been in a previous life, so what good is immortality? The truth is people don't want their first life to end, so they invent the idea of immortality.
Christianity can promise you the moon, but you won't get the moon, and you will be a nutcase if you think you will.
2007-07-07 12:39:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Disagree. I don't find that to be a trouble as I have no need to be immortal. I do have a need to live the best life I can in the here and now and if I'm lucky the people I leave will remember me fondly. That's immorality enough for me.
2007-07-07 12:38:20 · answer #3 · answered by genaddt 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Disagree. To the contrary, it is atheism's greatest strength.
Awareness of our own mortality can, if handled appropriately, give power to our actions and decision-making. What if, when faced with a dilemma, if we were to ask ourselves "OK... I shall presume that this is the last action that I shall take in my life, and when it is completed, I will die... how should I proceed?"
Christians, operating under the PROMISE of salvation, and under the ILLUSION that they will have eternal life, care not for the future of our planet, or for what will get bequeathed to our future generations. Over 50% of the adult population of the USA think that Jesus will return within their lifetimes, destroy the earth, and suck them up into heaven. Why preserve the earth when the loving god is just going to destroy it, anyway? Why make the most out of this life when, in the long run, and it is just a fleeting thing, and I will spend eternity with god? All I have to worry about is accepting Jesus, and not sinning... everything else is irrelevant.
Atheists, on the other hand, recognize their moral and ethical responsibility to humanity, and to nature. Having developed, over time, the technical ability to transform much of nature, we are bound to make sure that we do not damage it for those who will follow.
It is clear that christian delusions are dangerous. Look up 'dominionism'.
"My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns." ~ James Watt, Secretary of the Interior under Rondald Reagan. Washington Post, May 24, 1981.
"We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand." ~ James Watt, Secretary of the Interior under Rondald Reagan. Washington Post, May 24, 1981.
2007-07-07 12:42:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Disagree.
I'm a Norse heathen with a heavily reconstructionist bent, and historically accurate heathenry offers no promise of immortality beyond "wordfame" . . . living on in the memories of your descendants. I still find my beliefs inspirational and comforting.
The *real* trouble with atheism, IMHO obviously, is that it fails to recognize how important ritual and belief are to people and their cultures. You can't just decry something that is an integral part of what it means to be human as "irrational" and leave it that.
Atheists need to come up with some daily affirmation rituals or holiday traditions, lol.
2007-07-07 12:41:38 · answer #5 · answered by Boar's Heart 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Trouble?
What good is false hope?
I personally don't have any problems with being impermanent. Being mere mortals is what makes us human. It allows us to strive to be all we can be and enjoy each breath that we take.
Everything dies. The universe, a long with everything in it, will die, with only the essence of energy preserved. We are just one small part of something more complex than we can imagine. I don't see what makes us special enough to earn a VIP pass to immortality. Enjoy life for what it is, not something it will never be.
2007-07-07 12:40:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
okay well lets see.
im half greek, and half italian-german-american
so i come from some pretty strong religious backgrounds
greek side is obviously greek orthodox
and then on my dads side the italians are catholic, and the rest are christians.
i really havent found my faith yet.
i mean, i have been preached to, ive been to church, ive had a pagan ceremony done on me, ive been to buddhist temples.
so i guess right now im a bit of an athiest cause i dont believe in anything really.
but right now, being immortal, not really important to me, im quite happy living for the next 80 years and being gone forever =]
2007-07-07 12:44:21 · answer #7 · answered by greekgodess 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Agree
2007-07-07 12:35:47 · answer #8 · answered by simple serenity 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I disagree. The afterlife never enters my mind unless I'm here reading questions like this...I don't concern myself with the afterlife...I did when I was trying to be a christian...I was so afraid that I was never being a good enough christian for *god* to consider me good enough for heaven...now that I finally have accepted that there is no god and no afterlife I never give it another thought...I live my live for the here and now...I think about my future and hope that I have a job and have saved enough for retirement...I hope that the life I have left will be happy and that just *maybe* I will get someone to share it with....but death and what happens afterward is certainly NOT something that occupies my mind...
And you are ALWAYS tripping me up on your questions...lol...I always forget what your beliefs really are. :)
2007-07-07 12:46:16 · answer #9 · answered by Stormilutionist Chasealogist 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
hehe. why would you want immortality? you conceeded *****? there is no trouble with atheism. it is simply putting things in a rational sense. i can rationally tell you, as an atheist, that we evolved over millions of years. i can rationally tell you that we were caveman once. and yet, the bible says that we were always like the way we look.
well then, why do we have evidence of caveman?
atheism is not a religion, in fact it is the absence of one. it is seeing what this world truely is. and you know what, when we die, WE DIE!
its a sad reality, but death is death. if not, we wouldnt call it death now would we?
2007-07-07 12:39:43 · answer #10 · answered by john doe 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋