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

[Gwaithmir]

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 : )

Of course, it’s easy for us with our 21st Century, materialistic minds to dismiss the Bible as a load of rubbish. But in the actual analysis, that is exactly what the Bible turns out to be---a load of rubbish! It is a book of nonsensical, fantastic stories about talking animals, talking bushes, mythical creatures, people rising from the dead, magic and pseudo-history. It is the creation of ignorant, fallible men, reflecting the prejudices, superstitions, bad theology and fears of the times in which it was written. It promotes slavery, ethnic cleansing, race prejudice, wars of conquest, the subjugation of women, child abuse and genital mutilation. It promotes the worship and celebration of a god who is little more than an egotistical, homicidal, fear-mongering tyrant. It is a book which any reasonable, intellectually honest, and intelligent person should heartily dismiss as bad fiction.

Read the Book of Job with an open mind. Even as a kid, I found it to reveal a God who was far beneath what I reasonably considered to be a moral being. I consider that conclusion to be valid to this day.

Study other religions and cultures with an open mind. You will discover that most ethical standards that we live by are the product of human interaction and invention, not the Bible.

Sin is nothing more than a priestly construct designed to control people through fear and guilt.

I did not choose to be an atheist. My beliefs are involuntary, based upon an honest examination of the evidence, regardless of what that examination might reveal. One has nothing to fear and everything to gain from an honest search for the truth. For me, that search is still ongoing, because there is always the possibility that I might be wrong. As Robert G. Ingersoll once stated:

“Reason, observation and experience──the Holy Trinity of science──have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of Nature shall be demonstrated, there will be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect.”

Read Thomas Jefferson's letter to his nephew Peter Carr on the subject of religion. His advice is just a valid now as it was back then:

"Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty and singularity of opinion. Indulge them in any other subject than that of religion. It is too important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. On the other hand, shake off all fears and servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." (Introduction)