Where does a flame go when a candle is blown out ?

We exist and are conscious of this world for a short time.
We don't go anywhere. We simply cease to exist.
Our awareness ends.

I have no fear of sleep when I become unaware.
I'll have no fear of death when I become unaware and then never wake up.

If reality is perception, then the universe will cease to exist when I die (talk about feeling empowered). This means that every rude person I've ever met, every clerk who tried to short-change me, every women who - for no good reason I can think of - declined to have sex with me, will vanish. All the rapists, muggers, killers, warlords, abusers and conservatives who have plagued this planet will *poof* into nothingness. No more earthquakes, fires, floods, volcanoes, door-to-door proselytizers and other natural disasters. No more flat earthers, cryptozoologists, evolution deniers and people who phone me up to try to sell me something I didn't ask for. No more dimwits trying to convince me that Johnson had Kennedy shot, that the lunar landings were faked, that the Egyptian pyramids were built with alien technology, and that if I just try THEIR favourite pizza, I'll change my mind.

Death isn't the 'great leveler.' It's the great revenger.

Boru

(July 22, 2020 at 7:47 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: I was wondering why we bother to be good, if we'll all just end up in the same boat in the end. I could be completely horrid to people and not suffer 'eternal damnation'.

Why do you buy a car, if it will eventually break down and has to be scrapped anyway?

Quote:That makes sense. But what makes you care? Why is it considered abnormal not to care about others?

Because evolution and history have shown that coperation benefits everyone, including our ndividual (selfish) self, more so than any, short sighted, *idontgiveafuckaboutothers* attitude.

Quote:But the Bible does have some pretty good ideas don't you think?

You know, "thou shalt not kill" and "love thy neighbour"

What do you disagree with?

The bible also contains a lot of horrid stuff. The issure is not what the bible says, but what the underlying method of the bible is, to figure out what is desirable and not.
Method of the bible is: "God says so", which is problematic from a multitude of perspectives

My (atheist, humanist) method is: logic and reason. I often come to the same conclusion as the bible, but i have better justification(s) for doing so.

Quote:Why don't atheists TRY to believe?

That sounds like being intellectually dishonest to oneself. I feel conmitted to believe what the evidence points to, what seems to match *reality* best. I dont *try* to believe this or that. I cant believe what i see is not warranted to, and i will believe what i feel there is sufficient evidence for, until proven otherwise. The evidence determines what i will beleive, not my *random* choice.

Quote:3. Too many coincidences

Based on which rule? Or just based on your whim?

Quote:4. The Big Bang DOESN'T make sense

It fits to all the data we have. The universe doesnt care if it makes sense to us.
Relativity and, even more so, quantum mechanics also dont make sense.

Quote:So who made the universe? and if particles did explode to make the universe, who made those particles? You probably hear theses questions from 'theist's?' on the daily.

I dont know. *i dont know* is a perfect answer if you are honest about it. It makes you want to know and investigate. Better than pretending you know, making up some shit, and stop asking questions

Can't wait for her to come back and explain how we're all wrong.

(July 22, 2020 at 9:58 am)zebo-the-fat Wrote:

(July 22, 2020 at 9:50 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: I agree. 
So who made the universe? and if particles did explode to make the universe, who made those particles? You probably hear theses questions from 'theist's?' on the daily.

If your god made everything, who made god?
If a god made everything, where was he before anything existed? (heaven or "another plane of existance" is no answer because that would be part of "everything")

If someone made God then HE is God. Because there is no one greater than God.

(July 22, 2020 at 11:29 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: I do. I want to ANSWERS before I die.

When there are no answers, stomping your feet like a little id and pretending to have them is dishonest and irrational.
Sometimes you dont get what you want. Something that we learn as kids, at least we should.

(July 22, 2020 at 5:43 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

(July 22, 2020 at 3:58 pm)Porcupine Wrote: What script?

If you watch "No Intelligence Allowed", "God's not Dead", or "God's not Dead 2" you have watched pretty much every evangelical-based movie ever made. After the cousins watched enough of those to remember what I was supposed to say when they sprang one of their gotchas on me things got really funny. They seem to believe that the lame, uninformed and just plain stupid responses they see in those movies will be what happens when they translate the big screen* to an invasion of an atheist forum.



*Big screen being limited to the space available in a church basement, of course.

I've never seen those movies, are they good?

At work.

(July 23, 2020 at 8:15 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote:

(July 22, 2020 at 5:43 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: If you watch "No Intelligence Allowed", "God's not Dead", or "God's not Dead 2" you have watched pretty much every evangelical-based movie ever made. After the cousins watched enough of those to remember what I was supposed to say when they sprang one of their gotchas on me things got really funny. They seem to believe that the lame, uninformed and just plain stupid responses they see in those movies will be what happens when they translate the big screen* to an invasion of an atheist forum.



*Big screen being limited to the space available in a church basement, of course.

I've never seen those movies, are they good?

I suppose it would have to depend on your standards and what you would classify as 'Good'.

(July 22, 2020 at 8:41 pm)sdelsolray Wrote:

(July 22, 2020 at 7:47 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: I was wondering why we bother to be good, if we'll all just end up in the same boat in the end.
....

I don't wonder at all.  If I am naughty to other people, I will be treated poorly by them.  If I am good towards people, I will usually be treated well.

Have you not experienced these phenomena before?

(July 22, 2020 at 7:47 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: ...
I could be completely horrid to people and not suffer 'eternal damnation'.

Yes you could, particularly if "eternal damnation' is merely a fictional human invention.  However, you in real life your experiences would likely also be horrid.

Or you could be the nicest you could possibly be, and in return you get used and lied to for the sake of somebody else's gain. Not everybody follows your "nice" philosophy.

(July 23, 2020 at 8:08 am)Shazzalovesnovels Wrote: If someone made God then HE is God. Because there is no one greater than God.

Plenty of people are greater than god when they realize they could do better by the world with that kind of omnipotence.

However, since god is a mere fictional concept, reality is much greater than god.