Hello.
My name is Becca. I thought I would make this blog to say hi to all of you.
I am new to this site and I thought I would check it out. It seems really great so far. Thank you I never thought I would learn so much in about a hr. Hope to talk to some of you soon. Bye

~Becca~

While I’m going to be focusing on the concept of afterlife as it applies to Christianity, because that is mostly what I deal with, I think that many of the points I bring forth are applicable to other afterlives and the concept in general. In this post I will be discussing three possibilities: heaven, hell, and ceasing to exist. As I have just listed them is how I would personally rate them least desirable-to-desirable.

The first and most important concept to grasp to understand why I arrived at this point is that of infinity. An afterlife in the classical view is an infinite period after the physical body has left. Such an existence also has another necessity – some form of existence independent of the physical body – which will be discussed later on as well.

The other day I sat down and listened to my friend. She's a Christian. I listen to her views on God and whatnot. It's crazy. She "sings" to god everyday. She says she has conversations with him. I believe she is borderline crazy but that is not the point.

I sat down and listen to her. When it came to be my turn to explain my beliefs and my views she just turned the other cheek. I know not all people are like this. Maybe she thinks I'm going to poison her belief system or she's afraid to know what might one day be the truth. *Shrugs*

I'd like for my friends to actually sit down and listen to my beliefs one day.

A lot of the stigma against things like atheism in this country probably coem from a feeling of threat from people that have different values and beliefs. They say we're afraid of what we don't know, and we're afraid of change, and I believe this is certainly true of most people. Many people feel content with the system they grew up in and don't even think of the alternatives, or even view them as dangerous or lunatic fringe.

Anarchy has that same stigma going with it. People associate it with violence and chaos, using it as a synonym. Some of this does have basis in fact, of course - many anarchists have been known to engage in violence or destruction in order to achieve their message. And in fact, there may come a time where violent overthrow is necessary. Our founding fathers knew this - after all, they had to fight such a battle! - and that was a large part of the right to bare arms. As I've mentioned in my other posts, it's necessary in order to keep the government afraid of, and thus repsonsive to, the people.

When you assert something is true, and that all who don’t believe will burn for all eternity, I would expect some evidence, or even some logical reasoning to back your hypothesis. Otherwise, you cannot be positive of this assertion’s truthfulness. If you claim you are, sorry, but you’re a fool. It’s that simple people, and I seriously don’t give a hoot if you’re angry about it, because you have no reason to be AT ALL.

Why do you have faith? Ask yourself that. And don’t answer with “I just believe that Jesus blah blah blah”, because the question was WHY you believe, not WHAT. And don’t give me that “I feel God” stuff, either. Please. Becoming excited by your pastor’s logically fallacious speech isn’t a “religious experience”. All life decisions should be thought out, not blindly believed in without any thought at all and being passed off as indescribable “feelings” (please don’t try to describe them, I really have had enough of this “God is the trees and the wind and a warm feeling in your heart” stuff). And we all know (as long as you aren’t in extreme denial) that there is no evidence for God or Jesus, and all logic actually says that your Judeo-Christian God is unbelievably improbable.

Atheism Quotes

...A dialogue between atheists and Christians.....

Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God. -- Heywood Broun

In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners. --Jonathon Miller

It amazes me to find an intelligent person who fights against something which he does not at all believe exists. --Mohandas Gandhi

Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist. --C. S. Lewis

There's something in every atheist, itching to believe, and something in every believer, itching to doubt. --Mignon McLaughlin

I go to a Catholic high school (I'm forced to go). This friday there's a prayer service. Do I have the right to refuse to go to the prayer service or did I give up that right when I started going to this school?

Often, I hear people claim that they are ‘Agnostic’. This is entirely a misnomer, due to misunderstanding of Agnosticism, using it as a softened version of atheism, rather than its true meaning. What such people mean to claim, is that they are weak atheists, or negative atheists, who lack belief in god. Such a description applies to babies, and so on, people who have never heard of the idea of a god. Some would argue that it applies to people who simply don’t know what they believe yet. However, not knowing implies a lack of conviction. A belief is a conviction in something’s truth. If they lack that conviction in the existence of god, that means that they are at least an implicit atheist. Furthermore, that claim of simply lacking a belief in a god, does not take somewhat of a middle ground. The fact that they lack belief in all gods they know of, means that they have rejected all the gods possible, which is a position of strong atheism, or disbelief, at least of all gods they know of. Therefore, all people who have no specific belief in god are strong atheists, at least towards the deities they know of. Thus, the only people who are complete weak atheists are babies, or people with no knowledge of any supposed deities.

Agnosticism has two general meanings. One is that knowledge of the divine is impossible. This definition is not to be mistaken with an alternative to atheism. Atheism and theism deal with belief, agnosticism and Gnosticism deal with the basis for such belief. For example, Agnostic Atheism holds that knowledge of the divine is impossible(or currently unheld) and thus belief in God is unjustified and illogical. On the other hand, ever hear a theist say ‘just have faith’? That is an agnostic position, as they are admitting that they have no knowledge of whether God exists, and yet still believe in light of that. Gnostic atheism and theism are pretty much self-explanatory given that the definition of Gnostic to be ‘believing that knowledge of the existence or nonexistence of the divine is possible or currently held’.

Why am I an atheist? I have occasionally been asked why I don’t see god, or why I deny god. I have been told many times I’m not really an atheist; that I really believe in him at heart. I have heard all sorts of things that simply don’t mesh with the reality of why I am an atheist. I am not an atheist because I’m rebelling from god, or because I haven’t looked at the world around me, or because I’m afraid of punishment and thus deny god.

So why AM I an atheist? Perhaps we should start with a background of me in association with religion. I grew up being a very weak Christian. My family was not at all religion centered – in fact, the only religious training I got was a very broad study of some of the happier stories of the Bible with my aunt, who is a Jehovah’s Witness. My view could have been described as a theistic evolutionist. I did pray regularly, and from my heart, but never attended any churches as a child or even through adolescence. I thank my parents so very much for not indoctrinating me from the start in religion, because it left me free of the dogma associated with church and left me to freely question everything.

The remarkable thing about humans is their ability to overcome. It is our adaptability that sets us apart. Animals adapt and it takes thousands of years. We can adapt in a split-second. We are the gods of this world, and anyone who says otherwise is a hopeless fool. Drink your opiates of religion. Live in your false reality. Denial of your unimportant existence will give you nothing but death. All of us deserve death. That is why we are put here, to die. There is no point in your life. You are not here to survive. You are not here to find your identity. You do what you want because you are the god of your world.

Crossroads among crossroads. My existence right now is growing ever so dim. What is a man but his false ambitions and his hopeless dreams? Evacuate soul in ten seconds. Selfless lifetime spent on the ground of the ingrates. Do I need children? Do I need a spouse? Is this all for nothing? Pulling in all directions. Doubts are the inhibitors. Time is the decayer. Life is the letdown. Unpredictability. Naive wishes.

Ten. Everyone is lying

Nine. Morals give no immortality.

Eight. You only hurt the ones you love.

Seven. The hurt works both ways.

Six. Violence has never been the answer.

When a man’s judgment fails him, he not only questions his judgment, he questions himself. He questions his integrity, his decisions, and his life. What led him down the wrong path, and what can he change so he does not make the same mistake twice? He seeks his destiny, like it was his to choose, and he will not stop until he feels he has found it. Constantly surrounded by the goods and evils of the world, constantly being torn from the inside out, constantly striving to achieve the ideal happiness he believes that is at the end of his own rainbow. It is man’s destiny to die before his dreams are achieved, and with all of his efforts shattered.

George W Bush is biased against people with certain philosophical beliefs. He says atheists should not be considered citizens. Is this right?

Robert I. Sherman:
"Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?"

George Bush:
"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."