(July 17, 2010 at 9:15 am)CoolBoy Wrote: This statement expresses my feelings exactly. I still have a niggling fear of hell, which stems from my religious past. I joined these forums to try to destroy these fears and I would appreciate it if you good people would read my struggle and offer any support or advice you can. Here is a link to my story.
http://atheistforums.org/thread-4171.html
Look at it like this: in the extremely unlikely event that hell turns out to be real, all the interesting people will be there, whereas heaven will be overwhelmingly populated by smug evangelists. So, an eternity in heaven is probably the most mind-numbingly dull and frustrating thing that could be devised for an atheist. Hell is where all the cool people would go.
On a serious note, I can imagine that it must be very hard to shake off your old indoctrination and deeply ingrained fears. All the available evidence, though, points to the obliteration of the self at death. Our emotions, thoughts, etc. can all be tracked to various brain states, so once the brain ceases to function, the logical conclusion would be that there's no more consciousness. Even if there were an existence after death, the chances that it's existence as described by Bible-bashing nutters is slimmer than a stick insect emulating Victoria Beckham.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
