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Old 05-21-2015, 09:21 AM
 
Location: Somewhere out there.
10,557 posts, read 6,217,782 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals View Post
And it supports my point.
After this life, an Atheist has no expecatation, no desire and no hope - which means he is hopeless in that sense.
After this life we will be dead so yes you are right there will be no expectation beyond that.

That doesn't mean this life is hopeless though, which you seem to imply, or that we feel 'hopeless' about the prospect of no afterlife.

We have the same hopes as anyone. We hope to live long, happy and fulfilling lives.


'Hoping' that it doesn't matter what happens in this life because it will all turn out rosy in the next is, if I may say, a somewhat naive and wasteful way to live. Since you have no idea if there is an afterlife, my advice to you is get the most out of this one and stop wasting your life hoping for another.
Then if it turns out there is an afterlife, that will be a bonus.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:21 AM
 
Location: Home is Where You Park It
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals View Post
And it supports my point.
After this life, an Atheist has no expecatation, no desire and no hope - which means he is hopeless in that sense.
But that isn't the question you asked, now is it?

If you think the term "hope" should only be used with regard to the afterlife, or if you were only interested in whether atheists had any hopes for after their lives were done, you should have said so in the first place. You would obviously have gotten different answers than the ones you did.

I have plenty of desires, expectations, and hopes, even though I am nearly 70.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Middle of nowhere
24,260 posts, read 14,285,782 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals View Post
And it supports my point.
After this life, an Atheist has no expecatation, no desire and no hope - which means he is hopeless in that sense.
Not really. After I die, I hope that my children live long and happy lives. I hope that my pets will be well cared for. I hope that I left this world just a little better for my involvement in it.

At least my hopes I can work to achieve. Your hopes are reliant on "faith".
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Old 05-22-2015, 12:03 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbrains View Post
This is a very odd way of putting things, almost as if you are searching for derogatory things to say about atheists. You frame hope in a very narrow way, and imply that unlikely hope is somehow beneficial.

I do agree with you to a point. Yes, believers can hope for perfect justice based upon the existence of god, however, as you note we can neither prove nor disprove something that is, by definition, outside of the natural realm. Given that we have zero evidence for a god, and zero evidence for the characteristics of such a god, is it reasonable to have hope for something for which we have no evidence?


But look at the reciprocal: We also have zero evidence that there is No God. So it boils to what I said earlier, faith.


Doesn't the atheist have a more realistic view of the world?

from the answer above, No not really, both believers and Atheist have the same chance of having a more realistic view of the world - the only difference is, in the after life, believers have hope.


As for hope within the world, I can hope that criminals are caught, I can hope that my next meal will be amazing, I can hope that I have enough hot water for a shower, and I can hope that Kate Upton shows up naked and horny at my front door.

Some of these things are more likely than others of course. I can influence some, but not others. Does this make me hopeless?

Do you have any response to my previous post? What are your thoughts on justice from a Christian perspective when evil people make deathbed conversions?

I am not a Christian so I can't speak for Christianity, but here is my point of view.
Generally speaking, everybody has sinned at one point or the other in their lives.

Now, there could be a punishment for the sin OR there could be forgiveness of the sin due to God's mercy, and surely God is merciful.

So say Mr. X has harmed Z number of people, and at his death bed, he repents. Now he can be either forgiven or Punished (to put it black and white).

If punished, justice is served, correct? HOWEVER, those he harmed may also have their own sins - so they will have to face justice too - no matter how brutal.


If Mr. X is forgiven or his punishment is reduced THEN those he harmed may also be given a free pass to enter paradise to make up for the injustice done to them in this life.

Mr. X may still face justice because his sins were a lot more than the forgiveness he received from group Y.


There could be many other scenarios - for example, Person A may end up giving a few or all of his good deeds (if he had any) to Person B due to injustice Person A did to Person B in this world.

The basic oracle; however, remains the same.

On the judgement day

Scales will be set!

Good deeds will be placed in one arm of the scale, and bad deeds/sins will be placed in the other arm of the scale.

If Good deeds outweigh the bad deeds, by the Mercy of God, this person has good news and glad tidings.

And if the bad deeds outweigh the good deeds, then he is in trouble; however, God is merciful and one should never be hopeless.

And, in this world this "hope" makes a believer do an even better good deed to even out if he makes a bad deed in an effort to have his Good deed outweigh his bad deeds in the end.


As I said earlier, everybody sins and God is merciful; however, I remember my elders used to pray this,
"Oh God, I don't need your justice, I need your mercy (because if true justice is served, we might as well get into trouble but with mercy of God and an effort of doing good deeds in this world there is a better chance to make it in the end.)


Answers in blue
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Old 05-22-2015, 12:12 AM
 
6,114 posts, read 3,124,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruithne View Post
After this life we will be dead so yes you are right there will be no expectation beyond that.

That doesn't mean this life is hopeless though, which you seem to imply, or that we feel 'hopeless' about the prospect of no afterlife.

We have the same hopes as anyone. We hope to live long, happy and fulfilling lives.

I primarily meant "hope" after life; however, think about it, many times when you "hope" for something to happen or not to happen in this life, you unconsciously confess that there is a higher power who is control, don't you?


'Hoping' that it doesn't matter what happens in this life because it will all turn out rosy in the next is, if I may say, a somewhat naive and wasteful way to live.


Since you have no idea if there is an afterlife, my advice to you is get the most out of this one and stop wasting your life hoping for another.
Then if it turns out there is an afterlife, that will be a bonus.

Again, look at the reciprocal, you also have no idea if there is an afterlife, so it boils to faith. You also have no idea if that after life would be a bonus or perhaps not a very pleasant one based on how you spent your time, energy, intelligence and resources in this life?
Answers in blue
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Old 05-22-2015, 12:20 AM
 
6,114 posts, read 3,124,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjrose View Post
Not really. After I die, I hope that my children live long and happy lives. I hope that my pets will be well cared for. I hope that I left this world just a little better for my involvement in it.

At least my hopes I can work to achieve. Your hopes are reliant on "faith".
As posted above, in this life when you as an Atheist "hope" for something to happen or not to happen, you unconsciously and very subtly confess that there is a higher power who is in control, and that power can make your hope come true.

So generally speaking, an Atheist having "hope" actually contradicts his own belief system of theology. That's my opinion, and you may necessarily agree with it.
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Old 05-22-2015, 12:23 AM
 
6,114 posts, read 3,124,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueg View Post
But that isn't the question you asked, now is it?

If you think the term "hope" should only be used with regard to the afterlife, or if you were only interested in whether atheists had any hopes for after their lives were done, you should have said so in the first place. You would obviously have gotten different answers than the ones you did.

I have plenty of desires, expectations, and hopes, even though I am nearly 70.
I asked if Atheists believed in Justice, to which I did not get a unanimously agreed upon response.
It varied from person to person, or Atheist to Atheist in this case.

Now, I guess we are approaching towards a conclusion.
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Old 05-22-2015, 12:42 AM
 
779 posts, read 485,871 times
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It's a silly question. Why wouldn't an atheist believe in justice? Belief in legends isn't necessary for one to believe in justice.
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Old 05-22-2015, 04:48 AM
 
Location: Florida
23,182 posts, read 26,338,109 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals View Post
As posted above, in this life when you as an Atheist "hope" for something to happen or not to happen, you unconsciously and very subtly confess that there is a higher power who is in control, and that power can make your hope come true.

So generally speaking, an Atheist having "hope" actually contradicts his own belief system of theology. That's my opinion, and you may necessarily agree with it.

I "hope" you meant to write "you may not necessarily agree with it".
And, that hope relies, in no way, on a higher power.
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Old 05-22-2015, 04:58 AM
 
6,114 posts, read 3,124,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by old_cold View Post
I "hope" you meant to write "you may not necessarily agree with it".
And, that hope relies, in no way, on a higher power.
Generally, when you "hope", it means things are not in your hand. Someone or something else has the power to make it happen.
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