What is the meaning of life for an atheist?

Question

As a Christian I belive that I should live my life to serve and worship God.

What is the reason for an atheist to get up in the morning.

If life was going badly and there was no-one there for you, what would be the point of carrying on?

For people who give stupid one sentance answers: what would you do if in the situation above?

sorry if I have implied atheists are suicidal, I did not mean to do this.

Paul S, Bullfighter

to serve and worship God means to follow the teachings of the bible, pray to God and to look back on to tradition for answers (although we have to be carful with the latter).

You say serving a worshiping God would be a horible existance, but do you really know what it entails?

How are belivers limited?

I will pray for atheists

"First, don't say you'll pray "for us" when you're blatantly just wishing we'd take on your beliefs. An omnipotent god would see through your contempt."

I pray for you because I belive it would be better if you did belive: Yes of course I want you to belive. Contempt? If i were contemptuous God would know.

Answer 1

I'm an nonreligious agnostic, and I find it puzzling why one needs God to get up in the morning or to overcome difficulties. I cannot understand why people can believe so strongly in whether there is or is not a God. We cannot prove this either way, so what's the point of thinking about it? In any case, I have no idea what will happen when I die and I accept not knowing. I can get up in the morning because I enjoy life. I enjoy learning and I want to have fun as long as I exist. I care about others because I have empathy and so I want to make the world a better place. The world and my life isn't meaningless to me just because it may not last forever. That is why it is more precious. If life were going badly and no-one was there for me, I will go on because from experience I know that there are always downturns in life and that things are not necessarily as depressing as they seem. I also know that my life can get better if I have the will. Besides, there are always people who are willing to help if you can find them and reach out to them.

Answer 2

Just because your an atheist doesn't mean you can't feel part of a larger entity. As animals in a world where natural selection decides who lives and dies, nothing brings more purpose to life than being a successful part of the gene pool. To know that, though you may not be remembered, you will forever be part of the human race, is paramount. You contributed to your beloved little species which fights for survival on a little rock careening through space. So I guess what I'm saying is the meaning of life is to keep life going. This is something that all humans can relate to. Christianity, I believe, like all other religions, is just name given to our shared love. It is only the people who don't understand and share this idea that end up drinking too much and become depressed or suicidal.

Answer 3

First, don't say you'll pray "for us" when you're blatantly just wishing we'd take on your beliefs. An omnipotent god would see through your contempt.

You're not going to find that atheists have a default meaning to life because we don't follow a common belief system.

As you did ask though I'll give you my beliefs on this matter.

I don't personally believe that there is any real 'meaning' for my life, I only exist because my parents decided to have kids.

My reason for carrying on my life is simply because I enjoy living. I enjoy material possessions, am amused by modern entertainment and technology and I have friends and family that I enjoy the company of. Basically, my reason for getting up in the morning is to fulfill my selfish desire to live and I do as much as I can of it without hurting others, without breaking laws, etc. Is that not reason enough?

Answer 4

If I thought the only meaning my life had was to "serve and worship God", I'd kill myself.

I don't think you're really thinking when you say that kind of thing. Do you REALLY think that you could have a meaningful life if its only purpose were "to serve and worship God"? That really sounds good to you? To me, it sounds like a hellish nightmare existence.

To be perfectly honest, I think that you heard those lines while you were growing up, and everyone around you talked as though they made sense and were wonderful, and you bought into it without ever giving it any thought, and now as an adult, you've been at it so long that you'd be scared to death to acknowledge the obvious facts that (1) there is no God, and (2) even if there were a God, spending eternity worshipping him would be an horrible existence.

So instead of thinking about these issues, you keep chanting the same empty slogans, and you've been doing that for so long that you can fool yourself into believing that those slogans will have impact on other people. The fact is that a slogan like "As a Christian I belive that I should live my life to serve and worship God" sounds a lot like "Rama-lama-ding-dong" or "We're number one!". It's utterly empty.

I feel very sorry for you - you apparently have no idea how wonderful life can be, and you're too scared to move out of that little gray existence.
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"You say serving a worshiping God would be a horible existance, but do you really know what it entails?"

I know that when challenged, you just repeat more empty slogans. You're living in a dull little box, kid. You can pray for me all you want, but in fact I've already got it better than you ever will, as long as you center your life on a rather dull and dated children's fairy tale.

Answer 5

I don't think life has a purpose or a meaning.

However, because we are alive and self-aware, we can choose to give it our own meaning. For me, that's to live a moral life as best I can. By my morals, self-termination would cause more pain than it would solve, so it's not an option.

When life feels like all has turned against me, I remember something a priest once told me before I became an atheist -- something that applies to all life everywhere in the universe. "This too shall pass."

And that's all I need. To rememebr that no matter how bad it is, it'll pass.

Answer 6

My wife and family are there for me, but that's beside the point.
Life can always get better. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb and say most Atheists are -not- suicidal. Would not kill themselves without an excruciatingly good reason. There's always something you can change--to make experiences different. You can experiment with something all the time, and become who you want to be, achieve whatever your goals are--and this.. this is the only life we get. We owe it to ourselves to make the best of it we can.
I'll add this as well.. You know, religious people let themselves get depressed easily. Things are beyond their control, and they're restricted in what they can do to better themselves by faith. Your ideas are limited, not by moral restraints, but by what you allow yourself to think, study, and do.
I honestly don't think you understand the life of an Atheist at all.

Answer 7

I can answer this question with honesty as i am a atheist and have been through bad things though my life so far. As far as the meaning in life for me is to live life to the max and enjoy each day as it comes for we only live once. I get up every morning knowing that it is a new day.

And when things go bad I don't need a false god to see me through the bad times. I am strong enough without that need. I know i am stronger than most as i know i don't need false beliefs to see me through bad times, i can get through it alone.

Answer 8

Life is there to be lived. I am not going to waste my time with mythical beings when there are real people out there to meet. I have books to read - and possibly write; I have music to listen to; I have lots to learn; I have a universe to explore; I have a family, a dog and a vegetable garden. There is too much going on with life and reality to worry about gods. None of them have done any good for anyone so why bother with them?

Answer 9

I am not atheist but here are my observations.

Our human capacity for self preservation comes to the rescue. We invent purposes and then pretend they are truly important.

Actually three techniques are routinely employed:

1) Do some good deed (or at least think about some good deed) which earns praise. "make a difference in the world" is a good expression of this technique. We delude ourselves that praise means worth and if we have worth, we must have purpose. Never mind that most praise is insincere.

2) Focus on happy thoughts. "I enjoy my time with my daughter". Focusing on happy thoughts keeps us from thinking about a meaningless existence.

3) Keep busy. "live life to the fullest". Keeping busy leaves us no time to think about a meaningless existence.

Answer 10

Life - better than the alternative!

These days what gets me out of bed is my daughter. Everything I do comes down to her in the end; she is the future and the best thing that ever happened to me.