Confessions of an anxious Athiest.

fus said:
To those who are atheists, how do you reconcile the inevitability of your end? How can the thought of this ending not be a frightening one?
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As an Atheist I believe that there it literally nothing after death. Why would anybody be scared of nothing? You will not even be aware of it.
 
I have a scientific background, even have a neurological research paper published (in 'Journal of Anatomy') and I'm a Christian, both sit well with me and I have no conflictions whatsoever, I also find great comfort in my faith and have done for quite some time...there was a time when I lived without God, however, I have found that knowing Him is much better than living without Him in my life...
 
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Belief in god and taking the bible as literal fact are two different things. Most if not all religious people I know dont believe really anything in the bible is necessarily true. Just a story to help you believe in god. That said they do believe in god. Just not the other stuff. They don't think science is all madeup nonsense either. They trust science and evolution to be true.

As for the thought of death, I guess at 21 Its not something that bothers me.

Watch Lion King. All the answers are there.
 
I find it much more disturbing that we're all just living in a tiny blip in space time and nothing any of us do in our lives will actually have any significance at all in the big picture.

LOL :(

Yeah, I'm quite jealous of religious people, it must be comforting.
 
The question I ask myself is: Where did I come from and why am I here?

If you believe in God, it's simple. God created you.

What I want to know is, does god ever think, why am I here and who created me?
 
I think that being a believer in religion, or a non-believer, requires the same blind faith. Frankly I'm too strong as a human to commit myself to this, and will continue to sit on the fence observing both side of the argument but not siding with either.

Nobody knows the answer, the only ones who might can no longer speak to us, as they have 'passed on' (to coin a believers phrase) - and in my opinion I think that atheism is becoming a 'religion' of its own; with more and more choosing to follow it.

I say deal with the here and now, we're all alive, our lives will eventually end - just live your life as you see fit: if you need to find comfort in ancient stories then so be it, if you want to delve into the deepest recesses of science, knock yourself out.

As for death, why worry? Assuming that you will lose your consciousness when you die, you won't be aware you have actually died.

Part of me wants to believe in an afterlife though, I want to see all the people I have lost over the years, I want to know the answer to every question, see and do everything - that's not a religious belief, but my own wish for 'something else'. Whether it's my consciousness that lives on, or just the fleeting moments of memories replaying in my mind, as my brain slowly dies; either way it is coming and there's nothing that will stop it.
 
ethan said:
Do people actually think when they come out with comments like this? Don't get me wrong, you are entitled to your opinion but I am rather left with the impression that you are either a loner or have never been in a meaningful and deep relationship etc. This is not to say the people who are loners or unnatached would necessarily come out with your kind of statement either so I'm just assuming it must be lack of awareness.
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Be careful with assumptions - I got married just over a month ago, and we have an epic son who I would kill for, so I know exactly what love is. I just don't attribute it to something supernatural, any more than a heroin addict attributes their high to something supernatural.
 
Scort said:
I think that being a believer in religion, or a non-believer, requires the same blind faith.
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No it doesn't.

Faith is the belief in something without evidence, which is why it applies to religion or more specifically theism. Not believing in something that has no evidence to support it (the atheist position) is not 'faith' at all.

That's no different to saying someone who doesn't believe in Father Christmas is working on 'blind faith'.

Scort said:
Frankly I'm too strong as a human to commit myself to this, and will continue to sit on the fence observing both side of the argument but not siding with either.
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Sitting on the fence is usually seen as weak, not 'strong'. But seriously, do you honestly think this something that is 50/50?

There are two different questions at play here. 'Is there a god?' is what you are answering and even the staunch Richard Dawkins agrees with you on the answer which is "I don't know"; but the question you should ask yourself is "Do you believe in a god" because you have to answer 'yes' or 'no and if the answer's 'no' then you're an atheist.
 
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Is there a reason to totally rule out life after death as an atheist?

I have read the same books and firmly sit on the atheist side of the fence however I saw a theory on an American show (lol) presented by Morgan Freeman of all people, which said that perhaps our brains have many quantum processes which are inherently linked to the universe.

It's just one of many theories that are probably all way off the mark, however do we know enough to rule out conciousness living on after death?
 
I don't like to be labelled as anything, I don't believe in any religion and would never waste my time reading about it.

People are entitled to their own opinion, I would never tell anyone there were wrong for believing in whatever they want to believe in.
 
Personally, I think it is a natural response of any animal to not want to die.

But all things die, even stars, even maybe a universe. I guess its all a matter of perception and context.

I am afraid of dying and if I wasn't I don't think I would be human. Am I afraid of what happens after death? Absolutely, but for entirely selfish reasons. I don't like the idea of ceasing to exist I think primarily because I cannot comprehend it yet at the same time I am too cynical to have faith in God. There's no hope for me! :rolleyes:

Life fascinates me, and I would love to see where we are in 500 years time. Would I want to be immortal? I don't think so, but a few hundred years might be nice :) With regard to Afterlife I am torn. I so want to believe there is because it would soothe my fears (again selfish) but I just cant bring myself to do it. The curse of the natural cynic maybe? Or the result of an educated assessment based on lack of proof?

If I am to die suddenly, then I will not really have too much time to ponder my demise. I let my fiancee know I love her every day, so even though she will be heartbroken she knows I will have died a better and happier person for having had her in my life.

If I am to be aware of my death before hand, maybe due to illness, I would prefer the opportunity to say my goodbyes. I think that is an entirely selfish wish, but I think I could face death with less fear if I had comfort from my loved ones. I would still be afraid but their support would bolster my courage and allow me to face death with as much dignity as I could. I also think maybe it would give them the opportunity to get used to the idea of my passing and say their own goodbyes as well.

I suppose my biggest fear would be dying alone or in the company of strangers. I would also want to be at home. Again entirely selfish, but home would give me comfort. Maybe sitting in the sun watching the birds.

Whatever the circumstances are of my death, I hope I can face it with courage.

I think in the end, isn't that all anyone can hope for, regardless of belief?

Cheers

Buff
 
I am an atheist. I think religions are an archaic tool to instill morality and order to a population, created before people were educated to a level to think for them selves. Fear/reward is the most effective way to controll apopulation and is a principle still used to this day.

I do not have any problem with most of the teachings of various religions but the binder story's are just that, they were the mechanism of control to get people to follow the teachings which generally are not bad. I find it hard to understand that people still believe in various forms of judgement and punishment are going to happen, it also seems the richer, happier and more "free" an area is the more secular it becomes, wether this is due to groups naturally sticking together I don't know.

As for death, well providing I have healthy grown up happy kids and I get to a fairly decent age death doesnot concern me in the slightest technically I have been dead far far longer than I have been alive and it wasn't all that bad, my real fear and I mean truely terrifying is ending up with dementia or being so I'll before I die my family has too see me like that and being unable to remember or care for my self.

Being frightened of death just seems very self centered to me, you are not special in any way we all have to do it at some point. It's the bit before that's worrying.
 
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MeEsH BaKkA said:
....my real fear and I mean turkey terrifying is ending up with dementia or being so I'll before I die my family has too see me like that and being unable to remember or care for my self.
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This also scares me, and whilst I believe life is a precious gift it is probably one of the extreme few situations where I would take my own life. I suppose that is a selfish action, but having seen how dementia tears a family apart, I cant help feeling like it would be the right thing to do.

Cheers

Buff
 
m4rk84 said:
It's just one of many theories that are probably all way off the mark, however do we know enough to rule out conciousness living on after death?
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No, we can't rule it out, but the time to believe in something is when there is evidence for it.

Suppose someone claims that unicorns exist. To prove it, all you need to do is present one unicorn. To disprove the statement is effectively impossible. You can't examine the entire universe simultaneously in order to say definitively that unicorns don't exist. The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim.

The hypothesis that we are testing - Unicorns exist.
The null hypothesis - Unicorns don't exist.

Suppose a unicorn is presented. Then we accept that unicorns exist and reject the null hypothesis. Suppose a unicorn isn't presented. Then we reject the hypothesis that they exist as there is no evidence to support that. This does not mean that we accept the null hypothesis. The best we can do with our limited knowledge is fail to reject it. This is why we have "not guilty" rather than "innocent" in a court. Innocence is the null hypothesis, but you can never prove innocence outright. The best we can do is to say that the prosecution have not met their burden of proof, hence not guilty.
 
fus said:
To those of you who have a religious belief, is there an element of that belief that is motivated by a fear of the unknown?
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More the fear i'm going to get roasted (in both sense of the word) in hell for all eternaty. I made a deal with god to live forever, i'm going to try my hardest to keep my end of the bargin.
 
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