Thinking about converting, but what if I do go to Hell??...

[Minimalist]

In chapter 20, Third states that Odin mans Valhalla with the Einherjar: the dead who fall in battle and become Odin's adopted sons.[9] In chapter 36, High states that valkyries serve drinks and see to the tables in Valhalla, and Grímnismál stanzas 40 to 41 are then quoted in reference to this. High continues that the valkyries are sent by Odin to every battle, where they choose who is to die, and determine victory

Valhalla sounds like a cool place...as opposed to the boring xtian heaven.

Alas, both are bullshit.

[Entropist]

Good points, but what about the argument that human life has no meaning unless that life has been created by a god??

Objectively speaking, life is meaningless beyond survival and reproduction. "Meaning" is something we all create for ourselves. There is no "meaning" that is objectively embedded in the universe that one can cling to. Positing a god is an attempt to have some sort of objective guarantee that life has one specific "meaning," but like all "meanings" it is a fiction, even if might be an inspiring one. Realizing this does not mean one should go drown himself. One can either think for oneself and create one's own "meaning" or one can dishonestly try to take what has been handed to him from someone else. Either way, you still are choosing between fictions. You are still making it up as you go along.

[Zen Badger]

Good points, but what about the argument that human life has no meaning unless that life has been created by a god??

Quite simply, it is invalid.

My life has meaning, to my children, to my grandchildren, to my friends and to the woman I love.

And of course to myself.

I certainly don't need belief in an imaginary sky bully to give it meaning.

Though according to christianity gods purpose for us is to worship and praise him for the rest of eternity.

And that sounds like a very meaningless exercise to me.

[Dotard]

What if you go to Hell? As has been said before, at least you'll be in good company. We'll all get to meet each other IRD (In Real Death?)

Like any 1st rate organization, I'm sure Hell has a public bulletin board. Whoever gets there first please post announcements where we can find you. We can have a weekly meeting of former AF members.

I wonder if that will irk satan, having Atheist group meetings in his establishment.

[Edwardo Piet]

There's no reason to believe theists have any more or less chance of going to hell or heaven than any atheists. It's just pointless spending any time worrying about the extremely minuscule chance that hell might exist.

[dave4shmups]

There's no reason to believe theists have any more or less chance of going to hell or heaven than any atheists. It's just pointless spending any time worrying about the extremely minuscule chance that hell might exist.

True, and, from having spent over a decade in the church, I can tell you that Christians can't even agree on what hell is-some, like C.S. Lewis have a pretty benign outlook on it, where it's a place where you get what you want, and god is absent. Others insist that, no, it's literally a place of burning forever, where god is present with his wrath. And then they have the gal to point out disagreements among scientists about rational things.

[Nitsuj]

I, like many, wrestled with the idea of going to Hell after converting to atheism. Then I realized just how frivolous the idea was. Think of when you celebrated Christmas when you were young, and your parents told you if you were good, Santa would give you presents, and if you were bad, he would give you a lump of coal. They said it so you would behave. The idea of Heaven and Hell is exactly like that, only in a more extreme form.

[Entropist]

[Edwardo Piet]

Santa knows the ways of the world.

*Satan.

[yuriythebest]

Hi! I've sorta been in the same boat as you - I've read Dawkins "the God dillusion" and seen clips on youtube and stuff, however even though I knew on a logical level that hell ain't real I still had this spooky emotional "what if" feeling that was still present. How did I get rid of it? Reverse-brainwashing - that is an abundance of exposure to stuff that you actually think is true. In my case I watched 200-300 episodes of "the atheist experience":

http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive/?full=1#table

And it's gone yay! no more hell for me. excellent show.