The difficulty of talking to Atheist

[Colter]

Nice dodge with a loaded question!

You didn't answer why you left Jesus.

 

[Eudaimonist]

The context is about what a particular philosophy means ultimately to the individual irrespective of the contributions to meaning that he or she might leave behind for the living to utilize. Further, the contributions made to our meanings now, made by those in the past, can only be a transient experience for us living in time, for those meanings are ultimately worthless to the individual if they don't save us from death.

I don't understand your point. Care to rephrase that in plain English?


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Archaeopteryx]

You didn't answer why you left Jesus.

You didn't answer my question. Your question is a loaded question. I left Christianity.

 

[Eight Foot Manchild]

I suppose he doesn't have to, he could remain pig headed.

For all the reasons I've already stated, your view of life is worthless and meaningless, not ours.

 

[Colter]

You didn't answer my question. Your question is a loaded question. I left Christianity.

Why did you leave Christianity? What was the final straw?

 

[bhsmte]

Why did you leave Christianity? What was the final straw?

For me, it was a thorough scholarly and historical investigation of the NT.

 

[Colter]

I don't understand your point. Care to rephrase that in plain English?


eudaimonia,

Mark

Proverbs 21:16

"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

 

[Eudaimonist]

Proverbs 21:16

"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

Bible quotes mean nothing to me. I want to know what your point is, since this quote doesn't even seem to address the same issue.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Colter]

For me, it was a thorough scholarly and historical investigation of the NT.

Thanks

 

[Colter]

Bible quotes mean nothing to me. I want to know what your point is, since this quote doesn't even seem to address the same issue.


eudaimonia,

Mark

To one who does not exist anymore there is no meaning, they do not exist, they would not be conscious of anything.

 

[Archaeopteryx]

Why did you leave Christianity? What was the final straw?

I don't recall precisely what the "final straw" was. Following a long process of contemplating the doctrines of Christianity, reflecting on my own beliefs, reading and talking with many different people about theology, philosophy, and ethics, I concluded that there was currently no sufficient reason to warrant continued belief in the major claims of Christianity or any other religion. I further concluded that the constructs of religion were most likely man-made rather than having a divine origin, and I recognised that life without religion could still be wondrous.

 

[Eudaimonist]

To one who does not exist anymore there is no meaning, they do not exist, they would not be conscious of anything.

Thank you, that is clearer.

Of course, but as I had said, that is a non-issue for them. Meaninglessness to a nonexistent being is not a hardship. Meaning still exists while one is alive, and that one had lived a meaningful life is all that is important in the end.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[PsychoSarah]

Ultimately yes. All of our work on behalf of the progressive growth of self would be extinguished by death, cessation of existence, personality obliteration.

Wrong, if that were true, then the work of Newton, Einstein, Galileo, etc. would have had no effect on people after they died. We can work towards the progress of our species as a whole rather than be selfish and only think of ourselves. We remain relevant after death in the memories of those who live after us. Our actions in life are not undone in death.

 

[Colter]

I don't recall precisely what the "final straw" was. Following a long process of contemplating the doctrines of Christianity, reflecting on my own beliefs, reading and talking with many different people about theology, philosophy, and ethics, I concluded that there was currently no sufficient reason to warrant continued belief in the major claims of Christianity or any other religion. I further concluded that the constructs of religion were most likely man-made rather than having a divine origin, and I recognised that life without religion could still be wondrous.

Thank you for answering.

 

[Belk]

Ultimately yes. All of our work on behalf of the progressive growth of self would be extinguished by death, cessation of existence, personality obliteration.

How was this determined and why would it matter if it was true?

 

[Colter]

Wrong, if that were true, then the work of Newton, Einstein, Galileo, etc. would have had no effect on people after they died. We can work towards the progress of our species as a whole rather than be selfish and only think of ourselves. We remain relevant after death in the memories of those who live after us. Our actions in life are not undone in death.

I don't know why this issue is so complicated? It should be a given that the work of a person can benefit those left behind after they die. The context is a consideration of the ultimate philosophy of Atheism as it pertains to the self consciousness of values, any progressive meaning that the self acquires through the toil of living experience is extinguished by death of the self.

Its a strange Godless philosophy when the purpose of ones life is sacrifice to future lives that will also terminate in death. These are the doctrines of death.

 

[Colter]

How was this determined and why would it matter if it was true?

How was what determined? that a dead person isn't conscious? Common sense maybe?

For the pessimist it must not matter.

 

[PsychoSarah]

I don't know why this issue is so complicated? It should be a given that the work of a person can benefit those left behind after they die. The context is a consideration of the ultimate philosophy of Atheism as it pertains to the self consciousness of values, any progressive meaning that the self acquires through the toil of living experience is extinguished by death of the self.

Its a strange Godless philosophy when the purpose of ones life is sacrifice to future lives that will also terminate in death. These are the doctrines of death.

-_- atheism has no universal philosophy. You do realize that there are atheists who believe in the afterlife even though they don't believe in deities, right?

 

[Eudaimonist]

Its a strange Godless philosophy when the purpose of ones life is sacrifice to future lives that will also terminate in death.

It's a doctrine of life, not death. Whether it is one's own life or someone else's that one benefits, it is life that is served. The value is life, not death.

You are the one seeing the glass as half-empty instead of half-full. It is your own negativity that you are projecting onto the issue. We atheists who don't believe in afterlives are being positive.

These are the doctrines of death.

That is cheap rhetoric. We aren't saying that death is a wonderful thing. We simply accept it as a fact of reality.

We could just as easily say that your doctrine is one of empty wish-fulfillment by belief in a non-existent afterlife. Of course, that wouldn't be your actual position.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Colter]

-_- atheism has no universal philosophy. You do realize that there are atheists who believe in the afterlife even though they don't believe in deities, right?

Yes, its a generalization that I'm making.