atheists..............?

Question

Most of you say that you want to get as much out of life as possible & that life is short and you don't want rules or whatever. Anyhow my question is if you gave it thought and thought that you truly don't know the real answer to eternal life or not, wouldn't you just live for God in order to have a great eternal life? I mean, once you've been there a trillion years, you've only just begun. You can't risk that being spent in hell?!

Answer 1

Another Pascal's Wager poster?

Answer 2

First of all, I don't know any atheists who say "I don't want any rules." This is another thing extremists invent about what others believe and then you judge us by what you say about the rest of us instead of by what we really think. You sound from your question like a conservative Christian, which means you've been taught a lot of falseness about Atheists, Humanists, Jews, and othes. Most humanists, people who place humans as the greatest beings not a diety, put such a high value on other people that ethical rules, rules about how to treat others rightly, are the most important we see. That's part of the reason a much lower percentage of people who define themselves as atheist or humanist support the death penalty. If you look at Americans by religious/spiritual orientation you know which group has the biggest percentage supporting capital punishment? Evangelical Christians. People who don't center their life on the next life treat other people in this life well because we think that's the right thing to do. Sorry, but treating other people well because you want to get into heaven or stay out of hell is just selfishness. You're still just being good to other people for your own benefit, not theirs.

By the way, if someone could make you believe that you're going to live only your 70-80 years and that's it, what would you do? It sounds from the way you worded your question that you'd decide there's no reason for rules and do whatever you want to other people. Those of us who are focused on this life, the ones you imagine want no rules, treat others well our of caring for others. As I said above, fewer of us support the death penalty than do the Americans who most frequently believe there really is a heaven and hell. Among Jews (another group I belong to) almost all report that we don't believe in a next life. And our religion officially has never believed in any hell, not even for nazis. Yet, very few of us support the death penalty, on the average we tip better than other people of the same income level, a larger percentage of us signed the petitions to abolish slavery in 1800s,
a far higher percentage of us were arrested during the Civil Rights movement for marching along side southern blacks than were Christian whites, etc. etc.

So who cares less about the rules regarding how you treat other people? People who are hoping for a ticket into never dying or people who think treating other people well is just something you should do?

Second, those uf us who don't believe in an afterlife don't need to convince ourselves that we'll live a trillion years. I'm sorry you have that need.

If you want to learn what people in another perspective think, whether they are Atheists, Humanists, Wiccans, Jews or whatever, look at what THEY say, not the slanders your own religion teaches about them. I hope that's what you expect of other people looking at your religion, you should treat your neighbors the same.

-Glenn O.

Answer 3

I never said I don't want rules. I don't want a bunch of outdated rules written by a bunch of shepherds. Neither do you, I suspect. Do you mix your fabrics? Do you wear shirts that are a combination of cotton and synthetic material? If so, you are a sinner.

As for your question, suppose I accept Pascal's Wager. I've decided that I should follow the true path to salvation just in case it's real, and there are consequences for being an atheist. Now, which one of the tens of thousands of paths to salvation is the right one? I wouldn't want to waste my time with one that might make God (or Zeus, or Odin, or whoever it is) angry -- if I do that, I'll still end up in hell.

See the problem with your question? Given the number of different religions claiming one path to salvation, the odds are against you that you've picked the correct one.

Answer 4

So you want me to force myself to believe in something that I don't believe exists on the extreme off chance that you might be right? How does someone force themselves to believe in something utterly ridiculous? Change the world god for Santa for example. Do you see how silly your argument is?

What if you've got the wrong god?

Shouldn't you just believe in them all? After all you believe in this crap. Every single religion thinks they've got the exactly right version of god. Were you really just lucky enough to be born into a family that got the right one? Why are countless millions not lucky enough?

Or what if your god really does exist and doesn't appreciate that the only reason you believed in him in the first place was because you were scared of death. Which is clearly all your god belief is.

Also - the search function works fine and you don't get a prize for asking the same question for the billionth time.

Oh yes and please point to were most atheists say they don't want rules. That is a complete and utter LIE! I guess you're hoping your god takes lying for jesus as being acceptable. SHAME ON YOU

Answer 5

That's pascal's wager. The big problem is that you don't know which god(s) is/are the correct ones. Imagine believing in the wrong god for all your life. That's a guarantee to be punished if there is an eternal life. Can you see that?

Also, if the real god is all-knowing, would that god just see through the lie that you will be living.....pretending to believe in that god just to get the rewards for a just-in-case scenario. Do you think this god would be so easily gamed? If so, is that god worthy of belief? Can you see that?

We need to learn to think more critically.

Answer 6

I think ours, that this life is the only life, is the worthier Wager, because there is no evidence of anything beyond this. If more people accepted this uncontroversial Wager instead of Pascal's, then those terrorists couldn't have committed 911.

The problem (one of the problems) is that there is no way to demarcate what you want people to you to avoid Hell (believe), over other absurd things that may or may not save you from Hell.

What if I say that, for example, that we don't really know if doing 10 push-ups every morning will make you more heavenbound, and thus to play it save since you could end up spending eternity in hell you should do 10 push-ups every morning?

We don't know if you get set to hell for not eating peanuts. Should we then play it save and eat peanuts, not because they taste good or are healthy but because we might burn in hell if we don't?

What if the reverse is true? How could you tell?! Does not believing or *believing* send you to Hell? Does doing or avoid push-ups burn you eternally? Does eating or avoiding peanuts send you to Dante's first level of hell?

You might be inclined to scoff at the prospect of someone getting sent to Hell for *believing* in God, but it's not obvious that this wouldn't be the case. Essentially any version of God and what he punishes we can think of is just as likely as any version, because there's no way to know how things really are. How would we know the mind of God? Being omniscient, he could just be testing us when he really values disbelief more. Who knows?

Pascal's Wager needs circular logic to work.

Answer 7

I think Pascal's Triangle made alot more sense than his Wager =P

If you don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, pirates will get you! Better play it safe...

1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1

Answer 8

Listen, one thing, atheists understand that rules are one thing that separates us from the lesser animals...

Two, Pascal's Wager is not a valid argument to try and convert someone, sorry.

And if the only reason I'm being sent to Hell is because I don't bleieve in your God, then I know I'm going to Hell for the right reasons....better to not believe in a deity and do good things because I wanted to than to believe in a deity and do good things just for Heaven points....

Use something else next time to try and convert us...

Answer 9

I want to bang my head into the wall right now. Another Christian who thinking that atheists "just don't want rules."

Well Christians don't want logic. I know that for sure.

Pretending like you've got some eternal life at some Disneyland in the sky doesn't make it so.

Answer 10

Did you ever stop to think that we are on this earth to live a full life on this planet? Not dreaming away about a future life. A wasted life thinking of nothing but the next one. That makes people failures in this life. You are missing so much that you are supposed to learn before you move on. Now is all you really have. Don't lose that. This life is a precious gift. Live your life to the fullest and stop missing out on it all.

Answer 11

What if you're wrong about the African Ju Ju on the top of the mountain and you spend eternity in hell?
Thanks for another journey into Pascal's Wager, but when you think about it, I only believe in one less god than you.