Is there even any point in hope? As in, hope that when our souls depart from our bodies at death, they actually go somewhere. And if they do, the hope is in the thought of our souls going somewhere meaningful. Our souls will go to Heaven! Well, that’s what one would hope. But what if there was no hope? Perhaps the world would be a wreck, run amiss by immoral savages. After all, what’s the point in having morals if there is no hope? There’s no one to impress, no God like being to try and live up to. But then, what’s the point in having so much hope that morals and modesty exceed above all other aspects in one’s life? Too modest and immoral are equal in the eyes of few – but especially in the eyes of me.
I see life as a shade of gray, stuck in the middle of the spectrum, equal distance from white and black. Life is blank. Life is dull. Life is nothing- until you make meaning of it. What you decide to do and all the choices you make take you one notch further in either an ascending direction towards hope, or in a descending direction towards nothingness (or maybe one descends towards hope and ascends towards nothingness). Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you fight, and no matter how hard you suffer, you will get nowhere. This floundering and failing is a repeat of events in life. This is suffering. I believe one must suffer to know oneself. Without suffering, crying, and hurting, not only physically, but emotionally, one will not grow. To not suffer is to not live.
I’ve been through things in life that I don’t share with those but who are closest to me. I’ve cried over more things than I’m willing to talk about. I even sometimes drive myself too hard- to the point where I break down and give up. The thing is- I have no hope. I don’t believe that my soul will go to Heaven. I don’t believe my soul will go to Hell. I just believe that my soul will be. It will be whatever it wants to be, go wherever it wants to go, and do whatever it wants to do. So why do I cry over petty things? Why do I sometimes push myself too hard? I have no one to impress.
I figure it’s too late to pray, to try and catch up with the rest of the world in the race to make it into Heaven. It’s too late for me to sit in a church, pretending I believe until I finally make myself believe. To me, there is no point. Living a modest and morally driven life is like living a meaningless life. I would never be so unhappy in life than I would be praying, believing, and putting all my faith into something that I don’t even know exists. I never realized how conceited man is until I understood religion. People pray, hope, and believe, all for the mere hope of their souls going somewhere after they die. It’s not praying, hoping, and believing for someone else. It’s for you. You pray for yourself, so you can impress the God like being that you will approach after death. If this so called God does exist, would he not look at a man who prays and a man who does not pray equally? I mean, he is our God, and we are his children. He will love and accept us no matter what, including those who require seeing to believe- including me.
I guess what I am really trying to say is, I’m confused about this whole hope thing. I don’t see any point in it, yet I want to see a point in it. I want to know for sure. And of course, like everyone else, I want to go to that meaningful place-Heaven. Except I am too stubborn to believe. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to make myself believe there is some kind of life after death. It consumes too much time and energy now – praying and believing- to worry about the later. When the time comes, I will know fore sure. Until then, I will continually struggle and grow in the meaningless world surrounded by those who refuse to wonder and actually believe.
Until then, I have no hope because I, like Friedrich Nietzsche, believe God is dead.
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Creation vs. Evolution, Skepticism, Agnosticism, Atheism, and Existentialism are all topics that interests me. I like to research, read, and write about this kind of stuff. Please feel free to leave your own opinions as well. Afterall, you now know mine. So let's hear yours!
Although we are becoming an increasingly secular society, you still hear enough about God, heaven, and angels to make some people form an opinion of some sort. I have a friend who likes to say that opinions are like feet; everyone has them and they all stink. I wouldn't go that far, but where eternal matters are concerned, truth is far more important than opinion. It's fine to be seeking the truth if you're open-minded.
Someone has already mentioned C.S. Lewis, and he is a very good intellectual Christian writer. You might be more interested in a book called The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh MacDowell. The interesting thing about this book is that it was written by a man who was an athiet/agnostic. Prior to the first Evidence that Demands a Verdict was written, Josh MacDowell made it his mission to disprove Christianity.
He went about gathering all possible evidence against the God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, anywhere and everywhere he could. But the results led to an amazing conclusion: everything he found pointed to the validity of Scripture and the TRUTH of Christianity. And Josh MacDowell became a Christian. He states in the book that a person cannot be REASONED into being a Christian; he must exercise faith, but that faith need not be blind and irrational. The book examines the internal and external evidence for the Bible and covers everything, up to and including philosophical arguments against Christianity. And he says it better and more thoroughly than I could.
I will say that I believe most people get off track at the outset because their impressions of who God is are wrong. They see God as just another being, equal to themselves, only in a different place and with more power. I had a forum discussion several years ago with a man who saw God as someone with a gun to mankind's collective head demanding that we love Him or He would kill us. But the fact is (from the Bible, which I believe is the Word of God) that God is supernatural; he is holy; He cannot exist in the presence of sin or sinners any more than oil can mix with water. He created the world for man's enjoyment, who He created to have fellowship with Him.
But He created him with a free will. Some people believe that this was God's first "mistake" (ironic since it was this free will that gave them the freedom to voice this criticism to begin with); but God wanted man to love and obey him by choice; to have made him otherwise would have been to create robots. God did not want that any more than we would want it of our own children. Love that is not given freely is not love.
It was man that messed up; and there's no need for a book to prove that there's sin everywhere. Everyone does things wrong during the course of their life, whether they admit it or not. This creates the problem: God loves man and wants to fellowship with him, but cannot because of sin. If there was any way for God to merely "wipe the slate clean" do you think He would have asked His Son Jesus Christ to leave Heaven, to give up His glory, to live in poverty in a sinful world for 33 1/2 years, and to finally be abandoned by His closest followers to suffer a torturous death by rucifixion? The Romans were not big believers in humane execution: there was an article I read once by a medical doctor who described in detail what Jesus would have experienced physically from the Garden of Gethsemane through his death; it was a gruesome picture.
But because Jesus was God, death had no power over Him; the resurrection is recorded by Josephus, a Jewish historian, as fact. And there is both eye-witness and empirical evidence as well. The apostle Paul tells us that "if Jesus be not risen from the dead, our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins." Jesus died to take OUR punishment for sin so that we would not have to go to hell; his resurrection proved that He was who He said He was and as He himself was raised from the dead, He will also raise us from the dead: "this corruption must put on incorruption; this mortal must put on immortality. Then will come to pass the saying, "Death is swallowed up in victory."
To believe this, of course, you have to have enough evidence (for you) that the the Bible is true. And there IS plenty, if you are willing to take the time to examine it. At some point, though, there will be things that you will have to take a step of faith to accept:
1. You have to believe that YOU are a sinner and repent (change your heart and mind) before God. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
2. You have to believe that the payment for sin is death (physical and spiritual). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
3. You have to believe that Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, took your punishment for sin when He died on the cross and rose from the dead to secure your eternal life. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sin according to the Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scripture." (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
4. You have to pray and ask God to forgive you, trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ for salvation. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9-10) and "For whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord SHALL be saved." (Romans 10:13)
It almost sounds too easy, especially for the philosophical. We like to think we can do something to make it. But we can't. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
Being a Christian doesn't make a person perfect; if that's the evidence you're looking for, you won't find it. But it gives us HOPE. It gives us LOVE - love for God, and for other people, even people we don't know. And we do what we do because we've come to understand that everything we have comes from God; He gave us everything, so we should be willing to do whatever He asks. Our most important job is sharing the TRUTH with others.
He doesn't force His gift on anyone; but all choices have consequences. Hell was not made for us; it was made for Satan and the angels of Heaven that rebelled with him. But sin has condemned us to their fate, and God, in His love and mercy, has provided a way out. It's up to us...it's up to you...to take it. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 21:17).
The Bible is also clear that there is coming a time when it will be too late to decide. Life is an uncertain thing, and death is the ultimate deadline. If you wait until then, it will be forever too late. Ponder if you must, research if you must, but the Bible gives us a warning: it is appointed unto man once to die, and AFTER THIS the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)
I had not set out to write a "sermon" but you gave an open invitation. These words are not my opinion or interpretation; they are the words and the clear meaning of the Bible, which is the TRUTH of all things eternal. There are a lot of people who know the Bible better than I do, and I certainly do not have all the answers. But if you or anyone reading this is moved to accept Christ as their Savior, or is merely motivated to find out if this faith is reasonable, then this time has been worthwhile. Anyone who has any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.
In the mean time, I will pray for you.
Kim Tracey
Hope is good because without hope, life is meaningless. You can apply your own meaning to life, and many people do--but how many of them are happy? I look at religious people and I see them divided into two groups: one group is just going through the motions, but they're dead inside. They don't believe, they fear. But the other group is the true believers, people who know that God loves them and they love him back. These people are happy and full of hope. Their lives have some sort of purpose, something that fills the void that is so obvious in everybody else's life. The biggest difference between them and everyone else is hope: they have hope. They know (whether they are correct in knowing or not is a whole different issue) that when they die, things are going to be a lot better.
In summary: I agree with the existentialist thought that life is what you make it; your destiny is certainly of your own choosing. But a destiny with no hope is ultimately as shallow and empty as if you had never made a destiny at all. And so I disagree that hope is worthless: hope makes your self-made destiny a more fulfilling one.
I waffled a bit but I think you can see what I mean. I like your writing.
(if you can't see the fnords they won't eat you)
I agree with you. Existentialists are generally unhappy and they do live in a meaningless world. When you mix Existentialism with hope, you get Absurdism. Absurdists hope, yet they don't quite understand why. They too live in a meaningless world. Most people don't agree with the whole "God is Dead" thing because it is so common to be taught that there is a god, a reason, a truth. As for me, I fail to see what the more religious see. I don't understand why people believe, but I know why they want to believe. How much we believe and hope depends on how we view life after death- if there is one.
I like your writing too ;)
I do not beleive in god. I do beleive that my life has a purpose, although not some grand purpose. I beleive the purpose of my life is tied up with the people I share it with(Everyone I share it with). I do not deny that god gives some people hope and purpose. I do deny that those who don't beleive in god wander around in some dark, meaningless, unhappy world.
wolfengromper
I'm so glad to see that someone is thoughtfully turning thoughts such as the ones that you expressed here over and over, examining them, laying them down, but then returning to them, unwilling to give up on them entirely. That's encouraging to me.
In our information-saturated world, there are still pockets of truth that are somewhat overlooked. There is one that makes a completely outrageous statement; it says, in part, "...that you may know that you have eternal life." Most of the rest of the chapter connects this confident assurance of eternal life with "believing on the Son of God", the Lord Jesus Christ. Before you turn away, let me quote from a former Professor of Renaissance Literature from Cambridge University:
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
The book from which I quote is "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis, which, thankfully, is nothing like what it sounds. It is actually a set of transcripts from a series of radio broadcasts that Lewis did on the BBC during the second World War. It gives you the curious impression, when you read it, that you are listening in on a conversation, or a course on Philosophy for the beginner. The book was voted the best book of the century in the year 2000 by the magazine Christianity Today. That's a pretty high honor, and to my way of thinking, merited. I recommend it to you as one of my favorite books. I read it over and over again, and each time I am amazed that such short chapters so full of simple statements can pack such a punch. If you are a true seeker of truth, I encourage you to read it. There is enough intellectual content to satisfy a thirst and make it worse at the same time, if that makes any sense.
That's an excellent book. I much enjoyed it.
(if you can't see the fnords they won't eat you)
People throw this guy's name around alot...If you're adopting his views as your own, on your own, with thought behind it, can someone at least tell me what all this PROOF is first hand? I mean...if you're gonna believe it, shouldn't you know what it is? *headscratch* Not trying to say you don't know, but I don't know...and for the sake of the conversation and all...
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
I happen to LOVE C.S. Lewis, so I will definitely go check out that book, now that you mentioned it. I recommend books by Michael Shermer because he is amazing! "Why We Believe Weird Things" is in depth, but easy to understand as well. He talks about WHY creation wasn't possible, Noah's Ark, etc.
I also agree with your thoughts about the whole lunatic thing. It's true that if someone did the exact things "God" does (killing, crime, allowing and accepting hate), he would be considered insane.
And yes, I do well at checking back because this is someting I am passionate about. I wouldn't have posted something on a topic like this and not check back to see what others have to say.
Well, your blog is rather good...However, a tad immature, but not in a bad way. If that makes any sense at all. Now, I understand where one would think about God, religion, the afterlife, etc as you do. I myself have thought that way in the past, however, having observed more and judged less I've learned a great deal in the "why" catagory which helps explain to one "how." I also feel that you're trying to send too much of a message to religious folks. I'll tell you now, they don't care. Perhaps I am wrong on your motives, it's just how the essay comes off. Also, to say God is dead is to not understand the institution of religion. Religion is not for people to be overly-concerned with the afterlife, at least not today's religion. Religion more today, at least in this country, is more concerned with the present than in the past. AS time goes on, religion becomes less about God and more about His followers. Now I'm not trying to tell you to join any church or anything of the sort. I myself am not a follower of anyone but myself. (I know that was redundant.)
So, I suppose I'm done rambling for now. And I hope you take what I said as constructive criticism. And before you make what you've said a definite belief, experience life a little more. :)
First of all, immature is not a way to describe an opinion about religion/science. Immature is calling someone immature for their personal beliefs. I would never tell someone their views on religion are immature, as that would be rude.
And if you knew anything whatsoever about Existentialism or Absurdism, you would recognize "God is Dead" because Nietzsche wrote it, not me!
"'God is dead' is not meant literally, as in "God is now physically dead"; rather, it is Nietzsche's way of saying that the idea of God is no longer capable of acting as a source of any moral code or teleology."
"Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to make myself believe there is some kind of life after death." - great to hear. Is it truly belief if you make yourself believe it?
I have felt in the past much as you feel now.
I have this hope now, and it is what drives me now.
I'm not gonna preach to you on here, this is your site to say your mind. But if you ever do want to talk more sometime, feel free to message me.
Living in Freedom,
Heath
I read this book called "The Lovely Bones" in which a girl is raped and killed, the entire story is from her point in view while she is in heaven...but the thing that caught my attention was the fact that it wasnt the stereotypical heaven, it was simply everything that she wished she could have had while on earth, a utopia. My point is that heaven doesnt have to be this extremely religious place, it's just something that you can look foreward to, something to keep you from fearing death... I don't know, maybe it doesn't quite make sense, but I'm not a very religious person but I do believe that maybe there is something after death, just as a way of comfort.
I honestly do belive there is a Heaven. Why, we are such comlex beings--with consciousness and intellect-- we couldn't have been made for a temporary time. It's obvious to me that we were made for something more. We are not like animals. We have purpose. It's that very purpose (hope) that drives us and motivates to be better. Without it, life would be pointless and empty, and i don't think that was its purpose. i don't think we're here for no reason.
it's all a matter of faith. and faith means believing without seeing, without hard evidence. if we had the answers to everything, there would be no point in hope anf faith.
if you want another purpose here on earth. try this:
live your life for others. live and work and dream so that the road for those coming behind you may be easier to travel. and you'll find satisfaction in all that, i guarantee it. Also, think of all the wonderful things that have happened today: someone was born, someone received good news, someone accomplished a work of art. someone has been loved. someone has found true happiness....i could go on and on.
let me stop now before i get carried away
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"to suffer is not to live"
i think in suffering we have a great opportunity to strengthen ourselves, to learn by our misteakes, and to learn how to overcome any obstacles
"The thing is- I have no hope. I don’t believe that my soul will go to Heaven."
you are letting yourself get beat up by your woen pessimism. don't stay on the floor, but get up, brush yourself off, and keep going, even if you don't know where the road will lead you, just keep going and someday youll find out
"I figure it’s too late to pray, to try and catch up with the rest of the world in the race to make it into Heaven. It’s too late for me to sit in a church, pretending I believe until I finally make myself believe. "
-its never to late to pray. thats like saying its too late to start breathing. there is no apointed time to start praying or start attending church. the point is that you just go. okay so you don't how to pray? you don't know what to say? just tell God: Here I am. He'll undertand and its your effort that counts.and just sit there clear your mind, find a moment of peace.
and you will never begin to believe if you keep setting up a wall around your heart.
and you're a bit confused. people aren't only supposed to pray for themselves. you have to rpay for others to. and its not about impressing God. it's about showing your love for Him. showing your love for others.
you don't believe, you don't hope because you have chosen not to. your sitting out on the sidelines waiting for something , but if you don't get up and look for it, you'll never find.
Ask and it shall be given unto you,
Seek and you shall find
Knock and it shall be opened unto you
I'll pray for you
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People are often unreasonable, illogical, & self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight:
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
-Mother Theresa
I use it in my (secular) meditation. I may not be Christian, but that's a good message for all.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
Okay. I'm a philosophy major, and I see this allll the time. Kids claim to like Nietzsche, and it seems the only reason is because he said "God is dead."
But your use here is COMPLETELY out of line with the way Nietzsche used it. He goes on to say that we have killed him. Yet you are doing nothing but using him to support your Atheism. Then you turn a 540 and start proposing an existentialist approach to life. I think we would all benefit from actually READING Nietzsche's philosophical work and not just blindly quoting him...
学而不庆
诲人不倦
孔子
ocd
But, for what it's worth, I'm really glad you're not Christian!
学而不庆
诲人不倦
孔子
ocd
a god lives in all of us. some spiritual being, and until you experience some life changing, or some kind of freaky incident, ur not going to believe.
I can completely understand your struggle to believe. Thanks for your honesty. You said,
I can understand why many people would have this outlook... pretty understandable and normal. BUT, it is sort of a Hindu-ish look that assumes cause and effect... good deeds earn us points which put us ahead of each other. That's not really anywhere in the Christian doctrine of justification, faith, or sanctification. Personally, I have had to work through disbelief. There's a saying I'm fond of, "fake it until you make it". I can understand though why that one's not too popular! But the good thing is (and my point is) that everybody is on an equal playing field... separated from God with the option to come into relationship with our Affectionate Maker. Once we are in that relationship, it's still an equal playing field. Faith is believing without seeing and that's what it takes. It isn't always hard... just pray and ask God to show you that He is real, that your faith will be rewarded. One writer said that those who come to God must believe him and believe he is the rewarder of those who seek him.
Kerstenkiwi,
I've been going through my doubts, too. I am a Christian and for most of my life have believed in God, and still do, but sometimes I face certain questions that just can't be answered yet. Your blog reminded me of some of those questions.
I think your honesty is refreshing. Someone else who replied to your entry wrote "if you want another purpose here on earth. try this: live your life for others." This makes sense to me. When I live for others, hope comes naturally; things fall into place. The only problem is, I don't know exactly WHY I should live for others. Maybe it's one of those things we'll find out the more we put it into practice.
Jsaj
As far as I'm concernced there is very little to be concerned about. Religion is the only widely accepted thing that only has one proof- itself.
Religion is only supported by religion.
However, the lack of religion doesn't mean that you shouldn't live without morals.
As a practicing Catholic, I don't think God is dead. Despite the war, homophobia, abortions, and disease that's occurring in every day life, I think that God is very much alive.
I can understand you saying, why bother, if we don't even know if there is an afterlife, but my question to you is, wouldn't you rather be prepared to face God when you die by believing and hoping for an afterlife rather than not being prepared? I mean, hoping and believing and having faith doesn't take up any excess time, it doesn't involve homework, and it doesn't have a tuition cost. You just incorporate it into your life and that's that. Maybe there is no afterlife. Maybe there's nothing. But if there's something, wouldn't you want to be a part of that?
VERONICA!
I've thought about this before. Is it really a good reason to choose to "believe" in God if you're only doing it because the alternative doesn't look good.
Like "If there is no god, then I won't be harmed by believing in him, but if there is a god, then I'd be harmed by not believing, so I will believe."
It just doesn't seem like a good foundation for "faith" and it doesn't even make it sound like you really believe.
(General you, and I'm assuming that this is what you meant)
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
I never said how strongly I believed in the Catholic religion I practice, but I do believe. I have many many doubts though, but I just feel it's better to be prepared than to not be prepared. I've always thought of it like studying for a pop quiz. Teachers could give pop quizzes anytime. You could take a night off from studying and possibly be okay, and hey, one bad grade won't kill you, but you could study and the teacher could give a pop quiz and then you're prepared and you get a good grade. What harm did that do? It didn't. You increased your GPA, did better in the class, and learned something. I think it applies almost the same for religion, minus the whole GPA thing.
As a Catholic, I'm taught that God gives us "pop quizzes" in every day life by testing our free will and seeing if we're going to do the right thing or the wrong thing. If we have no hope or no faith, we won't pass those tests. Sure we can get away with making a few wrongs, and I do believe that without mistakes and regret you can't live a normal life, but after a lot of wrongs and not a lot of faith, where have we gotten?
The extent to how much you believe or exactly what you believe really depends on the person. I don't like to make decisions JUST because the Catholic church says so; I personally feel like they're brainwashing me sometimes in that respect. But, I think it's better to have something than to have nothing. I'd rather die knowing I tried than knowing I didn't care and now I'm screwed. And by believing that, you can strengthen your own faith.
VERONICA!
I am glad to see you reflect on these ideas publicly. Brave indeed!
Is it only hope in an afterlife that you refer to? If you have thrown out the God hypothesis, why not throw out the afterlife one, too? Why do you speak of a soul as if it were a thing any more real than heaven or hell?
And you are observant to note that believers are extremely conceited, thinking that they are the center of some god's universe. Prayers are so often about such petty things; they would seem to be especially petty to any would-be designer of everything.
You mentioned that you assign purpose to your own life. There are the hopes of the everyday, hopes for particular projects, hopes most importantly for your children. As for hope in the afterlife, what does that matter? You won't be aware of that when you are dead. Your numerous brain cells are what result in self-awareness. With those gone, so are you.
And, as Mark Twain apparently said, "In view of the fact that I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience of it ... I do not fear death."
Check out "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins to read some really inteligent thoughts on religion and the people who practice it. Or, to see a response to C.S. Lewis, read Bertrand Russell's "Why I am not a Christian".