Even as a young tbm I would wonder where god could have started, who would have made him? He couldn't have just come from no where right? but I would brush it aside as something I couldn't understand in this life.

While leaving tssc over the past 6 months I've given a lot more thought to this and a lot of other questions. At first I still felt I would identify as a Christian but after looking at more regarding that lately I'm realizing it seems so far out there and I don't think I believe any of it and felt like I still held onto believing in a god but that is dwindling.

I feel/felt/not-sure-where-I-am-with-it like I still believe in some kind of afterlife but a friend pointed out that I probably feel that way because I WANT there to be an afterlife... which is true, I do hope for one. I always bought into being reunited with loved ones (and really hoped for that to include pets) in another life and having that dashed is getting me down.

I'm not sure I can believe in an afterlife if I don't believe in a god? I don't want to fool myself into it just to feel better because I finally have a desire for unobstructed truth after realizing how fooled I was by tssc. I really just wish I could know for sure and stop thinking about it so much. Being unemployed doesn't help.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2012 02:40PM by romy.

romy Wrote:
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> I'm not sure I can believe in an afterlife if I
> don't believe in a god?


Well, if there can be this life without a god, then why not other lives without a god?

Having said that, I don't personally think there's an afterlife. And I'm fine with that. Of course, I could have the cause and effect reversed. Maybe I don't believe in an afterlife because I'm fine with there not being one. I'm fine with not existing. I do it several times a night between dreams. Other than my automatic processes, everything is shut down. My "self" is turned off and I'm not thinking, "Oh crap, my 'self' doesn't exist right now! What if this is permanent? What if I don't get to do all the things I wanted? What if I don't see my loved ones?"

No, I think the scary or sad part of death is the period leading up to it. That's when we have our regrets. That's when we feel cheated. That's when we mourn the coming loss. That's when we're uncertain. That's why I hope my death is unexpected, like the ending of "The Sopranos." I'm there, having a pleasant time and then, pow, nonexistence, unawareness. If not that, then at least no prolonged painful decline.

But you are not required to believe anything. It's okay to not have everything figured out. The safe bet would be to live as if this is the only chance you have. If we get more lives, then, whee, it's a bonus.

Stray Mutt Wrote:

>
>
> Well, if there can be this life without a god,
> then why not other lives without a god?
>


Good point.

I was bitten but the bug to watch videos on youtube by athiests and I am really seeing the points they make.

When I initially left the morg, I thought I would just slide into some christian denomination and life would be good. But the thing was, after scrutinizing the morg is such detail, I really had a hard time giving other churches a pass. The christian religion doesn't fair much better than the morg if you use reason while investigating them.

fossilman Wrote:
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The
> christian religion doesn't fair much better than
> the morg if you use reason while investigating
> them.


exactly. I knew that is probably what I would find and put off looking at it for a little while because of that, but now that I am I realize it seems so unbelievable. Some nevermo friends I tell this to are like ya, you are just figuring this out? I guess most of my close friends deemed the bible a work of fiction a long time ago and just kept their feelings to themselves around me.

This is a question I have struggled with too. I took so many things for granted, but I refuse to do so now - I have to put great thought and effort into figuring out exactly what I believe, not what anyone else believes. It can be a tough process. I've realized I am not only an atheist, but probably have been all along (bit of a story). I have had trouble with the afterlife situation as well, though. Stray Mutt addresses this well - thanks for that. I hope there is an afterlife, and I"ve heard enough stories that relate to it that I can't just summarily dismiss it out of hand, but...I'm doubting there is one. Still working on all this - I'd be interested in hearing more thoughts about it. People on this board are so intelligent and well-read that I gain much from these types of conversations.

"I really just wish I could know for sure and stop thinking about it so much."
not till ya die...and even then if you just "blink out" it aint gonna matter anyway!
there are some atheists that believe in an afterlife...not all afterlife scenarios are imbeded in religion ...there are 'spiritual atheists...Atheism is a lack of belief in god/s...Besides what happens if there is an afterlife and it has nothing to do with religion...so i dont believe that what you think is gonna matter either way!

lol. ya, that was a fail for sure

"I'm more athi than you."

"No you're not. I'm the athiest."

As long as it's free.

No more shelling out $$ to bump up a level for me.

A few thoughts:

You mention doubting God from very young. For me I doubted eternity from very young. The concept of eternity scares me a whole lot more than no afterlife. Even if the afterlife is great eternity is a long time. After it's been a million years, a billion years, a trillion years, you still have eternity left. It never ends. Eventually you will be bored and just want to be done, and you never can. Creepy.

If there is an afterlife it is very unlikely that any existing religion has an accurate picture of what it is.

The reincarnation idea seems less scary than the Christian afterlife - but since your consciousness and memory doesn't transfer - who cares? You loose your loved ones with that concept anyways.

So for me this underscores the importance of making those relationships meaningful in this life. You don't get an afterlife to do makeup work and to build the relationship you wish you had built in this life so go build them now.

I guess I was 99.99% sure of god existing, I just couldn't comprehend how he came to be. Now I think back and see how all tssc influence in my life made me feel like I had no option but to believe in god even though I was trying at least a little to think critically.

Eternity confused me as well, I would wonder what would you do for allll that time? I couldn't even comprehend eternity and never understood how mo's were so quick to sign up for marriage with one another for something so permenant. Etertnity does seem like it would get boring but I also thought of it as something I couldn't grasp in this life.


I also didn't really care about having my own world to run for eternity, seems really tiring. I would think I would be ok with mid-tier where I could kick back and relax in a mansion.

Try out this site:

http://www.godlessgeeks.com/WhyAtheism.htm