Atheists, do you hope you're right?

[patrick jane]

secretly ALL Atheists don't want to be right - they hope they are because either they want this life to be one and done - or, they think belief in a God is foolish and needy - with many varying degrees and factors that cause that line of thought. they see no physical proof and no reason to believe there ever was or will be. they may be quite content and happy and successful. good caring, loving, righteous folks that think there is no proof and no logical reason to believe in a higher power.

but again, somewhere deep inside, maybe really deep and small, a kernel
of hope remains that they can see loved ones and live forever in love, peace and harmony. who wouldn't ? no pain, suffering, disease, death; no evil, no sin - forever with God and all that entails. whether an atheist admits it or not. i don't think they hope they're right mostly, although some surely do.

even if they're right, they won't be able to say 'i told ya so' ! ! - atrol:

 

[Ktoyou]

do you hope that you are right that there is no God and therefore no ultimate justice in the afterlife?

They do not hope anything other than the material, as that is what they are. Those you are speaking about DO believe, yet think they are damned. They do not see how they can be good, and for them, being good is what is important.

 

[serpentdove]

Atheists, do you hope you're right?

secretly ALL Atheists don't want to be right - they hope they are because either they want this life to be one and done - or, they think belief in a God is foolish and needy - with many varying degrees and factors that cause that line of thought...

I'll be a fool for God (1 Co 1:27). Who are they a fool for? 1 Jn 5:19

See:

Does God Ever Change His Mind? By J. Vernon McGee

 

[PureX]

secretly ALL Atheists don't want to be right - they hope they are because either they want this life to be one and done - or, they think belief in a God is foolish and needy - with many varying degrees and factors that cause that line of thought. they see no physical proof and no reason to believe there ever was or will be. they may be quite content and happy and successful. good caring, loving, righteous folks that think there is no proof and no logical reason to believe in a higher power.

but again, somewhere deep inside, maybe really deep and small, a kernel
of hope remains that they can see loved ones and live forever in love, peace and harmony. who wouldn't ? no pain, suffering, disease, death; no evil, no sin - forever with God and all that entails. whether an atheist admits it or not. i don't think they hope they're right mostly, although some surely do.

even if they're right, they won't be able to say 'i told ya so' ! ! - atrol:

Interesting post. But I'm not sure I'd agree. I think you left out a most important possibility; and that's the acceptance of just not knowing.

I'm not an atheist, yet I assume that when I die, that's it. My consciousness will cease, and it will not 're-ignite' in some other form. And honestly, I'm OK with that. I don't need to exist forever. I don't even think I'd want to.

Yet at the same time, I freely admit that I don't know this to be the case. And that it is possible that I'm wrong; that my psychic energy may somehow transit intact to some universal or collective consciousness where I can experience the individualized consciousness of others. So that for me the options are not 'oblivion or heaven'. The options are 'probably oblivion', and 'I just don't know'. And I suspect it's much the same for atheists, though their inclination toward 'oblivion' may be more pronounced than mine.

 

[quip]

secretly ALL Atheists don't want to be right - they hope they are because either they want this life to be one and done - or, they think belief in a God is foolish and needy - with many varying degrees and factors that cause that line of thought. they see no physical proof and no reason to believe there ever was or will be. they may be quite content and happy and successful. good caring, loving, righteous folks that think there is no proof and no logical reason to believe in a higher power.

but again, somewhere deep inside, maybe really deep and small, a kernel
of hope remains that they can see loved ones and live forever in love, peace and harmony. who wouldn't ? no pain, suffering, disease, death; no evil, no sin - forever with God and all that entails. whether an atheist admits it or not. i don't think they hope they're right mostly, although some surely do.

even if they're right, they won't be able to say 'i told ya so' ! ! - atrol:

It seems you've projected a wishful post-corporeal phantasmal existence whereas you retain all desired "good" this physical world has to offer ....while subsequently eliminating that which is conveniently catogorized under the set of "undesirables".

Some would see this as merely a wish-fulfilling projection e.g. The Psychogenesis of Religion

Though on a more mundane level, one could justly ask to God (or self) if, indeed, a heavenly existence, why...why the very trial of carnal existence at all? Why the very suffering of....death, evil, sin, fear you so desperately seek to segregate (mortal) existence from?

Much like the atheist...the theist, if truly honest with themselves, hear a deafening silence to that very inquiry. The identical damning silence all atheists openly admit to.

 

[noguru]

It seems you've projected a wishful post-corporeal phantasmal existence whereas you retain all desired "good" this physical world has to offer ....while subsequently eliminating that which is conveniently catogorized under the set of "undesirables".

Some would see this as merely a wish-fulfilling projection e.g. The Psychogenesis of Religion

Though on a more mundane level, one could justly ask to God (or self) if, indeed, a heavenly existence, why...why the very trial of carnal existence at all? Why the very suffering of....death, evil, sin, fear you so desperately seek to segregate (mortal) existence from?

Much like the atheist...the theist, if truly honest with themselves, hear a deafening silence to that very inquiry. The identical damning silence all atheists openly admit to.

That question is what brought me from "traditional" Christianity to leaning towards a Buddhist view of Christianity.

 

[noguru]

Interesting post. But I'm not sure I'd agree. I think you left out a most important possibility; and that's the acceptance of just not knowing.

I'm not an atheist, yet I assume that when I die, that's it. My consciousness will cease, and it will not 're-ignite' in some other form. And honestly, I'm OK with that. I don't need to exist forever. I don't even think I'd want to.

Yet at the same time, I freely admit that I don't know this to be the case. And that it is possible that I'm wrong; that my psychic energy may somehow transit intact to some universal or collective consciousness where I can experience the individualized consciousness of others. So that for me the options are not 'oblivion or heaven'. The options are 'probably oblivion', and 'I just don't know'. And I suspect it's much the same for atheists, though their inclination toward 'oblivion' may be more pronounced than mine.

Well said. Especially the highlighted part.