Easy Life of an Atheist

[LateCatholic]

rom my limited perspective atheists do in indeed seem to have easier lives.

The life of an Atheist is much easier in that they only have to follow their conscience. A Catholic must abide by Church doctrine even if they disagree or oppose it. This can be extremely stressful and have terrible results, even families breaking up. Atheists also have a lot more free time, which does make their lives easier.

On the other hand, when faced with tragedy, an atheist has no higher worldview to turn to. Some atheists find comfort in this, but some also struggle with it.

 

[Bradskii]

MountCarmel:

Obviously those unrepentant paedophile priests are not ‘believers’ - unless of course they also are looking forward to eternity in Hell.

I’ll take No True Scotsman for $400, Alex.

And it’s Straw Man leading as they come into the staight, with Ad Hominem on the rails followed by Slippery Slope and Appeal To Ignorance. But it’s No True Scotman coming up fast on the outside with a furlong left to run and it’s Tu Quoque making the running with Straw Man fading and Slippery Slope moving up and at the finish it’s…True Scotsman by a short head!

 

[Bradskii]

And I’ve never seen so much nonsense in one thread for quite some time. Well, excluding those on evolution of course.

I must find the time to respond.

Edit: And now realising that taking No True Scotsman for $400 was Jeopardy not a bet on a horse (we don’t have Jeopardy in Oz).

 

[Lee1]

have reached a genuine belief that God doesn’t exist after consudered reading,

I find it amusing to consider that The author of all things should witness an intelligence writing on paper from a tree from the earth spinnning at 1000 miles an hour in the immensity of a mysterious universe which has no known bounds created from a Word writing a book describing how The author doesn’t exist.

 

[MountCarmel]

Hmmn, Brad, I’ll happily take you on over the topics of ‘Infinity/eternity’, the ‘law of cause and effect’, ‘Occam’s razor’, and, oh yes, Hawking’s latter day sweetie, his contention that ‘because there is a law of gravity, that stuff/things can emerge from nothing {not quantum nothing, which actually pops up because there is something there first’, and is not true nothing]. Oh, BTW, ponder upon this - ‘NOW’ is an infinitely small point of ‘time’, so do we assume that it takes infinity of ‘nows’ to traverse a ‘second’, if so does that also go for a minute, hour, day, etc.? If that is so, then why are they considered to be different in timeline - also if not, then why not? I believe I have the answer, but wonder if you have/can work it out.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

How did this thread go from “whether atheists have it easier” to “does God exist”

Derailment

 

[MountCarmel]

Good question - I’ll have to paddle back, if the thread allows.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Then you’re a better person than me because I’m just feeling too lazy to work on Labor Day

 

[MountCarmel]

Here in the UK we don’t have a Labo(u)r Day - we had a Summer Bank Holiday last weekend. I’m ‘retired’ these days [72 yrs old/young] - spend most of my time praying, thinking, and researching my mostly ‘iffy’ ‘noble and royal’ medieval to ancient ancestors. {Herod ‘The Great’, Nero and Attila the Hun, are supposedly among some of the more notorious ones - Tobit, and Abraham, and Saint Helena of the True Cross, supposedly amongst the ranks of the good guys.]

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

Does God lay off from atheists because he knows if he sends trials and tribulations to atheists it will not bring them closer to him since atheists do not believe in God? On the contrary with believers, trials and tribulations will most likely bring the believer closer to God and so believers have harder lives than atheists. From my limited perspective atheists do in indeed seem to have easier lives.

Psalm 73 discusses this very thing.
In the eyes of the Psalmist, the wicked seem to prosper.

"For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth…

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply, until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny… Those who are far from you will perish… But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds."

 

[PickyPicky]

Psalm 73 discusses this very thing.
In the eyes of the Psalmist, the wicked seem to prosper

Off topic. The thread is about atheists, not about the wicked.

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

“The fool has said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1)

A wicked person in the Old Testament, indeed, who did not believe in God.

I humbly disagree with your assessment of my post.

 

[Lee1]

Maybe atheism pays off today but tomorrow…oh boy!

If we follow Jesus it leads to Life.

 

[PickyPicky]

Off topic. The thread is about atheists, not fools.

 

[Bradskii]

Hmmn, Brad, I’ll happily take you on over the topics of ‘Infinity/eternity’, the ‘law of cause and effect’, ‘Occam’s razor’, and, oh yes, Hawking’s latter day sweetie, his contention that ‘because there is a law of gravity, that stuff/things can emerge from nothing {not quantum nothing, which actually pops up because there is something there first’, and is not true nothing]. Oh, BTW, ponder upon this - ‘NOW’ is an infinitely small point of ‘time’, so do we assume that it takes infinity of ‘nows’ to traverse a ‘second’, if so does that also go for a minute, hour, day, etc.? If that is so, then why are they considered to be different in timeline - also if not, then why not? I believe I have the answer, but wonder if you have/can work it out.

My word. That’s quite a lot to discuss. And I’m struggling to find the relevance in regard to why I have an easy life. Maybe you have just taken umbrage at a perceived laissez faire attitude and have rolled your theological sleeves up and thought ‘I’ll show these so-called atheists!’

Or perhaps that should be ‘theoretical physicists’ sleeves, as nothing that you have mentioned is in any way theologically based.

I’ll run through some things regarding the surmised easy life I lead shortly. But as all your off topic points generally concern time, may I ask you if you think time is a fundamental property of the universe or an emergent one?

And in passing, I might note something that has become clearer over the years: The more we know, the more we realise what we don’t know. That plus ‘never use common sense in a discussion regarding theoretical physics’ has always served me well.

As very few of us know enough about any single subject (especially in the field of physics) it is rarely the person who has the stronger arguments who wins. It is generally the person who exhibits less knowledge who loses.

But off you go…

 

[Lee1]

Why not start a new thread to discuss these interesting Ideas?

@MountCarmel?

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

Please read and think about the verse…it’s about atheists.

 

[Bradskii]

OK. To empathy. Which is what drives society. Without it we’d be still swinging in the trees.

And it forms (as has been noted), multiple versions of the Golden Rule. Matthews 7:12 in the form that mostbhere would be familiar with.

Now to have empathy does not mean to ‘have sympathy for’. It simply means an ability to understand that which another person is feeling. So if we have empathy for someone suffering, we can say to ourselves ‘I know what that person is going through - I’m glad it’s not me’ (or if it was your child: ‘I wish it was me instead’.

Leading from that we can understand that if we steal from someone we can epathise with their feeling of loss. And realise that we wouldn’t want to feel the same way. And common sense (it works in this case) leads us to realise that if you felt justified in stealing something randomly then others could feel the same. And you get stolen from as much as you steal.

Society doesn’t work that way. It helps if the majority of people work on the principle ‘I won’t steal and I expect others to apply that rule’. And because others feel the same we have a situation where the majority obeys the rules which form the glue which makes societies work.

Now back in the day, when there were no societies, the ‘law of the jungle’ applied. So everybody took what they wanted. And no-one was better off. But if some people started to empathise then societies began to form. Groups, tribes, villages etc. And because it helps everyone if there is there is a larger group (the whole is greater than the parts) then those who empatbised got to live longer than those individuals who didn’t. So the tendency to empathise was passed on. It was evolutionary beneficial.

So we all have it (except sociopaths and psychopaths). Christians, Muslims, atheists. We’re all a product of what allowed societies to exist.

Anyone who thinks it’s connected with any given belief in any given deity is wrong.

 

[Bradskii]

Please read and think about the verse…it’s about atheists.

So you know someone quite well. She gives to charity. She is a wonderful mother and wife. She takes in the needy and cares for the hungry. She is an example to the whole neighbourhood.

Now if I ask you if she is wicked, your response, taken from what you have posted, can be nothing other than: ‘Hang on, I’ll need to check if she believes in God’.

Now doesn’t that sound remarkably silly? Or maybe you are using the term ‘wicked’ to mean ‘does not believe in God’. In which case you should be using the more accurate ‘atheist’.

 

[steve-b]

Does God lay off from atheists because he knows if he sends trials and tribulations to atheists it will not bring them closer to him since atheists do not believe in God? On the contrary with believers, trials and tribulations will most likely bring the believer closer to God and so believers have harder lives than atheists. From my limited perspective atheists do in indeed seem to have easier lives.

Even if that was true, this life even if it lasted 100+ years, that isn’t even as long as a blink in eternity. What good is outrageous happiness here if one spends eternity in hell after this life?