IowaGuy
Hunter-Gatherer
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Hello, have been lurking for a while, first post. My background is I grew up in strong Southern Baptist family and have spent last 20 years since leaving for college learning about other religious beliefs and seeking truth. (Roommates freshman year were atheist, agnostic, and Buddhist, quite a shock coming from my sheltered upbringing!). Engineering educational background and consider myself rational and free thinker. I guide my life by reason & scientific method, have strong agnostic leanings. I recognize and respect that religion plays a large part in many people’s lives and helps them find social acceptance (their Church family) and peace of mind with death and other uncertainties. However, my biggest beef with Christianity is that I find the New Testament concept of an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God to be inconsistent with all the random suffering I see in this world.
This brings me to the topic of my post. Recently my cousin died a tragic death at 16 years of age which has brought tremendous suffering to his family and all of my relatives that knew him well. This event has caused me to examine my core beliefs in more detail.
I would really appreciate your views on the following:
1.) Does one need to believe in an afterlife to have meaningful purpose in life?
2.) For those who do not believe in or are unsure of the existence of an afterlife, what do you consider the purpose of human life?
Many Christians proclaim that one cannot have purpose in life without belief in an eternal afterlife. In reading the archives of this forum I came across an atheist’s statement that his life has no more purpose than does a grain of sand. While I don’t necessarily disagree with that statement, it doesn’t exactly make one want to hop out of bed in the morning with a spring in their step!
Hoping to get some food for thought from both theists and atheists in this forum, thanks!
This brings me to the topic of my post. Recently my cousin died a tragic death at 16 years of age which has brought tremendous suffering to his family and all of my relatives that knew him well. This event has caused me to examine my core beliefs in more detail.
I would really appreciate your views on the following:
1.) Does one need to believe in an afterlife to have meaningful purpose in life?
2.) For those who do not believe in or are unsure of the existence of an afterlife, what do you consider the purpose of human life?
Many Christians proclaim that one cannot have purpose in life without belief in an eternal afterlife. In reading the archives of this forum I came across an atheist’s statement that his life has no more purpose than does a grain of sand. While I don’t necessarily disagree with that statement, it doesn’t exactly make one want to hop out of bed in the morning with a spring in their step!
Hoping to get some food for thought from both theists and atheists in this forum, thanks!