Is There a Point To Living a Moral Life?

[Mister Agenda]

...for an Atheist that is?
I see the mods have been busy!! Well.... I've been busy myself! Converting Atheists, and godless peeps in general is hard work! Plus... I figured you'd all want to wish me a Happy Anniversary!! Especially those who said I'd be run outta Dodge within a month! Really though... no cudos necessary! I know you all love me!

Happy anniversary, ronedee, I'm glad you're back.

Back to the subject at hand! Given the natural cynicism and nastiness of Atheists [here] in general... is there any reason to live a "Moral" life?

Virtue is its own reward.

"Moral", in terms of [Good, Honest] deemed by traditions through time. Maybe to include a few slightly general commandments: Lies, stealing, adultery, etc.

I mean... if there is no one or nothing to [say you are wrong, but you] about; a little swing w/ your buddies wife, or that $10 the acne faced kid gave you extra w/ your change at the Walmart; or telling your wife you were out w/ your buddy instead of his wife... How do you keep it in check? Or do you?

All available evidence indicates that atheists do at least as good a job as the average Christian on such matters.

Yeah, yeah....I know you would say that Christians are doing the same thing....And they are! But, they do have a conviction in the Lord Jesus. and they know that they will answer to their words and deeds.

You'd think they would do noticeably better than atheists with paradise as an incentive and ultimate doom as a disincentive, wouldn't you?

What do you have to answer to? Is there a point to living any kind of "honest" life?

There's certainly more to it than avoiding punishment and gaining reward.

As an observation as a Christian... Your words are pretty mean spirited to any religious.

Your words are a good illustration of why that may be.

And I've witnessed a lot of hate here. Maybe you feel you have that right?

Since you can be relied upon to be hateful first, as you have chosen to be here, in your re-introduction, I do feel I have the right to respond in kind...but I limit my ire to you rather that splathering it at all theists indiscriminately the way you do at all atheists.

But also people are individuals, and deserve at least to be heard for their ideas, and concepts relating to just about anything.... religious or otherwise.

People deserve to be listened to until they shoot their mouths off. After that, listening to them is tolerance or forgiveness.

Anyway... what do you as an atheists feel is your moral compass. And what is the gauge set at? Honesty in general... where is the line drawn, and how?

If you can answer those questions for theism, I'll take a stab at answering them for atheism.

I hope you take this thread seriously!

That would be easier if you'd taken your OP seriously.

Thanks for your answers. As a Christian I have a guide/threat (if you will) in my life. I'm just curious how a person acts w/o what many here would call an "obstacle"?

Being good is a good idea.

Again! Good to be back celebrating ONE YEAR w/ all my A-team buddies!

I hope this year goes better for you here, you're first year was kind of rough...but seeing as you've begun it with a whine, I'm not optimistic. Are you actually incapable of posting without making digs at our entire demographic?

[Whateverist]

Sure we can talk about moral matters in life or death situations that we would ALL fight side-by-side for! But what about the little things? The passing little lies, and cheats! The things we all take for granted.

Jesus tells us, "If you are honest in small matters, you will be honest in big matters."

And Jesus more than anything else tells us about the evil of our "sins of omission"...aka "what we fail to do."

Personally, this is a slippery slope for me, and I'm sure for many! Some of these "omissions" are frustratingly in-grained. Only my deep reflections through Jesus' words and guidance am I able to root them out, and remedy them...in some form.

How do you as "singularly moral" people able to avoid the [subtle] occurrences of...well... sin and injustice and lies? Or, is that below the bar of caring?

Definitely "below the bar of caring" for me. I'm not looking to get the blue ribbon for living the life most consistent with a moral code. I'm not keeping score because I place no value in moral consistency. Give my brownie points to someone who wants them. If I act 'morally', that's because I am moral. You can be sure it won't be because I refrained from doing the immoral thing that I really wanted to do.

Morality for its own sake is an odd idea. I don't really understand why anyone would care if how they act is considered moral by anyone else so long as they are acting coherently with what they themselves actually value.

[rexbeccarox]

I can't believe this thread has gone 14 pages. Haven't we done morality to death? It's not even an interesting topic anymore, and ronny has been around long enough to know it. He's just trolling.

[Anomalocaris]

There is absolutely no point to living a moral life if living moral life means not blugeoning roneedee and wooters to bloody quivering pulps to stop their wormy ramblings.

[Mister Agenda]

...for an Atheist that is?

Good question! I know how Dostoevsky would have answered.

Because who better to look to as an authority on atheist morality than a Christian?

Evolution! Its all evolution! Hip Hip Hurray! Random chance has given us reason, values and brotherly love.

It's amusing when someone has a need to describe 'chance' as random. We're not talking ordinary chance here, it's RANDOM chance! Of course the effect of natural selection is to suck most of that randomness right back out as quickly as possible, only leaving organisms that are sufficiently adapted to their environment and exterminating the rest.

Those vile hypocrites. How dare they HAVE beliefs to violate. At least if you don't have any values you cannot violate them.

Now, now, there's no prize for who can tell the most slanderous lie about atheists.

Atheists don't hate believers. They just think they are stupid bigots.

Some of them are neither. It would be nice if it were true of more of them, but it's hard not to let your opinions be colored at all by the ones who talk about you on the internet.

Don't take it personally. (And they all know a gay couple that's so much nicer than any church-goers.)

I wouldn't make a claim like that about a dire demographic. No matter how nice a gay couple I know might be, the odds are that at least a few of the many of millions of church-goers in the world are nicer. I'm a church-goer myself, and I'm REALLY nice.

I TOLD you! Evolution, man.

And reason.

You've been here and still haven't learned that anything a believer says is just a big joke to most of them?

If you want to be taken seriously, say serious things, and ignore knee-jerk responses. Being taken seriously is something that can be earned. I have a short memory, so you're always as good as your most recent post with me.

That's a lot of people and a stupid reason for hating them.

You're right about that.

[Whateverist]

So the de-nihilists, atheists who deny that they are nihilists, must, if they are to be taken seriously, show that their favored ethical system is ultimately supported by something other than pure chance.

No, I don't.

My ethical system is based on evolved feelings of empathy, sympathy, fairness, self-interest and on reason.

I'm not sure if you mean based on sentiments which we've evolved as a species or which you individually have come to hold. Probably a mixture of the two, but I don't know and I don't care. I value my values because they're the ones that move me. That doesn't mean I never engage in self reflection. But I'm not holding out for any objective approval for my moral behavior for I don't think there is any to be had.

[CleanShavenJesus]

Can't I be fucking nice for no other reason than to be nice?

[Whateverist]

Can't I be fucking nice for no other reason than to be nice?

Apparently, you're being a sucker. If you were a Christian you could get coupons for heavenly favor for your good acts. What do we have to show for ours? Just the warm glow of belonging to a group and enjoying their respect? We're such suckers.

[CleanShavenJesus]

Can't I be fucking nice for no other reason than to be nice?

Apparently, you're being a sucker. If you were a Christian you could get coupons for heavenly favor for your good acts. What do we have to show for ours? Just the warm glow of belonging to a group and enjoying their respect? We're such suckers.

I guess I'll go crack a couple of old ladies in the face now, for kicks.

[Davidthegoliath]

As a Christian I have a guide/threat (if you will) in my life. I'm just curious how a person acts w/o what many here would call an "obstacle"?

GREAT! Curiosity is the first step, embrace it. To understand the answer to the question you must live it. Let go of your fear and you will see that it doesn't really exist.