There's a quote that states "Everyone dies, not everyone truly lives." I think when people are focused on the preposterous notion of an afterlife they tend to not value this life as much. In a world where 19 year old kids strap bombs to their chests and walk into coffee shops it serves as a poignant reminder of how religious dogma can twist idealisms of morality and sacrifice into this depraved delusion that this current existence means nothing. People are willing to give up the only life they have for a promise of eternal life. I find it personally very disturbing. It's part of the reason that suicide completely baffles me.

My life isn't perfect, I have stress every day. I worry about bills, and what calamity may strike tomorrow. But at the end of the day, i'm relatively content with my life, I wouldn't trade the life I have for anything. I wake up every morning with a smile on my face because I have one more day of sunshine, happiness, hope, pain, love, and potential. People who are willing to give that up, people who take something so precious for granted disgust me. I can't imagine living forever. Can you imagine waking up every morning for a thousand years, a million years, life would become abbhorently banal. It's because life is so fleeting that it is so valuable. Every day could be your very last, so cherish it, enjoy it, and most importantly, live it.

I know a lot of religious people personally whose entire conviction concerning the afterlife is based around the selfish desire to see loved ones again. While it's something that we all want on some level, it's still pure selfishness. Live as if you'll die tomorrow, and I promise that at the end of your life, no matter how long or short it is, you'll be ready.

SleepingDemon Wrote:People are willing to give up the only life they have for a promise of eternal life. I find it personally very disturbing.

Agreed. The saddest part about it is that they will never know they were wrong, since they no longer exist.

Nice sermon... but that's arse about face. The only point of the message is the enhancement of life, like you say SleepingDemon. You give up on selffish persuits in order to gain it. Same message, just a different song book

Indeed believing in God is not about ignoring or deluding the magnificence of this reality we share, but just another way some of us choose to appreciate it.

We agree that we were lied to about god. You guys think you were lied to about his existence, I think I was lied to about her nature...

(May 9, 2010 at 10:26 am)SleepingDemon Wrote: People are willing to give up the only life they have for a promise of eternal life. I find it personally very disturbing.

That reminds me of any tale involving a deal with a demon or malevolent entity, where one gives up their humanity only for receiving something else in return, like eternal life.

/hmm...

Death I'm not afraid of.

Dying I AM scared of.

'I'd like to die in my sleep like my dad'

'not screaming in terror like his passengers'

(May 4, 2010 at 5:18 pm)darkwolf176 Wrote: Am I the only one who finds the fact that there is no life after death comforting? It can be scary to think about sometimes, but in the end it seems to me very peaceful.

This is something that religious people in general seem to fear and I just for the life of me understand why

Yes, i think it's comforting. What's the point to be eternal ? i don't get it actually. Believers WANT to be eternal, but i don't...

Eternity is scarier than death

I don't exactly find eternity as a human on Earth to be a particularily pleasent concept. That's why I don't care much for the premise of having multiple lives.

Now, if death took me to a place like star wars where the main characters never seem to get killed despite going on new adventures every other month that involve saving the universe... That'd be kewl with me.

SleepingDemon Wrote:It's part of the reason that suicide completely baffles me.

I don't see why suicide baffles you... an eternal state of life or no.

Many things, I feel, are worth dying for.

Many things, I feel, are not worth living for.

I value my life not for living... but for what might be accomplished by me remaining alive, and how much I value those goals.

Frankly: I'd rather be assassinated, or to die in sacrifice to accomplish my goals, when my death occurs.

Kamikaze jihadists have their goals... their goals may be selfish, stupid, unobtainable... yet they value those goals... and they value them more than life as we know it.

I am neither comforted nor disturbed by no life after death... if there is a 'life': I shall adapt, and see what I can accomplish. If there is not: what of it? I did not die with the intention of coming back.

Aside from the kamikaze jihadists scenario, suicide is most often attributed to depression. I had friends who committed suicide, one guy that I went to school with hung himself because he and his girlfriend split up. He was sad, I can understand that, she wouldn't talk to him, okay, he ended his life, forever, because of it. Does that make sense? That's happened to the best of us. Every guy has at one point or another gotten his heart broken by some self centered bitch. But that typically isn't the end of relationships all together. So this was a temporary problem, permanent solution, I don't understand how that isn't baffling to someone Saerules. I don't understand how life can seem so bleak, so hopeless, that you don't even want to bother trying anymore.

Like I said, the appeal of life is that it is so fragile, so short, and in most cases, insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I can't imagine willingly giving that up. And even though i knew people personally who have, I still can't wrap my head around it.