03-03-2004, 02:32 PM
The fact that everyone thinks their way is the right way is exactly why I'm agnostic. I'm open to the idea of an afterlife or nothingness, I'll find out I suppose. In the meantime, I just have beliefs on the world in its current and past state, the patterns, and the evident intelligent design. I believe there is SOMEthing, whether it be one all powerful God or several (hundreds... millions... billions... more?) beings or energies or whatever you may call them (gods I guess) that created perhaps, made the rules perhaps. None are really secure beliefs, it's what I like to ponder. So I'm not exactly an atheist, but I don't necessarily have a fixed deity(ies) that I believe in.
I respect atheists for that very reason though... if you can live a moral life, be a good human being, and be happy without the need of guidance or knowledge of an afterlife, then that's awesome. Personally religion does nothing for me, I was raised with it, saw flaws, and now adhere to my own ideas. If I go to hell... sobeit. Also, living towards a nothingness can make life quite productive... if you think this is the only life you have and there is nothing afterwards, you make the best of it, whether for yourself or for others.
I respect atheists for that very reason though... if you can live a moral life, be a good human being, and be happy without the need of guidance or knowledge of an afterlife, then that's awesome. Personally religion does nothing for me, I was raised with it, saw flaws, and now adhere to my own ideas. If I go to hell... sobeit. Also, living towards a nothingness can make life quite productive... if you think this is the only life you have and there is nothing afterwards, you make the best of it, whether for yourself or for others.