Atheist, Are'nt you scared?

[~Corsair#01~]

I'm afraid of dying at such a young age, but if I make it to my life expectancy I'll be fine.

 

[Billy Rubin]

Atheist - not afraid.
I imagine death to be the same state as before I developed a consciousness, but after life - since I wont exist, I can't regret having died, so why should I be afraid of death? (i.e. the state of death, not the process of dying, which can be quite disturbing under certain circumstances I imagine...).

 

[shortguy]

So man is supposed to be merciful, but God is not?

 

[blackheart]

A discussion about the justness of Christian hell presumes the existence of Christian hell.

Nowhere does it say this thread is limited to Christianity. After all, Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on the afterlife.

 

[josephstalin]

Not really. But I am not a complete atheist though.

 

[xyourxmomxcorex]

Well, I'm agnostic, so I dont believe there is necesseraly nothing when you die. My only opinion is that I'll only find out when I die. That being said, I'm not afraid of dying, I had the chance to experience life, but all good things must end.

Even if there is no God, im not scared. I can't explain why, I just don't think its so bad to not exist.

 

[Souron]

Intelectually no. If you're not alive, you're not suffering.

Practically, yes. Any one who isn't has not thought about it hard enough. It is a natural instinct to fear death.

 

[cgannon64]

My take is that all punishment should fit the crime. Any punishment that lasts forever, but especially one so fearsome as hell, surpasses greatly any crime a man can commit in the course of a man's life... and it becomes revenge, not justice.

Is not, then, eternal salvation too great a reward for what little good that can be done in one lifetime?

Of course not. At the end of life, we are asked to make a permanent decision, for all eternity: God, or not God. The punishment for such a final decision cannot be temporary.

That would depend. The very doctrine of christians isn't that of "giving the other cheek"? You are supposed to value mercy over either justice or lust for revenge.

Christians are not supposed to value mercy over justice. Choosing mercy over justice does more harm than good.

Nevertheless, justice is by it's own nature self-contained and limited, at pain of becoming vengeance, and caractherizing a new, and possibly worse, agression. To suggest an "eternal punishment" could even theoretically be "just" shows an divergence between our mindframes almost impossible to reconcile.

This passage sounds awfully closed-minded.

Not to mention the lack of proportion of punishing any "crime" (sin) with the same penalty. A retribution that fits the crime is an old paradigm of criminal law, and, again, it took only men, not entities of unending forgiveness, to figure it out, my friend.

Again, how could the absence of God be unproportional to the crime of rejecting God? And also, how can you lament the "permanence" of Hell? Keep in mind, after death, there is no more time! A temporary punishment is a bit to temporal for eternity!

So man is supposed to be merciful, but God is not?

Of course God is merciful. Your entire life is a series of opportunities to repent. God offers forgiveness, the only price is acknowledgement of your sin. Is that not just?

Nowhere does it say this thread is limited to Christianity. After all, Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on the afterlife.

Well, then, I limit that statement to the posts directed towards me. Those assume the existence of Christian hell.

 

[xyourxmomxcorex]

I'd say any human who claims not to be scared of death is dishonest or messed up.

What are you talking about? Why did the Snipers Stuggart and Gordon do into Mogidusu? They knew that they would have hundres of Somalian milita pouring down on them, but they went anyway. There are hundrueds of cases when people intentionaly died for something they belived in.

 

[xyourxmomxcorex]

Christians are not supposed to value mercy over justice. Choosing mercy over justice does more harm than good.

Read the book "Jesus is not a Republican"
Please do, its a good book and if you claim too belive in Jesus, you really NEED to read this book.

 

[cgannon64]

There are many more religious books I probably need to read first.

 

[xyourxmomxcorex]

What you said is in direct contridiction with the New Testiment
Jesus was a pacisfist-"Turn the other cheek"
A lot of Neocons point to the old testiment-
But the old testiment IS OLD
Jesus said that he was the new order of god, and some of his teachings contriditced with the traditional hewbrew faith.

 

[xyourxmomxcorex]

Every Animals most basic instinct is to live. Some humans have conqured that.
Some people belive in God because they need a cruch. Some because they really do belive in God. Some people for both reasons.

 

[cgannon64]

Jesus said to turn the other cheek, yes, but did he advocate freeing all prisoners? No.

 

[blackheart]

Of course not. At the end of life, we are asked to make a permanent decision, for all eternity: God, or not God. The punishment for such a final decision cannot be temporary.

Christians are not supposed to value mercy over justice. Choosing mercy over justice does more harm than good.

You get punished for an open-ended decisions? . Anyways, I thought only the baptized and believers and such during their lifetime get into heaven.

Mercy isn't at odds with justice, unless you're equating justice to vengeance in the form of an eye for an eye.

 

[cgannon64]

You get punished for an open-ended decisions?

It's not open-ended, there is an end: Death.

Anyways, I thought only the baptized and believers and such during their lifetime get into heaven.

Yes, your point?

Mercy isn't at odds with justice, unless you're equating justice to vengeance in the form of an eye for an eye.

I'm not the one who claims that mercy is at odds with justice, here, it is you guys.

 

[blackheart]

It's not open-ended, there is an end: Death.

Yes, your point?

I'm not the one who claims that mercy is at odds with justice, here, it is you guys.

How could you possibly decide what will happen for you for all eternity at a single point in time? Is that even reasonable?

My point is if you weren't baptized/ Christian/ whatever, according to Christian dogma, you're already going to hell, so why would you choose at the point of death if you're not?

Who claimed mercy is at odds with justice?...

 

[FredLC]

Is not, then, eternal salvation too great a reward for what little good that can be done in one lifetime?

Hehehehe, this is not a contest to see just how extreme in good or in evil God can get. Besides, you’re gonna have to forgive me if I think no one can criticize God (or anybody) when he exaggerates to the side of goodness, but don’t have quite the same stance when he exaggerates in the side of evil.

Of course not. At the end of life, we are asked to make a permanent decision, for all eternity: God, or not God. The punishment for such a final decision cannot be temporary.

Why not? Does God have a limit regarding reversing one's final fate?

If you believe in God, than you have to recognize that he decided that it should be that way. Hence evoking the fatality of the consequence does little, if anything at all, to advance your proposal.

Christians are not supposed to value mercy over justice. Choosing mercy over justice does more harm than good.

Apparently not, when your take of justice signifies millions of souls burning in flames for the eternity, the huge majority of them for actions or opinions that considering “deserving of punishment” is controversial, to say the least. This is, always assuming it is true, is the single most terrible harm I can imagine.

Nonetheless, it’s obvious that you and I have different reading of the Christian doctrine. But I’m curious: How do you reconcile “when someone hits you, give the other cheek” with “choosing mercy over justice does more harm than good”?

This passage sounds awfully closed-minded.

Indeed. I try to be open minded, but I never suggested I don’t have my own dogmas as well. Nevertheless – and here is the catch – are you willing to give up your convictions any more than I am willing to give up mine?

Again, how could the absence of God be unproportional to the crime of rejecting God? And also, how can you lament the "permanence" of Hell? Keep in mind, after death, there is no more time! A temporary punishment is a bit to temporal for eternity!

In two ways, actually. First, as I said before, due to entitlement: God, under the believer’s perspective, has set the rules and decided what the punishment is and how severe it is. Assuming it is true, it’s necessarily disproportional because it means harm far more terrible and lasting than any wrongness any human being can perpetrate;

Second, because God has a myopic criterion in which both grave actions (say, genocide) and minor slips (say, having gay sex) are punished in the same way. Even if I didn’t question God’s legitimacy to set such rules even if he created the universe, or the extent of the punishment (even to the graver of the sins), this alone would mean that, at least to some crimes, the punishment is disproportional.

The manner in which you tell a behavior is more damaging the other is by demonstrating how much punishment it deserves. If God can’t tell the difference between the several “sins”, and for him it’s always a “either you are with me or you are against me” – a black-and white deity – than I have one reason to not trust his judgment even if in fact he does exist… after all, “only the sith deals with things in terms of absolutes”!

Regards .

 

[El_Machinae]

A religious thread? Where does that coincide with a fear of death. Everybody avoids death, unless conviction convinces them otherwise. People can claim what they want, but avoid death is an affirmative action.

 

[Zany]

Of course I'm not afraid of dying! Why should I be? Read my sig.