This was just a great call and great discussion. I am new to atheism, and that description from his friend about death was very nice to hear. Frankly, the only thing that scares me about not believing is the threat that I might go to hell. Like Brand New says: "Jesus Christ I'm not scared to die, but I'm a little bit scared of what comes after." Thanks for posting.
i always view death as part of infinity, we are lucky to be alive and in the end we just go back to what we were before we were born, being an atheist has allowed me to cherish life in a way no religion or spiritual practice could, we are all one conscious experiencing ourselves subjectively at once, from the immortal words of bill hicks, "It's just a ride"
ATTENTION ALL ATHEISTS: Go read Scott Smith's the ruins and/or watch the unrated movie and you will have a great idea on how atheists deal with impending death. It is NOT pretty. All of these characters were atheists and they just gave up hope. If you don't believe me, then read or watch it yourself. And go watch The Haunting of Bryan Becket aka The Skeptic to see how arrogant and cruel a hard skeptic can be. Hopefully you will take my advice seriously. Take care and thanks for your time.blessed
@compsciguy Seriously? It’s funny how this analogy works both ways. I just finished reading a book about zombies, in it a preacher and his entire congregation aloud themselves to be eaten simply because they assumed it was the end of days & wanted to be with God. It was the atheists whom fought the hardest to survive. It's so easy to assume you know something than actually knowing. People either have the strength to live or they do not.
I know death is really nothing to fear and I don't believe in any manner of fiery retribution, but the idea of no longer existing, thinking, feeling, or experiencing life scares the crap out of me.
HOWEVER, here are some examples of explicitly atheistic charities: Foundation Beyond Belief, Earthward Inc., Fellowship of Freethought, The International Humanist and Ethical Union, Atheists Helping the Homeless, American Humanist Association, Kiva Lending Team, Atheist Center of India, Atheist Relief Fund...do you want me to keep going? I can't find a study, but I'd be willing to bet that atheists, agnostics and freethinkers contribute more to charity than Christians.
@DandAinTac Kudos! You found much more than one! I'm actually impressed. Let's be honest though. Google? And... atheism isn't a worldview? Fellowship of Freethought is more Christian than my church. Lastly, it's laughable that you would even insinuate that atheists "contribute more to charity than Christians." You actually believe that the relatively modern (17th century, Enlightenment) belief system has contributed more than 2,000 years of service to God's people? Your arrogance is uncharted!
@vesiu5 Google? So what? Would the phone book have somehow been more legitimate? Fellowship of Freethought describes themselves as promoting "a freethinking life unencumbered by the biases of tradition, dogma, and authority and that encourages people to live a reason and evidence-based life." I can't think of a better definition of atheism. As far as contribute more to charity--in the present, on a per capita basis, I stand by my assertion, although I admit I cannot prove it right now.
@vesiu5 More on this business about charity. For centuries, declaring yourself an atheist was a good way to get burned at the stake, stoned to death, or cast out from your community. So it's unfair to judge atheist charity from the past. A better yardstick is the present. Also, self-identified theists greatly outnumber nonbelievers, so of course there will be more charity from a large majority. It's akin to saying that the charity coming from Native-Americans is much less than everyone else...
...so therefore, a better basis for comparison is per capita. I worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation a few years ago. Warren Buffet, their friend and collaborator and fellow philanthorpist is a self-described agnostic. I have good reason to believe that the Gates' are agnostic or atheist as well, although they are private about that sort of thing. Atheists can and are humanitarian and giving--just as much as theists are.
@DandAinTac Sure, let's say they're agnostic. What's your point? Does it not seem a bit suspicious that your prime example of atheistic generosity is from the most wealthy men in the world? You have to be a billionaire agnostic to give?
@vesiu5 In one of your earlier posts, when you challenged me to provide the name of atheist charities, I you clearly implied that religion is responsible for more charitable giving, and I would go so far as to say the point you may have been trying to make is that religion is necessary for people to be charitable, giving, compassionate, or even moral. If this is not the case, then what point were you even trying to make? What was the point of this whole debate?
@DandAinTac So then why say that atheists contribute more in the first place if they are AT PRESENT the minority, and AT PRESENT not being stoned, burned, or expelled? Which side of the fence are you on? The past or present? Hmm.
This is the evil of atheism: "This sucks. This really really sucks" is the answer to your pain. These assholes actually believe that a person with cancer "needs to face reality on reality's terms" and "stop moping about it." 7:42 Are you serious? Ever heard of pragmatism jackass? People with religion are proven to have increased psychological health. They are proven to be more at peace at death than those without. If we have proof that this works, WHO CARES IF IT'S REAL?? You're fanatics!
@vesiu5 Sounds like you're insecure about your beliefs. You might want to think of relinquishing your superstition and turning to the light of atheism. Over here you don't need to fear death and you don't waste your time on false hopes. You don't need to worry about a mythical afterlife. You can be at peace with the fact that death is mere nothingness and therefore it is better not to focus on death, but to enjoy life instead. Don't you want to live life instead of focusing on death all the time
@Asperine3460 ARE YOU SERIOUS??? You selfish, insignificant, careless fool. Your philosophy only works for those who can live life. I worry not about death, imbecile. I worry about the countless starving children, the homeless mothers, the sick prisoners, the lost addicts, the countless suffering people who gain absolutely NOTHING from your pitiable world-view. Your atheism is the scum of this earth because it serves no one but YOU. Wake up. You're sick, and I only pity you.
@vesiu5 Hate to butt in here, but I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what atheism is: it is not a "world view" --it is simply the absence of a belief in any gods--that's all. So expecting atheism--lack of belief in gods, to help starving children, homeless mothers, etc., is a little like expecting lack of belief in Peter Cottontail to help with these matters. On the other hand, God, if he exists, should be able to help, shouldn't he? He isn't helping, is he?
@DandAinTac Please, please, please stop humiliating yourself. Ask yourself, hmm--how many atheistic charities are out there helping the starving? None. Ask yourself who are the ones feeding the starving? Those with faith in God. If atheism isn't a worldview why do atheists do nothing? Please give me even one example. Your worldview IS atheism, believe it or not. That's why you don't do anything.
@vesiu5 Have you even bothered to Google this? There are many secular and outright atheist charitable organizations. Let me ask you this: do you believe in the Easter Bunny? (No, don't answer and humiliate yourself). Is not believing in the Easter Bunny a "world view"? For atheism to be a "world view", it would need a represent a set of common beliefs--and atheists share only a single common lack of belief in gods--like people who don't believe in the Easter Bunny.
@DandAinTac I didn't say secular. I said ATHEISTIC. Why haven't you given me a single example of an entirely non-profit charity entirely run by atheists that serves the poor? Real charity, not debate conferences. Secondly, your right, I don't believe in the Easter Bunny. In fact, I feel absolutely NO need to associate myself with those who actually do believe in the Easter Bunny by, say, calling myself an anti-Easter-Bunnyiest. Your insecurity is overwhelming.
@vesiu5 Atheism is not a church. Most atheists do not feel compelled to join an atheist organization. They do their charity work through existing organizations. Prominent atheists don't usually wear their atheism on their sleeve, and if they form a charity--like say, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation--they don't make it the "atheist Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation", and believers and non-believers alike are welcome.
@DandAinTac Like D.S. Wilson wrote, "atheism is a 'stealth religion.'" For someone who seems well aware of the definition of "atheist" you seem to believe that Bill Gates IS one. Atheists DO wear their label on their sleeve; i.e., Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Friedrich Nietzsche, etc. Gates is an agnostic, which is a position of knowledge not belief. Atheism deliberately BELIEVES there is NO God and even makes demonstrable attempts to deny God's existence.
@vesiu5 You are right about the definition of atheism vs. agnosticism, except that you can be both. I don't KNOW if there is a god or not--but I don't have any evidence for one, therefore I don't believe there is. There is what's called "soft theism" -- "I don't believe in God" and "hard atheism" "I believe there is no God". I admit it's a subtle difference though.
@DandAinTac No you can't be BOTH. What the hell. One is strictly "I withhold judgement because I do not know," and the other is "I don't want to believe, even if evidence is provided." Atheism cannot be objective, whereas agnosticism by its nature is objective. Face it, you don't want a God to exist just as much as I want a God to exist.
@vesiu5 Gnosticism goes to what you KNOW, Theism to what you BELIEVE--there's a difference. I don't KNOW if there is a God or not--I make no claim to knowledge in that area. I DON'T BELIEVE there are any gods though, because no one has ever been able to produce any good evidence whatsoever. I believe with the evidence. If someone were able to produce solid, hard, compelling evidence, that could only be explained with a God, not natural causes, I would believe.
@DandAinTac Your need to have solid, hard, compelling evidence for God that is "supernatural" rather than natural is contradictory. If God, by definition, is outside of nature, time, space, and dimension, then how can science which is within nature, time, space, and dimension provide compelling evidence? Unfortunately, science cannot find God because science has excluded God as even a nominal hypothesis. If we cannot even suggest that God is a POSSIBILITY then how can evidence be gathered?
@vesiu5 One more thing--most atheists do NOT advertise their atheism. There's a huge social stigma in case you haven't noticed. When I told the truth to my best friend, his wife physically blanched and seemed shocked. I haven't seen her since. You have picked out a few high profile individuals, but most of us have learned not to advertise it.
@vesiu5 I do know other atheists, and all of them have had experiences where there were negative consequences of being open about their atheists. You yourself are making sweeping statements about atheists, such as "I don't want to believe, even if evidence is provided." Do you know "most" atheists? You hold negative stereotypes of us, that are just as bad as some stereotypes held of Christians. Let me ask you--if compelling evidence were provided that no God existed--would you still believe?
@DandAinTac I can think of only one thing that would convince me that there is no God. If (for one reason or another) we were able to determine with clear certainty that we discovered the body of Jesus Christ. Don't know how that would be done, but only then would I stop believing. Otherwise, nonexistence would be the only thing that could convince me. The fact that we're here suggests teleology. Teleology suggests intelligence. Intelligence suggests a creator or creators. Creator suggests God.
@vesiu5 Suggestions aren't evidence. Unintelligent people create stuff every day, like tons of children because they don't use birth control. There is no evidence that anything in nature was created. There is a ton of evidence for evolution, which is a fact that's even accepted by some theists. There is no evidence for any supernatural beings existing, ever.
But what about the true stories The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Strangers, Ed Gein, The MOthman Prophecies, The EXorcist, and The Amityville Horror? I know Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch and yes, even Amityville are hoaxes, but not ALL ghosts stores are made up, are they? Do people make them up on purpose, or do ppl actually believe in them? I personally have lived in haunted houses and seen and heard ghosts, and Ill take a lie test and pass. kay?
@ralfjacobs You're right, you are NOT sure. Not sure at all. What research have you done? Any? Let me help you bud. First of all, did you know that more people have died in a SINGLE DECADE under atheistic regimes than ALL religious wars combined? Did you know that during the dark ages and Medieval era, the ONLY source of structure for civilization was the Catholic Church? Did you know that Christian and Islamic scribes are purely responsible for preserving ancient texts? Please research.
@vesiu5 uh people die all the time its just better recorded now.
and in the midieval ages religion might have been the best solution to get order in the chaos but we know better now. why not evolve with the knowledge instead of being stuborn and ignoring it.
and i said i thought it was about half maybe i should look it up but i also watch the news and i had history in school. and im sure it made us look better than them. so i said half wich was on the low side it is probably higher.
We are going to die, and that make us the lucky ones... give me a feeling of calmness that wow, cant describe really, thanks for sharing the video and the wise words.
Things come into existence and eventually they get out of existence. That´s what´s on the visible surface. Yet all these species try to avoid dead. Let´s keep rational. Nothing is without reason. It is actually very simple: You are not here to fear death: why? because you fear it. Fear is one of the most unpleasent feelings we can experience, but it also forces us to find an answer to human existence. As a consequence the answer to it can´t be the existence in fear. Body is cocoon you´re eternal
@Atheist603 They aren't fake, just misunderstood, you don't even need to be near death to have a NDE. Look for Penn & Teller talk about NDEs. It just happens when the brain loses oxygen. As technology gets more advanced, the better chance we will have at reviving people, increasing higher chances for NDEs because there is a window to revivie people when the flat line shows up.
Another positive about the atheists death view is that we will continue to exsist in some form. I'm not talking about reencarnation or going to heaven, what I'm saying is routed in scientific fact. As matter cannot be destroyed, all the atoms that make us up will be "released" from us, back into the world. And they will form new things; plants, trees, clouds, birds, anything. We are just one tiny stage in matters timeline, and I think this is beautiful and far more so than heaven.
@ASphincterSaysWat0 I might as well look at a tree and call it my grandmother. Taking scientific knowledge and twisting it is what give these possibly dangerous New Age religions power. Matter is not our personality created by chemical reactions in the brain. If I come off as aggressive, nothing personal.
@HybridD91 Not sure what science you think I'm twisting here. I'm not saying we have a soul or anything, I'm just raising the point that the matter that makes us continues on in some form after our deaths. E.g. our bodies are eaten for energy by worms who then excrete it into the earth where it goes on to feed a plant etc etc. This is completely true is it not? You've completely misunderstood what I was saying.
"A true mark of friendship" I really think Don Baker's final comment sums it up best from a humanistic standpoint. Regardless of religious belief, this is the true strength of being human.
well if i must chose betwene eternal life or death i chose death any time. its better to forget and die, then live forever. like carl sagan said we are each of us multitude. my my conshions is made of matter and matter will continue exist. it will be intresting to see what it feels to be bunch of dirt again. the death is and atventure. and who knows what is fells to be death. life here i come
death is natural part of life. individual life ends but my boddy makes more life. the atoms that i am will become other life forms. death alows us to forget is alows us to die so that when the atoms that make you, make other living creatures with new memories and personalitys. sercule of life. thaht is proven to exsist. i am atheist and this is my view of death
The thing I find digusting about religion is how they tell you that your sins have something to do with other people's struggles and that makes you feel guilty. It's a sick world when you've done nothing wrong and people wanna make you accountable so they aren't your next "victem". How ironic in that we get the stereotype of thinking this life is pointless when we don't rely on a 2nd and don't fear a PAINFUL 2nd either.
What I find odd is how Atheist believe that you cease to exist after you die. Everything you've done is recorded in causation. The universe a thousand years from now could not have existed as it is then, without you and the decisions you've made.
Seems very simple minded to think that the information that you call you would just vanish into nothing and that this information wouldn't be important to someone else.
@rationalmuscle Depends on how you define "You". Since we normally define the "self" as a continuity of memories, then the answer would be no. My existence would bounded by the knowledge of myself.
However, this weak definition doesn't limit the possibility of my existence past, present or future nor does it erase the footprint made by my current existence.
@Spectre11B Correct, it does not limit it. The atheist merely seeks evidence for such possibilities. "You" and your "footprint" are two entire different things yet obviously dependent upon one another. No one would call the oil spill in my garage my former car, but it is its footprint.
Nonetheless, the point is you do not consider your life pointless just because you did not exist prior; nor we because we do not exist after (that we are aware of.) Open to the evidence, of course.
Right, but this dependency (You& your footprint) completely defines one another. Your analogy about the oil spill only makes up a small fraction of the footprint made by the car.
Hypothetically, there is no reason that in the future, someone couldn't retrace all the causal events to arrive at the moment you were created. Even an Atheist has to admit that at the minimum we are just an arrangement of atoms at a particular moment in time. You could be recreated, exactly.
@Spectre11B In this sense, every 'atom' defines one another as nothing unique has been created; thus all matter is in a sense co-dependent. Now, if you wish to theorize that "we" (as in our atoms) continue on and that somehow this manifests itself into a footprint of our former selves, complete with some form of consciousness... sure, I could see that possibility. Just no evidence of it yet, but it would be rather exciting.
No I wasn't suggesting there was a link between atoms themselves. I am stating that your life leaves a print, no different than a musician leaves a copy of his song on a record. I can recreate all of the elements that produced this sound just by listening to the record.
Your print is nothing more than information. It is you. I theorize that when you die, you will awake immediately relative to you, in the future. Millions of years may have passed, as time to you will be unobservable.
@Spectre11B Well, there is a link between subatomic particles. We know this... we just don't know what that link 'is' or if it's meaningful in the big picture.
I disagree with the print being "you"... but I think your theory (which unfortunately can never be tested, at least not that we know of) is interesting. Where, if there is a where, do you think you will awake?
Quantum physics does show a relationship between particles but it wasn't what I was inferring. I think you need to understand that your print isn't only the physical remains, but all of the choices that you've made throughout your life and the temporal waves it has created.
You will awake when the ability to retro-engineer life has come to pass. The information needed to reproduce you will occur by a process of recursive interation from the most recent person down to the very first people.
@rationalmuscle Not to pester you anymore, but I think it is ironic and befitting to this discussion that one of the most pivoting discoveries was made yesterday.
The ability to create synthetic cells. The comments I stated earlier are not based on some supernatural intervention, but only on the premise of" Because We Can.", and we will.
@Spectre11B Hi Spectre11B... you're not pestering me in any way. I am enjoying the conversation. Thanks for the clarification as well.
I for one am thrilled by this discovery and I'm curious (as a guy in the science field) where it will lead.
I always remain open to ideas, and who knows? Maybe one day we'll be able to put those ideas to some form of test. Until then, life is short... and by all means, we DO leave our mark. On that we are unified. ; )
Death is scary in the sense that my conscious being will no longer exist. I won't be able to appreciate any aspect of life, again, and I fear that. But, as an atheist, I have to accept this fate with the true glory that everything I'm made of has existed in this universe for billions and billions of years, before my birth and after my death, without the added weight of my consciousness. It's not comforting, but it's true. The fact that my ingredients have always been, is truly a thing of beauty
There are atheist ways to feel better about dying...
For instance, if you are buried your body will become one with nature, (bugs will eat you, birds eat bugs, predators eat birds) thus you will become part the endless cycle of life and death.
And of course if you are a organ donor, your death will help other people who desperately need a kidney or lung.
Actually YOU will not become part of the endless cycle of life and death. For one thing, it's not an endless cycle because the Sun will eventually engulf the Earth. Secondly, you are defined by your consciousness. When you die your consciousness ceases to exist, therefore you cease to exist. Sure the molecules that made up your body will become part of nature but that happens already. You are constantly replacing molecules and cells in your body that become part of nature.
@speccwolf-not exactly hypocritical. we know that conciousness, emotion,memory, and thought are products of the brain, and if the brain is dead then it seems logical to conclude that conciousness ceases as well
I would say from my point of view that this whole reincarnation thought can actually be a feasable option. If we are made of matter and energy which can't be destroyed maybe we do indeed become something else. Just a thought.
You are so right about the oran donor, but you are wrong about the one with nature bit. That is a WICCAN and a BUDDHIST point of view on death, NOT an atheist. Now, there are atheistic witches, warlocks, and buddhists, but in general, atheists do not celebrate the "one with nature" religion code. Sorry.
@compsciguy They are not exclusively wiccan and/or buddhist points of view.
Like you said; 'in general'. Atheists are not bound by one lifestyle or moral compass, there are as many opinions as there are atheists. The only thing 'in general' they agree upon is that there is no or too little evidence for gods of godesses.
Feeling one with nature doesn't need to be strictly religious or esotherical. Everyone could!
So death might seem bad, but think about the opposite, eternal life on earth. Living past your friends, past the span of the earth, past our sun, past our galaxy, eventually drifting through nothing. eternal life is a bit useless
fellow christians..... in stead of spamming pages of people of diff world view,
why not try to turn another cheek to the cold hard truth that they may be slapping us with ? think about it alittle and then again athiests may be in for the most wonderful suprise of thier lives as they once knew it in the end. were all human believe it or not. we all should be trying to clean Da world up to compensate for the depressing shit that happens every day.
hope is silly. Hope in what? that one day, long into my future, I won't die or ill live in the heavens? hope doesn't save you from anything. i'd rather work for change than hope it happens
"I'm not gonna take away people's Hope, regardless. Hope is not the same thing as faith."
Yet, if my Hope is in the Lord Jesus, you try with all your strength reasoning to crush my Hope, to no avail. I wonder, do atheists even believe that they have spirits and it so, what is it's job? As a matter of fact, is there any real hope in atheism? What do offer this suffering world besides smugness and the destruction of Hope?
No one cares about you or you hope. No one cares about your poor grammar, deity or doubts. This is not personal, you're not special or the subject of some holy ordeal.
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
You did a good job at proving my last point and also proving those two Scriptures I submitted. God can never be disproved, especially not by His own Word. Nor is your acceptance of His Lordship necessary. You know that He exists yet you suppress the Truth in unrighteousness though you knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in your imaginations, and your foolish heart was darkened.
Professing yourself to be wise,you became a fool, And you changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.Therefore, God also gave you over to uncleanness through the lusts of your own heart, to dishonour your own body. You changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
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wow ur all idoits! just wait the end is near and when it happens.. you will cry out to the almighty god! so just go thru life with blinders on and think there's no punishment for living wit out christ... god help your little minds wake up..
I've noticed that most people don't have faith: they're buying fire insurance. They want to live forever, and particularly to evade Hell, if any such place exists. So they go through the motions, may even have some affection for their faith and faith community. But it's largely for an eternal existence.
@vesiu5 you don't even understand my post, do you? My point is that people don't really believe, they are just so scared they will grasp at lies & deceits rather than face reality. I've looked at some of your other posts on this video, and you combine ignorance & arrogance to a shocking degree - only a true believer (I have faith, why bother with facts?) could write like you. I am cheerfully blocking you. Some people cannot be taught.
it's easy to say all these things: that it's not scary and everything when you know you will live for 30-40 years more, that you know that you will still live tomorrow at least..but when you're told you will probably die in a week or a month, you always thing about it and it stops you from enjoying life anymore..so the best way is even if you know the person is going to die soon, not to tell him that..
I don't think I would have the right to deny another person that piece of significant information: they may choose to live differently, do something like the Once In A Lifetime Vacation, make wills and other plans and provisions for their family, etc. Plus, I know I would want to know.
ya, i really hope I never get something like a disease where I am told I have so and so long to live. I just want to be healthy (or thought to be healthy) then keel over dead....a long long long time from now :) Hopefully that guys on "That's Impossible" is right when he said he thinks people today could live to be 1000, lol. My grandpa is still alive and he is 101, so hopefully that is a good sign for me that I got some time left.
we was dead before being born, we'll die at the end of this life so can you remember what it was like before birth... NO, so death isnt scary, but maybe in that its possible to be reborn but no gods involved, souls or crap like that, life is just life, life continues and yes our present bodies will be gone forever and thats it once dead. cheers
I think everyone has that view ladiesman. People who TRULY believe in eternal life are delusional, and they make up a very small part of the population. Thats why funerals are sad, because that person is gone..and not ''living life in another dimension''. Death is like when you black out from drinking too much alchohol...black nothingness. Really what is so bad about that?
I appreciate that there are people who are capable of talking about reality in the face of death. This is one of the most powerful conversations I have seen on this show, and I wish more people would see it. Honestry is truly a trademark of this discussion, and it is delivered in a manner that encourages understanding. Thank you.
I'm not really concerned about what will happen after death, because I will no longer have any consiusness to care about anything any longer. I am more concerned about how I'm going to die. A painless, or at least a quick death is more desirable than a long and painful one.
Also, I know I may be too late for this, but I wish the caller's friend good luck. I hope for his sake the cancer does not kill him.
My personal "athiest" view on death is: life is a gift, it is a miracle, it is precious. So we must always live ur life to the fullest, everyday, every moment, for yourself and every1 u love.
And do ur bit for human history. I mean, we are just a member of an ongoing stream of tradition and culture(at least to me as an Asian, which value tradition). So we must past down our knowledge and tradition(the good part) to our future generations, to let the cycle continue.
the only truth that all religions and beliefs even we, atheists are agree is death, yes, death is sure, nothings is more sure than death it reaches us all, the only thing that we can do is accept it and dont worry if theres life after death, just live people, throw away stupid things, accept death and live.
That would be a bad thing. There cannot be life without death. Think about food and life-cycles, birth and children. None of that is possible if there were no death.
Im a progressive, lol, so i think, ya if we did manage to cheat death one day, we might have less children(or non at all) but whether it is a bad thing or not, i don't think we can really know, simply by speculating.
No, that is bad, because then forever only the same people would live. We'd both not be giving any other people a chance to live a life, but the world would also stagnate. We need new people for the world to develop and grow, and for that, eventually we must step back and let others take our place. Keep the world fresh.
"not be giving any other people a chance to live a life"
lol, but "other ppl" don't really exist o.o there isn really any1 to feel sad about. If u are talking about not giving any sperm/egg the chance to become human is another story though.
The world may or may not be stagnant, we never know, will we? maybe we might start colonizing other planets? Technological and intellectual progress will not stop simply because ppl stop reproducing too.
Hi, I have enjoyed listening to what you all have to say, and I agree with you for the most part. I have a question, and it has nothing to do with the subject matter of this video. um, could you lose the intro music? And re the cancer-stricken person: I hope he finds peace and tranquility before he passes on.
Were I dying terminally, and this is a bit egotistical, I would make sure that I was able to enrich as many people as possible before the end. My only legacy is others' experiences of me, and I'd want those experiences to be worth having.
I agree.. an interesting point to remember however, is that you are always on a fixed course with death. So there really is no excuse for putting those things off. Live man LIVE!
Oh, absolutely - but that's my default position, and not mutually exclusive with enriching others. It just adds an additional consideration to my choices.
I would say it's not so much that nonreligious people think everyone in the past was just superstitious, it's more that there is no single ancient tradition that is all true. Giving up religion means giving up the need to embrace an ancient set of dogmas and instead deciding what you believe based on reason and evidence and in the full light of modern day knowledge. We know so much more now. That's not to say there is nothing of value in ancient traditions, but you shouldn't buy it wholecloth
Science finds cures for diseases. Religion has never advanced beyond the demon theory of disease, although most religious people these days go to doctors rather than priests when they're ill.
personally i find it quite amusing that YEC's discount the age of the earth but would still use the same technology (nuclear medicine and science) to save their lives, if that is irony in a bottle eh?
"He renounces God then gets cancer. Very interesting timing, don't you think? "
I think people like you love the idea of people suffering who renounce your beliefs. Their's no cause and effect relationship between not believing and getting cancer is nonexistent. You should go take a good look in the mirror!
I agree. I am almost shocked at the idea that someone would take someone else s suffering and use it to make himself feel better about his religious beliefs. I d say 50% arrogant, 50% disgusting.
Well then you're talking about Mother Theresa. Christopher Hitchens wrote an article about her in Slate magazine describing her as just that. Do a Google search for it. It's a fantastic article.
so im confused? except that you realize your math is bad, what is your point, or any point this comment was meant to express.People die, like the 20,000 children who starved to death yesterday,in the world, and today, and so on,it is sad, is it only disgusting to talk about someone we can put a face on?,I am confused to why you seem concerned about this one instant and the rest are disregarded,It takes alot of time to address the other 20,000, but don't focus on one if you dont acknowledge them
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Oh please. I didn't make a direct correlation, I just found it interesting timing.
Let's look at this for a moment. We have a Christian guy that the caller converted into an atheist then the guy gets cancer. Wouldn't you feel like a total POS after doing that to the man? But no, these guys were congratulating him for turning him into a Godless atheist right when he could probably use something to give him hope and faith the most. I find THAT to be completely disgusting.
do you not find the idea that an alledgedly all-loving god would see fit to promptly burden that freshly deconverted person with a potentially fatal condition, knowing that He/It will now "have no option" but to condemn that new atheist to an eternity of torture far more disgusting?
faith does not = hope. And I find that implying that you need faith in any way to live a good positive life is actually far more disgusting. So what?!
And if you a believer got cancer would there be a connection. Would that mean that you didn't serve or believe vehemeantly enough> Would that mean that god had targeted you because you didn't believe enough? Or would you call it satan and his influence over your body punishing you for believing? Your irradict ideals are very deviant and hurtfull to the world in general.
I've been reading about the Stoics, and they have a healthy approach to death. We all live and die. We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we deal with it. As Matt says, you can choose to be sad, or you can celebrate the time you have.
This was just a great call and great discussion. I am new to atheism, and that description from his friend about death was very nice to hear. Frankly, the only thing that scares me about not believing is the threat that I might go to hell. Like Brand New says: "Jesus Christ I'm not scared to die, but I'm a little bit scared of what comes after." Thanks for posting.
youthank8 2 weeks ago
Fantastic quotes.
youthank8 2 weeks ago
hope he makes it through. fuck cancer.
JacksInn 1 month ago
@AlwaysDisagreeing i don't know the answers to those questions, but one can wonder
MrTeddy236 4 months ago
i always view death as part of infinity, we are lucky to be alive and in the end we just go back to what we were before we were born, being an atheist has allowed me to cherish life in a way no religion or spiritual practice could, we are all one conscious experiencing ourselves subjectively at once, from the immortal words of bill hicks, "It's just a ride"
MrTeddy236 6 months ago 5
ATTENTION ALL ATHEISTS: Go read Scott Smith's the ruins and/or watch the unrated movie and you will have a great idea on how atheists deal with impending death. It is NOT pretty. All of these characters were atheists and they just gave up hope. If you don't believe me, then read or watch it yourself. And go watch The Haunting of Bryan Becket aka The Skeptic to see how arrogant and cruel a hard skeptic can be. Hopefully you will take my advice seriously. Take care and thanks for your time.blessed
compsciguy 7 months ago
@compsciguy Seriously? It’s funny how this analogy works both ways. I just finished reading a book about zombies, in it a preacher and his entire congregation aloud themselves to be eaten simply because they assumed it was the end of days & wanted to be with God. It was the atheists whom fought the hardest to survive. It's so easy to assume you know something than actually knowing. People either have the strength to live or they do not.
Strictlypointless 6 months ago
What song of DM in intro?
MetalMan7v 7 months ago
Faith is part of hope
JohnF30Music 9 months ago
why is matt eating jesus biscuits?
t1mel1ne 10 months ago
@t1mel1ne Yeah, really. Those things taste like cardboard.
NimbusDX 9 months ago
My problems are so puny :(
ksthebest 10 months ago
I prefer the truth of reality above faith in the imaginary any day. Great video clip. ★★★★★
Katalyzt
Katalyzt 10 months ago
That was sad and heartening.
jonea16 1 year ago
I know death is really nothing to fear and I don't believe in any manner of fiery retribution, but the idea of no longer existing, thinking, feeling, or experiencing life scares the crap out of me.
TomMSTie1138 1 year ago
HOWEVER, here are some examples of explicitly atheistic charities: Foundation Beyond Belief, Earthward Inc., Fellowship of Freethought, The International Humanist and Ethical Union, Atheists Helping the Homeless, American Humanist Association, Kiva Lending Team, Atheist Center of India, Atheist Relief Fund...do you want me to keep going? I can't find a study, but I'd be willing to bet that atheists, agnostics and freethinkers contribute more to charity than Christians.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Kudos! You found much more than one! I'm actually impressed. Let's be honest though. Google? And... atheism isn't a worldview? Fellowship of Freethought is more Christian than my church. Lastly, it's laughable that you would even insinuate that atheists "contribute more to charity than Christians." You actually believe that the relatively modern (17th century, Enlightenment) belief system has contributed more than 2,000 years of service to God's people? Your arrogance is uncharted!
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Google? So what? Would the phone book have somehow been more legitimate? Fellowship of Freethought describes themselves as promoting "a freethinking life unencumbered by the biases of tradition, dogma, and authority and that encourages people to live a reason and evidence-based life." I can't think of a better definition of atheism. As far as contribute more to charity--in the present, on a per capita basis, I stand by my assertion, although I admit I cannot prove it right now.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Nice opinion. Worthless. Thanks though.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 My opinions are worth just as much as yours.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@vesiu5 More on this business about charity. For centuries, declaring yourself an atheist was a good way to get burned at the stake, stoned to death, or cast out from your community. So it's unfair to judge atheist charity from the past. A better yardstick is the present. Also, self-identified theists greatly outnumber nonbelievers, so of course there will be more charity from a large majority. It's akin to saying that the charity coming from Native-Americans is much less than everyone else...
DandAinTac 1 year ago
...so therefore, a better basis for comparison is per capita. I worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation a few years ago. Warren Buffet, their friend and collaborator and fellow philanthorpist is a self-described agnostic. I have good reason to believe that the Gates' are agnostic or atheist as well, although they are private about that sort of thing. Atheists can and are humanitarian and giving--just as much as theists are.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Sure, let's say they're agnostic. What's your point? Does it not seem a bit suspicious that your prime example of atheistic generosity is from the most wealthy men in the world? You have to be a billionaire agnostic to give?
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 In one of your earlier posts, when you challenged me to provide the name of atheist charities, I you clearly implied that religion is responsible for more charitable giving, and I would go so far as to say the point you may have been trying to make is that religion is necessary for people to be charitable, giving, compassionate, or even moral. If this is not the case, then what point were you even trying to make? What was the point of this whole debate?
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac So then why say that atheists contribute more in the first place if they are AT PRESENT the minority, and AT PRESENT not being stoned, burned, or expelled? Which side of the fence are you on? The past or present? Hmm.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Huh? Not sure what you're getting at here.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
WOOOOOOOOOOO
Southern Ontario!
theshaggyskinhead 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
So, why are we here in the first place?
childsweethearts 1 year ago
This is the evil of atheism: "This sucks. This really really sucks" is the answer to your pain. These assholes actually believe that a person with cancer "needs to face reality on reality's terms" and "stop moping about it." 7:42 Are you serious? Ever heard of pragmatism jackass? People with religion are proven to have increased psychological health. They are proven to be more at peace at death than those without. If we have proof that this works, WHO CARES IF IT'S REAL?? You're fanatics!
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Sounds like you're insecure about your beliefs. You might want to think of relinquishing your superstition and turning to the light of atheism. Over here you don't need to fear death and you don't waste your time on false hopes. You don't need to worry about a mythical afterlife. You can be at peace with the fact that death is mere nothingness and therefore it is better not to focus on death, but to enjoy life instead. Don't you want to live life instead of focusing on death all the time
Asperine3460 1 year ago
@Asperine3460 ARE YOU SERIOUS??? You selfish, insignificant, careless fool. Your philosophy only works for those who can live life. I worry not about death, imbecile. I worry about the countless starving children, the homeless mothers, the sick prisoners, the lost addicts, the countless suffering people who gain absolutely NOTHING from your pitiable world-view. Your atheism is the scum of this earth because it serves no one but YOU. Wake up. You're sick, and I only pity you.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Hate to butt in here, but I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what atheism is: it is not a "world view" --it is simply the absence of a belief in any gods--that's all. So expecting atheism--lack of belief in gods, to help starving children, homeless mothers, etc., is a little like expecting lack of belief in Peter Cottontail to help with these matters. On the other hand, God, if he exists, should be able to help, shouldn't he? He isn't helping, is he?
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Please, please, please stop humiliating yourself. Ask yourself, hmm--how many atheistic charities are out there helping the starving? None. Ask yourself who are the ones feeding the starving? Those with faith in God. If atheism isn't a worldview why do atheists do nothing? Please give me even one example. Your worldview IS atheism, believe it or not. That's why you don't do anything.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Have you even bothered to Google this? There are many secular and outright atheist charitable organizations. Let me ask you this: do you believe in the Easter Bunny? (No, don't answer and humiliate yourself). Is not believing in the Easter Bunny a "world view"? For atheism to be a "world view", it would need a represent a set of common beliefs--and atheists share only a single common lack of belief in gods--like people who don't believe in the Easter Bunny.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac I didn't say secular. I said ATHEISTIC. Why haven't you given me a single example of an entirely non-profit charity entirely run by atheists that serves the poor? Real charity, not debate conferences. Secondly, your right, I don't believe in the Easter Bunny. In fact, I feel absolutely NO need to associate myself with those who actually do believe in the Easter Bunny by, say, calling myself an anti-Easter-Bunnyiest. Your insecurity is overwhelming.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Atheism is not a church. Most atheists do not feel compelled to join an atheist organization. They do their charity work through existing organizations. Prominent atheists don't usually wear their atheism on their sleeve, and if they form a charity--like say, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation--they don't make it the "atheist Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation", and believers and non-believers alike are welcome.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Like D.S. Wilson wrote, "atheism is a 'stealth religion.'" For someone who seems well aware of the definition of "atheist" you seem to believe that Bill Gates IS one. Atheists DO wear their label on their sleeve; i.e., Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Friedrich Nietzsche, etc. Gates is an agnostic, which is a position of knowledge not belief. Atheism deliberately BELIEVES there is NO God and even makes demonstrable attempts to deny God's existence.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 You are right about the definition of atheism vs. agnosticism, except that you can be both. I don't KNOW if there is a god or not--but I don't have any evidence for one, therefore I don't believe there is. There is what's called "soft theism" -- "I don't believe in God" and "hard atheism" "I believe there is no God". I admit it's a subtle difference though.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac No you can't be BOTH. What the hell. One is strictly "I withhold judgement because I do not know," and the other is "I don't want to believe, even if evidence is provided." Atheism cannot be objective, whereas agnosticism by its nature is objective. Face it, you don't want a God to exist just as much as I want a God to exist.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Gnosticism goes to what you KNOW, Theism to what you BELIEVE--there's a difference. I don't KNOW if there is a God or not--I make no claim to knowledge in that area. I DON'T BELIEVE there are any gods though, because no one has ever been able to produce any good evidence whatsoever. I believe with the evidence. If someone were able to produce solid, hard, compelling evidence, that could only be explained with a God, not natural causes, I would believe.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac Your need to have solid, hard, compelling evidence for God that is "supernatural" rather than natural is contradictory. If God, by definition, is outside of nature, time, space, and dimension, then how can science which is within nature, time, space, and dimension provide compelling evidence? Unfortunately, science cannot find God because science has excluded God as even a nominal hypothesis. If we cannot even suggest that God is a POSSIBILITY then how can evidence be gathered?
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 One more thing--most atheists do NOT advertise their atheism. There's a huge social stigma in case you haven't noticed. When I told the truth to my best friend, his wife physically blanched and seemed shocked. I haven't seen her since. You have picked out a few high profile individuals, but most of us have learned not to advertise it.
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac I'm sorry for that situation. That's actually kind of rough. Lastly, do you you know "most" atheists? How do you know?
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 I do know other atheists, and all of them have had experiences where there were negative consequences of being open about their atheists. You yourself are making sweeping statements about atheists, such as "I don't want to believe, even if evidence is provided." Do you know "most" atheists? You hold negative stereotypes of us, that are just as bad as some stereotypes held of Christians. Let me ask you--if compelling evidence were provided that no God existed--would you still believe?
DandAinTac 1 year ago
@DandAinTac I can think of only one thing that would convince me that there is no God. If (for one reason or another) we were able to determine with clear certainty that we discovered the body of Jesus Christ. Don't know how that would be done, but only then would I stop believing. Otherwise, nonexistence would be the only thing that could convince me. The fact that we're here suggests teleology. Teleology suggests intelligence. Intelligence suggests a creator or creators. Creator suggests God.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Suggestions aren't evidence. Unintelligent people create stuff every day, like tons of children because they don't use birth control. There is no evidence that anything in nature was created. There is a ton of evidence for evolution, which is a fact that's even accepted by some theists. There is no evidence for any supernatural beings existing, ever.
WhosAsking03 1 year ago
@WhosAsking03 Who's asking you?
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Somebody with a better grasp on reality than you.
WhosAsking03 1 year ago
@WhosAsking03 XD
vesiu5 1 year ago
@WhosAsking03 So, "who" is this person asking you to let me in on your wisdom? hahaha! You're asking yourself? Really? Bud, go home.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@WhosAsking03
But what about the true stories The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Strangers, Ed Gein, The MOthman Prophecies, The EXorcist, and The Amityville Horror? I know Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch and yes, even Amityville are hoaxes, but not ALL ghosts stores are made up, are they? Do people make them up on purpose, or do ppl actually believe in them? I personally have lived in haunted houses and seen and heard ghosts, and Ill take a lie test and pass. kay?
compsciguy 7 months ago
@vesiu5 you should seriously look at religions and see what horrible things they have done to the world.
im not sure but i think more than half of all the wars started with religion.
you should wake up and live your own live for a change.
first you should fix your own problems and than you can fix the problems of others.
not the other way around (that wont work)
ralfjacobs 1 year ago
@ralfjacobs You're right, you are NOT sure. Not sure at all. What research have you done? Any? Let me help you bud. First of all, did you know that more people have died in a SINGLE DECADE under atheistic regimes than ALL religious wars combined? Did you know that during the dark ages and Medieval era, the ONLY source of structure for civilization was the Catholic Church? Did you know that Christian and Islamic scribes are purely responsible for preserving ancient texts? Please research.
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 uh people die all the time its just better recorded now.
and in the midieval ages religion might have been the best solution to get order in the chaos but we know better now. why not evolve with the knowledge instead of being stuborn and ignoring it.
and i said i thought it was about half maybe i should look it up but i also watch the news and i had history in school. and im sure it made us look better than them. so i said half wich was on the low side it is probably higher.
ralfjacobs 1 year ago
@vesiu5 Are you five years old or were you just hitting a bong when you wrote this?
Asperine3460 11 months ago
We are going to die, and that make us the lucky ones... give me a feeling of calmness that wow, cant describe really, thanks for sharing the video and the wise words.
kataevans 1 year ago
Life is a Nightmare and Death is the rest.
mrboycom 1 year ago
Things come into existence and eventually they get out of existence. That´s what´s on the visible surface. Yet all these species try to avoid dead. Let´s keep rational. Nothing is without reason. It is actually very simple: You are not here to fear death: why? because you fear it. Fear is one of the most unpleasent feelings we can experience, but it also forces us to find an answer to human existence. As a consequence the answer to it can´t be the existence in fear. Body is cocoon you´re eternal
titurey2 1 year ago
Great comment by Don Baker at the end!
ballerben22 1 year ago
Hope is better than faith because with hope, you actually try. Faith, you just believe and sit there.
HybridD91 1 year ago 28
My view is life is an adventure and death is a sanctuary.
ishtar0171 1 year ago
his friend didn't experience NDE lol those shit are fake, lol the dying brain can make up some bullshit to lie to you lol
Atheist603 1 year ago
@Atheist603 They aren't fake, just misunderstood, you don't even need to be near death to have a NDE. Look for Penn & Teller talk about NDEs. It just happens when the brain loses oxygen. As technology gets more advanced, the better chance we will have at reviving people, increasing higher chances for NDEs because there is a window to revivie people when the flat line shows up.
HybridD91 1 year ago
Matt is dancin' on Depeche Mode - Suffer Well in the beginning
AORNOfficial 1 year ago
Another positive about the atheists death view is that we will continue to exsist in some form. I'm not talking about reencarnation or going to heaven, what I'm saying is routed in scientific fact. As matter cannot be destroyed, all the atoms that make us up will be "released" from us, back into the world. And they will form new things; plants, trees, clouds, birds, anything. We are just one tiny stage in matters timeline, and I think this is beautiful and far more so than heaven.
ASphincterSaysWat0 1 year ago
@ASphincterSaysWat0 I might as well look at a tree and call it my grandmother. Taking scientific knowledge and twisting it is what give these possibly dangerous New Age religions power. Matter is not our personality created by chemical reactions in the brain. If I come off as aggressive, nothing personal.
HybridD91 1 year ago
@HybridD91 Not sure what science you think I'm twisting here. I'm not saying we have a soul or anything, I'm just raising the point that the matter that makes us continues on in some form after our deaths. E.g. our bodies are eaten for energy by worms who then excrete it into the earth where it goes on to feed a plant etc etc. This is completely true is it not? You've completely misunderstood what I was saying.
ASphincterSaysWat0 1 year ago
"A true mark of friendship" I really think Don Baker's final comment sums it up best from a humanistic standpoint. Regardless of religious belief, this is the true strength of being human.
TrigonJilad 1 year ago
wow
myte420 1 year ago
wow
myte420 1 year ago
well if i must chose betwene eternal life or death i chose death any time. its better to forget and die, then live forever. like carl sagan said we are each of us multitude. my my conshions is made of matter and matter will continue exist. it will be intresting to see what it feels to be bunch of dirt again. the death is and atventure. and who knows what is fells to be death. life here i come
gooddarkjedi 1 year ago
death is natural part of life. individual life ends but my boddy makes more life. the atoms that i am will become other life forms. death alows us to forget is alows us to die so that when the atoms that make you, make other living creatures with new memories and personalitys. sercule of life. thaht is proven to exsist. i am atheist and this is my view of death
gooddarkjedi 1 year ago
@gooddarkjedi Bingo!
TrigonJilad 1 year ago
The thing I find digusting about religion is how they tell you that your sins have something to do with other people's struggles and that makes you feel guilty. It's a sick world when you've done nothing wrong and people wanna make you accountable so they aren't your next "victem". How ironic in that we get the stereotype of thinking this life is pointless when we don't rely on a 2nd and don't fear a PAINFUL 2nd either.
clipsryan 1 year ago
What I find odd is how Atheist believe that you cease to exist after you die. Everything you've done is recorded in causation. The universe a thousand years from now could not have existed as it is then, without you and the decisions you've made.
Seems very simple minded to think that the information that you call you would just vanish into nothing and that this information wouldn't be important to someone else.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@Spectre11B do you believe you existed before you were born?
rationalmuscle 1 year ago
@rationalmuscle Depends on how you define "You". Since we normally define the "self" as a continuity of memories, then the answer would be no. My existence would bounded by the knowledge of myself.
However, this weak definition doesn't limit the possibility of my existence past, present or future nor does it erase the footprint made by my current existence.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@Spectre11B Correct, it does not limit it. The atheist merely seeks evidence for such possibilities. "You" and your "footprint" are two entire different things yet obviously dependent upon one another. No one would call the oil spill in my garage my former car, but it is its footprint.
Nonetheless, the point is you do not consider your life pointless just because you did not exist prior; nor we because we do not exist after (that we are aware of.) Open to the evidence, of course.
rationalmuscle 1 year ago
Right, but this dependency (You& your footprint) completely defines one another. Your analogy about the oil spill only makes up a small fraction of the footprint made by the car.
Hypothetically, there is no reason that in the future, someone couldn't retrace all the causal events to arrive at the moment you were created. Even an Atheist has to admit that at the minimum we are just an arrangement of atoms at a particular moment in time. You could be recreated, exactly.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@Spectre11B In this sense, every 'atom' defines one another as nothing unique has been created; thus all matter is in a sense co-dependent. Now, if you wish to theorize that "we" (as in our atoms) continue on and that somehow this manifests itself into a footprint of our former selves, complete with some form of consciousness... sure, I could see that possibility. Just no evidence of it yet, but it would be rather exciting.
rationalmuscle 1 year ago
No I wasn't suggesting there was a link between atoms themselves. I am stating that your life leaves a print, no different than a musician leaves a copy of his song on a record. I can recreate all of the elements that produced this sound just by listening to the record.
Your print is nothing more than information. It is you. I theorize that when you die, you will awake immediately relative to you, in the future. Millions of years may have passed, as time to you will be unobservable.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@Spectre11B Well, there is a link between subatomic particles. We know this... we just don't know what that link 'is' or if it's meaningful in the big picture.
I disagree with the print being "you"... but I think your theory (which unfortunately can never be tested, at least not that we know of) is interesting. Where, if there is a where, do you think you will awake?
rationalmuscle 1 year ago
Quantum physics does show a relationship between particles but it wasn't what I was inferring. I think you need to understand that your print isn't only the physical remains, but all of the choices that you've made throughout your life and the temporal waves it has created.
You will awake when the ability to retro-engineer life has come to pass. The information needed to reproduce you will occur by a process of recursive interation from the most recent person down to the very first people.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@rationalmuscle Not to pester you anymore, but I think it is ironic and befitting to this discussion that one of the most pivoting discoveries was made yesterday.
The ability to create synthetic cells. The comments I stated earlier are not based on some supernatural intervention, but only on the premise of" Because We Can.", and we will.
Spectre11B 1 year ago
@Spectre11B Hi Spectre11B... you're not pestering me in any way. I am enjoying the conversation. Thanks for the clarification as well.
I for one am thrilled by this discovery and I'm curious (as a guy in the science field) where it will lead.
I always remain open to ideas, and who knows? Maybe one day we'll be able to put those ideas to some form of test. Until then, life is short... and by all means, we DO leave our mark. On that we are unified. ; )
rationalmuscle 1 year ago
Death is scary in the sense that my conscious being will no longer exist. I won't be able to appreciate any aspect of life, again, and I fear that. But, as an atheist, I have to accept this fate with the true glory that everything I'm made of has existed in this universe for billions and billions of years, before my birth and after my death, without the added weight of my consciousness. It's not comforting, but it's true. The fact that my ingredients have always been, is truly a thing of beauty
monosaturated 2 years ago 3
I agree, this also serves as a good purpose for life. that I wanna do good in the world that lasts for a long time, before I drop in the grave
AroArgumentum 1 year ago
There are atheist ways to feel better about dying...
For instance, if you are buried your body will become one with nature, (bugs will eat you, birds eat bugs, predators eat birds) thus you will become part the endless cycle of life and death.
And of course if you are a organ donor, your death will help other people who desperately need a kidney or lung.
Vrelk 2 years ago 17
Actually YOU will not become part of the endless cycle of life and death. For one thing, it's not an endless cycle because the Sun will eventually engulf the Earth. Secondly, you are defined by your consciousness. When you die your consciousness ceases to exist, therefore you cease to exist. Sure the molecules that made up your body will become part of nature but that happens already. You are constantly replacing molecules and cells in your body that become part of nature.
rnvogel05 2 years ago 3
@rnvogel05 stars being part of that cycle too don't negate it.
MarxDezix 2 years ago
"When you die your consciousness ceases to exist" , haha how many times have you died to know that, bit hypocritical .
speccwolf 2 years ago
@speccwolf-not exactly hypocritical. we know that conciousness, emotion,memory, and thought are products of the brain, and if the brain is dead then it seems logical to conclude that conciousness ceases as well
fightinglobo06 1 year ago 2
I would say from my point of view that this whole reincarnation thought can actually be a feasable option. If we are made of matter and energy which can't be destroyed maybe we do indeed become something else. Just a thought.
Drums1881 2 years ago
@Vrelk
You are so right about the oran donor, but you are wrong about the one with nature bit. That is a WICCAN and a BUDDHIST point of view on death, NOT an atheist. Now, there are atheistic witches, warlocks, and buddhists, but in general, atheists do not celebrate the "one with nature" religion code. Sorry.
compsciguy 7 months ago
@compsciguy They are not exclusively wiccan and/or buddhist points of view.
Like you said; 'in general'. Atheists are not bound by one lifestyle or moral compass, there are as many opinions as there are atheists. The only thing 'in general' they agree upon is that there is no or too little evidence for gods of godesses.
Feeling one with nature doesn't need to be strictly religious or esotherical. Everyone could!
Vrelk 7 months ago 2
@Vrelk your body is already more or less one with nature
lookatmepleasesir 4 months ago
So death might seem bad, but think about the opposite, eternal life on earth. Living past your friends, past the span of the earth, past our sun, past our galaxy, eventually drifting through nothing. eternal life is a bit useless
creepyoldman2 2 years ago
Eternal life is the sumum of procrastination... ^^
I mean, if we are eternal, what could motivate us from doing anything ?
Acrimonator 2 years ago
The first 8 seconds reminds me of Dr. Mario. lol.
amazonhippie 2 years ago
hey people! stop DA HATE! lol
fellow christians..... in stead of spamming pages of people of diff world view,
why not try to turn another cheek to the cold hard truth that they may be slapping us with ? think about it alittle and then again athiests may be in for the most wonderful suprise of thier lives as they once knew it in the end. were all human believe it or not. we all should be trying to clean Da world up to compensate for the depressing shit that happens every day.
xBLOODBAFx 2 years ago
So we're back to rethorics, huh? Well, what else could you expect of a person who actively turns off her brain in exchange of pathetic comfort?
Ktuka 2 years ago
hope is silly. Hope in what? that one day, long into my future, I won't die or ill live in the heavens? hope doesn't save you from anything. i'd rather work for change than hope it happens
creepyoldman2 2 years ago
"I'm not gonna take away people's Hope, regardless. Hope is not the same thing as faith."
Yet, if my Hope is in the Lord Jesus, you try with all your strength reasoning to crush my Hope, to no avail. I wonder, do atheists even believe that they have spirits and it so, what is it's job? As a matter of fact, is there any real hope in atheism? What do offer this suffering world besides smugness and the destruction of Hope?
michealhusonjr 2 years ago
No one cares about you or you hope. No one cares about your poor grammar, deity or doubts. This is not personal, you're not special or the subject of some holy ordeal.
Ktuka 2 years ago
Nothing but emptiness.
1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness" ;
1 Corinthians 2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
michealhusonjr 2 years ago
Nothing but proselytizing
Numbers 31:17
"Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately."
Exodus 21:7-1
Judges 5:30
Deuteronomy 21:10-14
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
Deuteronomy 20:10-14
Judges 21:10-24
Oh, look at all the mercy and compassion and glory.
Ktuka 2 years ago 3
You did a good job at proving my last point and also proving those two Scriptures I submitted. God can never be disproved, especially not by His own Word. Nor is your acceptance of His Lordship necessary. You know that He exists yet you suppress the Truth in unrighteousness though you knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in your imaginations, and your foolish heart was darkened.
michealhusonjr 2 years ago
Professing yourself to be wise,you became a fool, And you changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.Therefore, God also gave you over to uncleanness through the lusts of your own heart, to dishonour your own body. You changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
michealhusonjr 2 years ago
@buttercup
That's the typical flaccid religious nut bag response.
TenaciousGGG 2 years ago
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wow ur all idoits! just wait the end is near and when it happens.. you will cry out to the almighty god! so just go thru life with blinders on and think there's no punishment for living wit out christ... god help your little minds wake up..
buttercup012408 2 years ago
I've noticed that most people don't have faith: they're buying fire insurance. They want to live forever, and particularly to evade Hell, if any such place exists. So they go through the motions, may even have some affection for their faith and faith community. But it's largely for an eternal existence.
StarTrekLivz 2 years ago 24
@StarTrekLivz Congratulations, you discovered the human condition! How long did that take?
vesiu5 1 year ago
@vesiu5 you don't even understand my post, do you? My point is that people don't really believe, they are just so scared they will grasp at lies & deceits rather than face reality. I've looked at some of your other posts on this video, and you combine ignorance & arrogance to a shocking degree - only a true believer (I have faith, why bother with facts?) could write like you. I am cheerfully blocking you. Some people cannot be taught.
StarTrekLivz 1 year ago
@StarTrekLivz hahaha! Why do you think you're rated so high? No one understands your post.
vesiu5 1 year ago
it's easy to say all these things: that it's not scary and everything when you know you will live for 30-40 years more, that you know that you will still live tomorrow at least..but when you're told you will probably die in a week or a month, you always thing about it and it stops you from enjoying life anymore..so the best way is even if you know the person is going to die soon, not to tell him that..
Hjsdsa 2 years ago
I don't think I would have the right to deny another person that piece of significant information: they may choose to live differently, do something like the Once In A Lifetime Vacation, make wills and other plans and provisions for their family, etc. Plus, I know I would want to know.
StarTrekLivz 2 years ago
ya, i really hope I never get something like a disease where I am told I have so and so long to live. I just want to be healthy (or thought to be healthy) then keel over dead....a long long long time from now :) Hopefully that guys on "That's Impossible" is right when he said he thinks people today could live to be 1000, lol. My grandpa is still alive and he is 101, so hopefully that is a good sign for me that I got some time left.
halfawake454 2 years ago
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For a respectful, less confrontational look at Atheism and Christianity, check out "The God Debate" on my channel.
atheistfriends 2 years ago
I don't know man coming grip that all lives may be pointless is hard.
bumfire007 2 years ago
It is but it's more comforting to know that you know more about the truth, and that you are free to make your own purpose.
InLucidReverie 2 years ago
we was dead before being born, we'll die at the end of this life so can you remember what it was like before birth... NO, so death isnt scary, but maybe in that its possible to be reborn but no gods involved, souls or crap like that, life is just life, life continues and yes our present bodies will be gone forever and thats it once dead. cheers
01101100d 2 years ago
lol.
canuckman87 2 years ago
I think everyone has that view ladiesman. People who TRULY believe in eternal life are delusional, and they make up a very small part of the population. Thats why funerals are sad, because that person is gone..and not ''living life in another dimension''. Death is like when you black out from drinking too much alchohol...black nothingness. Really what is so bad about that?
canuckman87 2 years ago
Yeah, but the hangover from death must suck.
Deshara218 2 years ago 11
10 Questions every Atheist must answer
Totothemonkey 2 years ago
i personally think people who believe in hell aren't just afraid to die, they're afraid to live.
gmn545 2 years ago
I appreciate that there are people who are capable of talking about reality in the face of death. This is one of the most powerful conversations I have seen on this show, and I wish more people would see it. Honestry is truly a trademark of this discussion, and it is delivered in a manner that encourages understanding. Thank you.
CrysaniaIV 2 years ago
wow what an amazing video...always amazing conversations on this show.
someonesperson 2 years ago 3
I'm not really concerned about what will happen after death, because I will no longer have any consiusness to care about anything any longer. I am more concerned about how I'm going to die. A painless, or at least a quick death is more desirable than a long and painful one.
Also, I know I may be too late for this, but I wish the caller's friend good luck. I hope for his sake the cancer does not kill him.
EasytoonGuy 2 years ago 3
"because I will no longer have any consiusness to care about anything any longer"
You mean *probably won't... You never know for sure...
When I die I'll be shitting myself, b/c maybe I'll feel pain.
TheRealBladeRunner 2 years ago
When I die I'll be shitting myself, b/c maybe I'll feel pain
And thats why, on the 420 day, god created drugs.
Sav3TheWorld 2 years ago
death is irrelevant. thats the only way to look at it for me.
it is so pointless to ponder, that even my own comment is a worthless contribution to this pointless debate.
death has no negatives, no positives. its simply a fact. disassociate you emotion from it and get on with your day.
Sp00lDonkey 2 years ago 3
My personal "athiest" view on death is: life is a gift, it is a miracle, it is precious. So we must always live ur life to the fullest, everyday, every moment, for yourself and every1 u love.
And do ur bit for human history. I mean, we are just a member of an ongoing stream of tradition and culture(at least to me as an Asian, which value tradition). So we must past down our knowledge and tradition(the good part) to our future generations, to let the cycle continue.
wildreams 3 years ago
the only truth that all religions and beliefs even we, atheists are agree is death, yes, death is sure, nothings is more sure than death it reaches us all, the only thing that we can do is accept it and dont worry if theres life after death, just live people, throw away stupid things, accept death and live.
NietzscheFukYerGott 3 years ago
nothing is absolute. Not even death. We might even overcome it some day, who knows?
wildreams 3 years ago
That's like saying you can overcome eternity, which can't happen
dummbatz48 3 years ago
That would be a bad thing. There cannot be life without death. Think about food and life-cycles, birth and children. None of that is possible if there were no death.
BulletMagnetOWI 2 years ago
Im a progressive, lol, so i think, ya if we did manage to cheat death one day, we might have less children(or non at all) but whether it is a bad thing or not, i don't think we can really know, simply by speculating.
wildreams 2 years ago
No, that is bad, because then forever only the same people would live. We'd both not be giving any other people a chance to live a life, but the world would also stagnate. We need new people for the world to develop and grow, and for that, eventually we must step back and let others take our place. Keep the world fresh.
BulletMagnetOWI 2 years ago
"not be giving any other people a chance to live a life"
lol, but "other ppl" don't really exist o.o there isn really any1 to feel sad about. If u are talking about not giving any sperm/egg the chance to become human is another story though.
The world may or may not be stagnant, we never know, will we? maybe we might start colonizing other planets? Technological and intellectual progress will not stop simply because ppl stop reproducing too.
Relax:)
wildreams 2 years ago
Among the best episode.
SistemaKaoso 3 years ago
Hi, I have enjoyed listening to what you all have to say, and I agree with you for the most part. I have a question, and it has nothing to do with the subject matter of this video. um, could you lose the intro music? And re the cancer-stricken person: I hope he finds peace and tranquility before he passes on.
happytobeheathen 3 years ago
this dude was muslim
Master8laster 3 years ago
Were I dying terminally, and this is a bit egotistical, I would make sure that I was able to enrich as many people as possible before the end. My only legacy is others' experiences of me, and I'd want those experiences to be worth having.
Fordi 3 years ago
I agree.. an interesting point to remember however, is that you are always on a fixed course with death. So there really is no excuse for putting those things off. Live man LIVE!
x1tekja 3 years ago
Oh, absolutely - but that's my default position, and not mutually exclusive with enriching others. It just adds an additional consideration to my choices.
Fordi 3 years ago
We're in the race now. This is it.
johnnyk2112 3 years ago
We get one shot, better make the most of it.
sabboth42 3 years ago 3
I would say it's not so much that nonreligious people think everyone in the past was just superstitious, it's more that there is no single ancient tradition that is all true. Giving up religion means giving up the need to embrace an ancient set of dogmas and instead deciding what you believe based on reason and evidence and in the full light of modern day knowledge. We know so much more now. That's not to say there is nothing of value in ancient traditions, but you shouldn't buy it wholecloth
Archaneus 3 years ago 3
Sorry, this was meant as a response to
cheetah100.
Archaneus 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
blah blah blah, same shit, same shit, same shit
thesunofjuda 3 years ago
Science finds cures for diseases. Religion has never advanced beyond the demon theory of disease, although most religious people these days go to doctors rather than priests when they're ill.
bdf2718 3 years ago 7
personally i find it quite amusing that YEC's discount the age of the earth but would still use the same technology (nuclear medicine and science) to save their lives, if that is irony in a bottle eh?
jhakana 3 years ago 4
This has been flagged as spam show
He renounces God then gets cancer. Very interesting timing, don't you think?
thecobra39 3 years ago
"He renounces God then gets cancer. Very interesting timing, don't you think? "
I think people like you love the idea of people suffering who renounce your beliefs. Their's no cause and effect relationship between not believing and getting cancer is nonexistent. You should go take a good look in the mirror!
whovian1971 3 years ago 7
The relationship between those two things is Nonexistant, I meant. Sorry
whovian1971 3 years ago 3
I agree. I am almost shocked at the idea that someone would take someone else s suffering and use it to make himself feel better about his religious beliefs. I d say 50% arrogant, 50% disgusting.
MistertheSpike 3 years ago 8
Well then you're talking about Mother Theresa. Christopher Hitchens wrote an article about her in Slate magazine describing her as just that. Do a Google search for it. It's a fantastic article.
quinn2469 3 years ago 3
more 50% arrogant, 50% disgusting, 50% immoral, 75% unfeeling, 10% sad.
(Note yes I understand this is more than 100%)
ahelplessgoat 3 years ago
so im confused? except that you realize your math is bad, what is your point, or any point this comment was meant to express.People die, like the 20,000 children who starved to death yesterday,in the world, and today, and so on,it is sad, is it only disgusting to talk about someone we can put a face on?,I am confused to why you seem concerned about this one instant and the rest are disregarded,It takes alot of time to address the other 20,000, but don't focus on one if you dont acknowledge them
jhakana 3 years ago
I think people like you love the idea of people suffering who renounce your beliefs. <-- i know people like that, i also hate people like that
1metallica1 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Oh please. I didn't make a direct correlation, I just found it interesting timing.
Let's look at this for a moment. We have a Christian guy that the caller converted into an atheist then the guy gets cancer. Wouldn't you feel like a total POS after doing that to the man? But no, these guys were congratulating him for turning him into a Godless atheist right when he could probably use something to give him hope and faith the most. I find THAT to be completely disgusting.
thecobra39 3 years ago
Re: Thecobra39,
do you not find the idea that an alledgedly all-loving god would see fit to promptly burden that freshly deconverted person with a potentially fatal condition, knowing that He/It will now "have no option" but to condemn that new atheist to an eternity of torture far more disgusting?
And why do you equate hope with faith? t
They're quite disparate concepts.
davenathan2002 3 years ago
faith does not = hope. And I find that implying that you need faith in any way to live a good positive life is actually far more disgusting. So what?!
x1tekja 3 years ago
What do you call someone who doesn't "renounce god" and gets cancer anyway? Fucking moron.
Rahab111222 3 years ago 12
And if you a believer got cancer would there be a connection. Would that mean that you didn't serve or believe vehemeantly enough> Would that mean that god had targeted you because you didn't believe enough? Or would you call it satan and his influence over your body punishing you for believing? Your irradict ideals are very deviant and hurtfull to the world in general.
sabboth42 3 years ago
or maybe a different view maybe he chose you for you're strong belief O.O.
dunno just throwing it out there.
drzsr13 3 years ago
I've been reading about the Stoics, and they have a healthy approach to death. We all live and die. We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we deal with it. As Matt says, you can choose to be sad, or you can celebrate the time you have.
cheetah100 3 years ago 5
That's so awful. I really hope he survives.
KatRocks333 3 years ago 2
I hope the callers friend will survive the cancer.
DeletedDelusion 3 years ago 3