Are there atheists in hell?

[Scorpion]

Very easily. The appearance of laws/design in no way implies the existence of a lawmaker/designer, as you would know if you understood how evolution works.

You use the word evolution as if it completely explains how given a few billion years a single celled blob can evolve into a human being.

To my way of thinking there is no way this would happen, if there were not an underlying intelligence working to the plan that life can evolve into more complex forms.

 

[Pixel42]

You use the word evolution as if it completely explains how given a few billion years a single celled blob can evolve into a human being.

It does, as you would know if you understood it.

To my way of thinking there is no way this would happen, if there were not an underlying intelligence working to the plan that life can evolve into more complex forms.

Then your way of thinking is uninformed and extremely limited.

 

[Scorpion]

Go ahead and describe what a godless universe would look like. Bet you cant.

Go cross a street without checking traffic. Will some god save you from the oncoming bus? Of course not. You bet your sweet bippy that you look both ways before crossing that street. Were there a boatload of spirits just hanging around, you could serenely wander out into any street fully confident that nothing would hit you. And that demonstrates that you do not really believe the crap you post.

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.
As for stepping out into traffic without looking I have done this, and then for some unknown reason I stepped back.
Only then did I see I was almost hit by an oncoming car. I did not consciously step back, and I did not hear the car. It was some kind of providential intervention telling my subconscious to step back.

 

[Darat]

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.
As for stepping out into traffic without looking I have done this, and then for some unknown reason I stepped back.
Only then did I see I was almost hit by an oncoming car. I did not consciously step back, and I did not hear the car. It was some kind of providential intervention telling my subconscious to step back.

You mean your karma angels were again breaking the rules to help special old you? Perhaps one had a break from assigning the souls that would be the ones to rape, kill and behead a 3 year old girl, must admit I’d want to take a break from that barbarism.

 

[Pixel42]

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.
As for stepping out into traffic without looking I have done this, and then for some unknown reason I stepped back.
Only then did I see I was almost hit by an oncoming car. I did not consciously step back, and I did not hear the car. It was some kind of providential intervention telling my subconscious to step back.

No, that is not the explanation.

I could explain it to you, but what would be the point? If you really wanted to know you'd do the necessary research to find out. But you'd rather remain ignorant, because that's the only way you can continue to cling to your fantasies.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

You use the word evolution as if it completely explains how given a few billion years a single celled blob can evolve into a human being.

To my way of thinking there is no way this would happen, if there were not an underlying intelligence working to the plan that life can evolve into more complex forms.

Thing is, if life were designed, the designer is an utter incompetent.
Anyone with basic genetics knowledge would do better at designing life had we the power to do so like you presume your god has.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Everything "supernatural" isn't one big package, you don't have to accept everything in order to accept any one item of it. Suppose we die, and it turns out that existence continues for us? That doesn't immediately make it true that gods exist, and everything said about them throughout the millennia is true. Finding a planet called Hell inhabited by transmigrated spirits who retain the memories of humans doesn't necessitate Jesus having existed, any more than discovering an offshoot subspecies of humanity that evolved into vampires would prove the divinity of Buddha, the existence of werewolves, or the plausibility of a healthy potato chip.

It's religions that insist that every item on their cafeteria tray must be accepted as true. Science evaluates each item as and when it shows up, and if the butterbeans pass muster that doesn't mean the cornbread must be accepted without question. That's why it would never be a huge "victory" for religion to prove even a single one of their tenets, or to disprove a single theory accepted by scientists. But the religious don't see it that way because they cannot grasp that science isn't a set of beliefs but a method of putting the world to examination. To them, a single unexplained fossil immediately means God exists, Jesus is true, gay people are bad, and the earth is 4000 years old.

 

[Carrot Flower King]

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.
As for stepping out into traffic without looking I have done this, and then for some unknown reason I stepped back.
Only then did I see I was almost hit by an oncoming car. I did not consciously step back, and I did not hear the car. It was some kind of providential intervention telling my subconscious to step back.

I do stuff like that all the time: I have very good peripheral vision and good hearing...Or mebbe it was just a random event...

 

[bruto]

Many times in my life I've done a stupid thing and realized that I knew I was about to do a stupid thing before I did it. Many more times knowing that I was about to do a stupid thing made me decide at the last moment not to do it. In both instances the thing happens before you've had much time to think about it. It's not supernatural. It's exactly the opposite.

 

[CORed]

I wish I could go to hell when I die, because all the interesting people would be there, and we could party. Realistically, though, it's all stupid BS.

The Christian narrative on the afterlife has always struck me as a choice between heaven (eternal boredom with boring people) and hell (eternal punishment with much more interesting people). I think I would prefer the second alternative to the first. OTOH, I'm pretty sure that there is no afterlife, that when my body quits functioning, my brain also does and that whatever it is in the brain that makes me me, is gone forever. The closest thing to an afterlife that exists in this world is the people who remember you and whose lives you have shaped in some way, and that is far from eternal, at least for the vast majority of us.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

The closest thing to an afterlife that exists in this world is the people who remember you and whose lives you have shaped in some way, and that is far from eternal, at least for the vast majority of us.

Kind of reminds me of this Woody Allen quip: “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.”

 

[MarkCorrigan]

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.
A.

1. This just indicates a paucity of imagination.

2. Just because you couldn't picture it doesn't mean it isn't true. Your incredulity does not determine reality.

 

[eerok]

I'm pretty sure that there is no afterlife, that when my body quits functioning, my brain also does and that whatever it is in the brain that makes me me, is gone forever.

I agree this is a no-brainer. So to speak.

 

[Scorpion]

1. This just indicates a paucity of imagination.

2. Just because you couldn't picture it doesn't mean it isn't true. Your incredulity does not determine reality.

'Reality' is an over used word, often used by people who think what they perceive with their senses is real.

But in ' reality' what we perceive is nothing like what exists. The entire universes was created out of an explosion of energy. Everything that has formed since can be converted back into energy.

We are nothing but atomic energy in a congealed form.

The number of parameters that need to be exactly, as they are for the universe, and the human race to exist are massive. The slightest changes would make stars and planets and intelligent life impossible. The odds against our existence are huge.

Scientists have tried to explain this by saying there may be infinite failed universes. So that this one universe that works could exist by accident.

I say that if there was no divine intelligence guiding creation there would be no workable universe, and if anything existed it would be utter chaos.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

'Reality' is an over used word, often used by people who think what they perceive with their senses is real.

But in ' reality' what we perceive is nothing like what exists. The entire universes was created out of an explosion of energy. Everything that has formed since can be converted back into energy.

We are nothing but atomic energy in a congealed form.

The number of parameters that need to be exactly, as they are for the universe, and the human race to exist are massive. The slightest changes would make stars and planets and intelligent life impossible. The odds against our existence are huge.

Scientists have tried to explain this by saying there may be infinite failed universes. So that this one universe that works could exist by accident.

I say that if there was no divine intelligence guiding creation there would be no workable universe, and if anything existed it would be utter chaos.

But what are the odds of an omnipotent god appearing out of nowhere?
Surely the parameters for THAT to happen are far far smaller?
So how do you explain that appearing?

 

[MarkCorrigan]

'Reality' is an over used word, often used by people who think what they perceive with their senses is real.

But in ' reality' what we perceive is nothing like what exists. The entire universes was created out of an explosion of energy. Everything that has formed since can be converted back into energy.

We are nothing but atomic energy in a congealed form.

The number of parameters that need to be exactly, as they are for the universe, and the human race to exist are massive. The slightest changes would make stars and planets and intelligent life impossible. The odds against our existence are huge.

Scientists have tried to explain this by saying there may be infinite failed universes. So that this one universe that works could exist by accident.

I say that if there was no divine intelligence guiding creation there would be no workable universe, and if anything existed it would be utter chaos.

Yes, you say that, but there is no evidence that you are right and indeed lots of evidence you are in fact wrong. Just because you refuse to accept that you could be mistaken does not mean you must be correct. There is no evidence for god, and there is quite compelling evidence that many of the things that god belief often takes for granted such as souls do not exist.

 

[Scorpion]

The Christian narrative on the afterlife has always struck me as a choice between heaven (eternal boredom with boring people) and hell (eternal punishment with much more interesting people). I think I would prefer the second alternative to the first. OTOH, I'm pretty sure that there is no afterlife, that when my body quits functioning, my brain also does and that whatever it is in the brain that makes me me, is gone forever. The closest thing to an afterlife that exists in this world is the people who remember you and whose lives you have shaped in some way, and that is far from eternal, at least for the vast majority of us.

I walked out of a bible class when I was 16 because all the Christian members of it believed in hellfire. I felt in my heart that God would not throw people into hell, and went on a long search for understanding. I went to spiritualist churches where it was confirmed to me that there is no Satan, and no hellfire.

I then had many evidential messages from dead relatives that convinced me we do survive the death of the body and therefore our consciousness can exist without a brain. The occult teaching is we have higher spirit bodies of divine energy, and consciousness descends into the brain when we incarnate.

 

[Scorpion]

But what are the odds of an omnipotent god appearing out of nowhere?
Surely the parameters for THAT to happen are far far smaller?
So how do you explain that appearing?

The spirit world says that God has always existed. Although that may be incomprehensible to our limited minds.

 

[abaddon]

To my mind a Godless universe would not exist.

That says it all. You have no idea what a godless universe might look like. Well, then you have no idea what a god filled universe would look like either, do you?

As for stepping out into traffic without looking I have done this, and then for some unknown reason I stepped back.
Only then did I see I was almost hit by an oncoming car. I did not consciously step back, and I did not hear the car. It was some kind of providential intervention telling my subconscious to step back.

Funny enough all through the pandemic this has been a daily occurrence for me. Several times a day in fact. I do not immediately rush to claim gods or angels dunnit. It is so mundane that I would have no reason to do so. Just humdrum life happening.

You want to somehow spin everyday mundane experiences into a fabric of fantasy.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

The spirit world says that God has always existed. Although that may be incomprehensible to our limited minds.

But the spirit world is just a fantasy. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that the mind is just an emergent property of a functioning brain. Split brain studies for example show that if a persons brain is split in two then the two halves of their body act as different individuals. How does that square with there being a spirit or soul?