Question The Existence of God

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Edmund Blackadder

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Is it better to live a life as an atheist and find out God exists or to live life as a believer and find out he doesn't?

Addition: assume that it it revealed to both just before death.
 
S
Selig
If HE exists I don't think HE minds either way. If HE doesn't who cares?
Well, if the atheist is wrong, there's Hell to deal with. If the Christian is wrong, they'll never actually realize it (being dead and all).

---------- Post added at 07:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:03 PM ----------

Edmund Blackadder agrees: So which is worse then? Oblivion for the Believer or Hell for eternity for the non-believer?
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I think I'd have to go with Hell, Al. 😛

ETA: "Go with" as in that's the worse, not "go with" as in I want to go there.
 
E
Edmund Blackadder
So which is worse then? Oblivion for the Believer or Hell for eternity for the non-believer?
I'd rather live my life believing in something than to find out the hard way that it does and have to pay for it for all eternity.
 
Hmm. Interesting and difficult question. I'd go with the first choice. What a way to go; imagine you never believed in God, and then in theory, you had a near death experience or what not, and God "revealed" himself to you. Wow.
Adversely, if you'd spent your entire life worshipping and believing in God, and then you realized that he didn't exist...I can't imagine how devastating that would be.
 
I had a discussion like this in the IRC today. I need proof, solid evidence before I'll believe anything. I have no proof that there is a God, that heaven and hell exist, therefore, I don't believe in any of it. So, if it's revealed to me right before death 'Hey, look, Lyri! Heaven really is real!' I'll say 'great!' then hop on board that train to hell.

I'm a pretty hardcore Athiest, if such a thing can exist, lol, but I'd rather live my life knowing I'm in control, that we, as people, are in control of what happens to this planet, the world as a whole, rather than try to believe that there is some all powerful force that is up there looking down, and has plans for everyone and everything.

I'd rather live as an Athiest and suffer whatever fate I bring on myself, because then I know that it was my own fault, and I have no one to blame but myself.

Eh, I'm going to hell anyway, so this is really all moot point for me.
 
Bluebird
Bluebird
[No message]
I was raised Christian, but I've been going through a hardcore crisis of faith for awhile now. Right now, I think I qualify as agnostic leaning toward atheist. I really think that "God" is just a manifestation of our desire to control things, from each other (through religion) to our circumstances (through prayer). BUT, even Stephen Hawking thinks that SOMETHING had to start the Big Bang, so I really don't know.
 
I think it is better to live a life as an atheist and find out God exists. I used to be a big believer, but after some difficult times, have lost all faith. Even if it meant, I had lost a place in Heaven. I think it would be nice to know, that there has been someone there all along, watching over me, and that it was my own choice not to believe. A recognition that bad things happen, and you live through hard times, but there is a reward.
It would be hard to know that this reward no longer includes me, but I think it would be harder to learn, that after a life of hope and belief, there was never a reward to begin with.
 
I consider myself agnostic, leaning slightly towards atheism, but I don't think people can really choose what they believe, and I don't see why God would punish someone for something that they don't have much control over. If God does exist and is like that, well, then maybe I belong in hell.
 
C
charmingslayer
[No message]
Crazy Flakes said:
I consider myself agnostic, leaning slightly towards atheism, but I don't think people can really choose what they believe, and I don't see why God would punish someone for something that they don't have much control over. If God does exist and is like that, well, then maybe I belong in hell.
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Yeah, if there is a Heaven, I really can't see it being a Christian Heaven. So, in that respect, I think the Athiest would be better, as they wouldn't be guaranteed to go to Hell. If they were a good person, they'd be fine.
 
Lyri said:
I need proof, solid evidence before I'll believe anything. I have no proof that there is a God, that heaven and hell exist, therefore, I don't believe in any of it.
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That's why what a Christian (or a Jew, a Muslim, or Buddhist) is called "faith," or even "conviction." If we had tangible proof, it would be called "knowledge." And as for the advantages and disadvantages of one or the other, if I as a Christian wind up being wrong, I will never really know it, because, as you point out, there is no solid, tangible proof, only faith and conviction. The only real proof will be AFTER the moment of death. If I am right, then I have all of eternity to enjoy the rewards of my faith, and the atheist has all of eternity to spend suffering the consequences of their lack of faith. On the other hand, if the atheist is right, and death brings only oblivion, well, then, I'll never know it. That's what oblivion means. In the meantime, I've lived my life trying to be a good man, if not a perfect one, and I'm satisfied with that.
 
Thats a really hard question for me, but only because I would say atheist and then find out.

But I know I'd be sitting up there and be well pissed that I was wrong.
 
I grew up Atheist. Can you tell? I'd rather live my life believing in nothing, and nobody, we're all alone and then we die, that's how I see it. Nothing comes after, just the big sleep. Yawn, can't wait.

I'd like to add though, being a firm non-believer, I still totally respect everyone's choice of faith and religion, whatever makes your life, and the life of your loved ones easier is never a bad thing.
 
God is fake and I feel really bad for people who live their lives trying to please a magical sky fairy.
I'm not atheist because, I think I'm just spiritual. Ok now everyone...yell at me!!
 
Well, I am a Christian, so I'm biased, but hey, all of us are. 😉

Regardless... I would rather believe in something and then never know than not believe and have to suffer eternal torment. Of course, beliefs or lack thereof aside, I absolutely despise pain, so... I would want to flee that at any cost. 😉 (sw) I do like white avenger's answer very muchly. 🙂
 
Blondie Bear said:
Well, if the atheist is wrong, there's Hell to deal with. If the Christian is wrong, they'll never actually realize it (being dead and all).
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Well, actually....who says there would be hell to deal with? Even assuming there is a god or some higher entity of any kind really, it doesn't have to mean it's like in the Bible or whatever other earthy story about it.


I grew up in a VERY atheist household, but I myself am more agnostic. The way I've seen atheists (aka my parents), they are just as 'bad' as religious people. You know what I mean? They go all "how can you believe in anything like this", but they're just the same with their total denial of those ideas. Especially my Mom is very fixed in this. That's why I decided for myself that atheism is not really the way for me.
Yet it is very hard for me to just believe in a God (which is probably kinda ironic, considering how naive and gullible I am in just about anything else). It's probably something that can be traced back to the way I was raised. So that's why for me personally it makes most sense to say that I have no clue about if there's a god or not. And that's where being agnostic comes in. There I have the chance to not really believe in anything I just can't really believe in, but also to keep myself open for all possibilities. Also, I think if there's a God that created me, this inability to believe is part of what he made me with, so he couldn't really send me to hell for that (and this is probably where my naivity gets in).

But yeah, coming back to the inital question, in accordance with my own opinions I think it would be better to find out there is a God after having lived as an atheist all life long, although this would also not really be ideal.
 
If there's a god, I don't think he'd send people to suffer for an eternity because they didn't believe in something.
 
Nix
Nix
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Airam
Airam
its like you are in my head.
If there is no God and your life amounts to the sum of your years on this planet then I would want to die believing. The fact that I was wrong wouldn't bother me, not in this instance anyway, becuase it is not as if there is a 'right' religion. A lifetime of believing in something is far more appealing than an enternity in hell with the knowledge that I was wrong.

If God doesn't exist, then there is no afterlife and it really won't matter what I thought when I was alive.
 
VisionGuy
VisionGuy
[No message]
Y
yellowcrayon
[No message]
I'd be swung either way, because I'm not really member of any religion, but I like to believe there is a God. I'd rather be an athiest and find out God did exist, though, because looking at it from the perspective were you believed and then suddenly found out it wasn't real...Well, I'm thinking back to being eight years old and find out that Santa didn't exist, I was crushed. It would be a lot worse if it was God; if I just about to die and found out that God existed, then maybe I'd have a chance of getting in heaven, but if I found out he didn't, I'd be scared to die; knowing that there'd be nothing at the other side. So, yes, atheist.
 
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