My attitude as an atheist

[The Transcended Omniverse]

I am an atheist and since this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in) and since I am a hedonist (which means that pleasure and suffering are the only true good and bad things in life and are the only things that determine the amount of good and bad value we as human beings have and in our lives while everything else in life besides our pleasure and suffering is neither good or bad and are only good and bad in a neutral sense which means they are not truly good or bad things at all), then allow me to live the life that I want (a life that imposes no threat and imposes no detriment on me or the lives of others) which would be a perfect happy fantasy world of full pleasure free of any suffering, depression, despair, and anhedonia. Allow me to live that life in addition to me also having a religious belief in which I would believe that I would go to an afterlife of eternal joy free of suffering when I die. This religious belief (although it would be false and delusional) would give me a sense of hope and superiority over the meaninglessness, mortality (dying in the end and going nowhere), imperfections, and suffering of this universe knowing that I would no longer have these things in my life when I die and that I would get the happy fantasy world of full pleasure with no suffering that I wanted in the end which would be an afterlife of eternal joy. My idealized self living in a perfect blissful afterlife of eternal joy would be the greatest and most superior person compared to who I am now in this life as an atheist since pleasure and having no suffering in your life are the only things that determine your level of greatness and superiority as a human being.

Allow me to both have this life of pure pleasure and no suffering along with a religious belief (a belief that would also impose no threat or detriment on me or the lives of others either and would just serve to make me happy and give me a sense of hope and superiority over the suffering in this life. Suffering and even my own mortality being things that only serve to make me and my life inferior regardless of what anyone else says which is why I wish to be superior to those things through living a perfect happy religious life). Since I am an atheist and this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in), then allow me to have the religious belief I want that would make me happy and allow me to live the happy life free of suffering I want. Since I have just as much personal value as anyone else and that I deserve to live a perfect happy life free of suffering in addition to me living for others and having full value towards them as well in giving them pleasure and that you would have no right to scorn upon my desire to be happy with no suffering and to scorn upon my desire to have a religious belief in my life since none of those said things would have any detriment and such on me and your lives and that you would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. on my personal values here just as I would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. upon your own personal values since we all have our own personal subjective values in life that hold true for us, then allow me to live that perfect blissful religious life.

Finally, to have little to no good value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering (even though that itself is just a neutral thought since even our own thoughts are neither good or bad (neutral), then you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath. This would be because to have immense value towards our own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in our lives as well as having immense value towards the pleasure of others and to have immense value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering is just how we function as normal human beings. But to have little to no value towards your own pleasure and/or the idea (thought) of having it in your life (which would mean having little to no value towards an afterlife of eternal pleasure) and to instead have the full or greater value towards other things in life would mean that you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath who has little to no value towards others and their pleasure who instead has the full and greater value towards his/her own pleasure. Therefore, to have an equal amount of value towards your own pleasure as well as others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. In other words, to have all full value towards your own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in your life as well as having all full value towards others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. Therefore, since I do not have the mental disorder and will never have the mental disorder of me having little to no value towards my own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in my life and that I value others and their pleasure as much as I do, then this is yet another reason why I also have every right to value my own pleasure as much as I do (as well as the pleasure of others) and I have every right to have as much value towards an afterlife of eternal joy as much as I do.

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

I am an atheist and since this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in) and since I am a hedonist (which means that pleasure and suffering are the only true good and bad things in life and are the only things that determine the amount of good and bad value we as human beings have and in our lives while everything else in life besides our pleasure and suffering is neither good or bad and are only good and bad in a neutral sense which means they are not truly good or bad things at all), then allow me to live the life that I want (a life that imposes no threat and imposes no detriment on me or the lives of others) which would be a perfect happy fantasy world of full pleasure free of any suffering, depression, despair, and anhedonia. Allow me to live that life in addition to me also having a religious belief in which I would believe that I would go to an afterlife of eternal joy free of suffering when I die. This religious belief (although it would be false and delusional) would give me a sense of hope and superiority over the meaninglessness, mortality (dying in the end and going nowhere), imperfections, and suffering of this universe knowing that I would no longer have these things in my life when I die and that I would get the happy fantasy world of full pleasure with no suffering that I wanted in the end which would be an afterlife of eternal joy. My idealized self living in a perfect blissful afterlife of eternal joy would be the greatest and most superior person compared to who I am now in this life as an atheist since pleasure and having no suffering in your life are the only things that determine your level of greatness and superiority as a human being.

Allow me to both have this life of pure pleasure and no suffering along with a religious belief (a belief that would also impose no threat or detriment on me or the lives of others either and would just serve to make me happy and give me a sense of hope and superiority over the suffering in this life. Suffering and even my own mortality being things that only serve to make me and my life inferior regardless of what anyone else says which is why I wish to be superior to those things through living a perfect happy religious life). Since I am an atheist and this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in), then allow me to have the religious belief I want that would make me happy and allow me to live the happy life free of suffering I want. Since I have just as much personal value as anyone else and that I deserve to live a perfect happy life free of suffering in addition to me living for others and having full value towards them as well in giving them pleasure and that you would have no right to scorn upon my desire to be happy with no suffering and to scorn upon my desire to have a religious belief in my life since none of those said things would have any detriment and such on me and your lives and that you would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. on my personal values here just as I would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. upon your own personal values since we all have our own personal subjective values in life that hold true for us, then allow me to live that perfect blissful religious life.

Finally, to have little to no good value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering (even though that itself is just a neutral thought since even our own thoughts are neither good or bad (neutral), then you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath. This would be because to have immense value towards our own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in our lives as well as having immense value towards the pleasure of others and to have immense value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering is just how we function as normal human beings. But to have little to no value towards your own pleasure and/or the idea (thought) of having it in your life (which would mean having little to no value towards an afterlife of eternal pleasure) and to instead have the full or greater value towards other things in life would mean that you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath who has little to no value towards others and their pleasure who instead has the full and greater value towards his/her own pleasure. Therefore, to have an equal amount of value towards your own pleasure as well as others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. In other words, to have all full value towards your own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in your life as well as having all full value towards others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. Therefore, since I do not have the mental disorder and will never have the mental disorder of me having little to no value towards my own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in my life and that I value others and their pleasure as much as I do, then this is yet another reason why I also have every right to value my own pleasure as much as I do (as well as the pleasure of others) and I have every right to have as much value towards an afterlife of eternal joy as much as I do.

Legally you are allowed to do that, yes.

Good luck though in living a life of pure pleasure, I doubt anyone ever has.

From a Christian standpoint, our material and fleshly pleasures are temporary and fleeting. I could never think it was a good thing for a person to simply let themselves be completely enslaved to their desires and material pleasures. For me there is something more to be desired, a greater joy, a true spiritual joy one not dependent on our current earthly circumstances, true life and meaning and joy through Christ.

I could not recommend you having your "happiness" when I cannot believe it is true happiness at all. And I could not recommend you believe in a false heaven to magnify this false happiness.

Your "right" to believe in this and live like this has no bearing on the truth or what is truly good. If I know something is bad for someone, why would I ever think it a good or acceptable thing? Under the law of course you are "allowed" to do all these things, a right which I most certainly agree with, however going to a Christian to seek approval probably will not return positive results, at least not in my case.

 

[psychoslice]

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.......too long, sorry.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

Legally you are allowed to do that, yes.

Good luck though in living a life of pure pleasure, I doubt anyone ever has.

From a Christian standpoint, our material and fleshly pleasures are temporary and fleeting. I could never think it was a good thing for a person to simply let themselves be completely enslaved to their desires and material pleasures. For me there is something more to be desired, a greater joy, a true spiritual joy one not dependent on our current earthly circumstances, true life and meaning and joy through Christ.

I could not recommend you having your "happiness" when I cannot believe it is true happiness at all. And I could not recommend you believe in a false heaven to magnify this false happiness.

Your "right" to believe in this and live like this has no bearing on the truth or what is truly good. If I know something is bad for someone, why would I ever think it a good or acceptable thing? Under the law of course you are "allowed" to do all these things, a right which I most certainly agree with, however going to a Christian to seek approval probably will not return positive results, at least not in my case.

You say there is a difference between true happiness and happiness that is not true. However, happiness is happiness regardless of what it is. According to my hedonistic beliefs, pleasure (no matter what it is) is the only good and greatest thing in life and no feeling of pleasure is inferior to the other. Also, your value judgment of what is true happiness or not would be your own subjective value while I have my own subjective value which would be that this would be true happiness for me.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The sentences are too long for me.

 

[serp777]

Legally you are allowed to do that, yes.

Good luck though in living a life of pure pleasure, I doubt anyone ever has.

From a Christian standpoint, our material and fleshly pleasures are temporary and fleeting. I could never think it was a good thing for a person to simply let themselves be completely enslaved to their desires and material pleasures. For me there is something more to be desired, a greater joy, a true spiritual joy one not dependent on our current earthly circumstances, true life and meaning and joy through Christ.

I could not recommend you having your "happiness" when I cannot believe it is true happiness at all. And I could not recommend you believe in a false heaven to magnify this false happiness.

Your "right" to believe in this and live like this has no bearing on the truth or what is truly good. If I know something is bad for someone, why would I ever think it a good or acceptable thing? Under the law of course you are "allowed" to do all these things, a right which I most certainly agree with, however going to a Christian to seek approval probably will not return positive results, at least not in my case.

I certainly don't agree with a life of pure pleasure--pain is necessary to make improvements and fully enjoy pleasure; experiencing too much consecutive pleasure gives you a tolerance to it. Pain is an important part of evolution and a tool, but in a universe where God cares about us beyond curiosity, it only serves to give us meaningless suffering and duress.

The Christian standpoint seems very illogical and confusing. I don't understand how Christ gives meaning or joy, or what spiritual joy even is for that matter. Christ allegedly made a scapegoat of himself for original sin resulting from the non existent actions of a non existent forebearer (Adam), in order to forgive us from himself which will allow us to save him from himself, since he has claimed that he is apart of God. It would be like if a judge decided the forgive an alleged criminal that had no evidence against him by sacrificing his son as a scapegoat to take the blame for a non existent crime. I find that to be spiritually disgusting and morally reprehensibly. I also find the concept that we are born sick with original sin is spiritually disgusting.These reprehensible morals do not give me joy, quite the opposite--i am concerned people can get joy from this. And this is also the opposite of meaning--it is meaningless suffering and being a scapegoat for absolutely no reason. How could that be construed as meaning?

"I could not recommend you having your "happiness" when I cannot believe it is true happiness at all. And I could not recommend you believe in a false heaven to magnify this false happiness."

You don't have the authority to declare what true happiness is. True happiness is defined by the individual experiencing it. You also do not have the authority to declare what true or false heaven is, or if ti even exists. Heaven seems more like an invention to get peasants to follow Christianity so that they believe they can escape their terrible lives if they believe in the faith. Its like an incentive to convince them to join, and probably a false hope.

 

[DayRaven]

You could have just written "I want to live as I want".

Fair enough. Your problem is that I might decide that I want to live a life of murder, rape, and robbery i.e. to be lawless. Now you will say: yes but that's hurting others and I will say: I give a s**t because? And we are back onto the debate of how men live with others and how we justify what we do and why you should do this but not that........you get the idea.

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

You say there is a difference between true happiness and happiness that is not true. However, happiness is happiness regardless of what it is. According to my hedonistic beliefs, pleasure (no matter what it is) is the only good and greatest thing in life and no feeling of pleasure is inferior to the other. Also, your value judgment of what is true happiness or not would be your own subjective value while I have my own subjective value which would be that this would be true happiness for me.

My value judgement is based on the Scriptures, which I believe is an objective source.

You are allowed to believe and behave however you want, but that doesn't mean I should endorse that or recommend that to you. If I had a friend that believed that drugs is the only good and greatest thing in life, I would urge him to stop for his own safety, I would not support his decision out of some respect for his misguided beliefs.

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

I certainly don't agree with a life of pure pleasure--pain is necessary to make improvements and fully enjoy pleasure; experiencing too much consecutive pleasure gives you a tolerance to it. Pain is an important part of evolution and a tool, but in a universe where God cares about us beyond curiosity, it only serves to give us meaningless suffering and duress.

Suffering is not meaningless from a Christian standpoint. In one instance Paul tells us that "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Suffering is not meaningless from the Christian worldview, not at all.

The Christian standpoint seems very illogical and confusing. I don't understand how Christ gives meaning or joy, or what spiritual joy even is for that matter. Christ allegedly made a scapegoat of himself for original sin resulting from the non existent actions of a non existent forebearer (Adam),

Even from an evolutionary worldview we descend from one human couple. The actions and lives of Adam and Eve are not inconceivable so I do not know how you are able to make these assertions.

in order to forgive us from himself which will allow us to save him from himself, since he has claimed that he is apart of God. It would be like if a judge decided the forgive an alleged criminal that had no evidence against him by sacrificing his son as a scapegoat to take the blame for a non existent crime. I find that to be spiritually disgusting and morally reprehensibly. I also find the concept that we are born sick with original sin is spiritually disgusting.These reprehensible morals do not give me joy, quite the opposite--i am concerned people can get joy from this. And this is also the opposite of meaning--it is meaningless suffering and being a scapegoat for absolutely no reason. How could that be construed as meaning?

Firstly, your analogy is flawed. It fails to recognise the oneness of the Father and the Son, sharing the same nature that is God, you make it seem like a judge is unfairly making his son take punishment, when in Christian theology the Father and the Son are one God. It also fails to recognise that God is the author of law and the justice, where as a human judge is a mere servant which evokes a sense of injustice in us that he is not doing his job properly.

A better analogy would be this. A man has a huge debt to pay to a king. Legally, the man should pay his debt, but the king decides to cancel his debt and pay for it himself. Is this not an act of mercy? Would you now accuse the king of injustice because he decided to forgive the man and pay the debt himself? Is it not entirely the king's decision whether to cancel that debt or not? If it is an act of mercy with this king, how much more an act of mercy with the Creator, to whom we owe a huge debt from our sin against Him, that He paid Himself, "nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).

Why is the concept of original sin "spiritually disgusting"? The world is fallen, we make war, we are selfish, greedy, we love our own pleasures and desires. Take the original post for example, we want pleasure for ourselves, that is the greatest good for many of us. The doctrine of original sin is not that we are blamed personally for Adam's sin, but we do inherit a corrupt nature and it is not an inconceivable thought when we look at the world around us.

God's love abounds with meaning. God paid the debt that we owed Him, Jesus died in our place, and had victory over death by rising from the grave! This isn't a mere scapegoat but a marvellous and merciful God. How can you say it is being a scapegoat for "absolutely no reason"? We were indebted to God with our sins against Him, yet He decided to cancel that debt through what He did on the cross. Our sins are not just being forgiven but we are made into new creations. We can have joy because of the grace of God to save sinners such as ourselves, to rescue us from the death that we most certainly deserved, so that we can rise with Christ into new life, and partake in God's glory. We can have joy to know that God is totally in control, in every circumstance that we may suffer we can have the joy to know God works all things for our good, and that we can trust in the God who would die to save us. We can have joy because God grants us true freedom, freedom from slavery to our own selfish desires and sinfulness, the freedom to live according to the Spirit and righteousness. This is true meaning, to find out who we truly are in Christ, through the cloud of sin and slavery, and to be "transformed from glory to glory into his image" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Jesus wasn't providing a free ticket to heaven but access to the Father, new life and transformation to live a life of love that He did. The temple curtain has been torn, and we can now have relationship, everlasting communion, with the Creator, and that is true joy indeed.

You don't have the authority to declare what true happiness is. True happiness is defined by the individual experiencing it. You also do not have the authority to declare what true or false heaven is, or if ti even exists. Heaven seems more like an invention to get peasants to follow Christianity so that they believe they can escape their terrible lives if they believe in the faith. Its like an incentive to convince them to join, and probably a false hope.

I may not have the authority but the Scriptures do. As I said before, the topic creator certainly has the right to behave as he wishes and pursue his idea of happiness, but it is not one that I will endorse.

Your assertion that heaven is an invention is lacking in evidence. Anyone can come up with a reason for something existing that has no evidence itself. For example, I can easily assert that atheism is an invention by mankind so that they will not be held accountable for their wrongdoing and not have to fear the judgement of God. I'm not saying that is true, by the way, but I hope you can see how anything can be turned around on its head like that. And while I believe that heaven is a wonderful reality, Jesus calls us to carry our cross, it is not a comfortable and inoffensive faith but one that through the centuries has carried with it persecution and suffering.

As C.S. Lewis said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

 

[FearGod]

I am an atheist and since this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in) and since I am a hedonist (which means that pleasure and suffering are the only true good and bad things in life and are the only things that determine the amount of good and bad value we as human beings have and in our lives while everything else in life besides our pleasure and suffering is neither good or bad and are only good and bad in a neutral sense which means they are not truly good or bad things at all), then allow me to live the life that I want (a life that imposes no threat and imposes no detriment on me or the lives of others) which would be a perfect happy fantasy world of full pleasure free of any suffering, depression, despair, and anhedonia. Allow me to live that life in addition to me also having a religious belief in which I would believe that I would go to an afterlife of eternal joy free of suffering when I die. This religious belief (although it would be false and delusional) would give me a sense of hope and superiority over the meaninglessness, mortality (dying in the end and going nowhere), imperfections, and suffering of this universe knowing that I would no longer have these things in my life when I die and that I would get the happy fantasy world of full pleasure with no suffering that I wanted in the end which would be an afterlife of eternal joy. My idealized self living in a perfect blissful afterlife of eternal joy would be the greatest and most superior person compared to who I am now in this life as an atheist since pleasure and having no suffering in your life are the only things that determine your level of greatness and superiority as a human being.

Allow me to both have this life of pure pleasure and no suffering along with a religious belief (a belief that would also impose no threat or detriment on me or the lives of others either and would just serve to make me happy and give me a sense of hope and superiority over the suffering in this life. Suffering and even my own mortality being things that only serve to make me and my life inferior regardless of what anyone else says which is why I wish to be superior to those things through living a perfect happy religious life). Since I am an atheist and this is the one and only life I will ever have to enjoy (have pleasure in), then allow me to have the religious belief I want that would make me happy and allow me to live the happy life free of suffering I want. Since I have just as much personal value as anyone else and that I deserve to live a perfect happy life free of suffering in addition to me living for others and having full value towards them as well in giving them pleasure and that you would have no right to scorn upon my desire to be happy with no suffering and to scorn upon my desire to have a religious belief in my life since none of those said things would have any detriment and such on me and your lives and that you would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. on my personal values here just as I would have no right to frown, scorn, etc. upon your own personal values since we all have our own personal subjective values in life that hold true for us, then allow me to live that perfect blissful religious life.

Finally, to have little to no good value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering (even though that itself is just a neutral thought since even our own thoughts are neither good or bad (neutral), then you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath. This would be because to have immense value towards our own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in our lives as well as having immense value towards the pleasure of others and to have immense value towards an afterlife of eternal joy of no suffering is just how we function as normal human beings. But to have little to no value towards your own pleasure and/or the idea (thought) of having it in your life (which would mean having little to no value towards an afterlife of eternal pleasure) and to instead have the full or greater value towards other things in life would mean that you would be just as mentally disordered as a psychopath who has little to no value towards others and their pleasure who instead has the full and greater value towards his/her own pleasure. Therefore, to have an equal amount of value towards your own pleasure as well as others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. In other words, to have all full value towards your own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in your life as well as having all full value towards others and their pleasure is what is considered mentally stable. Therefore, since I do not have the mental disorder and will never have the mental disorder of me having little to no value towards my own pleasure and towards the idea of having it in my life and that I value others and their pleasure as much as I do, then this is yet another reason why I also have every right to value my own pleasure as much as I do (as well as the pleasure of others) and I have every right to have as much value towards an afterlife of eternal joy as much as I do.

I don't see any problem with atheism and how one choose to live, but what do you think about bad people,such as oppressors, rapists, robbers , murderers ..etc

I don't see any conflict between a good atheist and religion (morals) but the conflict is between evil ones and religion.

 

[serp777]

Suffering is not meaningless from a Christian standpoint. In one instance Paul tells us that "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Suffering is not meaningless from the Christian worldview, not at all.


Even from an evolutionary worldview we descend from one human couple. The actions and lives of Adam and Eve are not inconceivable so I do not know how you are able to make these assertions.


Firstly, your analogy is flawed. It fails to recognise the oneness of the Father and the Son, sharing the same nature that is God, you make it seem like a judge is unfairly making his son take punishment, when in Christian theology the Father and the Son are one God. It also fails to recognise that God is the author of law and the justice, where as a human judge is a mere servant which evokes a sense of injustice in us that he is not doing his job properly.

A better analogy would be this. A man has a huge debt to pay to a king. Legally, the man should pay his debt, but the king decides to cancel his debt and pay for it himself. Is this not an act of mercy? Would you now accuse the king of injustice because he decided to forgive the man and pay the debt himself? Is it not entirely the king's decision whether to cancel that debt or not? If it is an act of mercy with this king, how much more an act of mercy with the Creator, to whom we owe a huge debt from our sin against Him, that He paid Himself, "nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).

Why is the concept of original sin "spiritually disgusting"? The world is fallen, we make war, we are selfish, greedy, we love our own pleasures and desires. Take the original post for example, we want pleasure for ourselves, that is the greatest good for many of us. The doctrine of original sin is not that we are blamed personally for Adam's sin, but we do inherit a corrupt nature and it is not an inconceivable thought when we look at the world around us.

God's love abounds with meaning. God paid the debt that we owed Him, Jesus died in our place, and had victory over death by rising from the grave! This isn't a mere scapegoat but a marvellous and merciful God. How can you say it is being a scapegoat for "absolutely no reason"? We were indebted to God with our sins against Him, yet He decided to cancel that debt through what He did on the cross. Our sins are not just being forgiven but we are made into new creations. We can have joy because of the grace of God to save sinners such as ourselves, to rescue us from the death that we most certainly deserved, so that we can rise with Christ into new life, and partake in God's glory. We can have joy to know that God is totally in control, in every circumstance that we may suffer we can have the joy to know God works all things for our good, and that we can trust in the God who would die to save us. We can have joy because God grants us true freedom, freedom from slavery to our own selfish desires and sinfulness, the freedom to live according to the Spirit and righteousness. This is true meaning, to find out who we truly are in Christ, through the cloud of sin and slavery, and to be "transformed from glory to glory into his image" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Jesus wasn't providing a free ticket to heaven but access to the Father, new life and transformation to live a life of love that He did. The temple curtain has been torn, and we can now have relationship, everlasting communion, with the Creator, and that is true joy indeed.



I may not have the authority but the Scriptures do. As I said before, the topic creator certainly has the right to behave as he wishes and pursue his idea of happiness, but it is not one that I will endorse.

Your assertion that heaven is an invention is lacking in evidence. Anyone can come up with a reason for something existing that has no evidence itself. For example, I can easily assert that atheism is an invention by mankind so that they will not be held accountable for their wrongdoing and not have to fear the judgement of God. I'm not saying that is true, by the way, but I hope you can see how anything can be turned around on its head like that. And while I believe that heaven is a wonderful reality, Jesus calls us to carry our cross, it is not a comfortable and inoffensive faith but one that through the centuries has carried with it persecution and suffering.

As C.S. Lewis said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

First of all, a quote from paul is hardly compelling. How does a child suffering terminal lukemia build character and hope? How do starving children of Africa who are destined to suffer horibbly and die from tuberculoisis build hope? You know what it builds? Despair, duress, and a pointless life of misery. They die mercilessly without anyone remembering the,. So much "building character." I mean give me a break man. I'm so Glad you think God pours his love into ebola. He sure must love those Africans.

"God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Suffering is not meaningless from the Christian worldview, not at all."

One quote from paul doesn't even come close too closing that.

"Even from an evolutionary worldview we descend from one human couple. The actions and lives of Adam and Eve are not inconceivable so I do not know how you are able to make these assertions."

LOL. You're very ignorant about biology.

"
Not the biblical Eve[edit]
Owing to its figurative reference to the first woman in the Biblical Book of Genesis, the Mitochondrial Eve theory initially met with enthusiastic endorsement from some young earth creationists, who viewed the theory as a validation of the biblical creation story. Some even went so far as to claim that the Mitochondrial Eve theory disproved evolution.[37][38][39] However, the theory does not suggest any relation between biblical Eve and Mitochondrial Eve because Mitochondrial Eve:

• is not a fixed individual
• had a mother
• was not the only woman of her time, and
• Y-chromosomal Adam is unlikely to have been her sexual partner, or indeed to have been contemporaneous to her.

Mitochondrial Eve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You portray evolution as extremely simplistic. There were never fewer than 1000 humans, else the gene pool would be corrupted irreparably.

"A better analogy would be this. A man has a huge debt to pay to a king. Legally, the man should pay his debt, but the king decides to cancel his debt and pay for it himself. Is this not an act of mercy? Would you now accuse the king of injustice because he decided to forgive the man and pay the debt himself?"

Your analogy is flawed--no one dies, the man has no inherent debt to pay, and the bank lends money not the king.

Here's to correct your analogy. A man doesn't have any debt, but the king thinks he does. Legally, the man should pay the debt he doesn't technically owe, but the king feels bad and decides to kill himself to pay for it. There we go. Now we fixed your flawed analogy.

"Your assertion that heaven is an invention is lacking in evidence. Anyone can come up with a reason for something existing that has no evidence itself. For example, I can easily assert that atheism is an invention by mankind so that they will not be held accountable for their wrongdoing and not have to fear the judgement of God."

Are you serious? I certainly do not have the burden of proof that heaven exists. That's a huge claim and requires a ton of evidence. Not to mention you have to disprove hindu reincarnation, and all the other disagreeing faiths, etc. You're the one asserting heaven exists ironically.

And atheism as an invention is a joke. It's like inventing not believing in santa clause, or inventing not believing in a celestial teapot. It makes no sense at all. Also Muslims would argue the exact same thing, except they would say that you believe in Christianity so that you won't be held accountable for not believing in the true prophet mohommad and allah. A muslim clone could argue the same as you.