If you're atheist..

[Ka0t1c]

i think when you die, people go to your funeral, sometimes they eat food afterwards, and creepy if they're eating cake, also people will cry. they'll prolly play a song and talk about you while you lay inside your coffin. all this stuff goes on after you are dead, eventually people will forget about you and stop visiting your facebook page, also most of your belongings will be given away since you no longer need them. you eventually will turn into dirt. i didn't mention the bugs and worms yet, oh well, but they will surely skull fuck you. oh yeah, if you are buried with valuables, there is a chance you're tomb will be raided. so basically when you die, problems of the world will remain and somebody pays for your funeral, also the Govt. has a life insurance policy on you, so for them it's a winning situation. good luck turning into a zombie.

[CrashBand]

i think when you die, people go to your funeral, sometimes they eat food afterwards, and creepy if they're eating cake, also people will cry. they'll prolly play a song and talk about you while you lay inside your coffin.

or sometimes this happens

[classthe_king]

and you believe that there's no god or afterlife..

Then what the fuck do you think happens?

Eternal sleep?

Dreaming like mind state?


Or something else?


I'm personally Agnostic.

Well the only logical answer to this is that nothing happens. It's just a permanent state of unconsciousness, like from the beginning of time up until you were conceived, but forever.

However, I like to think of a lot of different theories which I wish were true, that are somewhat plausible. Like, what if after the universe is dead and entropy has increased to it's maximum it shrinks back together and there is another big bang which would create the universe again and then eventually you are born again and get to live your life again. Naturally the universe would be different though because of the randomness of electrons and the subatomic scale.

[Kill You]

Most, if not all, atheists believe that nothing happens...

[Spyder]

the human body is science, it makes no sense for something to a "soul" to continue on after your brain shuts down.
the light people see is oxygen deprivation after certain chemicals mix in the brain, people report this after passing out as well.
simply the chemicals and things that made you alive, cease to be able to give you life any longer

[GGGG]

EminemBase said:
"I am an atheist."

Really? Ya don't say. Why, I've never noticed!

Although I'm Christian, I do fear death, and I'm constantly contemplating the damnation of infinity. It absolutely terrifies me, and I hope and pray that there is an afterlife. There's nothing more frightening than the dawning comprehension that nothing matters.

[cityfan31]

EminemBase said:
"I am an atheist."

Really? Ya don't say. Why, I've never noticed!

Although I'm Christian, I do fear death, and I'm constantly contemplating the damnation of infinity. It absolutely terrifies me, and I hope and pray that there is an afterlife. There's nothing more frightening than the dawning comprehension that nothing matters.

There's nothing more terrifying than believing we live under a celestial dictatorship who watches us while we sleep, who can convict us of thought crime, who can tell us what to do and who created us sick and commands us to be well.

[mdemaz]

As much as it seems unlikely that your physical body will be born again, if somehow in the distant future (I'm talking googleplexes of years, after many new universe get born and then die,) the right atoms and whatnot form together, then your consciousness may be born again.

The reason why this seems likely is because our brains and each of us are made out of atoms and DNA, and if somewhere the atoms in another universe like ours traveled to a mans nuts as sperm and a new baby is born out of those certain atoms, you can technically be born again with the same mind but not body.

And seeing that that period that stretches from the beginning of time to when you were born seemed like it was nothing, being born again in another body may be instantaneous.

Like Class said, the universe might be different, but it wouldn't be much different if you are human, well, maybe if you are a human with different organs that can cope with the differences from our universe we live in today.
But, in a completely different universe, you'd be a different life form.

Well, it's actually more likely that you'll be a different life form, but you never know really.
We are not sure if a human being is the peak of all the possibilities of life, there may be far superior races of life out there.

This is where reincarnation comes into play.

Well actually, I just remembered stuff about parallel universe and such...
There might be is identical copies of you out there in "infinity."
Well, now that I think about it, that sort of kills my theory right there...

You might be born again with the same body and mind, but you're not in that body...
You're still dead as that copy of you lives it's own life...

But with an infinite amount of time and an infinite amount of universes, there is an infinite amount of possibilities.
Time might just reset and our universe is somehow born again and earth forms again and you me and everyone relives our past again.
Creating an alternate reality to this one, but none of us will realize it's alternate.

Hell, the exact events that have played out in this reality may repeat in the same order in this other universe, remember, infinity is a powerful word.
I mean fuck, this other universe may look COMPLETELY IDENTICAL TO OURS.

Shit, there may be another me typing this long-ass post to this forum in that other universe.

I don't really think infinity is possible really, even infinity has to end due to a paradox like the one I just said.

This shit is just really fucking confusing.

[Epidemik]

[EminemBase]

EminemBase said:
"I am an atheist."

Really? Ya don't say. Why, I've never noticed!

Although I'm Christian, I do fear death, and I'm constantly contemplating the damnation of infinity. It absolutely terrifies me, and I hope and pray that there is an afterlife. There's nothing more frightening than the dawning comprehension that nothing matters.

But what is this silly idea that if there's no afterlife, then 'nothing matters'.

What's after the afterlife? why do you want to WAIT for meaning instead of discovering and implying it now. Everything matters, or nothing matters, you can decide for yourself.

Why the fuck do so many people want / need to be told what things matter and what don't, how to live their life... figure it out for yourself. There's the joy right there.

I don't believe there is an afterlife, or a god, but plenty of things matter to me. They just matter NOW, they have meaning NOW. I'm not wishing for something I can't prove to myself or anybody else, I'm not 'waiting' for meaning, I'm not hanging my morality on a star.

It's all pretty obvious.

There is no underlying driven meaning to life other than to reproduce. But that's our genetic and instinctual 'meaning', other than that, you decide.

If you love to write, then live to write. And writing becomes your meaning. And it's not like you're limited either, we can all choose as little or as many meanings to our own lives as we like.

I also don't fear death, and I'm glad that I do really believe that's the end. Why the fuck would I want to be TRAPPED eternally? that's not enlightening or pleasant, that's vile. Life is hard enough, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the growth and wisdom over time (and I already have to certain degrees), but for fuck's sake, I don't want to live forever anyway. I'm grateful there's an escape.

It's such a shame to place your hope for meaning in something that you will one day almost certainly be proven wrong of, but not know it. An afterlife? sheesh. Live for now.

[Emadyville]

But what is this silly idea that if there's no afterlife, then 'nothing matters'.

What's after the afterlife? why do you want to WAIT for meaning instead of discovering and implying it now. Everything matters, or nothing matters, you can decide for yourself.

Why the fuck do so many people want / need to be told what things matter and what don't, how to live their life... figure it out for yourself. There's the joy right there.

I don't believe there is an afterlife, or a god, but plenty of things matter to me. They just matter NOW, they have meaning NOW. I'm not wishing for something I can't prove to myself or anybody else, I'm not 'waiting' for meaning, I'm not hanging my morality on a star.

well put. this is basically what i wish i woulda said

[AJS2050]

Nicely said EminemBase.

I was bored so just had a look around to find the countries where Atheism dominates with 50% or more:

Sweden 85%
Vietnam 81%
Denmark 80%
Norway 72%
Japan 65%
Czech 61%
Finland 60%
Germany 58%
Great Britain 55%
France 54%
South Korea 50%
Estonia 50%

9/12 are European.

[EminemBase]

Nicely said EminemBase.

I was bored so just had a look around to find the countries where Atheism dominates with 50% or more:

Sweden 85%
Vietnam 81%
Denmark 80%
Norway 72%
Japan 65%
Czech 61%
Finland 60%
Germany 58%
Great Britain 55%
France 54%
South Korea 50%
Estonia 50%

9/12 are European.

Yep. And the countries with the highest agnostic and atheism percentages also have the lowest crime rates, and are typically the more advanced and peaceful soceties.

And there's also been a proven correlation in a few studies showing that the more intelligent you are, the less likely you are to believe in a god.

So it's pretty obvious that higher intelligence typically equates to less belief and that less belief typically equates to less crime and violence. Obviously these stats don't prove that religion is the definitive cause of the disruption but, I think it's more-so suggestive to the fact that... a society that is highly religious is typically less intelligent and there's less critical thinking at large.

Logic and rationality leads to peace. Irrational, circular thinking, leads to chaos.

So regardless of whether you believe in god or not, and that whole argument (whether or not there is a god) aside, I think it's pretty undeniable that religion is a bad influence anyway.

[Slim Fiasco]

So regardless of whether you believe in god or not, and that whole argument (whether or not there is a god) aside, I think it's pretty undeniable that religion is a bad influence anyway.

Exactly, and if the fear of hell is what prevents you from committing a murder, then you're fucked up already. This is what I hate about religion. They act like it's good because it teaches morality, but morality should be part of common sense. There doesn't have to be a holy aspect to it for me to know, or teach my kid about moral values.

As for the purpose of life, just try to enjoy it as much as possible. I believe the "purpose" is to be happy. As you said, there doesn't have to be a meaning, just take it for what it is. All moments of happiness are worthy of being lived through.

[UofLCard]

I already gave my opinion on the matter earlier in the thread, but I wanted to add on that the idea ofreincarnation is fascinating to think about. I have seen some videos of people (mainly kids) talking about past lives, and it's scary.

I was bored so just had a look around to find the countries where Atheism dominates with 50% or more:

Sweden 85%
Vietnam 81%
Denmark 80%
Norway 72%
Japan 65%
Czech 61%
Finland 60%
Germany 58%
Great Britain 55%
France 54%
South Korea 50%
Estonia 50%

9/12 are European.

I wish the US was on that list.