it’s okay. we can have hope without religion, without spirituality, without faith. you don’t NEED it to be okay. just remember that.
i do understand it’s odd (and sometimes scary) to imagine what death is like. a death without an afterlife. we’re so used to being conscious that the idea of NOT being conscious is super trippy. we don’t even like the thought of it. but don’t be angry that there is no god.
i’m just going to be brutally honest here… i think it’s scary to imagine that there IS a god. i mean, i’d like to be in control of my own thoughts, my own feelings, my own life. i want free will. and i don’t want the threat of eternal hellfire hanging over my head all the time.
why do you take hope and comfort from believing? this is not a malicious question. i am genuinely curious.
anyway, i hope you don’t take offense to this. it’s simply my opinion, and i would love to hear what you think. hang tight. 🙂
Thank you for responding, I have been atheist for some time now and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no God but I don’t know, seeing my family so happy and giving their thanks to a God and always hearing them say God did this for them (although I know it’s not true), it just seems like a nice thing to believe in just for comfort. Because at this point, it’s just so hard living in this world. It’s so cruel. I’ll skip on the hellfire but I guess I just get jealous of the fact that they have something to lean on and well I don’t. If that makes sense.
it makes perfect sense. i totally understand. i’m an atheist, too, and my family is always thanking god for “everything he’s done.” it seems like a load of crap to me, honestly. i understand why you’d be envious, but i strongly encourage you not to be. they should be envious of you. you’re a free thinker, you’re truthful, and you’re automatically cooler. 😉 heheheh
but perhaps you can find comfort in NOT believing. after all, you know you only have this life. so you might as well make the most of it. do whatever the fuck you want. be spontaneous. you know, all that cheesy bullshit. lol
I personally consider myself an agnostic, probably a pantheist as I find it way more consistent with current science than atheism particularly with quantum mechanics.
Imo, atheism just like theism is rooted in human’s self absoption; once we thought we are the most significant precious beings that could only be a creation of a god who will eventually calls us and just us back. Now we believe our science has figured it all out.
A couple of years ago I was one of those hardcore atheists too.
For some reason I had to take deeper look into medical science. Once you do that, you are going to find out that our medical science doesn’t have na slightest idea about the mechanism through which many of our medications work. We just know that they do. Many of these medications are discovered by accident and when scientists are researching something else. Point being; we don’t even know jack about our own bodies that we can touch and examine directly let alone in the universe. It cracks me up everytime I watch atheists speak of such complex issues as if they know the absolute truth.
I just think we should be way more humble towards this universe than we actually are.
1. we are all agnostic. every single one of us. none of us know for certain whether this world is based on divinity or not. we’re simply here. we don’t know what the fuck is going on.
2. we don’t believe our science has figured it all out. science is working on it. it’s a never-ending platform. we just keep researching, discovering, learning. that’s the fun of it.
3. just because we can’t explain something with science, doesn’t mean we can rule it off with the idea of a higher power. coincidences are meaningless. accidents do not mean something divine must exist.
I hope you didn’t think by accident i meant god puts it in lab so scientists can find it lol.
And yea, What you said is what science is about. Science itself is neutral. It has no bias. Human interpretation however is biased.
sorry if my message seemed too intense. i really was not trying to fight or make you feel uncomfortable. reading it back, i realise how douchey i sounded. sorry. 🙂
you’re right, we are all biased in some way. and science is a human-controlled platform. i just think that there’s a science to everything; a logical, supernatural-free explanation, even if we can’t figure it out.
you do make some compelling arguments, though. i will give you that. and hey, don’t be so quick to judge atheists. lol
Smoke, it was not douchy at all. It had a serious tone though which was fine..my comment had that quality too. And sorry about being judgy. The thing is some atheists are very aggressive on the net for some reason. I guess I kinda start such discussion with a high guard in fear of their often aggressive approach. No hard feelings man.
i understand, fally. thanks for being chill about it. just didn’t want to trouble anybody, because i assume you’re already troubled enough as it is (considering you’re on SP). some people are extremely aggressive online, so i see why you put your guard up. it’s all good.
and thank you, SQ, for your words of wisdom. i am sometimes too apologetic. as i said, i just don’t want to cause any problems. 🙂
Trust me, Thetosiana, believing in a God isn’t necessarily comforting. The God I believe in is a very angry God, and the thought of His anger, particularly His anger towards me, isn’t comforting in the slightest.
There is a “source” of all that is, and not any single religion, ideology, or otherwise spiritual belief has all the answers about the hows and whys, because definitive answers are wayyyy beyond our level of comprehension. I grew up catholic and born again christian, and have gained a million times more answers from science than from religion. Religion asks for blind faith, while science offers evidence and requires logic. Neither discipline is exactly right, nor wrong. Science has only magnified the fact that there is order and structure in the universe, as well as imperfections and flaws, poor designs, failed designs, and changing conditions as the expanding universe grows. How could this phenomenal display of engineering happen along by itself? It reeks of intelligent design and order of varying degrees.
Does “god” really care about me? I have no idea what thought processes exist at that level. In a system designed to allow fear, grief and sadness as easily as happiness and joy I doubt whether the designer was very concerned with our well beings. Live, die, it’s all in the numbers.
Even if there’s a god, I don’t want to have anything in common with it. Fucking menace, that’s what it is. And money generating business.
It’s okay if you believe, it’s okay if you do not. There’s no reason for people to have no hope just because of lack of spirituality. Everyone finds their own reasons to live in the way they want to. God, family, money, it’s all relative.
15 comments
it’s okay. we can have hope without religion, without spirituality, without faith. you don’t NEED it to be okay. just remember that.
i do understand it’s odd (and sometimes scary) to imagine what death is like. a death without an afterlife. we’re so used to being conscious that the idea of NOT being conscious is super trippy. we don’t even like the thought of it. but don’t be angry that there is no god.
i’m just going to be brutally honest here… i think it’s scary to imagine that there IS a god. i mean, i’d like to be in control of my own thoughts, my own feelings, my own life. i want free will. and i don’t want the threat of eternal hellfire hanging over my head all the time.
why do you take hope and comfort from believing? this is not a malicious question. i am genuinely curious.
anyway, i hope you don’t take offense to this. it’s simply my opinion, and i would love to hear what you think. hang tight. 🙂
Thank you for responding, I have been atheist for some time now and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no God but I don’t know, seeing my family so happy and giving their thanks to a God and always hearing them say God did this for them (although I know it’s not true), it just seems like a nice thing to believe in just for comfort. Because at this point, it’s just so hard living in this world. It’s so cruel. I’ll skip on the hellfire but I guess I just get jealous of the fact that they have something to lean on and well I don’t. If that makes sense.
it makes perfect sense. i totally understand. i’m an atheist, too, and my family is always thanking god for “everything he’s done.” it seems like a load of crap to me, honestly. i understand why you’d be envious, but i strongly encourage you not to be. they should be envious of you. you’re a free thinker, you’re truthful, and you’re automatically cooler. 😉 heheheh
but perhaps you can find comfort in NOT believing. after all, you know you only have this life. so you might as well make the most of it. do whatever the fuck you want. be spontaneous. you know, all that cheesy bullshit. lol
You do realize that having a separate consciousness has nothing to do with believing in god right?
That’s not the point I was making.
I personally consider myself an agnostic, probably a pantheist as I find it way more consistent with current science than atheism particularly with quantum mechanics.
Imo, atheism just like theism is rooted in human’s self absoption; once we thought we are the most significant precious beings that could only be a creation of a god who will eventually calls us and just us back. Now we believe our science has figured it all out.
A couple of years ago I was one of those hardcore atheists too.
For some reason I had to take deeper look into medical science. Once you do that, you are going to find out that our medical science doesn’t have na slightest idea about the mechanism through which many of our medications work. We just know that they do. Many of these medications are discovered by accident and when scientists are researching something else. Point being; we don’t even know jack about our own bodies that we can touch and examine directly let alone in the universe. It cracks me up everytime I watch atheists speak of such complex issues as if they know the absolute truth.
I just think we should be way more humble towards this universe than we actually are.
1. we are all agnostic. every single one of us. none of us know for certain whether this world is based on divinity or not. we’re simply here. we don’t know what the fuck is going on.
2. we don’t believe our science has figured it all out. science is working on it. it’s a never-ending platform. we just keep researching, discovering, learning. that’s the fun of it.
3. just because we can’t explain something with science, doesn’t mean we can rule it off with the idea of a higher power. coincidences are meaningless. accidents do not mean something divine must exist.
I hope you didn’t think by accident i meant god puts it in lab so scientists can find it lol.
And yea, What you said is what science is about. Science itself is neutral. It has no bias. Human interpretation however is biased.
sorry if my message seemed too intense. i really was not trying to fight or make you feel uncomfortable. reading it back, i realise how douchey i sounded. sorry. 🙂
you’re right, we are all biased in some way. and science is a human-controlled platform. i just think that there’s a science to everything; a logical, supernatural-free explanation, even if we can’t figure it out.
you do make some compelling arguments, though. i will give you that. and hey, don’t be so quick to judge atheists. lol
smokeclouds: never apologize for voicing an opinion or an observation. you are not mean-spirited. questioning is good.
Smoke, it was not douchy at all. It had a serious tone though which was fine..my comment had that quality too. And sorry about being judgy. The thing is some atheists are very aggressive on the net for some reason. I guess I kinda start such discussion with a high guard in fear of their often aggressive approach. No hard feelings man.
i understand, fally. thanks for being chill about it. just didn’t want to trouble anybody, because i assume you’re already troubled enough as it is (considering you’re on SP). some people are extremely aggressive online, so i see why you put your guard up. it’s all good.
and thank you, SQ, for your words of wisdom. i am sometimes too apologetic. as i said, i just don’t want to cause any problems. 🙂
Trust me, Thetosiana, believing in a God isn’t necessarily comforting. The God I believe in is a very angry God, and the thought of His anger, particularly His anger towards me, isn’t comforting in the slightest.
There is a “source” of all that is, and not any single religion, ideology, or otherwise spiritual belief has all the answers about the hows and whys, because definitive answers are wayyyy beyond our level of comprehension. I grew up catholic and born again christian, and have gained a million times more answers from science than from religion. Religion asks for blind faith, while science offers evidence and requires logic. Neither discipline is exactly right, nor wrong. Science has only magnified the fact that there is order and structure in the universe, as well as imperfections and flaws, poor designs, failed designs, and changing conditions as the expanding universe grows. How could this phenomenal display of engineering happen along by itself? It reeks of intelligent design and order of varying degrees.
Does “god” really care about me? I have no idea what thought processes exist at that level. In a system designed to allow fear, grief and sadness as easily as happiness and joy I doubt whether the designer was very concerned with our well beings. Live, die, it’s all in the numbers.
Even if there’s a god, I don’t want to have anything in common with it. Fucking menace, that’s what it is. And money generating business.
It’s okay if you believe, it’s okay if you do not. There’s no reason for people to have no hope just because of lack of spirituality. Everyone finds their own reasons to live in the way they want to. God, family, money, it’s all relative.