Where do we go when we die and are you afraid?

[polymath257]

Theists aren't nearly as bad as they think they are, when they become atheists they never seem to act out the way they thought they would without the fear of divine punishment holding them back.

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I certainly pick what I like from the Bible and reject all the bad advice. Since I'm an atheist, I'm not committed to the whole Bible. I don't think it's the word of God, just the writings of ancient people who sometimes got things right and sometimes got things wrong. On what basis do YOU pick what you like from the Bible and ignore what you don't like? Have you read the whole thing?

PS: I appreciate you participating in your thread, sometimes people start a thread and that's the last we hear from them.

No, I haven't read the whole Bible (I'm only up to Leviticus to be honest).

So I haven't read enough to pick or choose. But I'll do what feel is right in my heart. I've noticed that most ethical standards we live by originate from the Bible. So how can people denounce it anyway when they're living by it (indirectly, but still living by it).

Can I ask, do you (as an atheist) believe that you chose to be an atheist so you could sin without a guilty conscience?

PS: Got a lot of time on my hands : )

Actually, the typical ethical standards did NOT arise from the Bible. The Bible is simply one of the places where they are transmitted. But many other books, some older, say the same things.

What I denounce in the Bible is the bad stuff and the promotion of superstition.

No, I did not choose to be an atheist. I w not convinced of the theist arguments and find other arguments much more believable.

[Porcupine]

Something HAD to have created it.

Why does this apply to everything except God?

[polymath257]

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.

1. Why do you think it was a 'who' that made the universe?

2. Why do you think the universe was made?

3. If you the BB says that 'particles' exploded and made the universe, you really should read some more physics and learn what the actual BB theory says.

4. Yes, this is a well-known sequence of questions.

5. Yes, we've heard of Satan. There's even less reason to believe in that mythical character than there is to believe in the God character.

6. We're not making fun of you. It's just that we have heard the same lines over and over and over and over....
 
I would suggest going out and reading some things *other* than the Bible. Read some history, maybe a world history, just to get a synopsis. Read some science (not the popular accounts in magazines--pick up an actual science book and read it). Read about some of the other religions, preferably by someone who believes in those religions. Try to really understand why the other world religions are believed by so many people.

And, most of all, be honest with yourself. Don't just believe something because you *want* it to be true. In fact, any time you *want* something to be true, apply extra skepticism: otherwise you may well fool yourself.

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That a 'who' was involved at all is an unwarranted presumption. We do get the Kalaam Cosmological Argument fairly often around here.

I'm always presuming things. I also don't think before I speak.

Kalaam Cosmological Argument - Another theory added to my glossary, thanks.

Something HAD to have created it. I can't fathom anything else. And I know, just because I can't fathom doesn't mean it's not possible..

I disagree. ALL causality happens within the universe and through natural laws. So, to talk about the causes of the universe or of those natural laws is self-defeating. There is no way they *can* be caused.

Here's another mind bender: can you imagine a time for which there is no 'time before it'?

[The Grand Nudger]

I saw a claim a few pages back that god was the source of ethics, that no one was more moral, than god. That may not be true, and wouldn't follow even if it were. The most moral man may be the most moral, but that doesn't mean that they are the source of ethics.

If god is the most moral man, or being, or entity, whatever we might prefer - then we have implicitly invoked some standard by which a gods relative goodness to other men, or beings, or entities, can be judged.

That standard is the source of ethics, and a god is only good or evil insomuch as it conforms or diverges from that standard.

[Porcupine]

If what God does or wills is good because it is intrinsically good then you don't need God you can instead just go straight to intrinsic goodness.

If whatever God does or wills to be good is good just because he does it or wills it then even if God does or wills something really awful it can be labelled as 'good'.... so that's no good.

If goodness is just 'identical with God's nature' .... then why not cut out the middle man?

And If God is everything then he can't just be goodness.

[Pat Mustard]

Do atheists believe in a heaven or hell? A good place or bad place? If not, then what's the purpose of the distinction between good and evil?. I'd like to have a respectful conversation about this.

My ambition when I die my ambition is to have my body donated to history.

Cruist it into the Bog of Allen so that five thousand years from now the then equivalent of Bord na Mona can dig it up and future archaeologists can wonder at primitive Irish beliefs. If I'm lucky my corpse will be housed up in Leinster House.

Much better than spending all of eternity getting bored off my tits and singing very off key in praise of an immoral, evil idiot that I'd detest if he existed (aren't we all lucky god's an imaginary being?)

[Porcupine]

If there's a hell or a heaven in an afterlife it certainly won't be eternal because of entropy. And it will also be wholly natural and physical. Nothing lasts forever except for existence and physical energy and consciousness itself. All particular things change form ... including the greatest ecstasy and worst suffering.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I told ya to stay with the script. Now she's gone.

[Porcupine]

I told ya to stay with the script. Now she's gone.  

What script?

[brewer]

Where do we go when we die................... apparently Australia.