Posts: 279
Threads: 20
Joined: November 7, 2011
Reputation:
10
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 3:51 am
It is hard for people to realize that the fear tactics don't work for people who put no stock in religious texts etc. It isn't a problem with all believers but some are just about in a different universe.
Yes... Pascal's wager + the your life is pointless bit pisses me off. I have a hard time seeing how having 90% + of the world get fucked, doing everything for the sake of a supposedly loving god, and having weird rules to follow is a "good life". Not to mention the fact that the need for "saving the lost" is the fault of God in the first place if Christianity is true....
The whole system just collapses on itself... ugh....
Posts: 3872
Threads: 39
Joined: August 25, 2008
Reputation:
43
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 5:35 am
They don't understand (and probably never will) that you can't scare an atheist with hell. We don't believe hell exists. It's just a silly belief. They do seem afraid of reality, that there is no god looking out for them, no afterlife to go to and that when you die you'll cease to exist.
Pascal's wager can be turned around, because perhaps they believe in the wrong god and they will end up hell themselves anyway. It's all baseless assertions.
I think it's far better to just ignore religious freaks and live your life. You can easily find a sense of meaning/purpose in it. There doesn't have to be some afterlife for there to be a purpose. It seems they get their sense of purpose from belief in some afterlife, as if it's the only thing that matters. They must really fear and detest reality. So much so they feel the need to cover it up with lies.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan
Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.
Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.
You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
Posts: 5336
Threads: 198
Joined: June 24, 2010
Reputation:
77
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 9:01 am
A bit of a tangent but I find plenty of meaning with the human prospect and the continuity of civilization.
We will die but humanity and our civilization may live on. Our contribution, however small, provides enough meaning for me.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
Posts: 279
Threads: 20
Joined: November 7, 2011
Reputation:
10
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I still try to reason with theists depending on the situation... One thing I think is good to ask them is "If something is temporary does it have no value?". If they are married and they answer temporary has no value then they are saying love/companionship is meaningless. They are also saying just about every facet of their life has no meaning.
Posts: 69247
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Most theists irritate me when they inhale and exhale on a regular basis.
Posts: 104
Threads: 3
Joined: March 14, 2012
Reputation:
0
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 12:56 pm
I've never come across that. A couple of married friends we have , one is born again Christian, the other Catholic, I am agnostic or atheist [can't make my mind up] and my partner is Jewish. We get on great, they are the best friends ever and we debate about faith or no faith a lot and never argue. Each believes the other should think how they want to do
Posts: 10694
Threads: 15
Joined: September 9, 2011
Reputation:
119
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Most Christians are okay. It's the ones that feel they must preach to the atheists on the interwebz that tend to be the most irritating.
Posts: 13901
Threads: 263
Joined: January 11, 2009
Reputation:
82
RE: Irritation with "meaningless life" claims and "Pascal's Wager"...
June 22, 2012 at 2:19 pm
(June 22, 2012 at 1:17 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: Most Christians are okay. It's the ones that feel they must preach to the atheists on the interwebz that tend to be the most irritating.
I find them funny. They give some of he best laughs on this site at least.
Still, it does sadden me that the morons actually believe such of obvious crap.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
![[Image: LP-1198-You-Cant-Scare-Me-I-have-Childre...s-X385.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=lightfromtheright.com%2Ffiles%2F2012%2F03%2FLP-1198-You-Cant-Scare-Me-I-have-Children-License-Plates-X385.jpg)
