Happy Atheist Forum

"Atheists - Isn't your life pointless, purposeless?  If life ends and you are just gone, why bother?"

When they ask this rather rude set of questions, how do YOU answer?

This is what I have to say about it. (http://www.thisisby.us/index.php/content/atheists__isn__t_your_life_pointless_purposeless)

Ask them which religion are they talking about? There are so many to choose from. Strange how faith usually leads you to the religion you grew up learning about.

Quote from: "Kylyssa""Atheists - Isn't your life pointless, purposeless?  If life ends and you are just gone, why bother?"

When they ask this rather rude set of questions, how do YOU answer?

This is what I have to say about it. (http://www.thisisby.us/index.php/content/atheists__isn__t_your_life_pointless_purposeless)

Outstanding, Kylyssa!!

I love the fact that as an atheist, I get to decide what purpose my life holds, and that I get to define the terms of which I live.

You are a great writer, BTW! You have a new fan.  

Yup, isn't that a ridiculous question? It really shows how much they appreciate THEIR lives, sheesh.

Well done, Kylyssa!  Your enthusiasm for life is refreshing and possibly contagious.   :o

Theists are deluding themselves if they think religion offers some sort of purpose that atheism doesn't. "Serving God" doesn't count. After all, what possible purpose (unknown to us, just to make matters worse) could an OMNIPOTENT being have for mere mortals such as ourselves? If you can do anything, it follows that you don't need anything done for you.

Quote from: "Kylyssa""Atheists - Isn't your life pointless, purposeless?  If life ends and you are just gone, why bother?"

I  think people who say such stupid things as "you have no purpose in life" wish they had a life.  For example, my purpose this weekend will be to skip over to Kauai, cruise around on a Harley for a bit, and probably cool off my sunburn in a waterfall.  I may even have to drink a few brews watching the sunset at the beach.  

I hate my purposeless life!!    :bang:

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bikernet.com%2Fnews%2Fimages%2FPhotoID7903.jpg&hash=f700a5c6128fe44d25d40a501786f69e780833d4)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyventure.com%2F300x400%2Fkauai_wailuaValley_18.jpg&hash=417d67c511e394c8398dff9f5deb77a2e30803b0)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agpix.com%2Fcatalog%2FAGPix_TeDoMaLi31%2Flarge%2FAGPix_TeDoMaLi31_0619_Lg.jpg&hash=b36a9b30cb93832fddebf7599a48a72970aad99a)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keokibrewing.com%2Fimageskeoki%2FlabelSunsetWeb.jpg&hash=e386b7bd80ed1e565c6e5fc86eb4ab00b0f1ebdb)

Quote from: "Kona"

Quote from: "Kylyssa""Atheists - Isn't your life pointless, purposeless?  If life ends and you are just gone, why bother?"

I  think people who say such stupid things as "you have no purpose in life" wish they had a life.  For example, my purpose this weekend will be to skip over to Kauai, cruise around on a Harley for a bit, and probably cool off my sunburn in a waterfall.  I may even have to drink a few brews watching the sunset at the beach.  

I hate my purposeless life!!    :bang:

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bikernet.com%2Fnews%2Fimages%2FPhotoID7903.jpg&hash=f700a5c6128fe44d25d40a501786f69e780833d4)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyventure.com%2F300x400%2Fkauai_wailuaValley_18.jpg&hash=417d67c511e394c8398dff9f5deb77a2e30803b0)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agpix.com%2Fcatalog%2FAGPix_TeDoMaLi31%2Flarge%2FAGPix_TeDoMaLi31_0619_Lg.jpg&hash=b36a9b30cb93832fddebf7599a48a72970aad99a)(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keokibrewing.com%2Fimageskeoki%2FlabelSunsetWeb.jpg&hash=e386b7bd80ed1e565c6e5fc86eb4ab00b0f1ebdb)

I hate you so much, Kona. OK everyone. Who else wants to gang up on Kona now?
 :lol:

Sweet Kona - sounds like fun.  I've been to the islands a few times, all on work, but I try to stay for a few days afterward and enjoy myself.  In recent times I've gone snorkeling off the Kona coast on the big island where I saw sea turtles which were really cool, and I made it up to the observatory on Mauna Kea which was totally cool - I liked that a lot - I actually got to see the Southern Cross which is impossible to observe outside Chicago.

I didn't try the Keoki beer, but I really enjoyed the Fire Rock Pale Ale brewed by Kona Brewing Co.  Good stuff - I heartily recommend it!

This will be my first time to Kauai, so I'm stoked!!  Big Island has been my overall favorite since it has it all.  Been up to the telescopes a coupla times....cool to see them up close instead of on Discovery Channel.  Turtles, flowing lava, black sand beaches, snow, tons of waterfalls, Kealekekua Bay--great snorkeling, hiking, beaches, and Kona coffee--best in the world.  Yeah, and then there is the Fire Rock Pale Ale....great stuff!  Just wish it was on sale more often.

 :cheers:

Quote from: "Kona"Kona coffee--best in the world

No doubt - I love that stuff.  Hard to find good Kona coffee on the mainland - you mostly get 10% blends  

The old saying is that "life is what you make it." That's "YOU make it." If a person is living their life for Jesus, or Muhammad or Santa or whatever, I guess they'll kill themselves the first time they have a crisis of faith.

If you live the life you make, no one can take it from you except yourself. Maybe that makes sense.

Kona, I hate you!  :wink:

I actually think religious folk have more of a purposeless and pointless life. They spend all their life worshiping and bowing down and going to church, nothing is gained through all this, they just read the same book, go to the same church, they don't accomplish anything except talking to themselves at night, and that's barely an accomplishment.

What happens when they finally die, living their life all for the moment after they die to go to heaven, if there was one, wouldn't they feel stupid if heaven just turned out to be one of those big play houses you see at McDonalds. Damn, I don't even need to bring up my own purposeful life to make my point.

I tell them that I relish each day to be a good person, to accept people for who they are, to do a person a good turn and to learn something new each day.

Then I ask them, "so are you saying the only thing that gives your life meaning is your belief in god and an afterlife?

I also tend to mention that I don't have to hang onto things like that to give my life meaning, there is plenty of meaning with the REAL, tangible things in my life.  If the person has not walked away, I can give examples, like doing something with my daughter, playing with my pets, helping my handicapped neighbor with her groceries.  I do those things because they enrich life NOT in anticpation of some reward in the future.

Everyone has the same purpose. It is to achieve happiness and avoid discomfort. This applies to Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and even the nonreligious. It's just a matter of admitting it or not.

That's what I think about purpose.

From all evidence life in the universe is rare if existant at all and intelligence even more so, If you won the lottery 10 in a row a religious person would thank devine providence, I would think of myself as the luckest person on the planet and enjoy the rest of my life. From all acounts we've all won the lottery about 1000 times just to exist at all. Which is all the more reason to enjoy life to the fullest for the rest of my days.

I tell them that my life is anything but pointless.  If I were to just sit in a corner and not do anything, THAT would be pointless.  But I have a family and chores and responsibilities and fun and so many things in my life that make it not pointless.

Why bother?  Because it's all here, now.  I live for the now, not the after... even if there WERE an after, I'm not just here killing time.  I'm living.

And I find it hideously sad and depressing that they feel that what comes after we die appears to be more important than what is going on right now.

The whole equation of "moral life = heaven" can be summed up as the great religious bribe.   We create purpose by attempting to leave something meaningful in this world for those whom we leave behind when we die.   Anyone who would not want to leave a trail of goodness while living his life must be a miserable person.   I don't believe in an afterlife therefore I don't believe in a world better or worse than my own when I die.  I do believe that my own is what I make of it.

My purpose is anything I choose. There's something truly magnificent about writing your own destiny. I only hope that theists can break free so they can experience it, too.

Actually an atheists life is much more purposeful than someone who is under a religion, especially false. Assuming they all are they are all living a lie. They do not understand what life is so how can they possibly know the right way to live it?

For example: I know that the objective of chess, like any game, is to win. But with no further knowledge on the concept and laws of the game I do not know how it should be played. I cannot determine a smart move from an ill, self-crippling one. I may be daring enough to develop hypothesis's forged from imagination and hope but it will not provide a substitution for strategies and laws of the game that will give me solid security in my decision making.
 
We must know what life is in order to know how to live it.

My life is pretty pointless because I see it as such. However, some people seem happy to have me around and I do function within the society, thus doing something that ultimately benefits someone. Thus, if I were to lower my criteria for "meaningfulness", my life would not be nearly as pointless.

However, if I had to lower my criteria as low as to define purpose in life through religion, THEN my life would have no meaning. None at all.