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Honest question to atheists


Blood_Sacrifice

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I dont believe that there is an afterlife, but given the choice, I would rather exist, than not.

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It seems to me the Buddhist ideal of trying to escape from it all is pretty reasonable.

So it basically boils down to the same mind numbing existence. Sit around and stare at gods for all eternity, praising and worshiping them. That is just as hideous of an existence as the Christian version

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Where did you get that idea? I want to be Bodhisattva. Look it up -- all eternity helping people find the way.

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i might add , christians are rather unique in their beleif in an after life .

the supporting concept being , the body sleeps at nights and wakes to a new day.... but what is missed is that that pattern is repeated 365 time in a year ... for as meny years as the person lives...

and you never go to sleep as one person , and awaken as some one else...

frankly speaking... the concept of an afterlife is kinda silly really .... kinda like a soul parking lot , where classic cars are restored and put back on the road after the dings and dents are taken out ...

....and the whole christ thing is a bit insulting realy .... like a land lord / tenet screening process... to see who gets in the gated naborhood ... where if you do not do well on the single event attitude test .. your doomed for eternity .

do you really want to be among the people who get admitted , when the test is designed to exclude those who are confused and abused to the greatest degree by the sworn enemy of god!

... the logic is not that good here ... muslims do not fair any better on their logic ...

the simple answer is... afterlife is not very well thought out , and is pretty lame ... you have to be pretty odd to think it makes sense , to those who are first told about it ... kinda like the burning in hell for eternity because you do not buy into the advertising of a organized charity ...

i know god is real , and i can not see how god is happy with these religons marketing his brand and selling points .

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Where did you get that idea? I want to be Bodhisattva. Look it up -- all eternity helping people find the way.

yeah..... what you said.... agree in concept and in spirit!

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Depends on the religion and how you interpret the holy texts.

my religion: no religion! but as far as i understand christianity, you cannot pick the raisins (heaven) without having to accept hell as well....innit?
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my religion: no religion! but as far as i understand christianity, you cannot pick the raisins (heaven) without having to accept hell as well....innit?

Russian orthodox has a Saint who will come to the recently deceased, preach the Gospel, and then allow the recently deceased to accept Christ and go on to Heaven. Yes, you must accept there is a Hell in Christianity but it differs by sect. Some don't think Satan rules over Hell, others think he does even though there's no evidence for it in the Bible, while others even think that you'll only spend time in Hell, because God's eternal love wouldn't allow for eternal damnation.

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An afterlife dosnt have to be stareing at gods ankles. It could be like a game that you get to respon in differ t circumstances, fail then try again, different maps different worlds, everytime returning to your higher self and sying "that was awesome I'll do that Map again" or "that sucked what's the next world like?"

It be fun. As long as I can forget then remember again, I'd have a blast for eternity.

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yes i have wished for an afterlife often, But not for me

I wish for an after life because i wish there was someplace for all my basset hounds who have returned to the earth.

i have wished for an after life because maybe if there was one, Just maybe, there would be a reason for my misery other than a sadistic deity's pleasure.

and just because i refuse to believe in one of the sadistic deities worshiped by mankind doesn't mean i am totally against some other form of afterlife.

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As a kid I remember being told that I can have all the chocolate and candy I wanted in heaven..God will have a candy treat room all for me.. I believed it and thought - Whoohooo can't wait to get there YUM YUM

I was like Homer Simpson, dreaming about being in a land of chocolate la la la tra la la la la ........ Although, it would suck if heaven didn't have chocolate, and I think many women would agree lol

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To have an afterlife you first need a soul.

But do you get an opportunity to bypass heaven and hell when you require it?

If you do you might have to get used to a completely new identity.

I like to compare it to amnesia in a witness protection programme.

Except you havn't got a FBI agent sorting out your documents in your new name.

So why look forward to an afterlife when you don't even know your experiencing it.

That's how I would approach it from an atheist angle but then there's this...

When these people report seeing a blinding light at the end of the tunnel it might not be heaven.

Who's to say it's not a metaphor for entering the womb.

And this blinding light is essentially the soul your perceiving.

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Where did you get that idea? I want to be Bodhisattva. Look it up -- all eternity helping people find the way.

Find the "way"? What "way"? Your way? Some religions version of the "right" way? No way....I do not relish forcing others to conform to an arbitrary path of "right" living or whatever.

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Find the "way"? What "way"? Your way? Some religions version of the "right" way? No way....I do not relish forcing others to conform to an arbitrary path of "right" living or whatever.

I think he meant help a person find thier way. People as well as spirits have helped me find my way and im very appreciative of that. I agree with frank I want to help people find thier way.. I would love that job. Its not as bad as you make it sound Ryu.. say you were very miserable, you hated everything, you were constantly fighting and found your self in situation after situation that led to terrible relationships, you felt bad about yourself, you were affecting people negatively and you had know clue what was going on until a supernatural force came over you and gave you this emence feeling of love and clarity of mind.. after that you discover what the meaning of life is and you start enjoying life in a brand new way.. things are no longer dangerous, disasterous or full of spite and it was all because of this new understanding and change in your mind.. I think its cool..

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Whats this got to do with atheists?

I follow no religions, do not believe in god and most certainly would never follow novels like the bible or koran, but afterlife? yes sort of, but only in the form that your genes are based through to the next generation, so part of you does live on. As for ghosts, i have already said before, I believe these are imprints of time.

i would like to know why people ask atheists? I understand today that an atheist is someone who believes in god, but not yours, an agnostic does not believe but is open to proof, an ignostic is someone who will not believe, ever, no way.

so does no one think to ask the ignostic these questions?

You've got it backwards . Atheists don't believe in ANY god , Not just the god of the bible or Koran. Agnostics are usually on the fence about the existence of a god but aren't quite sure what to believe .
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If it meant I could explore other galaxies with ease and know the secrets of life, bring it on.

If it's one of those boring ones wherein we all praise a god for eternity then no. That and I can't see how eternity would work out, how would you not get bored or sick of the sight of people?

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The fact that this life is all we've got is what gives it its value.

Funny, I found the fact that this life is temporary to be the very reason why it has no value.

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Russian orthodox has a Saint who will come to the recently deceased, preach the Gospel, and then allow the recently deceased to accept Christ and go on to Heaven. Yes, you must accept there is a Hell in Christianity but it differs by sect. Some don't think Satan rules over Hell, others think he does even though there's no evidence for it in the Bible, while others even think that you'll only spend time in Hell, because God's eternal love wouldn't allow for eternal damnation.

in the middle ages, people believed that headache is caused by bad spirits and the best cure is to open the skull, so the spirits can exit.....funny what people can believe in....
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You are right; there are many ways. "The" way refers to the way that is easiest for the person involved. I would encourage you to look up the word "Bodhisattva" to help you understand.

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Yes I do. I'm not comfortable with the idea that makes a conscious person will degrade to non-consciousness at brain death.

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So it basically boils down to the same mind numbing existence. Sit around and stare at gods for all eternity, praising and worshiping them. That is just as hideous of an existence as the Christian version

That is not the Buddhist concept at all. What are you talking about?

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Yes I do. I'm not comfortable with the idea that makes a conscious person will degrade to non-consciousness at brain death.

It happens to you every night when you fall asleep. Same to me. Same to everybody. So what the hell is the big deal?

Some religions are cashing in on a fear that is so easy to dismiss.

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I get the idea reading my above post that I'm preaching Mahayana Buddhism; I'm not. The topic was where would you like to go if there is an afterlife, not where you think you will go. As afterlives go, though, I can't think of anything better.

I have no problem with explaining this stuff, but not preaching it.

The rebirth pattern envisioned by the Buddha and still taught in Theravada Buddhism is one of endless suffering, each life ended with death and the loss of everything (including a lifetime of accumulated memories). The Buddha taught that we must escape this and proposed achieving a special state called Enlightenment, which allows us to avoid rebirth and enter a blessed stated where there is no suffering (some see this as simple extinction). This is Theravada Buddhism.

Several hundred years after the Buddha's teaching, Mahayana Buddhism appeared where it occurred to some people that once one is in the Enlightened state, one can hold past-life memories and do all sorts of other marvelous things, so why not then help others. Since building compassion is the main route to Enlightenment in the first place, by now one's compassion would be almost endless, so why not continue being reborn, but no longer as a helpless infant but now as a bodhisattva.

I must make a bow now to the OP. Please note that in all the above there is no reference to any sort of god or deity. The bodhisattva is not a god. Buddhism is basically atheistic, although officially it just says that if gods exist they are no more free of the rules of existence than anything else, just perhaps further along than we are.

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Yes I do. I'm not comfortable with the idea that makes a conscious person will degrade to non-consciousness at brain death.

Whatever is, is what is, and the universe does not care what we are comfortable with or not. We must be realistic.
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It happens to you every night when you fall asleep. Same to me. Same to everybody. So what the hell is the big deal?

Sleep isn't necessarily loss of consciousness, but different levels of it.

Whatever is, is what is, and the universe does not care what we are comfortable with or not. We must be realistic.

I was answering the question in the OP. Edited by Rlyeh
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When I was a little kid I pondered this. I thought I'd like there to be one, but upon deeper thinking of the subject I became terrorized with the concept. I'm not so sure at this point.

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