Without God, life is meaningless

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by Ronstar, Oct 13, 2015.

  1. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2013
    Messages:
    93,457
    Likes Received:
    14,675
    Trophy Points:
    113
    So I was at Starbucks today trying to enjoy the paper and a tea, when these two guys started talking about religion.

    One thing that one of the guys said really struck me.

    He said "if there is no God, if there is no possibility of Heaven and the Afterlife, if this life is all we have and then we die and all ends, than that really sucks!!!!!"

    I really felt bad for the guy. To think that the only thing good in this life, the only thing of value, the only thing worth striving for, was the afterlife, is wasting decades of possible fun, love, travel, achievement, creating children, enjoying your kids and raising them, having grandkids, etc.

    I feel bad for anyone who feels this life sucks that much, with all the pontential it has. Especially someone who lives in the USA, with all our freedoms and possibilities.

    I hope all religious folks, while striving for the "afterlife", also do their best to enjoy this life, cause THIS LIFE is the only one we know for sure that we have. There is no question that this life does exist.

    The next one? maybe not.
     
  2. Swensson

    Swensson Devil's advocate

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2009
    Messages:
    8,176
    Likes Received:
    1,075
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I'm not really sure what this post is trying to say, and consequentially what criticisms I might have.
    To me, it's really the "that really sucks" that's the interesting statement. We can't do very much about the state of the world, but we can do something about what we think about it, and meaninglessness does not have to be a bad thing, it can just as well be interpreted as a freedom. Needless to say, there are entire branches of philosophy devoted to these questions, and they have often come up with satisfying answers (or at least more satisfying than this guy). Starbucks philosophy seems a bit simplistic.

    Besides, if there truly is no God, then we're comparing the current state with a state that does not exist, and that's no less silly than being upset because you're not born into fabulous amounts of wealth.
     
  3. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2009
    Messages:
    30,071
    Likes Received:
    1,204
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Without God, life is meaningless

    Granny says...
    :grandma:
    ... "Dat's true."
    :cool:
     
  4. btthegreat

    btthegreat Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2010
    Messages:
    16,378
    Likes Received:
    7,057
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Life means what you make it to mean. That is equally true of the atheist and the theist. Cynicism knows no Bible and reads no scripture. It just is.
     
  5. stepped_in_it

    stepped_in_it Banned at Members Request

    Joined:
    May 22, 2015
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I'm NOT a Harry Potter fan, but, from JK Rowling:
    "To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure"

    When I'm knocking on death's door, I want to have that kind of mind set. I want to believe that I've done all, smelled all, tasted all.......etc that my human body could do ALL.
    One of the reasons I'm atheist. Religion's try to make you feel guilty for enjoying life. Then , of course, they next try to sell you the life everlasting bag of goods and place a price on it! With any other item, we would call that a scam and most likely be arresting them!
     
  6. One Mind

    One Mind Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2014
    Messages:
    20,296
    Likes Received:
    7,744
    Trophy Points:
    113
    The reality of life, for most people, is that it is filled not only with joy, but with great suffering. And many of us will go out, in great physical suffering.

    And if one looks at the history of humanity, billions of individuals, living, suffering dying, and a world that has been filled with hate, violence, killing, wars, disease, loss of family, and the fact that humanity has not been able to stop this madness, just what kind of meaning has life, and does life really have? It's a (*)(*)(*)(*)ing nightmare for billions over thousands of years...and so man seeks some kind of meaning from this utter insanity. And religion, a belief in a God, a belief in an afterlife that is totally different from the common human experience, is probably one way the mind of man has been able to keep what little sanity he has.

    IF life was so wonderful, then why has humanity devised escapes from the reality of life? And we have new ones all the time. That man seeks meaning outside of this brutal existence, pisses some people off, they would rather you not have meaning, for they cannot have it, and will go after those that do find meaning, in religions. At times, I have wished I could believe so deeply in this anthropomorphic god that Christians believe in, but my mind for some reason just cannot do it. For I know, why I would be embracing such a belief, and that keeps me from doing it. I am just trying to escape the meaninglessness of human existence, and seeing that, there is no way to then accept a belief that gives me psychological security. So, I will not attack those that can have such a belief, just because it is impossible for me to have it.

    People that have a deep religious belief are happier people, and they live longer. That is a fact, as proven by several studies, not done by a religious organization. So, religion is a positive thing in that respect. It only becomes negative when people kill others, based upon a religion, like Islam. Or when religion is used to justify hatred of others, and so on.
     
  7. Micketto

    Micketto New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2013
    Messages:
    12,249
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    0

    He didn't say that.

    He said if you die and everything ends... then "that" sucks.

    Dude... you typed it... maybe you should read it too.
     
  8. Swensson

    Swensson Devil's advocate

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2009
    Messages:
    8,176
    Likes Received:
    1,075
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Without God, life's meaninglessness is meaningless.

    So just like life's meaning disappears, so does our justification to care about life's meaning.
     
  9. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2009
    Messages:
    30,071
    Likes Received:
    1,204
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Without God, life is meaningless

    Granny says...
    :grandma:
    ... "Dat's right."
     
  10. Pax Aeon

    Pax Aeon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2015
    Messages:
    7,291
    Likes Received:
    432
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Gender:
    Female
    `
    Without life, god is meaningless.
     
  11. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2010
    Messages:
    9,770
    Likes Received:
    556
    Trophy Points:
    113
    If his life only derives meaning from what he believes will happen after it ends, then that indeed sucks. To waste his life waiting for a reward at the end of it is a sucky existence.
     
  12. SpaceCricket79

    SpaceCricket79 New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2012
    Messages:
    12,934
    Likes Received:
    108
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Whelp if atheists believe even from a secular POV that there is "nothing" after their life then that's a faith-based belief.

    Because no atheist can explain why they themselves were born in their specific body as opposed to any of the other bodies in existence.

    And why is that enjoyable beyond the mere stimulation - what greater meaning does that serve?

    Potential for what? Stimulation?

    Not all religious people aren't able to enjoy this life.

    In fact I'd say that having a greater purpose for living makes like more enjoyable.
     
  13. CourtJester

    CourtJester Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2013
    Messages:
    27,769
    Likes Received:
    4,921
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Does Granny care which God?
     
  14. Micketto

    Micketto New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2013
    Messages:
    12,249
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    0
    All you did is type more words the guy didn't say, and apply your own meaning to it.

    Seems silly when we have the guys' actual words.


    At least until the OP rephrases them.....
     
  15. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2010
    Messages:
    9,770
    Likes Received:
    556
    Trophy Points:
    113
    You believe spending your entire life waiting for something better is a good thing?
     
  16. jmblt2000

    jmblt2000 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2015
    Messages:
    2,281
    Likes Received:
    667
    Trophy Points:
    113
    To me, the bible (new testament), simply reads the children are our future, legacy, afterlife...I am not particularly religious...My church is nature, out in the woods, on the water or in it...That's where I find my peace. As for everlasting life...My gene's will continue on without me...I have five children, 3 girls and 2 boys, and three grandchildren...

    Also, life is what you make of it...If you are going to sit in your hole (house, apt) and play video games, watch tv and wring your hands about every little thing...Then you made it that way...Get off your ass, get out and enjoy yourself
     
  17. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2013
    Messages:
    93,457
    Likes Received:
    14,675
    Trophy Points:
    113
    No, he said that if this life is all we have, and there is no afterlife, than that really sucks.

    he was saying that this life isn't enough. that we must have an afterlife for this life to have meaning.
     
  18. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2013
    Messages:
    93,457
    Likes Received:
    14,675
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I was thinking about this issue this morning, about the whole desire for a wonderful afterlife, a perpetual heaven where you have everything you could possibly want.

    coming from a 2015 American middle class perspective, the concept seems very odd.

    but when you put yourself in the shoes of someone who lived in 1,000 BC Palestine/Arabia, the idea is pretty damn logical.

    back then, and for the next 1,800 years or so, life for everyone was pretty horrible.

    droughts, disease, famine, genocide, wars, invasions, miserable cold, miserable heat, childen dying off.

    that's not much of a life.

    back then, life did truly suck for everyone but the very wealthy.

    its no surprise they would dream of a wonderful afterlife, where there would be no hunger, suffering, genocides, etc.
     
  19. haribol

    haribol New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    679
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Of course life will be meaningless without identity. Speaking scientifically, there is no evidence of God and other heavenly bodies. If we believe in the theory of evolution there is nothing and we have descended from chimpanzees. But its does not satisfy us and we want to go beyond physical realities. If man is born to die why are always questing for some higher truth. Men have always been speaking for some truth and so many philosophies have been built around this philosophy. I have read enough of Richard Dwakins, Sam Harrison and the like but their answers could not satisfy me and I further am going into inquiry. I do not believe in a personal God or a Biblical God or Hindu God but something impersonal, something that integrates all and permeates through all, a source to which we all resource our energies. I do not believe that this world is totally meaningless and void.
     
  20. Micketto

    Micketto New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2013
    Messages:
    12,249
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Who spent their lives waiting ?

    Not me or the guy in the OP.

    I'm a Christian who knows God wants us to enjoy our lives right now. So I do.
    And the one He's given me is amazing.
     
  21. dairyair

    dairyair Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2010
    Messages:
    78,717
    Likes Received:
    19,868
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    We don't have the guys actual words. They were paraphrased in the OP. We only know what the OP thought the person said.
     
  22. Micketto

    Micketto New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2013
    Messages:
    12,249
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I understand that, which is why I find it stupid to claim he said things that aren't in the OP.
     
  23. FoxHastings

    FoxHastings Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2014
    Messages:
    56,891
    Likes Received:
    21,024
    Trophy Points:
    113
    With or without " god" your life only has the meaning YOU give it.
     
  24. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2013
    Messages:
    93,457
    Likes Received:
    14,675
    Trophy Points:
    113
    im giving you literally what he said:

    "if there is no afterlife, if there is no heaven, if this life is all we have, that really sucks"
     
  25. FoxHastings

    FoxHastings Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2014
    Messages:
    56,891
    Likes Received:
    21,024
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Oh for pete's sake! Do you EVER respond to a POST? Or just pick nit's because you have NOTHING to say?


    It was quite clear what the OP was asking.....
     

Share This Page