Tuesday, November 24, 2009

OOOOOOhh the humanity!!

Life is good, it can be hard, we can have pain and suffering, but it's still good. The Apostle Paul says "to live is Christ but to die is gain". Paul knew how cool it would be to be with God in Heaven. He's looking forward to it. He actually thinks it's better than life. But he also knows God still has things for him to do. And likewise we all need to be about our Fathers business until he returns.

Atheists tend to see all the pain and suffering in the world and think that a good God would never allow so much pain. So that means that there is no God or he's a jerk.

They will ask me if Heaven is so "awesome" why don't Christians just kill themselves? The easy answer is because like I said, "life is good".

The real question should be is this; If life is so bad and filled with such pain and suffering why don't Atheists just kill themselves?

Maybe because they enjoy life just as much as Christians, in spite of the fact bad shit happens.

The God bandwagon is in full gear and there's still room for you to climb on board. You can sit right next to me and a few hot Christian girls. C'mon man, sounds tempting, don't it.

Peace be with you all. feeno

8 comments:

  1. You're confusing the fact that there is pain and suffering with the idea that there is only pain and suffering. This isn't the case, and life can be good despite what pain and suffering there is. Besides, the alternative to life from the atheist perspective is oblivion. Life would have to suck pretty bad to make that look appealing.

    The official reason why Christians don't kill themselves to go to Heaven is that God told them not to, and ruled that those who do will go to Hell. It's a closed loophole. Life doesn't have to be very good at all to compare favourably with Hell in the Christian perspective.

    Even the loophole has a loophole, however: martyrdom. Serve the church in a way that you know or think will eventually get you killed, and your passive suicide will likely get you into Heaven. Those apostles who were supposedly killed explicitly for continuing to profess belief are all officially in Heaven now. There are many more.

    Is martyr-making behaviour therefore to be encouraged?

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  2. Serve the church in a way that you know or think will eventually get you killed, and your passive suicide will likely get you into Heaven.

    This would appear to be a Muslim sentiment. There are Christian martyrs to be sure. Their primary goal is to spread the gospel in an inhospitable land. Muslims commit suicide in a variety of ways after being told to do so by one of their religious brethren for a ticket to their version of paradise and taking out a bunch of bystanders in the process. Otherwise, Islam is a bit dicey on assurance of salvation with no other guarantees that I'm aware of.

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  3. The simple reason many dont kill themselves is often simply the thought of life still remains better than thought of death.

    "Maybe because they enjoy life just as much as Christians, in spite of the fact bad shit happens."

    No not always....Think about it feeno the choice simply is life or death ..some choice huh?

    Why do you really think it must have so much to do with whether people are supposedly enjoying life or whatever?

    Ohh thanks for a offer of a ride on the bandwagon,but a eternal gathering of folks of faith doesnt take me as sounding like any idea i had of what some heaven would be like ...It sounds more like a nightmare ! .. a double sentence !

    L.o.L ... Sheeze feenologist what the hell do you take me for .. a masochist ?

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  4. I must agree with SmartLX in that you are mistaking the notion that pain and suffering is all there is, when I have recently shown how pain and suffering actually informs us as to what our notions of good and evil actually are.

    Extinguishing life, would be the ultimate harm, thus the ultimate evil, and should be avoided if we desire to bring about an better good. The higher good in the natural state is that which has the least amount of suffering.

    Suicide would needlessly add to all the suffering we have already, and so why would you expect that is the default position nontheists would resort to? You're pegging nonbelievers as nihilists and defeatists without so much as giving a reason why.

    Moreover, why wouldn't we prefer there to be less suffering? It seems you've bought the stereotype hook line and sinker. Atheists are soulless, cold-hearted, cruel, selfish creatures who would revel in the spread of more suffering, right? If not we're just hopeless, and if suffering is all there is, then why not just end it? That's a sad stereotype to buy into.

    What if the good we see in the world outweighs the bad? What if we tolerate suffering because we want to provide a better life for someone else. Wouldn't this be noble, valiant, and selfless? What if BECAUSE of suffering, we persist and fight against it perchance to create a better tomorrow for our children? I find that Atheists can be humane without the shoddy stereotypes and misguided accusations, and I would go as far as to say that's a discernible fact. Atheists are good people too.

    Furthermore, I feel that Atheists aren't atheist because of the suffering there is, a distinction I think needs to be made. We're Atheists because the "loving" and "omnipresent" and "omnibenevolent" "omniscient" deity you say cares for us, and which is quoted in scripture as promising to answers the devout prayers, fails time and time again to exhibit any of these truly admirable characteristics. In fact, by the way the world turns, we can know, that such a being cannot exist. An all powerful and all loving God could step in and help, and the fact that he does not, is good evidence that he does not likely exist, or else, is capricious, malevolent, or simply disinterested.

    The suffering in the world, then, becomes sturdy evidence against the sort of God Christians profess a belief in. Of course, it doesn't rule our a deist god, but by this understanding a deist god could not be the Father of the Son, etc., etc.

    Just one more observation: Doesn't the promise of an afterlife mean that Christians could just commit suicide when things got too difficult and then, if they were faithful enough, be whisked away to Heaven and live blissfully happily ever after? The whole concept that you put faith in an afterlife turns the tables on your argument, me thinks.

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  5. LX

    I agree with your whole first paragraph.

    But there is only one unpardonable sin and it aint suicide.

    And no I personally wouldn't encourage martyrdom, but that decision needs to be left up to the one who finds themselves in that position.

    Peace out brown trout, feeno

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  6. Gandolpkski

    I once again agree with you Atheists, I know life still remains better than death. I was trying a sneak attack to help make us aware that no matter how bad things are we can still be thankful for life. Oh, and I googled masochist and feel like taking a shower. Sheez Gandy.

    Dueces, feeno

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  7. T Vick

    You said:
    "Extinguishing life, would be the ultimate harm".

    Yes sir, but every situation is different. If you pushed me out of the way of a speeding bullet, or a speeding train, or a speeding herd of Rhinos knowing it would cause your death, no one would think that was evil.

    Obviously nobody wants anyone to commit suicide. I was only "pegging" you guys in the sense of you argument of if heaven is so good, just "off" yourself and go. I'm thinking well hell, I like life and I know you do too. That's why I said to Vinny Gandarino can't you be grateful for at least life?

    I am with you brother on the preferring of less suffering. I also realize that Christians and Atheists can be equally cruel and equally caring.

    You also said:
    "What if the good we see in the world outweighs the bad. What if..." You do see "good" that's why I posted this gem "maybe because they enjoy life just as much as Christians".

    About your whole paragraph that starts out with "Furthermore..." Whew, you said a mouthful there. I'm sorry you feel that way. Although I fall into stereotypes sometimes I just printed that in my post. (2nd paragraph).

    Now, could Christians just commit suicide when things get to tough because of the promise of an afterlife? Yeah, I guess. But I can only speak for myself, so I'll just wait for His timing?

    Thanks for the well thought out responses, you've given me quite a lot to think about?

    Dueces, feeno

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  8. "Oh, and I googled masochist and feel like taking a shower."

    LOL. Yeah, maybe that wasn't such a good idea...the things you'll find on Google for that are going to be much different than what you'd find in a dictionary definition lol...

    (In general terms, masochism is simply taking pleasure in inflicting pain on others. Sadism is getting pleasure from having pain inflicted on oneself, which is I think what Gandolf meant to say. But either way...Googling either of those words is probably not the best way to go ;)

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