Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
I'm skeptical about that.
Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post
- Thread starter The Ancient Mariner
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CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
So was I, until I noticed the Twitter account...
Lampwick 43
Barstool Warrior
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Okay, I'll try some. I don't really want this to be longer than necessary and I'm really, really tired (this one has been a long week and this weekend actually won't be any shorter), but here goes:
Atheism is an active denial of a metaphysical deity. That seems like a no big deal, but in most religion it is not only about the belief that there is a deity, but that it has a purpose, so do we and we either try to 1.) please the deity in some way or "use" it in order to get something out of it (paganism) or 2.) to enter into a relationship with it - as much as possible - and try to find out what does it want us to do and how can it make us better (Abrahamic religions and the Eastern religions - believe or not, the original Buddhism is mostly theist, more or less, its Western exports less so).
(yes, this is a crippling oversimplification, I warned you beforehand)
The thing is, by denying this metaphysical world actually exists means that the highest being is actually us. Humans. Us, flawed, sinful, often distasteful people who can't even wipe our own asses. We can't stand up to our own standards, so how could we strive for that ideal? (and yes, ultimately, in true Christianity / and Islam etc., to be honest / you are supposed to strive for perfection and be content with nothing less. And we believe it's possible cause He helps us. To truly forgive a scumbag is an inhuman task... but it is possible and it absorbs some of the evil that's in this world, breaking the circle. But again, I'm too oversimplifying everything and I don't like that)
If we alone are the highest stuff that be and everything is equal, that eventually leads to the fact that "I choose my truth and my morals" and - since all the others are on the same level and I am ME, so I understand my motives the best, MY opinion, MY truth and MY morals are the best. Because the others do the same and I know ME and I know I'm good, right?
Therefore, whether you realise it or not, this line of thinking inevitably leads to a situation where it's mostly about "ME". Or, well, your closest family, but that's pretty much the same in the grand scheme of things. However, by this (and by accepting that morals are subjective), one becomes more and more deaf to the higher standards and begins to relativise everything. Nobody can judge me but me.
Using a twist of a famous phrase - Marx is often quoted as saying that "religion is the opiate of the masses" (he put it a bit differently, but that doesn't really matter) and many people accept this as a comfortable truth - that is that the religious people are trying to maintain this lie that makes them feel better.
But I see it as the opposite - saying "God does not exist" is actually the catchy thought I can have to feel better about myself, the true opiate. It means that no-one is there to judge me. I don't really need to make the distinction between the things I want to do and the stuff I should do. I am "free". Free to self-destruct.
(Ivan Karamazov was right about this - if you haven't read the best book, like, ever, go read it now, it also gives you a lot of stuff to think about)
And if it really is a lie and one lives it, it can be truly devastating for him. The toxicity of "me" eventually leads to consummerism in even the most important stuff. I leave my wife, because she's just unsuitable for ME. I won't raise my children because I want to travel and fuck a Thai. The relationships turn into goods to choose from and buy.
"I" want to make choices about my body. "I" want to have an abortion. And a fucking gansta-rapper is able to say thirty years later "thank you Ma you didn't. I know it was tough, but you chose me, not you. Thank you with all my heart".
In psychology - first there was Freud, who was purely material. He thought that we need to fulfill our basic needs (including the sexual ones) and that's it. That we're nothing more than somewhat cleverer animals. That's why he's no longer taken seriously by pretty much anyone in the psychology field, because it simply isn't so. Go watch Scarface. Jung already did broaden that up, but Viktor Frankl actually realised that what people truly need (and that triumps over everything else, even over those basic needs) is a sense of purpose. (he found that in the concentration camp, where it was the people with this sense that could survive) We Christians believe that our purpose is to try to go to God (as the epitome of undescribable perfection, the actual being in itself, the one who animates us /in the philosophical sense/ and the ultimate goal) and we can't be truly happy otherwise. Because - as Augustin said - until you accept God as the #1, you are throwing this sense of purpose, your energy, your love into created things (instead of the one that was not created). Which deforms you, deforms your actual freedom (because you become addicted to things, whether it's money, relationships, drugs, the thrill of speeding on the highway...etc) and ultimately makes you miserable, because 1.) most of this stuff does not love you back, 2.) it all passes. You can lose everything in a heartbeat, everything you invested your life into. You cannot lose God. You can lose faith, but you can't lose God.
(the possibility of going to that ideal is - at least for us Xs - guaranteed by Christ, who is the way. Because even after we turned away and spit in the face of this ultimate benefit, God actually made himself human so that we could become godlike. Christ is the perfect God and the perfect Human. Resetting the balance, you might say. But this is really not the place nor the time to think about that)
I believe I kinda answered the second question as well above. Abuse - to use inappropriately. Atheists are saying no to finding a meaning of their own, unique, precious life which really lies in the metaphysical perfection and the metaphysical goals. They're abusing their abilities, their lives. Definitely doesn't mean they can't be wonderful people, though. On the other hand, there's a lot of Christians that make me sick.
Might seem a bit harsh and bigoted, sorry about that. Also, this is something that could be a book written about (and there have been), so caveat. But you asked.
Also, sorry for the typos and everything, I'm completely exhausted now and have to go to sleep.
G'night all youse. I care about you and wish you just the best.
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CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
I can't lose something I never had.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
Opiates make you numb. Religious people don't go numb, they feel at ease. The better analogy is fairy tales for adults who are struggling to sleep at night. Some of them have even been printed!
Your conscience is always there to judge you. You can try to curb it to continue on with your intended goals, but it will never cease. You'll be doing things in spite of it, not in the absence of it. The only cases where it is absent is with people who have certain mental disorders. (Who, for some reason, apparently seem to be betrayed by God?)
Humans, the animal species that got itself out of the food chain, learned how to heal itself and educate itself, built civilizations that connect with each other across the globe, and went to the space. All beings are flawed, but there are varying degrees of flawedness. Your explanation of this suggets a level of disdain towards humanity on your behalf. Also, there's the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, so no, it does not mean the highest being is us.
If this were true, we would be living in an anarchical society where the concepts of crime and punishment did not exist. We're not. And we came up with those things ourselves.
Your definition of important is completely arbitrary. It is not a given that relationships aren't inherently self-centered. They probably are, even.
No, Freud got written off because the empirical aspect of his research was inadequate, therefore rendering his work unscientific. There are plenty of well-regarded psychologists today who do think we're nothing more than cleverer animals.
The inherent value of your lifetime is not decreased by how you're willing to spend it. There's always something else to discover and experience. If you reach a level of contentness, it's only because you allowed it to happen.
Wrong. Atheists also ponder the meaning and purpose of life and reach different conclusions, they just don't reach the same destination as you do.
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Travis The Dragon
AFTERGLOW!!!
Here's what I have to say to all this religion talk:
Dr. Eddies Wingman
Brighter than thousand_suns
@The Flash 
MTV just played Electric Six's Gay Bar, and bleeped out 'war' and 'nuclear war'. Why? Is a vague parallel being drawn between the Trump v Kim Jong Un standoff and a very camp representation of Abraham Lincoln saying 'let's start a war'?
I stopped reading after this silly nonsense.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
It's not nonsense, it's 100% correct. A deity you can deny is no deity. It's something else.
Guys we have a topic for this, you know? Send it over there.
Guys we have a topic for this, you know? Send it over there.
We're sitting in a pub and facing a table full of what we believe to be Danes. We don't know for sure and would like to find out. @SixesAlltheway , @Dr. Eddies Wingman or anyone else - what is the surest way to offend a Dane?