[–]Atheisttinkady 12 points 21 hours ago  You're free to have those beliefs, but you are aware of the fact that them being more convenient or happy in your mind doesn't make them the slightest bit more likely to be true, right? Why not accept the world for how it is and then try to develop hope from there? permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Atheistthe6thReplicant 3 points 18 hours ago  You could even say those believes warp our conversations about our society's future. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Atheistextispicy 8 points 1 day ago  I met a woman who, when she learned I was an atheist, said there was a question she'd always been curious about. What she asked me was, "Why did you have children if you knew they wouldn't go to heaven?" Once I got over the shock and confusion, she explained, not that she thought my children were doomed, but why I would put them through life knowing that there wasn't something better coming later on? Obviously, she thought, this life wasn't worth living on its own. I looked out at the view of the lake and the mountains and I just shook my head. How could someone have the amazing opportunities and advantages as this woman has at her feet, and feel that this life came up short? I don't understand how this amazing world can possibly not be enough. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Christian (Ichthys)Stormtalons 3 points 22 hours ago  How could someone have the amazing opportunities and advantages as this woman has at her feet, and feel that this life came up short? I don't understand how this amazing world can possibly not be enough. Oh I totally do... I feel the same way as her. I wouldn't be so brazen as to question someone's decision to have children though; they're rewarding in their own right. However, personally, the only real value I see in life at all is in permanence... transient existence, to me, is equivalent to having never existed at all. Honestly, if I didn't believe in God and/or some form of an afterlife (not even necessarily Christianity), I would be profoundly depressed... perhaps even to the point of suicide. Having said that, my faith is decidedly not merely a crutch to stave off hopelessness... I believe what I do for lots of solid reasons (which I won't enumerate here). permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Atheistit2d [score hidden] 27 minutes ago  Why does something need to be permanent in order to be valuable? What do you think you'll be doing for eternity, and how exactly is it going to be meaningful or valuable? permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Christian (Cross)dubb5ack 0 points 16 hours ago  I know exactly what you mean. I find all the things people who don't believe in an afterlife say about death hollow and unsettling. "You just have to cherish life while you have it." I watch the news. I could die at any moment and- that's exactly how it would end. No moment of finality. Just ceasing to exist forever. Great. "You'll live on through your legacy." So what? I won't be conscious of this, or anything else. If someone could prove to me that there was no God or afterlife I would probably go insane. I need my faith to cope with the grisly reality of all the dying kids on the news and the imminent death of myself and the ones I love. If that's cognitive bias, who cares? I'm gonna die one day. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Atheistit2d [score hidden] 24 minutes ago  If someone could prove to me that there was no God or afterlife I would probably go insane. I need my faith to cope with the grisly reality of all the dying kids on the news and the imminent death of myself and the ones I love. I just want to make sure I understand. You don't like the reality that there are literally children being raped to death as you read this, and what makes you feel better is the belief that there's a being who could make all the suffering in the world stop instantly and permanently but refuses to do so? Believing that there's a god that intentionally allows innocent children to suffer makes you feel better? Let me paraphrase someone--I think it's Sam Harris. If god exists, it is a moral imperative for humanity to find him and kill him. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]AtheistMorkelebmink 5 points 20 hours ago  "but because I want to live with hope and something to believe in." Your words. The other gentlemen's words now: " I do, however, think that all Christians have failed to adequately examine their beliefs." This is what he means. You don't care if your beliefs are true, you only care if they bring you hope and something good to believe in. That is a HORRIBLE reason to believe in anything. There's only one reason anyone should believe in anything EVER and it should be the SOLE criteria, not whether you're happy or comforted. TRUTH. Truth is all that matters when it comes to belief. It could be that the truth is horrifying, or depressing, or terrifying. So what. It's still the truth. But you value happyness over truth, and that's the problem atheists have with you and many other christians. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]AtheistIRBMe 7 points 19 hours ago  I became Christian... because I want to live with hope and something to believe in... I could imagine that knowing you will only vanish and be forgotten after death would be a bit depressing as compared to believing eternal love and happiness. Do you value personal comfort more than truth and intellectual honesty? permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]AtheistEbonShadow 5 points 17 hours ago  This is what lead to my own path as an atheist. I desired truth above all else and any claim of religion simply didn't hold up. permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [+]lasttimelord12[S] comment score below threshold  (5 children) [–]newunit13 2 points 23 hours ago  If I lead a life that affects others (and honestly how can we not?), then even if it really is a ceased existence post-mortem was my life meaningless? If Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mother Theresa, or any other influential character in history were to simply cease to exist after their deaths does that somehow invalidate the accomplishments they made during their life? After your parents die, even if heaven is not a real place, does their death invalidate their life? I fail to understand your reasoning that non-existence somehow makes existence meaningless. I suppose if you look at things from a cosmological perspective then you could say everything that happens everywhere is "meaningless" because eventually the universe will "die" as well... but that is at such a large timescale that I would argue that everything done while existing is meaningful as it's the only thing that means anything. And from your response I would have to also argue that you are, in fact, ignorant of a large majority of atheistic world-views (there is no singular source for said world-views because atheism is not a belief system, merely a starting point, i.e. atheism is simply the disbelief in the god claim), and I don't say this as an insult, merely that you are lacking in knowledge in this regard. This is not a bad thing per se because ignorance can be remedied by learning :) However when you say that you would rather believe X over Y because X makes you feel better regardless of the truth, that is akin to willful ignorance and should not be condoned. All views stated are my own and should not be taken as an attempt to sway you in your beliefs. I wish you the very best in life, and if an after-life does in fact exist, I wish you the best in that as well :) permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Atheistit2d [score hidden] 28 minutes ago  but because I want to live with hope and something to believe in There's nothing about atheism that's hopeless, and I don't understand why people think there is. Can you explain? But even assuming that atheism offers no hope at all and Christianity offers some, that doesn't make Christianity true. Or even good. False hope isn't really hope at all. Why would I live my whole life believing in just ceasing to exist and becoming nothing after death (Effectively making life ultimately pointless; a depressing thought, really.), Why does the fact that life ends mean that it's meaningless? A movie ends, but some are nonetheless meaningful, and I'd still rather watch a good movie than a bad one. Why do you take the position that something needs to be eternal in order to be meaningful? when I COULD have hope and live happily knowing I will meet my creator, God, and reside in Heaven with him for eternity after I have passed? What exactly do you expect to do in heaven, and how exactly will it be meaningful? I could imagine that knowing you will only vanish and be forgotten after death would be a bit depressing as compared to believing eternal love and happiness. I don't find it depressing at all. Life is beautiful, and the fact that it's finite just means there's good reason to enjoy every second of it and to see if I can help others do the same. The fact that I don't have an eternal destiny means I'm free--I can make my own future. How is that depressing? permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply

Oh dear. It seems as though I did not clarify this quite clearly. See, I BECAME Christian because I was previously confused about belief and faith, and I wanted an escape from the truth. Yes, I originally was short-sided and just wanted paradise after death, but since then my belief has evolved quite a lot. Whether you believe Christianity false or not is another matter. However, if you asked me why I believed in Christianity, by default I would have to bring this up, because it is why I began. I can understand why some think religion is just an escapist view, but because I am religious myself, I am biased in that I don't see it that way.