How do athiests deal with death?

[Leda]

You ask how an atheist copes with death.
Well I assume that I cope with it the same way that you do.
Drift, to be honest, you know that you do not really know what happens when you die.
You are still confused about that yourself, I assume.
I don’t have to believe in God to think that it is possible for there to be something after death. Yet I do not know…

I feel the same way about this question of atheists coping with death, the implication being, “why dont you believe in God/an afterlife then you’ll feel better about death?”…as though just wanting to believe something can make it true! When we die we’ll either transcend this sac of grease and bones or we wont be in a position to care. I strongly suspect the latter, but who knows.

[sjstudy]

pxc- I agree with you somewhat. I do believe everyone elses character is only different from mine because of different circumstances, experience, and environment. I hypothesize that if I grew up exactly the way he/she did then I would’ve came out exactly the same. It’s a good thing to remind myself. It became a lot harder for me to hate another.

And with regards to death:

I’m not worried about a hell. It’s possible that there is a hell and that the bible is true. But if that’s true, then God didn’t want the use of logic. He preferred blind faith and I never really had a chance anyway. If there is a God, and he is reasonable, then I don’t have to worry about a hell because there is no way I could be held accountable for my beliefs. A lot of people are still not understanding that our beliefs are not of our control. So in the unlikely event that there is a judgement day, I will simply say “You are omniscient and you knew exactly what it would’ve took to save me”. And if the bible is true his only option is to say: “I only wanted to see you burn”.

Outside of this unlikely punishment, I don’t fear death. I fear not living. I hope I get a chance to live before I die.

[pxc]

[quote=“sjstudy”]
pxc- I agree with you somewhat. I do believe everyone elses character is only different from mine because of different circumstances, experience, and environment. I hypothesize that if I grew up exactly the way he/she did then I would’ve came out exactly the same. It’s a good thing to remind myself. It became a lot harder for me to hate another.

Right… and what is our soul, except our essence… our “ness ness” (as in essence of essence)? So I almost see a sort of universal soul.

[Kriswest]

to answer the original question of death . I feel that only our body ceases we do not. We are energy and energy only changes or flows somewhere else it does not cease. That is the interesting part of death. What happens when you open that door. I think I will wait.

[Mehr_Fragen_Als_Niet (Mehr Fragen Als Nietzsche)]

@Dan~

People who are a bit too accepting of their own death will be removed from the genetic pool when dangers roll around.

Fear of death is a virtue because it causes us to not want ourselves and others to be destroyed by problems in the future of humanity. Enough fear of death & concern about death will save our species’s future.

The more I thought about your statement, the more I came to realize that the true ‘threat’ to the future of the human race would be those of religious faith. They tend to believe that if mankind is meant to thrive, exist and progress, that an outside force (God, if you will) will see to this. An Atheist believes there is no “savior” or deity looking out for the human race or protecting us as individuals…so it would be reasonable to me to say Atheists would tend to perceive themselves as responsible for dealing with the problems which threaten mankind’s survival. Think about it…which would you rather have for a doctor — a doctor who believes that if it is God’s will you will survive or a doctor who believes it is his responsibility and his expertise that is your only hope of survival? I would prefer the latter, for sure!

Angie

[Disciple_of_light]

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@Mr. Kebop

One does not choose to be an athiest in my personal experience, one simply becomes an athiest.

I chose to become atheist once

I was raised Catholic and I tried to hold on to my faith yet I can no longer believe in God.

And there will be those raised as non believers , who tried to hold onto that non belief , but can no longer believe there is no creator . And so the wheel goes round and round

.

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[Drift]

@omar

Hello Drift:
I read this response to what I wrote in a post you made: “omar, i belive life can only come from life,with the execption of god.”
Yet how does that relate to what I said? I do not deny that life seems to come only from life, but in the end Drift, Is water alive? We’re, were fat-free, made of 72% water, so when we say that we are alive does that mean that everything within us is alive?
This words “Life” and “Alive” denote very obscure concepts. Some have given the adjective to computers and to the Earth as a whole. My point was not to debate from where life comes, but from where the “Self” comes, which is what is important, because in our selves we find our “Souls”.
I do not care about hereditary memory, but your own memory. If the Self, that which you feel to be “I”, is eternal, and therefore immune to death, then you should be able to easily wrestle from your memory the memories I asked about. The fact that one cannot reflects that the self has a direct relation to it’s supporting organic system. When the body ends, therefore, the mind, the self, the game-show you can call "I’, ends as well.
Perhaps you might say that like the universe, our selves are created, have a beginning, but do not have an end. Fine, but then how could you explain that life starts without it’s soul, without “you”? Again the body brings the soul into existence. Can a mind exist without a brain? Experience shows that it cannot. Can the brain exist without the mind? Surely, this is evident.
You may still continue to believe whatever you please to believe, but understand that all these scenarios of what happens after death come from within your imagination and may not matter at all when you die, as you share the same destiny with the atheist.
You have perhaps felt that this is an injustice, while the atheist simply saw it as “Life”…

i agree with your rationalization.and i think the thiest and the athiest are basically going to the same place,but with a different outcome based on thier deeds.

i mean the one bringing them back has a purpose to it.we AINT bringing ourselves back.

and what i say here may be brought back to “does god exist” again…

i was makeing a thesis on that,but i stopped because i was doubting it’s usefullness. for now…

in conclution,i see athiests dealing with death as rationalists.
i see thiests dealing with death with faith.
now if we could only combine the two…

[Duder]

Assuming free will exists on Earth and we’re being judged upon it and we do good in God’s eyes and get into heaven, will there be free will in heaven?

In my eyes, Atheists look at themselves as just another animal, where as theists believe they’re special. Having no proof that I am more special than another animal, I am an Atheist.

I’m not as selfish as to believe my life means something more than what it is. I am my parents’ rejuvinated self. Just like they’re their parents’ rejuvinated self. I will die when I become absolete, and my children will go on to live and continue the human race.

Take a flower for example. What is the purpose of a flower? From what I know, all of its life the flower strives to grow and make more of itself. There is no flower-Bob, or flower-Jim. They’re the same flower, raised in different parts. People are the same species. Just like there is no flower-Bob or Jim, there isn’t a person-Bob or person-Jim. We’re all the same. How can one be judged when we’re all the same?
[size=75]
Don’t wake up only to go to sleep.[/size]

[Rewucki]

Do you deal with death? You take it.