RE: i believe
April 2, 2015 at 10:05 am
(This post was last modified: April 2, 2015 at 10:10 am by Brian37.)
Unfortunately like most humans, our theist friend here is doing two things. Getting stuck on pretty, and being scared of being finite.
It helps if we remind them that you can value life without the god claims and superstitions. I still find meaning in the finite time I have. I still have the same ups and downs in life. I still feel love for my family and friends and my pets. I still value human rights and compassion and non violence. I simply refuse to sugar coat reality.
No one mourns over the seasons changing. No one mourns over the death of a cockroach or bacteria. Life after I die will feel the same as it did for me 5,000 years ago, or 5 million years ago.
It is no different than knowing you go to a movie knowing it will end but still enjoy it. No different than reading a book knowing it has a last page. No different than knowing that music concert ends.
I am frightened of death too, but not in the same way. I fear prolonged pain. I fear missing my loved ones and them missing me. But I do not needlessly fear nature itself. I will die like it or not, so I do not dwell on that nature and simply find value with what I have now.
The argument from design is horrible. Humans can choke to death because they share the same breathing and eating tube. Dolphins and whales have separate eating breathing tubes. Eagles have way better eyesight. Cockroaches and bacteria outnumber humans.The giraffe has a nerve that starts from one ear, goes all the way down the neck, and then back up to the other ear.
And again, if everything is "designed" so is eboli and the flu virus and cancer.
It helps if we remind them that you can value life without the god claims and superstitions. I still find meaning in the finite time I have. I still have the same ups and downs in life. I still feel love for my family and friends and my pets. I still value human rights and compassion and non violence. I simply refuse to sugar coat reality.
No one mourns over the seasons changing. No one mourns over the death of a cockroach or bacteria. Life after I die will feel the same as it did for me 5,000 years ago, or 5 million years ago.
It is no different than knowing you go to a movie knowing it will end but still enjoy it. No different than reading a book knowing it has a last page. No different than knowing that music concert ends.
I am frightened of death too, but not in the same way. I fear prolonged pain. I fear missing my loved ones and them missing me. But I do not needlessly fear nature itself. I will die like it or not, so I do not dwell on that nature and simply find value with what I have now.
The argument from design is horrible. Humans can choke to death because they share the same breathing and eating tube. Dolphins and whales have separate eating breathing tubes. Eagles have way better eyesight. Cockroaches and bacteria outnumber humans.The giraffe has a nerve that starts from one ear, goes all the way down the neck, and then back up to the other ear.
And again, if everything is "designed" so is eboli and the flu virus and cancer.
