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Question for all of the atheists on here

Salvador

Salvador

RF's Swedenborgian
Salvador said:
You promptly answered that same question I asked Poly as I was planning to ask you....:D
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Good answer...you're right...even if your character appeared like you and behaved like you...without your memories in tact...you'd be like a different person...if your memories were left intact, then some of them would be a source of pain.
 
B

BubbaGumps

Member
Frank Goad said:
In atheism the afterlife you go to is simply ceasing to exist on your deathbed.Why doesn't the idea of ceasing to exist forever not more scary to atheists?:eek:
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I am an agnostic in the true sense of the word. I personally do not subscribe to the idea that something that defines the individual survives the death of the body. It is not a pleasant thought when you dwell on it. But in the end, you cannot be conscious of being unconscious. It's not like anyone will be fretting about their non-existence. It is also rationally difficult to conceive of our own non-existence so it creates a disjoint in our mind that we cannot come to terms with most of the time.

I just look at it this way -- you or I weren't around for all the billions of years prior to our conception in the womb. I ask, where were we then ? The answer is simple---you had no brain or body to be sentient. In other words you didn't exist, either in mind or body. Why doesn't that thought scare you that you didn't exist? It is certainly true. Where were you? Did the idea that you didn't exist bother you ? There was a point in the past where we didn't exist and there will be a point in the future. Both stand on equal footing.
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Salvador said:
What if your character were reborn each time after the ionic currents ceased flowing across the neurons of your character's mind with memory of your character's past life wiped-out so that repeated experiences between your character's past lives and current life seemed either new or less repetitive to you in your current life.?
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In that case, it sounds like 'I' would be different people, so I would still not exist after I die.
 
Salvador

Salvador

RF's Swedenborgian
Polymath257 said:
In that case, it sounds like 'I' would be different people, so I would still not exist after I die.
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The problem with anybody having eternal life in paradise is memory...that'd be a source of excruciating boredom or sadness of loss. Anybody's loss of memories would make them a different person.
 
Salvador

Salvador

RF's Swedenborgian
youknowme said:
How about slugs? Houseplants?
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Of course, they are living organisms, but neither plants nor slugs have any central processing unit from which consciousness could emerge. They also lack long-term memory in order to be conscious beings.
 
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Jollybear

Jollybear

Hey
Polymath257 said:
I find ceasing to exist far more comforting than the idea of living forever. After the first few billion years, eternity would be pure hell.

And, for that matter, I've not existed prior to this: before I was born. I didn't find it bad at all.
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Why would living a few billion years be pure hell?

I think being immortal would be wonderful. Think about how much you could learn. All the knowledge of the world would be yours and you could make the world a paradise with all the knowledge you gain.
 
lukethethird

lukethethird

unknown member
Frank Goad said:
In atheism the afterlife you go to is simply ceasing to exist on your deathbed.Why doesn't the idea of ceasing to exist forever not more scary to atheists?:eek:
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Atheists have been known to sneer at the face of death and snicker at the belief of an afterlife, and why not?
 
Q

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
Frank Goad said:
In atheism the afterlife you go to is simply ceasing to exist on your deathbed.Why doesn't the idea of ceasing to exist forever not more scary to atheists?:eek:
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Are you scared by the fact that you didn't exist before you were born? If not, no good reason to be scared of not existing after you die.
 
Jollybear

Jollybear

Hey
Revoltingest said:
It would depend upon the company & the accommodations.
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Explain more?

If i understand correctly, id think a person thats lived billions of years, they would have mastered by then who would be the best company for them to be around. In fact, i think such a person would be able to see right through every individual they come in contact with.
 
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youknowme

youknowme

Whatever you want me to be.
Salvador said:
Of course, they are living organisms, but neither plants nor slugs have any central processing unit from which consciousness could emerge. They also lack long-term memory in order to be conscious beings.
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So? You have not actually given any reason at all why those things should be viewed differently in terms of life after death.
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Jollybear said:
Why would living a few billion years be pure hell?

I think being immortal would be wonderful. Think about how much you could learn. All the knowledge of the world would be yours and you could make the world a paradise with all the knowledge you gain.
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And then after another billion years, even that would get tedious. Or a trillion, or a quintillion, or Graham's number of years. All trivial compared to eternity. Eventually, insanity is the only possible result.
 
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