Early moring thoughts from the Confirmed Atheist! What do you think of hope?

Question

If you know how things work, and can therefore predict and somewhat control how things will turn out from day to day, situation to situation, do you really need hope? Is hope really necessary? Isn't that just for people that DON'T have any knowledge or control of their situations?

Answer 1

Crafty bastard.

I was going to ask a similar question in just a few moments.

Hope was in Pandora's Jar with all the other evils of the world for a reason: It is hope alone that will cause you to make the same mistake over and over and over again, convinced that it will be alright the next time.

Answer 2

Well I know how things are suppossed to work. I guess the key word is suppossed to work. I know that when I press the power button on the computer it is suppossed come on and when I turn on the light switch on the lights should come on. I can predict that the computer will come on and that the lights will come on. Still , I hope that I haven't somehow caught a computer virus, even though i have virus protection software and I hope that some transformer down the street hasn't exploded causing my power to go off.

I don't have any control over the computer virus or the transformer. I can't predict that behavior.

I am trying to answer your question about hope and not sound like a complete idiot in the process but it is extremly hard!!

I think hope is neccessary. I think it is for everyone because even though we don't have the knowledge or control of anyone's behavior (except our own) with hope, we can dream and set goals. We can hope to finish high school, college, etc. We can hope to run that marathon. We can hope to accomplish certain goals that we have control over.

But we can also hope for other things that we have no control over. We can hope someday that they find a cure for cancer. We can hope someday that the world will be a better place and that there will be no starving kids. Hope lets us imigane unlimited possibilities... without that.... well.. I think the world would be more depressing.

Answer 3

Quite often, hope supplants reason. Even though something is a bad idea, and bound to fail, people go with it because they would really like it to be so. Hope often masks denial and delusion.

Then again, hope is sometimes what pushes a person to reach a goal. When things are bleak and neither success or failure is assured, hope can be the driving force to one own survival. Hope is the onset will, determination and purpose.

like nearly every item of the human experience, it can work for you or against you. But, it's generally a bad sign if your whole life is spent hoping and stretching towards things that are out of reach. If you always need that boost that hope can bring, maybe you should be approaching your life in a more thought out and realistic manner.

Answer 4

HypnoPope made a comment about some feeling that they have a right to have their hopes fulfilled, and that's absolutely true. As human beings we are not entitled to the best of anything, nor were we guaranteed the best outcome for any and every situation we deal with. That's true no matter what your beliefs are.

None of us have knowledge or control over everything in our lives, and maybe hope is how some choose to cope with those circumstances. I know it's what I do, and even though it has no impact on the outcome, it does provide me some comfort.

Answer 5

Predict, yes... Control? Not completely. I can't control every situation, especially when other people are involved. I can hope it turns out the way I want it to, but that doesn't mean I don't have knowledge of the situation. A person can only control so much and it's usually only themselves and their own actions. I can't control your actions no more than you can control mine, but I can Hope we can work things out together. I can predict that, since you seem to be a reasonable person, we can do it without argument... but this doesn't mean that an argument won't happen. *wink* And I wouldn't be able to control your actions if an argument did arise.

I can only hope that if an argument comes up, we can both be reasonable enough to work through it... rather than against each other.

But, I do see your point in this... one shouldn't solely rely on Hope to get them through. They should be, at the very least, striving to hold up their end without sitting on their a$$es and saying "Well, I hope......"

Answer 6

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst because in many situations we simply have no control, despite what knowledge we have.

I held on to hope alone as a loved one had a heart attack, emergency surgery and complications that led to a comma because to do less than hope for the best would be to already put her in the grave. Unfortunately I also had to prepare for the worst so as not to allow myself a complete break with reality.

BTW, I love Lucids reply. Completely true when we are not careful to learn from our past

Answer 7

Hope in the Bible is just another word for trust., expectation and looking forward to the answer of a promise. It is the condition of having feet attached to this world and eyes that can look about and knowing, not just for ourselves but for all those who suffer that relief is coming, and while it is not yet here in total we are free to see it on its way and draw from the source from time to time. Without "hope" or longing for that last day...we might grow dull, complacent and settled, misunderstanding that while His mercies are new every morning we live in a physical world with problems, strife, trouble and pain and physically these things can drag one down into a state of hopelessness...not to mention the fact that with our heart and mind on the goal, like a runner in a race, we will be more sure to circumvent obsticles that will most assuredly be cast in our path. Faith is the substance of all that is hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen...it is anticipation. Imagine you have entered and won a lottery and have been handed that giant sized cardboard check (the Bible)...all the while cameras are flashing and people are asking questions but in truth a value has been assigned to your new monied status but you have not actually cashed that check and cannot carry a million dollars with you where ever you go...it would be your "hope" that nothing impedes your trip to the bank (Salvation) to keep you from realizing your reward. For a christian that is to get through this life and into the next where we can be free of all this sin. That is the promise that Jesus Christ gives and the Bible is the source we have on hand to draw from. Sorry, to be so metaphorical...just some late night thots from a confirmed and hopeful Christian. Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 8

if everything is going well, then no - you don't need hope.
but for people who are undergoing difficulties in their life, who have tragedies inflicted on them that weren't their fault, I think it's just about required. The hope that a desperate effort will pay off, or the hope for a better tomorrow (along with the effort you mention), is what keeps a lot of people in terrible situations going.

Life is no utopia. Hope is the bulwark against its cruelty.

Answer 9

the thing is, you CAN'T predict anything and everything in your life. noone can. you can control your situations to an extent, but it's in those times when, logically, it seems like there's no way out, that you need FAITH, not hope. hope is wishy washy and weak. abandon all logic at those times and have confidence instead. ''this is the way it's gonna be. i don't care what it looks like. this is the way it's gonna be, cuz i said so. i don't care if it doesn't turn out this way the first time or the second time or the nineteenth time. this is the way it's gonna be. cuz i said so.'' logic? reason? blah. give me blind-as-a-bat, stubborn-as-a-mule, strong-as-an-ox FAITH, and i'll give you a roman triumph every time.

faith is the way by which we create our lives. faith is the way by which we create our environment. faith is the means by which we hold our head up high while the world burns around us. not hope.

Answer 10

Is it easily derogatory to earnings God to a sky fairy if God is as tangible as a fairy? i might say that is calling a spade a spade. If God IS actual i might have theory he can take it -he's God! And if it make deists extra desperate of their ideals (which i'm particular it does) are not we easily doing them a prefer relatively? our comments are no longer for the fundamentalists - they're misplaced souls! Our comments are for everybody who can think of! no person is above ridicule: theist or atheist. as long as our criticisms are apt we ought to continuously no longer mince our words in spite of if i might agree that there ARE. in spite of if I infrequently see posts right here in the place atheists have used expletives. That i might say makes no sense -yet poking relaxing at stupid ideals? this is okay -mandatory in actuality. i'm no longer of the opinion that ANY ideals are above ridicule. Even mine. which would be risky.

Answer 11

I hope that I will be able to get a rare amplifier before someone else snaps it up. I hope my sweetie will start to heal faster from her injury at work. I hope I will be able to pay off all my bills. I hope that the guys that say that they are going to buy my speakers will show up tonight and pick them up and pay me for them.

Hope is a GOOD thing - it isn't just for people who believe in a deity - its for anybody with an optimistic attitude. I hope that answers your question!