well this is an interesting thread. ashley, if you can't faithfully represent what you believe, don't post. you by your harsh words are doing more damage to christianity than a thousand rational arguments.
greetings all. not new to forums, but i'm new to this one.
i guess i'm a seeker of sorts too... i have plently of thoughts on all these things, but we shouldn't lay ourselves open too quickly, right?
i've never completely bought what i was told, but i guess there are a few things about atheism that i've never been able to accept.
the biggest one is this:
i was reading the newspaper the other day, and i saw this full-page article for some anti-depressant medication... you know, the ad where the first picture is black-and-white and mrs. jones is depressed, then the next is full color, and she's smiling and planting flowers (in make-up, of course).
and the ad says: (as i remember it) "you too can enjoy your favorite activities again!"
and i remember always being incredibly depressed when i thought of it. enjoy your favorite activities, puh-leeeeese. just like poor prometheus - push that stone, strain, sweat, get it to the top! now what happens next? ah, but you're not supposed to ask "what next"!! while it's up there maybe you can build something with it, or play with it... but it's all meaningless, and prometheus knows it.
that seemed to be the essence of the ad. "oh, that's ok that your life doesn't have meaning. by enjoying hobbies, you can make little moments of meaning in your over-arching MEANINGLESSNESS." well i'm sorry, but that's a poor comfort. don't feed me some crap about man helping man and taking care of the poor starving children in africa. that's just more "artificial meaning." Nietzsche was one of the few atheists that was willing to accept the implications of his beliefs. this is what he had to say:
“The Madman”
by Fredrich Nietzsche
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours and ran to the market place and cried out incessantly, “I’m looking for God! I’m looking for God!” As many of those who did not believe in God were standing there, he excited considerable laughter.
“Have you lost him, then?” said one. “Has he lost his way like a child?” said another. “Is he hiding?” said a third. “Maybe he is afraid of us or has he gone on a voyage or emigrated?” So they shouted and shouted and laughed him to scorn. But the madman sprang into their midst, pierced them with his glances.
“Where has God gone?” he cried. “I'll tell you. We have killed Him, you and I. We are all His murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the ocean? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained this earth from the sun? Where is this earth moving now? Where are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling, backwards and forwards, and sidewards, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not suddenly become colder? Is not more and more night coming upon us all the time? Must not lanterns have to be lit in the morning hours? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? God's decompose too, you know. And God is dead. He remains dead and we have killed Him. How shall we the murderer of all murders now compose ourselves? For that which was the holiest and the mightiest of all that the world has possessed has bled to death under our knives.
“Who will wipe this blood from us? With what water can we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games will we need to invent? Is not this the greatest of all deeds to great for us to handle? Must not we ourselves now have to become God simply to seem worthy of what we have done? There has never been a greater deed. And whoever shall be born after us because of this deed shall be a part of a different history than all history hitherto.”
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners. They too were silent, and they stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground and it broke and went out…
(end quote)
this question itself does not drive me to Christianity (or any other religion) per se. but it drives me from atheism, because atheism has implications that i cannot accept. there MUST be more to life than this, it cannot be otherwise.
sorry it's such a long post!! looking forward to discussing it.
-bonsai man