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Getting To Know You => Introductions => Topic started by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 06:56:07 PM

Title: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 06:56:07 PM
Hi guys/gals!

I was born and raised/brainwashed into Catholic from birth by school and family.  Thank God I found a place on the web where like minded people to this new found way of thinking.  Just wanted to say hello.

Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 07:06:36 PM
Welcome to HAF.

I have to ask...are you really an atheist or are you just another catholic from that forum where HAF was linked from?  The reason I ask is because atheist isn't a religion and most who understand what the word means wouldn't call it one either...or thank god (though you could be trying to be sarcastic).
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
I assure you that I was not linked (nor was I ever apart of any) to here by a Catholic forum.  By the way, just because I'm new to athiesm (and I apologize for calling it a religion).

What is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity? 
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: SoTheyTellMe on May 12, 2011, 07:32:03 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
What is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity? 

You'll have to elaborate. Also, this sounds like a religious reference to an apocalypse or end of times. If it is, then I'd say that Atheists wouldn't believe that such a thing exists.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Maria on May 12, 2011, 07:33:35 PM
Welcome to HAF.
QuoteWhat is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity?
End of day is when the sun goes down. It gets dark.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: The Magic Pudding on May 12, 2011, 07:34:07 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
(nor was I ever apart of any) to here by a Catholic forum. 

That "apart" doesn't sound right.


Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
What is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity? 

Various views.
Chortle chortle, snigger snigger.
Which end of days?  The one that is immanent now, or the one which was upon us a thousand years ago?
Not one of Arnold's better movies.
Time of great real estate opportunity.
If some guy says he'll be back to pick you up soon, and you are still waiting 2000 years later, well it's a bit sad.

Welcome theRapture, funny name for an atheist.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:54:19 PM
Quote from: SoTheyTellMe on May 12, 2011, 07:32:03 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
What is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity? 

You'll have to elaborate. Also, this sounds like a religious reference to an apocalypse or end of times. If it is, then I'd say that Atheists wouldn't believe that such a thing exists.

So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Davin on May 12, 2011, 08:14:06 PM
Ragnarok is cooler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DfmZ6a_go (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DfmZ6a_go)
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: SoTheyTellMe on May 12, 2011, 08:26:24 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:54:19 PM

So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).

No, I said that Atheists probably wouldn't believe in a religious-type of end of the world (such as a rapture). If you mean something scientific such as the sun exploding, I'm sure most people would consider that to be a very probable future.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 08:32:11 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 07:12:01 PM
I assure you that I was not linked (nor was I ever apart of any) to here by a Catholic forum.  By the way, just because I'm new to athiesm (and I apologize for calling it a religion).

What is the common athiest view for the end of days out of curiosity? 
It's not a bad film but Gabriel Byrne acted Arnold Schwarzenegger into the ground  ;D

Welcome to HAF!

Regards
Chris
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Stevil on May 12, 2011, 08:35:11 PM
Why such a fascination for the end of the world?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 08:41:48 PM
Quote from: Stevil on May 12, 2011, 08:35:11 PM
Why such a fascination for the end of the world?


Probably from my religious upbringing.  You have nuns pounding you every day with the thought that if you don't write in proper cursive, your desk is a mess, or you are left handed that you will spend an eternity in hell it really messes with your mind.  That's all I can thing of.

I mean, to you guys (people who've been non-religious/atheists) thinking about the end of the world isn't normal?  That's almost odd in the world I grew up in, have known for most of my life.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 08:51:04 PM
One can't avoid the 'end of the world' as there are all the Discovery Channel, National Geographic programmes on asteroids and super volcanoes etc etc. If one paid attention to all of them one would end up crippled by paranoia! 
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: SoTheyTellMe on May 12, 2011, 08:55:46 PM
Aren't an eternity in hell and rapture a bit different?

I think about death sometimes, is that what you mean? By end of the world do you mean end of OUR world, as in Earth, or the end of someone's personal world, or their life?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Maria on May 12, 2011, 09:26:22 PM
Quote from: theRapture
So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).
Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: xSilverPhinx on May 12, 2011, 09:34:29 PM
One could say that we're going to be our own undoing and that we're transforming this world into a large scale Easter Island, consequence of global societal collapse. Or that eventually with all the weapons of mass destruction we'll destroy ourselves sooner in a more spectacular fashion. Something to blow our minds away.

There's also the maybe far fetched possibility to some that we could suffer an alien invasion, prophetised by the failed blockbuster "Battlefield: Los Angeles".

Who knows?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 09:38:25 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 09:26:22 PM
Quote from: theRapture
So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).
Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 09:40:43 PM
theRapture...I'm trying to understand your posts a bit better....how old are you and is English your first language?

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

As far as reality is concerned...there are many ways the end of the world could come about....sun dies out then life on earth dies then sun engulfs earth as red giant (long long long time from now); universe collapses into a big crunch (no longer a popular theory), asteroid destroys life on earth as we know it (again), volcano destroys life on earth as we know it (again), alien attack (:shrug:).....no use worrying over things that are probably a long way off and unpreventable (though we might be able to deflect an incoming asteroid so I'm glad the nasa and military people are worrying over that a bit).

btw x2, I'm still not convinced you aren't a troll...
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 09:45:08 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 09:38:25 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 09:26:22 PM
Quote from: theRapture
So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).
Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?
We know the energy output of the Sun
We know its life-cycle from observing other sun-like stars
We know the Suns composition and mass thus its available fuel
We do the mathematics of fuel consumption vs available fuel
Result; the Sun will last about another 5 billion years

Read this Universe (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Roger-Freedman/dp/142923153X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1305232916&sr=8-4) it explains it all, took me months to wade through it!
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Maria on May 12, 2011, 09:54:07 PM
Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 09:38:25 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 09:26:22 PM
Quote from: theRapture
So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).
Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?
Of course it's ridiculous. I'll never live that long! Seriously, our Sun hasn't exploded before, but the entire solar system, including you and me, is the debris of an ancient star that did explode. It was a supernova. Stars explode (and implode) all the time, all over the universe.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 10:03:45 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 09:40:43 PM
theRapture...I'm trying to understand your posts a bit better....how old are you and is English your first language?

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

As far as reality is concerned...there are many ways the end of the world could come about....sun dies out then life on earth dies then sun engulfs earth as red giant (long long long time from now); universe collapses into a big crunch (no longer a popular theory), asteroid destroys life on earth as we know it (again), volcano destroys life on earth as we know it (again), alien attack (:shrug:).....no use worrying over things that are probably a long way off and unpreventable (though we might be able to deflect an incoming asteroid so I'm glad the nasa and military people are worrying over that a bit).

btw x2, I'm still not convinced you aren't a troll...

Now, I'm the same poster...but Catholocism isn't "unconcerned" with the "end times" but it's that we don't and can't know when it's going to happen.  It's not like the book of Revelations is deemed irrelevant, it's just not preached on/worried about as much as other denominations of Christianity I guess.

And English is my first language...I just don't proofread at all.   ;)
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
then why are you so concerned with the rapture?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:35:40 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
then why are you so concerned with the rapture?
Due in May?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Maria on May 12, 2011, 10:40:50 PM
Quote from: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:35:40 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
then why are you so concerned with the rapture?
Due in May?
May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything  ;D
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:58:14 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 10:40:50 PM
Quote from: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:35:40 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
then why are you so concerned with the rapture?
Due in May?
May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything  ;D
But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Maria on May 12, 2011, 11:07:42 PM
Quote from: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:58:14 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 10:40:50 PM
Quote from: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:35:40 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
then why are you so concerned with the rapture?
Due in May?
May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything  ;D
But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?
I think it's 6pm california time.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Tank on May 12, 2011, 11:13:06 PM
Quote from: Maria on May 12, 2011, 11:07:42 PM
Quote from: Tank on May 12, 2011, 10:58:14 PM
But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?
I think it's 6pm california time.

Well I just can't wait! But you should still buy your Mum a present just in case they're wrong. If she's a believer you could always offer to take her for a make over on the 22nd.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Crow on May 13, 2011, 02:44:16 AM

Sounds like a troll from reading the posts, but anyway I feel like biting.

Quote from: theRapture on May 12, 2011, 09:38:25 PM
that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?

Only ridiculous if you decide to ignore copious amounts of evidence that stars are not infinite and when they run out of fuel they go supernova. As Tank has already explained how we have been able to make an estimate for the expiration of sol (i prefer this name to the sun) there is no need to repeat it again.

So what evidence do we have that supernovas exists. Well we can observe them, since 1885 we have been observing supernova remnants via telescopes and since 185ce (common era) there have been written recordings of people witnessing them via the eye. Since the invention of the space telescope such as Hubble we have been able to get more accurate data of these supernova and able to build computer models that explain these events in extraordinary detail, the telescopes also provide us with some amazing images.

This is an image taken of one of the most famous supernovas "the crab nebula" or SN 1054 which was first recorded in 1054ce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054)).
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimgsrc.hubblesite.org%2Fhu%2Fdb%2Fimages%2Fhs-2005-37-a-web.jpg&hash=04cc1ab72d6a359294bb4f5f9449b07ba0228491)

I don't believe in the rapture. I take an optimistic view when it comes to the future of humanity and think the only thing that would entirely wipe out our species would be:

• Destruction of planet.
• Death of life at a micro-organism level.
• Loss of atmosphere.

Even a meteor impact may struggle to wipe out every person on the planet, there has never been another species that has adapted to live in so many different environments, not just existing but prosper and multiply. Looking at the history of humanity our ancestors have been through environmental change, super volcano eruptions, plagues, and many more events that are usually used as reasons for why the world may end.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Cooper20 on May 13, 2011, 03:36:33 AM
I'm just hoping they develop the whole 'keep heads in jars' thing from Futurama before I die.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: PapistItalian16 on May 13, 2011, 03:23:52 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 09:40:43 PM
btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

We Catholics dont get concerned about the "end of days" for the same reason most people dont pay attention to the random TV shows about the "Apocalypse". We would become paranoid.

Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: thedport on May 15, 2011, 01:44:44 AM
Quote from: PapistItalian16 on May 13, 2011, 03:23:52 PM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 09:40:43 PM
btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

We Catholics dont get concerned about the "end of days" for the same reason most people dont pay attention to the random TV shows about the "Apocalypse". We would become paranoid.



And paranoia can lead directly to mass hysteria. Which is very very bad.
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: Crow on May 16, 2011, 01:10:53 PM
Quote from: thedport on May 15, 2011, 01:44:44 AM

And paranoia can lead directly to mass hysteria. Which is very very bad.

Or just plain funny tanzanian laughter epidemic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic), or a stranger more serious case (but still funny) The dancing plague of 1518 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_Plague_of_1518)
Title: Re: New convert to your Athiesm religion
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on May 22, 2011, 08:24:41 AM
Quote from: Whitney on May 12, 2011, 09:40:43 PM
theRapture...I'm trying to understand your posts a bit better....how old are you and is English your first language?

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.


I quit reading after this post, so it may have already been answered. I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools most of my life. I remember several religion teachers discussing the "final countdown..." *clears throat* I mean "final judgment. I can't remember what they told us, but I remember my vision of what would happen based upon what they said.

Essentially I viewed it as this:
Jesus lined everyone up along the street, walking down a line, and shouting out everyone's sins. He would than announce whether or not that person was making it into heaven.

I don't think it is an accepted belief by Catholics as a whole, but it is certainly believed by at least some Catholics and taught in some schools.