What is the Meaning of Life to an Atheist
I say it is meaningless or "it would be better for a man not to be born than to be brought into the world", but Im just curious and somewhat sick of debates at the moment so you can criticize my view I just may not answer and Id like to hear yours
Also another question I have for Atheists is why should I (or anyone else) be moral if there is no God? I wont accept it if it is subjective because subjective morals makes Nazism moral.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on -
I find it weird how people say that religion is the determining factor in whether a person is moral or not. Religion is a non-element. It's the single most useless system ever created. Religious people have done good things and religious people have done abhorrent things in the name of their god. The same applies to atheists(except for the god part). So where's the determining point? Good or evil, it all comes from being human. There is no "word of God", just people repeating the same noise that has echoed throughout history. If every human being disappeared from this planet, would there still be a "Christian message" or a "word of God"?
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Permalink Reply by doubtingSteve on -
as George Carlin put it, the meaning of life for humans was to bring plastic into the world
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Permalink Reply by Keith A. Szilagyi on -
Praise! lol
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on -
I haven't read any of the replies, so my answer may be a bit redundant. Sorry.
Christianity is a ready-made purpose; a default purpose for people who either don't want to come up with a purpose on their own or don't know they can. They decide, or have it decided for them, they are to live for Jesus/God and fulfill His will. What I don't understand is why Christians view that purpose at the ultimate and only purpose worth living for. Honestly, it seems a bit dull to me... especially since, after earth has been destroyed and we're all hanging out in Heaven for eternity, what then? What is our purpose after we've entered the after-life? Worship for infinity? Lame.
Atheists have many self-proclaimed purposes and find meaning and fulfillment in them. Some live for their children; some live to save the whales; some live to save the environment; some live to educate children; some live to create art; some live to see the world; some live to see the universe; some live to be an Olympian; some live to be all of the above. They see their lives as finite and make the most of their ONE life while they have the privilege of living it. They cherish life and the moments they have with loved ones more because they know their time is limited. They have no limitations on explorations; no question is forbidden or pleasure taboo. They try to take in all the wonderful, and sometimes terrible, things this world and universe has to offer. LIVING is our purpose... not looking forward to death so that then we can be happy. To me, Christianity is very fatalistic; it all hinges on what happens once a person is dead.
Why do Christians believe there's no incentive to be moral if there's no sky police? Would you really go on a murderous, plundering rampage if you finally discovered there was no God? Is that what you want to do? I feel that it says a lot about a person if they're only good because they fear punishment. There's a lot to be gained from being a moral, law-abiding person. It's pleasurable to have good relations with people; it's mutually beneficial to think of the community and not only yourself. It's all about give and take, right? If there's cooperation, everyone ends up getting what they want. I want my loved ones to have food, shelter, success and love. Don't you? Sure, we can all be selfish and can be jealous of people, but all anyone wants is to be surrounded by those they love... and what fun would it be if you were the only one who was well-fed or happy? Their happiness is your happiness.
Again, the Christian perspective is very fatalistic. To assume everyone would become fiends without someone watching over them is very depressing... not to mention presumptuous. Just because whoever came up with the Bible was depraved and was only "moral" because he was a coward and feared punishment doesn't mean we're all that way.
Oh, yeah... I was Christian until 2 years ago... very, very Christian. I didn't mean to lose my faith. My grandfathers were both preachers and my whole family and entire group of friends are Christian. It has been painful to see them forget how "on fire" I was and assume I'm now just rebelling. It was never rebellion or a desire to spite God that led me here. All I wanted was to get closer to God and I ended up discovering he wasn't even there. I haven't thrown it all off to become a criminal, either (which was sort of surprising since my indoctrination taught me that would be exactly what happened if I did stop believing). The guy I'm dating now is more conservative than any Christian I've ever dated, ironically.
Although you believe you're a wretched sinner without God, I just think you're not giving yourself enough credit.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Johnson on -
Your awesome.
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on
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Bravo.
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on
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Although you believe you're a wretched sinner without God, I just think you're not giving yourself enough credit.
No. People give God TOO MUCH credit.
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Permalink Reply by luvtheheaven on -
Cara was saying that David isn't giving himself enough credit. But yes David is also giving God too much credit. God deserves no credit. He doesn't even exist.
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Permalink Reply by Bill on -
Humans attribute meaning to all kinds of things. Each person finds meaning in their own experiences. Atheism does not address the question of the meaning of life. It simply says there are no gods. Dogmatically defining meaning for others is a form of brainwashing.
The statement "it would be better for a man not to be born than to be brought into the world" is a religious one. It makes no sense rationally, because it assumes that a man must be "brought into the world" from some other place, and there is just no evidence for that.
Why be moral? Because we are social animals, and we care about each other. Morality is an evolutionary adaptation.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Johnson on
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You really wanna know what the "meaning of life" for non-Christians? I'll answer in my own opinion to the best of my abilities.
When I was a Christian, my life was devoted to God and loving people and being a genuinely good man. I didn't care where God took me in my walk with Him because I was following an all-powerful God, right? Christian's speak about freedom in Christ and breaking the chains that hold us in this world but it's become a tragic lie in my life. I wasn't free in Christ, I was bound by His religion. I was following blindly behind a story that didn't make complete sense to me when I really looked at it by physics.
Then I wasn't a Christian. Now, my life is about being a genuinely good man. I live everyday to the fullest, doing what I want to do and helping people at every opportunity. People that don't find meaning in life are just confused. Life is what you can make it to be, not what everyone else tells you it's like. In my opinion, the meaning to life is simply to take life and make it 100% yours everyday by doing only what you love.
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Permalink Reply by David on -
The Freedom from Chains is in reference to the evil that you do. Your free from the chains of evil If you have never experienced that then you probably have never experienced God
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on
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Ah... I had high hopes for you, David. I really did. It seems you're just the same as the rest of you Christian buddies. You can't convince us we do evil because we don't do evil. I will not plead guilty where no wrong has been done, and it's very sad that you would. You haven't experienced God any more than any other person on this site, and to claim you have a better grasp on reality than anyone else is sheer arrogance.
I'm sorry, God doesn't get a free-pass because he's God. If he exists, he may be able to do whatever he wants, but that does not make him good. From another post, you justified God in committing genocide because he is God and can do what he wants. It's your sort of mindset that allow the mass-murder of nations and peoples. If you think killing the Jews in the Holocaust is immoral but it is moral for God to dash babies heads on rocks, you're very contradictory and don't really have a sense of what is right and wrong.
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