“Without God, Life Has No Purpose, And Without Purpose, Life Has No Meaning

[SomeRandom]

Guilty.

But you're Australian, me too. Might be an occupational hazard.

Ahh good point.

 

[SomeRandom]

Just to prove I’m not just posting these stereotypes for the lolz, I legitimately am tipsy right now

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

So you are not self-aware?

I'm not a robot.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

It's easy to fall into nihilism and existential despair if we're just meaningless meat robots in a random universe.

Most of the people I encounter n RF and elsewhere that fit that description are theists. The Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door recently, and we had a discussion. hey began by discussing how defective and corrupt the world is, and how this was predicted in their Bible. They were trying to tell me that there was no hope without believing what they do. That's pretty nihilistic to me.

I told them that my world is nothing like that. The people I know are largely friendly and happy, not corrupt. The world has been and continues to be a happy place in the main, and life as an atheist and secular humanist has been satisfying.

Incidentally, a godless universe is not necessarily random, just dysteleological - the philosophical view that existence has no telos or final cause from purposeful design.

Also, I don't know any atheist that would describe him- or herself as just a meat robot, or just a chemical soup, or just a collection of atoms bumping into one another. We're all of those things and more, including intelligent, empathetic individuals living in societies that give our lives structure, meaning, and purpose.

The comment is analogous to saying that Shakespeare is nothing but a bunch of letters, punctuation, and spaces. It's that, but not just that.

If I discovered that I were a robotic meat bag, nothing would change. I already accept that I probably am. That doesn't diminish the possibility of living a robust and satisfying life. There is no tendency to nihilism or existential despair.

One; that "God" as a conceptual representation of meaning and purpose is very common among theists, not "rare", and two; that the need and usefulness of such a mechanism are not "unhealthy", but realistic and practical.

it's His version of god, so he's telling me and you and a whole lot of theists as well that our lives have no meaning.

That's his purpose - to tell his adherents that our lives have no meaning, implying that their lives were the only meaningful ones, apparently by virtue of rejecting the world and seeing it as base and vulgar, and seeing humanity as spiritually sick, defective, and dangerous to engage.

It seems pretty insecure to me to have to validate oneself by demeaning others.

I prefer my situation to his. He needs his god belief to live his life. He probably never lived outside of religion, and did not develop the coping skills that an atheist does growing up without a belief in a celestial overlord and an afterlife. We learn to accept the very real possibility that we may be all there is for light years, that we may be vulnerable and not watched over, the likelihood of one's own mortality and finititude, and the reality of our insignificance everywhere but earth, and that one might be unloved except by some of those around you, and that we make our own meaning and define our own purpose. In my estimation, that's a better way to live.

I don't begrudge the believer his ideological support system, but I do see it as a crutch that he earned from not standing up to confront reality and learn how to cope without it. It would be analogous to somebody that needs eyeglasses to see well. I'm glad he can get what he needs, but I don't envy him for needing it. It's better to see well without glasses.

As for me, it's an allmighty letdown knowing there ain't no God.

I prefer it. Especially the Christian god. Why would we prefer that that god existed over not? Wouldn't we rather live in a godless universe rather than one featuring a god willing to create a torture chamber, stock it with demons, and keep souls alive after death for no other purpose than to punish them for not making the right guess absent good evidence to support that conclusion?

 

[shunyadragon]

I'm not a robot.

Neither is any other human.

 

[Segev Moran]

And what is this collective purpose we all share?

.

To survive as a specie and live in peace with one another, nature and the universe.
This is something, unfortunately, we fail to do.
God's teachings (according to the real Jewish beliefs) provides an amazing guide to achieve such goals.

 

[Pudding]

.The whole quote:

“Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.”

–Pastor Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life.​

True or not?.

Without religion a's God A, life has no purpose.

Without religion b's God B, life has no purpose.

Without religion c's God C, life has no purpose.

Without Flying Spaghetti Monster, life has no purpose.

Without universe-creating Blue Pixie, life has no purpose.


All of the above statements are bold empty claims, i don't take any one of them as fact.

 

[night912]

I'm not a robot.

You are if there is a god. If god created humans, then they are just programmed. So according to you, and going by your definition of robot, you are simply a program meat robot.

Since you didn't answer my question, does that mean that you came to this conclusion? Going by what you said, you can still think and be a robot. So if are program to think that without god, then there is no purpose, you are by your own definition, a meat robot programmed to think that. That would result in you being easier to fall into nihilism.

 

[Skwim]

To survive as a specie and live in peace with one another, nature and the universe.

Not to say some people don't do this, but I gotta tell you, there are a lot of people in this world whose only concern is with the preservation of their singular self. They have no concern with humans as a species or that everyone live in peace with one another, nature, and the universe. Their only concern is one of personal survival and well being.

.

 

[osgart]

I believe my God is worthwhile and just but that is just my belief. I cannot actually prove that.

I always knew my religion was true and that God existed but I never took it very seriously. Since I started to study it and understand the implications of God's existence I take it seriously and I now have a whole new level of hope and certainty about life. I understand what matters and what does not matter, so I worry much less about the material world things that I know are transitory. I look around and see people who are attached to the material world and it is strange to me. What is there in it to love? I love people and I love animals but I cannot love an object like a car or something that can be purchased with money.

It makes me sad to know you feel this way osgart. If God exists it only makes sense God is worthy, but I am going by the scriptures of my religion, so I believe that even though I question it at times, given all the suffering I see in the world.

Don't give up hope, there is always hope if you are sincere and seeking God.

I guess you mean in your past as a Christian. That might be in the past and you might be where you are today, but there is always a future and none of us knows what that future holds. I had all but given up on God too, even though I believed He existed, and I never thought I would be where I am today a few years ago. But I worked very hard to get here and I work hard to stay here.

I live for today, with eternal purposes in mind.
I see, you have not given up hope. There is a part of you that knows.

I know that a greater purpose is missing. There's a certain selflessness that my faith had brought me that I probably wouldn't have otherwise had. Now that I have no faith, there's a void and drop-off in my expectations and anticipations. The grande purpose I enjoyed was gone. And that purpose was first and foremost to serve humanity no matter what for God's sublime truth.

I had built up so many grande conceptions of God that that became my #1 passion. However from churches and the Bible, I felt that that particular God didn't live up to my conceptions. And I realized that I had faith in a God that didn't match any of the Gods out there.

The more I observed nature for my own self I began to realize that there is a lot of senseless savagery, and blind immorality in it. And with the explosion of astronomy, and all the science shows the gap between God and nature became extremely deep. The more I learned the bigger the gap.

Don't get me wrong there's a lot of beauty in Baha'u'llah's writings. But all the God religions throughout history I am totally convinced are very, very short on worthiness. I know people have made a lot of inspirational beauty out of some of these religions. But the more I read up on Christianity the more I saw a God that wanted blind obedience, was jealous, wrathful, and short on explanatory reasoning, and failed my conscience.

To me all that inspiration was purely imagined by people that focused mainly on the poetic verses while totally ignoring the other scriptures.

So throughout history mankind's conception of God was solely their own.

 

[Trailblazer]

I know that a greater purpose is missing. There's a certain selflessness that my faith had brought me that I probably wouldn't have otherwise had. Now that I have no faith, there's a void and drop-off in my expectations and anticipations. The grande purpose I enjoyed was gone. And that purpose was first and foremost to serve humanity no matter what for God's sublime truth.

That is a very noble purpose. Serving humanity is a Baha'i teaching. I do not know how Christianity fit with that purpose. I am sad that you lost your purpose.

I had built up so many grande conceptions of God that that became my #1 passion. However from churches and the Bible, I felt that that particular God didn't live up to my conceptions. And I realized that I had faith in a God that didn't match any of the Gods out there.

I am not sure what Gods you re referring to. I do not believe there is more than one God, although there are many different conceptions of God.

The more I observed nature for my own self I began to realize that there is a lot of senseless savagery, and blind immorality in it. And with the explosion of astronomy, and all the science shows the gap between God and nature became extremely deep. The more I learned the bigger the gap.

I understand that. I feel the same way about savagery and human and animal suffering. It is difficult to believe that loving God would allow that, but I still believe that God exists and I try to believe God is loving and accept that there are simply many things I do not know.

Don't get me wrong there's a lot of beauty in Baha'u'llah's writings. But all the God religions throughout history I am totally convinced are very, very short on worthiness. I know people have made a lot of inspirational beauty out of some of these religions. But the more I read up on Christianity the more I saw a God that wanted blind obedience, was jealous, wrathful, and short on explanatory reasoning, and failed my conscience.

I might be in the same boat as you if I had been a Christian. Fortunately, I discovered the Baha'i Faith before I ever heard of any other religions and so I looked at it with an open and unbiased mind. I had never even read one page of the Bible at that time. I still do not know much of the Bible, but the Baha'i Faith does not teach a God that wants blind obedience or a God that is jealous and wrathful.

To me all that inspiration was purely imagined by people that focused mainly on the poetic verses while totally ignoring the other scriptures.

I do not know what scriptures you are referring to. I guess you mean the ones that paint God in a bad light.

So throughout history mankind's conception of God was solely their own.

Our conceptions have always been our own since they come from our own minds, whether we have a religion or not.

 

[Segev Moran]

You are if there is a god. If god created humans, then they are just programmed. So according to you, and going by your definition of robot, you are simply a program meat robot.

And if you are nothing but electrical signals, you are not a robot?

 

[Segev Moran]

Not to say some people don't do this, but I gotta tell you, there are a lot of people in this world whose only concern is with the preservation of their singular self. They have no concern with humans as a species or that everyone live in peace with one another, nature, and the universe. Their only concern is one of personal survival and well being.

.

Yep. Thats why we are where we are today.

 

[night912]

And if you are nothing but electrical signals, you are not a robot?

Never said anything like that.