Without God Life Has No Purpose

[man]

I Googled that phrase and came up with this.

https://www.google.com/#q=without+god+l ... no+purpose

This is what religious people are being taught by their leaders. So we have all these people walking around thinking that there is an empty hole inside them that can only be filled by god and without god there lives have no purpose or meaning.

The thing that strikes me as being strange is I have always regarded all religions as myth and I am not a believer of any of them, but at the same time I don't have this empty hole inside me they talk about. I have never felt that my life has no purpose or meaning and in fact all of the things that these religious people say I need don't ever even cross my mind.

There is so much interesting REAL stuff to learn that I am so busy reading, working or doing whatever I happen to be interested in at the moment to have time to even think about this hole I am supposed to have inside me that I can't find. If anything I need a bigger hole to fit all of the things that I occupy myself with, my hole runneth over!

Anyway, I started thinking about teaching people that nonsense and it struck me as being a cruel thing to do. It's tantamount to saying, hey there is something wrong with you (when there isn't) and then telling them that you have the cure.

The phrase snake oil salesman comes to mind.

[JP Cusick]

Without God Life Has No [ moral ] Purpose

Therefore I say now that the search is for a moral purpose, and the moral high ground is nearer to God.

To followup:

According to every scripture in the world including the Bible then the highest moral purpose is to seek and to promote truth and justice and righteousness.

In religion those qualities of truth and justice and righteousness have self inherent powers to promote their self, and by that there can not be any error.

Any person can make mistakes and blunders but truth and justice and righteousness do not ever make a mistake.

In religion those qualities are given a life-force because those are the primary attributes of the God.

[Tcg]

Without God Life Has No [ moral ] Purpose

According to every scripture in the world including the Bible then the highest moral purpose is to seek and to promote truth and justice and righteousness.

Can you provide a list of every scripture in the world and from each defend this claim about them all? If not, can you provide some other reason I should consider this claim to be factual?

[marco]

According to every scripture in the world including the Bible then the highest moral purpose is to seek and to promote truth and justice and righteousness.

One would have thought so, but the Bible orders people first of all, above everything else, to adore God. Many people, in doing so, have murdered since God seems to endorse murder committed in his name.

The OP might also be: Without life, God has no purpose. Humans grant God purpose.

In religion those qualities of truth and justice and righteousness have self inherent powers to promote their self, and by that there can not be any error.

Self-inherent powers to promote themselves sounds lovely but I think it is meaningless.

Any person can make mistakes and blunders but truth and justice and righteousness do not ever make a mistake.

That would be because abstract nouns don't actually do anything. You probably mean that people who always act justly, always act justly.

In religion those qualities are given a life-force because those are the primary attributes of the God.

Interesting idea: religious people personify God as justice and righteousness and thus give their invention a "life force." Well put.

[KenRU]

[Replying to post 76 by KenRU]

KenRU - Quote " "

" Is this to say that non belief does not have the power to influence and shape the way we consider the future?
If so do you have any evidence to support this assertion. "


How does this shaping of the future have meaning after death unless there is a future to observe,

I can't observe anything, I'm dead.

or else life really is just about 'what life is today' and no consequence is the responsibility of the dead.

I have no concerns about my "soul" or an "afterlife". However, that does not preclude me from caring about what happens after I die (will my wife and son be ok?) nor does it preclude me from wanting to live a good life and be a positive role model for my son.

However, understanding Christians, that which realize they have an eternal future can fully appreciate and understand the importance of their legacy. Because their attitude has to come from afar rather than, death has no meaning.

As soon as you can show evidence of this afterlife, this argument will have meaning to me.

It's just a logical sequence of events.

It is not logical to presume you know something that you can't possibly know.

But if you can give me a good substitute for God , this may answer the question of yet another, attitude .

The Golden Rule is a good start, after all, it seems a good start for a healthy and peaceful society, if you are looking for reasons to be "moral" or a good person."

No god required.

[TSGracchus]

Without God Life Has No Purpose (?)

I'm not going to wade through eleven pages, so I will just post my thought. Perhaps they have already been expressed by others, but as it happens, I just finished re-reading Tolstoy's War and Peace, and Tolstoy also believed that there has to be some "ultimate purpose". But Tolstoy also believed that individuals, even so-called "great men", were puppets of that purpose.

I disagree. If it is true that I have free will (And there is some evidence to the contrary!*) then it is surely the freedom to choose my own purpose, and to endeavor to pursue those ends that seem good to me. It is not for some hypothetical deity to dictate through the agency of some priest, preacher, prophet or pope what my purpose is, just before he passes the collection plate.

(*I recognize that some people have to believe in free will, but I choose not to.)

[marco]

Without God Life Has No Purpose (?)

I'm not going to wade through eleven pages, so I will just post my thought. Perhaps they have already been expressed by others, but as it happens, I just finished re-reading Tolstoy's War and Peace, and Tolstoy also believed that there has to be some "ultimate purpose". But Tolstoy also believed that individuals, even so-called "great men", were puppets of that purpose.

I disagree. If it is true that I have free will (And there is some evidence to the contrary!*) then it is surely the freedom to choose my own purpose, and to endeavor to pursue those ends that seem good to me. It is not for some hypothetical deity to dictate through the agency of some priest, preacher, prophet or pope what my purpose is, just before he passes the collection plate.

(*I recognize that some people have to believe in free will, but I choose not to.)

I am impressed that you are RE-reading Voyna i Mir; at Uni we were delighted to give it one reading. If we disagree with free will, then Tolstoy's idea isn't so bad.

As to life having no purpose without God, we can say that for many life doesn't have much of a purpose other than to inhale and exhale for as long as possible. The invention of God gives an artificial purpose: to know, to love and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him for ever in the next, as I learned as a little boy.

[TSGracchus]

[Replying to post 106 by marco]

marco: "As to life having no purpose without God, we can say that for many life doesn't have much of a purpose other than to inhale and exhale for as long as possible."

That can present a real challenge.

marco: "The invention of God gives an artificial purpose: to know, to love and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him for ever in the next, as I learned as a little boy."

Over eight years I learned the Baltimore Catechism, by heart, from cover to cover. I got a medal for my mastery of Roman Catholic religious theory. Some one else got the medal for practice. The nuns lost my allegiance in the second grade, over "Origninal Sin" and "Vicarious Atonement", but I held my tongue. Those folks had a history or racking and burning, and I knew better than to take unnecessary chances.

[marco]

Over eight years I learned the Baltimore Catechism, by heart, from cover to cover. I got a medal for my mastery of Roman Catholic religious theory. Some one else got the medal for practice. The nuns lost my allegiance in the second grade, over "Origninal Sin" and "Vicarious Atonement", but I held my tongue. Those folks had a history or racking and burning, and I knew better than to take unnecessary chances.

I am glad my supremacy didn't have Master Gracchus to challenge it, then. I enjoyed my teenage discussions with a very learned Jesuit who paved the floor of my agnosticism with golden explanations and interpretations. I now see they were his private means of cutting away absurdities.

Life was confusing with God and his endless benedictions where one, prior to learning the Latin imperative, had to differentiate in ignorance between ora and orate. So many saints ate into our childhood, offering such bad examples. "How sweet would be our faith if we could, like them, die for Thee," we happily sang.

Life without God seems to have a nobler purpose.

[ThePainefulTruth]

Without God Life Has No Purpose (?)


I disagree. If it is true that I have free will (And there is some evidence to the contrary!*) then it is surely the freedom to choose my own purpose, and to endeavor to pursue those ends that seem good to me. It is not for some hypothetical deity to dictate through the agency of some priest, preacher, prophet or pope what my purpose is, just before he passes the collection plate.

Yes, we can all say that we give ourselves purpose, but that purpose dies when we die if there is no God. IOW, without God, we have no ultimate purpose. AS for the rest of your paragraph, I absolutely agree. But you argue ONLY against religions and their revealed gods, which are man-mad and based on hearsay or corrupt fabrication. Your argument carries no weight against a deist God. And if your purpose in this world is corrupt, you will only face the judgement of yourself for wasting your life, unable to lie to yourself anymore.

(*I recognize that some people have to believe in free will, but I choose not to.)

I take it you recognize the irony of that comment.

[ThePainefulTruth]

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