Annihilationism is the belief that in the afterlife non-Christians’ souls are simply destroyed rather than punished in Hell forever. Do you think the idea is more tolerable-after all for atheists its no worse than what you’ve expected.
One problem is that annihilationism is often put in the context of a Great Judgement. i.e., I am hauled in front of God, who frowns upon me, pronounces his fury, while I wail and weep, and THEN he annihilates me.
Whole lot of drama… Little purpose.
Skip the judgement thing, and, yeah, I’m fine. It is, as you say, exactly what I expect anyway.
Trinopus
(All the unnecessary drama is one of my prinicple philosophical griefs with Christianity. Why beget a son, sacrifice him, raise him again, etc.? All that effort, when, God, being omnipotent, could simply have issued a writ.)
I think most atheists couldn’t give a shit how you contort your religious beliefs. Knock yourself out.
This is actually what I believed when I was a Christian. Now that I’m an atheist it’s what I think happens to everyone anyway. Utter destruction seems better than a literal eternity of suffering in my humble opinion.
Actually, I don’t believe in Annihilationism, Hell, Heaven or an afterlife or so really it doesn’t impact me one way or another.
I thought annihilationism was the Zotlist doctrine that says that anyone who worships any deity except the Mighty Zotl-Xa will be destroyed in the afterlife. The only ones who will be saved are devout Zotlists and, of course, the atheists who never offended the Mighty Zotl-Xa by false worship.
Since all the real world facts and all the logic are still on the side of the atheists, no. It just means that your god is saving people for being gullible and killing the rationalists. It’s like decanting people from the Matrix and then shooting them in the face because they didn’t recognize they were in a simulation.
I believe you are a pony. How does that affect you?
He’ll have to worship Princess Celestia instead of Jehovah?
Stikes me as rather like listening to an argument about whether Superman could beat Batman in a fair fight. It might be diverting for a time, but eventually the inanity gets to me, and I’ll go back to dealing with the real world and all the things that keep me busy therein.
More tolerable than what? 
When good ponies die, their souls go to Chincoteague.
Than eternal conscious punishment.
It’s better to be executed than tortured forever, but both options demonstrate that the god you worship is an evil one.
It makes more sense if we do, as Christians tend to do, ascribe human qualities to God.
If you were to conduct interviews for who you want to live with for all of eternity, you’d just choose the good applications from the stack and toss the others away. What would be the purpose in calling the bad applicants in and torturing them forever, if you were a loving and kind person? It wouldn’t make sense, correct?
Punishment only makes sense if a person is given another chance to do better. So if Hell is a temporary situation…and a person’s soul is eventually released and allowed to try again, that makes sense. But an eternal hell does not make sense. Even when a person serves a life sentence in prison, they are allowed to recreate themselves there…to redeem themselves there. There is no redemption in Hell and that’s why it makes no sense to me as a form of punishment. It’s not punishment. It’s torture.
If there is a Hell, that means God is not loving and kind. I cannot force myself to worship such a being, and it makes me not like the people who would believe those two things are compatible.
To an atheist this religious concept is as nonsensical as any other-not worth considering at all. Since you are prone to believe things like this, how do you feel about it?
I think I’d prefer an eternity of punishment to what’s actually going to happen, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
That’s also my take on it. I don’t give a flying duck what folks who’re into that old times religion believe us 'orrible sinners go or don’t go. Nor do I care one whit what others (religious, atheists, agnostics and blueberry puddings) think about my own opinion on the afterlife or lack thereof.
What’s interesting is that *you *seem to care. Might want to ask yourself why that is ?
I’m okay with any and all of OP’s speculation of what happens in the afterlife. Just keep your religion from annoying me in here-and-now.
It is a subset of the belief that you create your own destiny, including the afterlife. What you expect you will have. So if you belief in Annihiliationism that it what will happen. Sort of a spiritual suicide.
The problem many people would have is that many believe there is always a way out of the circumstances you created, which true Annihiliationism would not allow.
Is it more tolerable, yes, I would WAG very much so as it is consistent with the beliefs of atheism.