Why the hell does there have to be a point in existence....

[1liesalot]

I am frequently astonished by the capacity of the deity pedlars to believe that to be an atheist is to accept that life is meaningless. But so what if it is? Why does there have to be a point in existence? Surely, there doesn't.

[Hakurei Reimu]

Because the religious try to dodge the fact that serving a deity blindly is just as pointless. There is no virtue to being a cog in a religious machine whose only purpose is to suck the divine dick of a cosmic entity for dubious and deferred reward. They are envious of all of us who give the infinite recession of pointlessness the shaft and simply state that "pointfullness" (to give it a name) has to start somewhere and it might as well be with us.

[aitm]

Remember it is not us with whom they seek assurance from, but from themselves. Claiming that life has a meaning is important to those who cannot accept that the "after-life" is horse dooky. They seek the assurance from others that they are correct in their fantasies. They more they object to our views the closer they are to admitting they are wrong as well. They are not prepared for that, nor do they want to accept it. You cannot argue with fear.

[Baruch]

Meaning of Life?  Don't know if there is any.  Human experience is pretty whacked.

Meaning of my life?  Up to me, and I choose to live a meaningful life.  I don't need an after-life to have meaning.

Of course why anything exists, why existence as a sort of order to it, why this existence has life in it, and why life has consciousness etc ... so that human experience is even possible?  Most people wonder about those things, though I don't think anyone has any good answers for any of it.

Nihilism isn't the same as atheism/non-theism/secularism.  Nihilism seems to me to be a psychological condition of despair.

[Drummer Guy]

I am frequently astonished by the capacity of the deity pedlars to believe that to be an atheist is to accept that life is meaningless. But so what if it is? Why does there have to be a point in existence? Surely, there doesn't.

It's an emotional argument on their part, not a logical one.  That's all there is to it.

[TomFoolery]

The way I see it is, even if there is some point to existence, does it matter to me?

It doesn't seem to matter to my dog, and he's happy enough.

[josephpalazzo]

I am frequently astonished by the capacity of the deity pedlars to believe that to be an atheist is to accept that life is meaningless. But so what if it is? Why does there have to be a point in existence? Surely, there doesn't.

Isn't it the opposite: theists long to be with God afterlife, so this life is really less important than the afterlife; atheists don't count on an afterlife, so this life is all there is, and hence of greater  importance.

[Baruch]

Isn't it the opposite: theists long to be with God afterlife, so this life is really less important than the afterlife; atheists don't count on an afterlife, so this life is all there is, and hence of greater  importance.

That is unfortunately true of many theists.  In fact, there is no afterlife ... there is only one life.  Otherwise G-d wouldn't really matter ... because what comes afterward ... is always in the future, we never reach it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I am frequently astonished by the capacity of the deity pedlars to believe that to be an atheist is to accept that life is meaningless. But so what if it is? Why does there have to be a point in existence? Surely, there doesn't.

The point of our conception was probably two people needing to 'scratch that itch'. And while that may have been just divine it wasn't a guided act of creation. From there it follows that an unguided conception results in an unguided life.

So let's all quit worrying about that and make the best of the time we have here. We won't get a second round.

[SGOS]

At some young age, I suppose everyone is introduced to the question, "What is the meaning of life?"  It is usually posed as some deep philosophical question that can only be pondered, but never answered.  It persists in some into their college years.  Eventually it becomes a silly joke about pseudo-philosophical half wit posers.

But as Christianity often creates explanations for things we do not yet understand, it claims to know the answer to a trick question. It turns out the joke is on the believers that have fallen for trap that sentence structure in the form of a question, means it's a valid question.  In fact, it's more like gibberish.

Ask a related question to the "meaning of life," and the nonsensical quality of the gibberish begins to become apparent: "What is the meaning of a turtle?"  It makes sense for the uniformed to ask, "What IS a turtle?" but to ask for it's meaning makes an assumption that a turtle has meaning.  You can ask what is life, but to ask for it's meaning makes an unsupported claim. 

The question is widely recognized fallacy.  I call it "begging the question," although it's actually begging you to accept an unsupported claim that is disguised as a question.  It can also be identified as the Complex Question Fallacy, which can be googled at Wiki.  It tricks you into accepting an unsupported claim (life has meaning), before you evaluate the evidence for the claim itself.  The sentence structure in question form, "what is the meaning of life," is irrelevant.  It's a clever attempt to dispense with doing first things first, and just conveniently jumping ahead to a debate which isn't relevant or justified.  But if the theist can get you to accept that life has meaning, he can now bore you for a half hour with God's Plan.

[Mr.Obvious]

Question is if The point of life is to live by god's way and his commands to be a good, decent person and to help those in need by his teachings and so to earn his approval and a place by his Side in The afterlife... Then what would be the point/meaning of said afterlife? Once you are there, for eternity, in a perfect world without hate, suffering or struggle spending all your time by his Side and basking in his glory and goodness (assuming you've been good), what would give meaning to your existance then?
There'd be nothing left to prove, to achieve, to learn. There would be no stamps to put on history. There would be no competition. No, inherently meaningless though they may be, experiences of victory or defeat. Because they would be meaningless in an endless world where our desires become reality without effort. And yet they herald this as a great life.

[Unbeliever]

Isn't it the opposite: theists long to be with God afterlife, so this life is really less important than the afterlife; atheists don't count on an afterlife, so this life is all there is, and hence of greater  importance.

I think the main reason for belief in God is that (in the minds of believers) only a God can provide a mechanism for there to even be an afterlife. And it's this afterlife that people yearn for, since they can't imagine their own nonexistence. Apparently, though, they don't need a God to provide a "before-life."

[Unbeliever]

Nihilism isn't the same as atheism/non-theism/secularism.  Nihilism seems to me to be a psychological condition of despair.

I don't understand this. I consider myself to be a nihilist, but I feel no despair at all. I thought nihilism was simply a lack of belief in cosmic meaning.

You fall out of your mother’s womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave.

Quentin crisp

[Baruch]

I don't understand this. I consider myself to be a nihilist, but I feel no despair at all. I thought nihilism was simply a lack of belief in cosmic meaning.
Quentin crisp

Metaphysical nihilism vs emotional nihilism?  I was speaking of the emotional kind.  Believing in nothing is just being skeptical.

[Unbeliever]

Oh, I see. I'm about as unemotional as I can manage, so emotional nihilism would be against my very nature.