Freethought & Rationalism Archive

leonarde · 10-15-2002, 07:59 PM

Ego sum.

Chicken Girl · 10-15-2002, 08:15 PM

First part: Don't mess with God.
Second part: Be nice to people (Except for women, gays, fig trees, pigs, etc.)

Also makes a good <a href="http://www.geocities.com/sannatork3030/crafty.html" target="_blank">flyswatter</a>.

Triple Six · 10-15-2002, 09:17 PM

A pack of unsubstantiated claims and outright lies that amazingly has been and still is used as a reference for truth in many parts of the world.

Or to put it in one word and quote the great Roger Mellie of Viz fame:

"Bollocks"

[ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: Proud atheist ]

Strawberry · 10-15-2002, 09:59 PM

...Oh, wait, thou shalt not kill after all...

Ronin · 10-15-2002, 10:14 PM

"Love" creates

Cappy · 10-15-2002, 10:34 PM

True Lies.

10-15-2002, 11:28 PM

Quote:

I think the bible can be summed up as:

The butler did it.

sakrilege · 10-16-2002, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingjames1:
If I may then paraphrase atheism: In the beginning, there was nothing, and as it began, so shall it end.

Pretty good, I like it. IMO more comforting than a promise of eternal heaven or hell, both of which I dread.

HelenM · 10-16-2002, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingjames1:
If I may then paraphrase atheism: In the beginning, there was nothing, and as it began, so shall it end.

Although I have been repeatedly told not to try to generalize about 'atheism' I think a better statement than the above, which doesn't really tell me anything of practical use, is:

Quote:

make the most of life

I'm not sure that's really about 'atheism', but it certainly seems to be something that most people here would agree with.

I haven't thought of a way to summarize the Bible, but I've read the comments here with interest

Helen

babelfish · 10-16-2002, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingjames1:


If I may then paraphrase atheism: In the beginning, there was nothing, and as it began, so shall it end.

Truly, this is a tale told by an idiot!

Or...the expanded form:

From nothing, (mysteriously - has something to do with complexity theory) into something (which is really nothing because...), it all amounts to nothing again, in the end!

We start from 'before' the big-bang (i.e. nothing), and end in the so-called "universal heat death," when the universe decomposes and degenerates into useless heat energy, resulting in the loss of all structure, all information, all possible meaning. In the end, there is no difference between a Mother Theresa's subatomic energies/particles and an Adolf Hitler's - its actually a law of quantum mechanics!)

Hence, as Sartre said, our existence is absurd, being bounded by nothingness. Since nothing (no-life, death, whatever you call it) is both our mother-womb and our "heaven," nothing really matters. Ethics has no possible significance in nothingness or a chaotic, uninhabited cosmos. What is the difference, whether we committ mass murder or mass aid? It doesn't matter in the end, when everything in the world will be dead -- and everything will die! Why save the planet? Despite all of our efforts, it will die one day. Why save human life? One day the human race will cease to exist altogether. What does it matter if we cease to exist now, and not in 10,000 years? Why put off the inevitable? Whatever progress we make as a race will be ultimately undone in the cold, dark end - the death of a universe.

Death, then, is our ultimate horizon - live now, screw tomorrow, screw the planet, screw the world...it's already dead!

Oh...but we want a meaningful existence for our offspring... Why?! You sap, you fool, you sucker - free yourself from the bondage and stupor of the bio-chemical intoxications called 'familial love', through which "the blind watchmaker" has drugged you (making you think that you 'love' another mass of organized tissues, whatever that can mean genetically and biologically), and thus impelled you to replicate! Now that you have mysteriously stumbled upon self-consciousness, rid yourself of the tyranny of the selfish gene, and stop reproducing! Stop prolonging the needless agony and inevitable heartbreak of human existence. Stop producing more children who will suffer, and inevitably die. Why continue this tragic circus of existence, this meaningless circle of nothing, going nowhere? And for what? A brief moment in the sun? A Sisyphean breath of air? Only then to die, after experiencing the "short warm moment" of life, only to then forget and to be forgotten? What an absurd notion - what an absurd life! There is no redemption here! You are trapped in this absurdity, a life given to you without your consent by your genetically programmed mother.

Okay, its more than a paraphrase...

J.

[ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: kingjames1 ]

Wow! I suggest you hold onto your beliefs as tight as you can, or you will become a very bitter person indeed!

10-15-2002, 09:17 PM	#53
Triple Six Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: formerly Lae, Papua New Guinea Posts: 1,867	A pack of unsubstantiated claims and outright lies that amazingly has been and still is used as a reference for truth in many parts of the world. Or to put it in one word and quote the great Roger Mellie of Viz fame: "Bollocks" [ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: Proud atheist ]</p>

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10-15-2002, 07:59 PM	#51
leonarde Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North America Posts: 1,603	Ego sum.

10-15-2002, 08:15 PM	#52
Chicken Girl Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: nowhere Posts: 6,549	First part: Don't mess with God. Second part: Be nice to people (Except for women, gays, fig trees, pigs, etc.) Also makes a good <a href="http://www.geocities.com/sannatork3030/crafty.html" target="_blank">flyswatter</a>.

10-15-2002, 09:59 PM	#54
Strawberry Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Lancaster, PA/Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 627	...Oh, wait, thou shalt not kill after all...

10-15-2002, 10:14 PM	#55
Ronin Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Mississippi Posts: 5,047	"Love" creates

10-15-2002, 10:34 PM	#56
Cappy Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Minnesota Posts: 39	True Lies.

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