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Originally posted by Yakk
What purpose does believing in God give? I missed something. I mean, there is "avoid hell, and win the heaven jackpot" common in many religions, but that is often independant of believing in God.
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alright good point. But I find the almost all religions provide a person with a meaning for life, which I almost see as an easy way out of having to ponder it yourself.
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Distinguish one's life from the things that are done in one's life? Without clarity, this sounds alot like "why yes, A is true, but how is A true?"
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I'm not really sure what you mean by this. Are you refuting my argument? Or just restating it in a different way?
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First, I won't be obliterated. Or so I think. I may die, but that isn't being obliterated. And I might not die, being born at a fortunate time in history.
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If you die and do not believe your existance will continue after death, your existance will be obliterated. I was using it for dramatic effect
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Second, how does death imply none of it matters? Death doesn't undo all that has occurred, that which is still is, that which was still was.
Inconsequential to what? Compared to what? My life and actions have consequences, a huge number of them, so it isn't absolutely inconsequential.
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If you build a house, it will still be there when you die. But if you go through 10 years of school, then another 7 in Secondary education and learn many wonderful crazy things in life, they will all go with you out of existance when you die. Your ethical and moral standpoints will go with you, along with the ability to contribute to any more social or personal projects. You will just not exist anymore. There are 6 billion people in the world, the contributions you make during your lifetime are rediculously small in the great scheme of things, the equivalent of a drop of water in the ocean. In 200 years nobody will even know your name. How does what you do matter in the long run?
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If your existance isn't the penultimate important part of your value system, no matter what your value system is, this isn't a problem. Now, even in most religions they reward you with "heaven" or the like, so I guess you could believe that this was the only option.
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please use the word penultimate correctly. It means "next to last". I'm going to assume you meant "most". Camus believed that the only important question in philosophy was whether or not life was worth living. And i'm inclined to agree. Your values in life depend or should depend on the answer to that question. If life has no meaning, why should you live it? For example, I see Bob opening and closing a door. I ask bob why he is opening and closing the door. He replies to me, it does not matter, i'm content doing it.
It's totally absurd for Bob to be doing this action over and over for no purpose. It also has no meaning and is pointless to continue doing so. I'm trying to discover for myself a real meaning to my life other than the ignorance of how strange it is for me to keep opening and closing the door.