Hey SDMB, I’m new here. I’m an atheist. How’re you?
Anyways: the three reasons I can’t be happy are
1.) The Suffering of the Good (SOTG)
2.) the Prospering of the Bad (POTB)
3.) In the end, we all die forever
Pardon my acronyms, it’s a quirk of mine.
I don’t like how millions of ‘good’ people suffer every day, or how millions of ‘bad’ people prosper each day. And I don’t like that I’m going to die forever someday, as will all other ‘good’ people.
I can’t be truly happy until a good god (obviously that doesn’t refer to Yahweh or Allah) flies down to earth, destroys the ‘bad’ people and makes the world into a paradise where all the ‘good’ people live forever with no pain and death. Is that too much to ask?
I feel the suffering of all the ‘good’ people in the world b/c my own unfair suffering in the past has now made me hypersensitive to all good people’s suffering. I feel the pain of them all; I am unable, as most of you are, to brush off their pain by saying ‘shit happens’.
You must be able to brush it off to some extent. I mean, if you felt everyone you heard of’s pain as if it were your own, you’d go insane. Anyway, my advice is, work with what you’ve got.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t say that, but dude… what do you want? A cookie?
Yes, life is short, and the world is full of suffering. Many people don’t have the option of enjoying their short life. You do, and choose not to. That’s not noble, that’s stupid and wasteful.
If you want to help, get out and help. Simply co-opting the suffering of others is fundamentally self-indulgent.
Are you sure you’re an atheist? I mean, I understand you’ve used a bit of rhetoric here, but:
-Can’t you think of a more practical solution, even if only partial and palliative, to the problems of SOTG and POTB, than a superman-style rescue by a deity?
-You’ve outlined the world in rather black-and-white terms - there aren’t really all that many people who are exclusively ‘good’ or exclusively ‘bad’ - which ones do you actually want destroyed?
Sure; replace ‘good god’ with ‘santa claus’, tooth fairy, giant alien, FSM- basically, I just used the idea of a magic man in the sky (‘god’) as a plot device (probably not the right term). Like, if I was writing a screenplay, and I needed something to make what I want to happen happen, so I’m like ‘okay, magic man in the sky does it.’ That’s all ‘god’ is really- he’s the plot voucher for our lives :). People believe in him b/c he conveniently (they think) will solve all their problems (death, suffering, and bad people prospering while the good suffer). He is the great cop out.
Although ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are subjective bullshit terms, generally we know what I mean- everyone falls a little more on one side than the other. Saddam Hussein falls more on ‘bad’, for instance.
And the result would be its own hell. There has to be conflict for good and bad to even exist. A world with no bad would provide no basis for the good to be perceived as good, and the lack of conflict would drive most people insane. So, all due respect, please don’t wish for it because I don’t want to live in that world. I like this one, warts and all, because the pleasure I derive from living my life is at least somewhat dependent on the fact that there is bad in the world, and I’m managing to avoid it.
I reckon I don’t have to tell it to them, since I can tell it to someone who feels their pain so deeply for them, right?
BTW, I could just as easily say “oh bullshit” to your “I’m an athiest who wants a magical god to bring all the good people to paradise” despite your “plot device” backpedaling.
I disagree with the old adage that ‘without suffering, there’d be no happiness’ (or, replace suffering with ugliness and happiness with beauty). We find certain things pleasurable (or beautiful) b/c of how we’ve evolved, not b/c we compare them subconsciously with suffering (or ugliness). If I see a woman with big breasts and a perfect hip to waist ration, I find her beautiful not b/c I’m subconsciously comparing her to ugly women i’ve seen, but b/c my evolved instincts say she’s pretty.
In a paradise, we would enjoy things just as much w/o suffering, even more in fact. That’s my argument.
You’re claiming I’m not really an atheist? Man, I’m tired of that.
First off, I already admitted that Yahweh and Allah are monsters. If i’m a secret theist trying to make god seem more desirable, what god am I doing if for? Ganesh?
Second: we live in an unconcsiouc universe made out of matter than always existed. In it’s most current form, it exists as our universe. Our universe contains not a shred of evidence of any design or intelligence (except things designed by intelligent animals like us). The universe is made of eternal non-living matter. ‘God’ is a ridiculous mythology (albeit a desirable one), a projection of human personality traits onto a fictional man in the sky- even though humans are just an insignificant species of apes who appeared quite recently in this vast uncaring universe.
Yes, but you know this, so you could be, I dunno, thinking about other solutions that might actually work, to some extent. There’s no point hoping for something you know for sure won’t happen, or indeed complaining that life sucks because it can’t happen. I mean, it’s a shame that I can’t levitate, but there’s no bloody point moping about it.
I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, start working on plan B.
