I wonder, which hell would you think you would go to? Above arguments included, what about all the portrayals of hell throughout history just within christianity? They are soooo different as to be unrecognizable. And I've wondered about the pleasure of heaven as well, I've heard it's eternal worship, seems like a waste of free will that would definitely get boring (I like Mark Twain's heaven though, I could get used to that). In high school my friend and I decided that it must be a case of the winner writing the history book, maybe Hell is pretty nice, like Palm Beach in the Spring? When you really start thinking about, every single possibility for hell is equally as likely given the evidence there is for it (none) so if you are worried about going to a bad hell you might just as well be worried about going to a bad heaven or excited for a happy hell.

Look at the bright side, if you DO end up in hell at least you'll have lots of intelligent people to socialise with

Read about neurophysiology and neuropsychology and then become a metaphysical naturalist.

Metaphysical naturalism precludes the existence of a soul.

If you have no soul then you can't go to Hell.

Hi Dave-

One way that really helped me was to:

#1: Fully accept that I was indeed going to hell. It kinda lost its power when I just accepted it and then realized it was like saying, "I am going to Japan to live." No I'm not.

#2. Live in a place that has all religions crammed together. I live in a ferociously multi cultural area. Every day I see Muslims and Hindus and Christians and Buddhists. When I go for a walk downtown I NEVER hear just English, but Russian, French, Chinese, etc............Well, I was crusing along and it hit me, either we are all right or all wrong. It seemed bizarre that we even have different faiths when they are all jammed on top of one another.

Well, those are two.

Your mind will pull you through.

And if you go back and forth, well, it's your own journey and you do not need to apologize to anyone. Just seek reason. It is hard to come by once you surpress it for too long, as I can attest!

(August 30, 2010 at 9:53 pm)Ashendant Wrote: hell serves a purpose in religion to scare believers out of doing bad acts, because churches and believers believe without the threat of eternal damnation everyone will be a bastard to everyone.

If you believe religion exists the fear of hell will continue to persist in you, if you move from religion the fear of hell will slowly move itself out.

I also know that the fear of hell is the 3rd hardest thing a atheist must suffer to free itself from religion so meh, social stygma is the second and threats of death the first

OK, good points, but what about the arguments that if there is no heaven or hell, people like Stalin and Hitler have essentially won, and that there's no point in being moral. Or, in other words, if Mother Teresa and Hitler both had the same destiny then what's the point?? I've heard that argument before.

Along with that, comes the argument that, if we simply came out of some primordial soup and then are annihilated at death, (to quote the theologian R.C. Sproul) we "live our lives between two poles of absolute meaninglessness. We are pealed zeroes, stripped naked of dignity and worth".

dave4shmups wrote: "Thinking about converting, but what if I do go to Hell?"

First off dave I am sorry but we (atheist) don't have anything for you to convert to, we don't have churches you can attend, baptisms, oaths of non-belief etc. The fear of hell was one of the greatest hurdles I myself had to overcome when I decided to drop my theistic beliefs and practices. The deeper your commitment to theism the harder it is to let it go. It took me about 3 years to finally be able to call myself an atheist publicly and proudly and to once and for all be over the fear of hell. One thing that helped me was doing a very thorough study of comparative religion.

Once I realized that religious beliefs were an cultural phenomenon then I was able to make the connection that it was man made and baseless. If God had truly revealed himself to mankind why is their no uniformity in the so called revelation? Why did he not inspire people from every country on the face of this Earth to produce a bible in their own languages that was essentially the same message? The answer is simple, because each culture put together beliefs based on their society and environment. One characteristic of religious beliefs that is uniform is that every culture that creates a religion always seem to favor their race as "chosen" by the deity they have created.

(September 5, 2010 at 12:32 pm)chatpilot Wrote: dave4shmups wrote: "Thinking about converting, but what if I do go to Hell?"

First off dave I am sorry but we (atheist) don't have anything for you to convert to, we don't have churches you can attend, baptisms, oaths of non-belief etc. The fear of hell was one of the greatest hurdles I myself had to overcome when I decided to drop my theistic beliefs and practices. The deeper your commitment to theism the harder it is to let it go. It took me about 3 years to finally be able to call myself an atheist publicly and proudly and to once and for all be over the fear of hell. One thing that helped me was doing a very thorough study of comparative religion.

Once I realized that religious beliefs were an cultural phenomenon then I was able to make the connection that it was man made and baseless. If God had truly revealed himself to mankind why is their no uniformity in the so called revelation? Why did he not inspire people from every country on the face of this Earth to produce a bible in their own languages that was essentially the same message? The answer is simple, because each culture put together beliefs based on their society and environment. One characteristic of religious beliefs that is uniform is that every culture that creates a religion always seem to favor their race as "chosen" by the deity they have created.

Good points, but what about the argument that human life has no meaning unless that life has been created by a god??

dave4shmups wrote:"Good points, but what about the argument that human life has no meaning unless that life has been created by a god?? "

My answer to this question is another question for you. Do you feel that your life has any meaning, or is your life worthless and meaningless? Do you see how silly that question seems? I don't know about you but I as an individual value not just my life but all human life and believe that no ones life is worthless. Barring mental illness and serial killers and other social deviants, life is what it is and it is this life that we have in the here and now that is worth everything. Enjoy life every day for this is the only one that we are sure is real and exist, the promises of religion are just that promises, empty promises.

Quote:Or, in other words, if Mother Teresa and Hitler both had the same destiny then what's the point??

According to most ultra-nutty xtians, both Mother Teresa and Hitler DO have the same destiny. Mother Teresa because she was ( gasp!) a catholic and Hitler because.... because.... well, even though he professed himself a xtian they simply do not want him in their club so they trot out the No True Christian Argument.

In the myopic little mind of most religious shitwits unless you think EXACTLY as they do they you're screwed.

If there were such a god he'd have to be a major-league asshole.

Dont you have to die in battle to get into valhalla anyway, or are you not a viking?

The point is, there so many different versions of the afterlife, even if one of them were true, which one?

And look at the pricks who want to get into heavan do you really want to be where they all are?