I've heard the claim that atheists must believe our lives are meaningless because eventually, no one will exist and nothing we did will matter. Even if this were true, why should that matter to us now?
2007-12-13 01:15:13 · 16 answers · asked by Eleventy 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
What matters is the life we live today.
2007-12-13 01:21:05 · answer #1 · answered by S K 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It shouldn't. We actually live in the here and now. You don't know what will happen in the next half hour let alone millions of years.
If you think that people are sure about the future just keep in mind that they are only making guesses based on their memory of things that have happened before. How good those memories are does affect the accuracy of their predictions. Pure chaotic chance effects matter just as much if not more, so you try to make your best guesses to what will let you live your life most happily.
It might look like atheists spend a lot of time thinking about life after death or deep meanings in time, but that is just on R&S.
Most real disbelievers go about having normal lines and worry about what is for supper, if their kids are happy, healthy and that all that sort of stuff.
2007-12-13 01:18:52 · answer #2 · answered by Buke 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
It shouldn't.
The fact that nothing will know of my existence in a million years, doesn't effect the way I live the short time I have on this earth.
My ability to impact those around me is just as important and just as valuable despite future man's knowledge of it.
The idea that our legacy needs to be carried on for eternity is a bit pompous and needy. I hope that my actions will help others, and make life a little better for them, that is good enough for me.
Anyone who needs to feel like their life will carry on for eternity, hasn't really thought it through to conclusion. Eternity, would render life meaningless, there would be no accomplishment or value, and life would be a prison whether it was spent in heaven or hell. Eternity is a LONG time.
2007-12-13 01:45:16 · answer #3 · answered by ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
people recognized style of a million years in the past, and there have been not that a lot of them. So i could say that their background certainly concerns very plenty to us now. And what we are doing immediately could nicely determine what the earth feels like a million years from now, whether the worst predictions do not come real.
2016-10-02 08:56:32 · answer #4 · answered by pinal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The point is to learn and to teach. If we can learn as much about the world and pass it on to the next generation, then they can add on to that and pass it on. Its somewhat selfish to think "well I'm not going to be here in a million years so I don't care"
It matters a lot. I do not want my great great etc... grandchildren to have to suffer unnecessarily.
I think we will be here or somewhere a million years from now.
2007-12-13 01:27:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It shouldn't.
Basically all these beliefs are just "feel good" ideas that somehow we all aren't just a speck in the whole spectrum of things and have some importance in the whole scheme of things.
Which we don't really...we all play an itsy bitsy part of progression (well, the sane, intelligent ones do) for the human race-which will run it's course and then be utterly unimportant to whatever is left, except of course perhaps as archeology finds for another species out there someday.
2007-12-13 01:20:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
what really matters is not always being right but trying to find a peaceful medium to maintain a level of joy in your life. Part of that stems from the acceptance of the beauty of diversity in culture, people and philosophical ideals.
If you can envision the expanse of even the remotest corner of the universe we are so diminutive I wonder how we can't see the insignificance of certain silly "problems" we create by just stepping outside our miniscule box and feeding ourselves some perspective.
2007-12-13 01:18:08 · answer #7 · answered by Hope 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It won't take millions of years for our lives not to have mattered
2007-12-13 01:20:46 · answer #8 · answered by Old guy 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
If you knew Jesus your perspective would not be so clouded. Everything we say or do will matter in eternity regardless of whether you are saved or unsaved. Jesus loves you. You can reject Him, but you can never change the truth that His love for you took Him to the cross. However, you can change how meaningless your life truly is without Him.
2007-12-13 01:26:00 · answer #9 · answered by HeVn Bd 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Living in the future (especially one in which you are dead) takes your mind off the important things ie: the present
2007-12-13 01:22:37 · answer #10 · answered by Sly Phi AM 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋