Mailbag: Atheists’ Sad Existence
Subject: I am praying for you
I am so sorry that you have nothing to hope for. If you truly believe that life on this earth is all that we have, what a sad, sad state of existence that must be. I truly pray that some day you will come to have a personal relationship with God. Whether you believe it or not, you are still his child. He wishes that you would accept Him as your heavenly Father.
I receive quite a lot of email along these lines: someone feels sorry for me, assumes that I don’t have anything to live for, insists on letting me know that I’ll be prayed for, please accept Jesus into your heart, etc., etc., etc.
Not very original, is it? Arrogant, too.
To start with, there is the very arrogant assumption that, without a belief in Tamera’s god, then I must have nothing to hope for. Granted, I can’t hope for Tamera’s particular idea about an after life, but Tamera must be the one who has a “sad, sad state of existence” if the only thing she really has to hope for his an afterlife with her god.
As for myself, I have all sorts of things to hope for and to live for — things which are very much grounded in this life and this existence. I have no need for an afterlife, a heaven, a god, or any supernatural beliefs in order to appreciate living and take joy out of my life. For Tamera, it is unacceptable to think that “life on earth is all that we have.” That, as far as I am concerned, is the pitiful cry of someone who doesn’t take much joy out of their life.
A person who truly enjoys and appreciates their life will take pleasure in it and enjoy it regardless of whether any sort of afterlife exists. They might believe in an afterlife and even in some sort of wonderful heaven, but they won’t depend upon the existence of such a heaven in order for their lives to have meaning or purpose.
I could argue with you about why I am sure that God does exist, but I know that you have probably already heard every point that I could possibly make.
Finally, Tamera says something correct — I probably have heard whatever arguments she might offer. Now, if her theism were rationally based and were something she arrived at after careful consideration, she would take this as a reason that maybe, just maybe, she should reconsider her position. After all, if every argument she has can be rebutted and judged inadequate, then perhaps her position simply isn’t as strong as she thinks. This doesn’t necessarily mean that she is wrong, but it does suggest that her reasons for adopting this position are questionable.
Apparently, though, that isn’t the case here.
But, I can assure you that God is real and he created this universe and everything in it, including you!
She can “assure” me of this... and why should I or anyone else believe it? She never says.
His Son Jesus came to this earth so that our sins would be forgiven-including yours. He paid the penalty for us.
If that were actually true, then justice was not done. It would be immoral for anyone to even want to escape taking responsibility for their actions by having someone else pay the penalty, much less actually doing that. Tamera is, in effect, recommending that I adopt a fundamentally immoral position.
There is a mass of credible evidence that shows that Jesus' resurrection actually occured. The funny thing is that this evidence doesn't matter to most Christians, we know that God (including Jesus and the Holy Spirit) exists because we have felt Him at work in our lives. If you ever have stirrings in you to investigate Christianity, I encourage you to read "The Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel.
I know very well that, at least for many Christians, evidence doesn’t matter. That isn’t funny, that’s sad. If evidence mattered more to them, they’d adopt more rational positions because there isn’t a “mass of credible evidence” supporting Jesus’ resurrection. There isn’t even such a mass of evidence supporting Jesus’ existence.
Lee Strobel’s book is pretty much worthless except as a way of gaining insight into the minds of evangelical Christians who don’t care much for rational arguments and empirical evidence. Strobel fools readers into thinking that he has journalistic credibility when, in reality, he doesn’t — for example, he doesn’t take the time to interview anyone other than those who support the position Strobel was reaching for from the very beginning. There are interesting and strong apologists out there, but for some reason it doesn’t appear as though the Christians who email me have ever heard of them.
I pray that you will find faith. In this world, it is often all that we have.
If faith is all the Tamera has, and judging by the rest of her message I suspect that that may indeed by the case, then I truly feel sorry for her. I hope that, someday, her life improves to the point where she has more than faith, that she has an enjoyable, pleasurable life, and that she can find meaning and purpose in living.
More selections from the Agnosticism / Atheism Mailbag...
Comments
I’m a little confused about this whole “Jesus died for your sins” deal.
The bible apparently defines sin as a “transgression of God’s law”. So, in order to forgive us for transgressing his laws, God had to send his son to earth for people to kill him so he could bring his son back to life and forgive our sins? Couldn’t God have just forgiven us directly without bringing his son into the whole agrument?
If someone “transgressed” against me, I might or might not forgive them, but I would not think having them kill my daughter so I can bring her back to life would be part of the equation.
What’s even more interesting (funny?)is that Austin has probably been prayed for soooooo many times by the theists, yet for some reason, this god of theirs isn’t listening. Do they realize that they (the writer) isn’t the first one to pray for him? Do they realize that praying “for things” for themselves or for others may be something this god doesn’t want to do, and asking him to change his will for them is pretty presumptious, considering he supposedly has a devine plan already? LOL
She also presumptuously speaks for God, “He wishes that you would accept Him as your heavenly Father.” How would she know? Isn’t it more likey SHE wishes Mr. Cline would accept God as his “heavenly father”? Who died and made her God’s messenger?
I think Tamera said it all when she said, “(taken slightly out of context)…evidence doesn’t matter to most Christians…”
Did Jesus “die for our (alleged) sins,” or did His coldblooded, egomanical OLD MAN simply kill Him? (”Father, why hast thou forsaken me?”) It doesn’t sound to me like He went willingly to the cross.
I think the “died for our sins” line is easy to explain. Jesus was executed, and his followers were obviously very sad and disheartened. When horrible things happen, people naturally try to explain them away in some kind of positive light to assuage their own feelings. The story about the two theives seems obvious to me. “He coulda got off that cross if he wanted to …” but instead he “chose” to help us all out. The logic of sacrifice is kind of primitive and out of touch with how we think these days, but given how people understood the world 2000 years ago, this explanation makes some sense. I once saw a Canadian film (in French) called “Jesus of Montreal” which kind of went into these ideas. It’s a good movie, even for an agnostic.
I was raised believing in a god and his son, to let the people kill his own son, not only that but nailing him to a cross, people still believe this barbaric story of god and have been praising it just seems wrong.
look i know you atheists don’t like being coined under the same term..but when i read the comments, any negative thoughts i had about atheists came rushing back.
For example;
“people still believe this barbaric story of god and have been praising it just seems wrong.”
WRONG? i’m sorry..what?
How about you live your life with your “beliefs” (or lack thereof)and I’ll live mine.
You don’t even know how certain I am of God existing..the things I’ve seen..the things that have happened to me and my family in my life. I don’t even need any more proof, it seems so evident to the point where believing we just “came to be” is a even bigger leap of faith than that of believing in God.
Something has to be said of people who don’t believe in a heaven or afterlife, or that there loved ones are safe and that you’ll have the chance to see them again, because “life” doesn’t stop just because our bodies do. Do you really not have close relations with people? Do you really not feel love so intense and deep that you would hope for an afterlife? Its one of those things where “i told you so” just isn’t enough. I can only hope you don’t bring anyone pain in this life..you live your life “morally” and we’ll see how it all pans out. I’ve come to the conclusion people will believe what they wanna believe and do what they wanna do, all your actions, your decisions, comments, thoughts, whatever, all play a part..either good things or bad things have come from them and in the end is when you “reap what you sow” or whatever :p
The only thing I can’t stand more than an actual atheist is a self-righteous hypocritical atheist who doesn’t even realize his retorts are worse than what he is retorting. You cannot argue faith with skepticism, thats like arguing against war with weapons.
Thats all that really grinds my gears, any trace of disrespect can set me off..other than that life your life whatever buddy just don’t speak negatively on the way A LOT of people live theres
btw saw your picture…
you would look like that now wouldn’t you!
hahahaha
don’t blame you for not believing in god..he wasn’t kind to you
That is about as sensible as believing in elves. Life is a physical process and death is the end of life. Saying that life doesn’t end with death is self-contradictory, like saying that 1=2.
And here we have the actual basis for believing in nonsense like an afterlife: wishful thinking. You don’t have any sound basis for believing in life after death, you just can’t bear the thought that there is no life after death.
No, it’s not - what’ would be “enough” is sound evidence and reasoning. You offer neither.
Well, that seems to accurately describe how you base your beliefs - like believing in an afterlife because you want to. Do not, however, adopt the arrogant stance that your own mistakes are replicated by others.
So, you can’t actually stand atheists in the first place, right? This sounds like you are admitting to be prejudiced and bigoted against atheists — yet her you are, presuming to lecture us on how much better you are.
…because when a person has faith, they have abandoned the intellectual and moral values upon which skepticism is based.
But your own disrespect of atheists is quite OK, right?