(April 7, 2019 at 8:26 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: My point of living is currently Wellington, New Zealand.

Isn't that one of the windiest large cities on the planet?  How does it feel?  NZ seems like it would be a nice place to be.

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(April 6, 2019 at 2:53 pm)joe90 Wrote: Dear Atheists,

What's your point of living? You're all eventually going to die. When you die, there will be no afterlife. It's almost as if you never existed in the first place because you'll forget you'll ever existed, thus you'll forget about anything that made you happy in life and any good moments in life. You can "make the best of it" while you're "here on Earth" for these "rare 80 [only if you're lucky] years", but in the end it won't matter. Most people won't leave behind a legacy, and even if you left one behind, it won't last long. Even famous luminaries like Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley will be forgotten sooner than later. Your contributions to humanity won't matter either because humanity will end, and life on Earth will be wiped out by a meteor in a few centuries from now or even sooner. If that doesn't happen, humans will go extinct anyway by robots.

I am one of those atheists (a minority, to be sure) who is dissatisfied with atheism.  In fact, I live my life a step above nihilism.  As an atheist, I find the prospect of an afterlife to be absolutely enthralling and annihilation at my death to be utterly depressing!  As a former Catholic, my heart was broken with the recent fire at Notre Dame.

But, as an atheist, my biggest problem with religion and religious faith is simply that such is not true.  As such, religion takes a bad situation (one's mortality) and makes such even worse.  Notre Dame is absolutely beautiful, and the Catholic Mass (especially, the traditional Tridentine Mass) is wonderfully transcendent.  But, it's "less real" than a trip to Disney World, and in the end, I think that I would rather go to the Magic Kingdom than Notre Dame, although, I do hope to go there someday when they are done rebuilding.  No doubt modern science and engineering, in the restoration, will incorporate modern fire detection and suppression systems into the Cathedral!

Nothing I do matters because I'm going to die? What kind of logic is that? I don't understand how you even reach that conclusion, even as a Christian. Do you truly think the things you do and the way in which you act have no meaning unless it's for a greater pay-off? That sounds like a miserable life. Things are worth doing on their own merit, because I am here and alive and I want to enjoy the time I have whilst also making sure others can enjoy theirs. And if you don't believe that, regardless of your religion, I don't see how you can ever be happy.

I don't think much about death and dying while at my favorite amusement park, except while riding those old, rickety rollercoasters!

(April 6, 2019 at 2:53 pm)joe90 Wrote: Dear Atheists,

What's your point of living? 

Salt and vinegar crisps, cheese and onion crisps, prawn cocktail crisps, beef and onion crisps...Laura, Beatrice, Emily, Sabrina...the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben...Bach, Portishead, Seal, Kate Bush, Donald Fagen....as you might imagine I could write at least 100,000 similar words. Basically, what a completely stupid fucking question  

I have made a loaf of freshly baked bread.
Why did I do that ?
What was the point of making the bread ?

The point was that the bread would provide me with nourishment and enjoyment.
Freshly baked bread with a little butter and jam is delicious.

Day 2 - Now we have day old bread.
What is the point of having day old bread ?

Well, it's still very good to eat and it does provide me with nourishment and joy.

Days 3-7 - Older bread
What is the point of having this older bread ?

Well, it's still edible, just not as fresh as it was in the beginning.
Day 7 might have some mold in some spots, but you can pick those spots out and you probably won't die.

Day 8 and beyond - moldy bread
What is the point of having moldy bread ?

For one, it's quite good at growing mold, should I ever desire to grow mold.
There is no real point for ME having it around, but that doesn't mean that it's pointless.
For the mold spores, it's a very big deal.
If mold spores could enjoy such a thing, I would imagine they would enjoy it very much.

The point of all of this was that the point of something changes over time.

It can change with how you use it, how you view it or how it behaves.

I'm not the same person I was yesterday. The world itself is a little different.
The point of it all might very well be...... to see what tomorrow brings.

(April 18, 2019 at 9:20 am)Jehanne Wrote:

(April 6, 2019 at 2:53 pm)joe90 Wrote: Dear Atheists,

What's your point of living? You're all eventually going to die. When you die, there will be no afterlife. It's almost as if you never existed in the first place because you'll forget you'll ever existed, thus you'll forget about anything that made you happy in life and any good moments in life. You can "make the best of it" while you're "here on Earth" for these "rare 80 [only if you're lucky] years", but in the end it won't matter. Most people won't leave behind a legacy, and even if you left one behind, it won't last long. Even famous luminaries like Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley will be forgotten sooner than later. Your contributions to humanity won't matter either because humanity will end, and life on Earth will be wiped out by a meteor in a few centuries from now or even sooner. If that doesn't happen, humans will go extinct anyway by robots.

I am one of those atheists (a minority, to be sure) who is dissatisfied with atheism.  In fact, I live my life a step above nihilism.  As an atheist, I find the prospect of an afterlife to be absolutely enthralling and annihilation at my death to be utterly depressing!  As a former Catholic, my heart was broken with the recent fire at Notre Dame.

But, as an atheist, my biggest problem with religion and religious faith is simply that such is not true.  As such, religion takes a bad situation (one's mortality) and makes such even worse.  Notre Dame is absolutely beautiful, and the Catholic Mass (especially, the traditional Tridentine Mass) is wonderfully transcendent.  But, it's "less real" than a trip to Disney World, and in the end, I think that I would rather go to the Magic Kingdom than Notre Dame, although, I do hope to go there someday when they are done rebuilding.  No doubt modern science and engineering, in the restoration, will incorporate modern fire detection and suppression systems into the Cathedral!

It wont be the same 850 year old building but a modern copy in the same place. 
I work next to HMS Victory and so much timber has been replaced in it over the years that I doubt any of it is original. 
Its effectively just a big model using some metal from the real one.

(April 6, 2019 at 2:53 pm)joe90 Wrote: Dear Atheists,

What's your point of living?

My point of living is to be a shining beacon to other people, a living example of what human beings can aspire to become.

That, or being a big-headed twatwaffle.  I get those two mixed up sometimes.

Boru

(April 19, 2019 at 4:46 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: It wont be the same 850 year old building but a modern copy in the same place. 
I work next to HMS Victory and so much timber has been replaced in it over the years that I doubt any of it is original. 
Its effectively just a big model using some metal from the real one.

Not that it makes the fire any less disastrous, but Notre Dame de Paris has been continuously restored over its history. When Viollet-le-Duc did a major overhaul in the mid-19th century, contemporary critics said he had ruined it -- modernized its look to the point of fakery. 

We might get some purists coming along saying that the fire gives us a good excuse to restore it to how it was supposed to be. 

Then there's the whole question of what the REAL thing is -- whether it is the decayed version of itself, or whether rebuilding it is necessary to keep it itself. 

Europeans often tend to go for preserving ruins, for example at the Parthenon. But Japanese people completely rebuild the Great Shrine at Ise every 25 years, and say it's necessary to rebuild to maintain it as the same building. A decayed Great Shrine is not really the Great Shrine. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus