(December 23, 2015 at 2:31 am)robvalue Wrote: That's a great attitude to have.
I remember hearing that religious fantasies about afterlives can stifle the grieving process and prevent people properly coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.
I've never understood the whole "meaning" argument. They seem to have it entirely backwards. If someone thinks this life is all there is, they are more likely to value it than someone who thinks it's just a relatively short introduction to the "real" life.
It's all the "real" life, no less real than the coming one. The question to me isn't whether or not this life has meaning to an atheist or not. It's more that the atheist is not experiencing the entire meaning of life because he doesn't believe in the afterlife. This life here has much meaning to me and when it's time to go I'll probably experience some sad feelings because I'll think about missing loved ones and so on. God doesn't want us to just waste our lives on earth because of what we anticipate in the next life, otherwise there would be no reason to live here. Belief in an afterlife should, in no way, diminish the quality of our lives here, but rather enhance it. We don't need to be shaken by the difficulties and bad experiences we encounter. If we are suffering here and can't change our circumstances, we can know that we will have a better existence for eternity. Maybe a fantasy about the afterlife could stifle someone's grieving process, but I'm not going to teach my children that there is no afterlife so that they can grieve easier no more than I'd tell them some other lie to soothe them.
