No wonder they're scared, I've read the Bible, that god dude is a psychopath. That's when I realized there was no god, when I was like 14 and realized that I was more moral, living, intelligent and reasonable than this god character in the Bible. And if I'm better than god in every way, then he's weak and fake.
they're not scared of god. he loves them. Very much. So much, in fact, that if they don't do exactly what he says, he'll toss them in a pit of burning fire for the rest of eternity. What's there to fear?
This is the dark truth of naturalism, and one of the reasons I hoped for some kind of continuity (anything really) was because oblivion and insignificance is (for me at least) a far greater cosmic horror than being a slave / food for Great Cthulhu (Ia! 🐙🌊🌠) Being a figment of Azathoth's dream gets closer, but even then, the mind of God might notice me.
These days I'm an absurdist trying to make sense of the senslessness of the material. The cool thing is so long as I don't resort to the other options, I'm doing the thing, as crazy as it is.
I have to add a counter-point as an athiest with a religious girlfriend.
I'm absolutely terrified of death. For me, death is the end. For her though, it's nothing scary because she thinks she's going to some happy wonderland.
I had a magic mushroom trip over a decade ago that got rid of that. It was a strong enough trip that I dissociated from my ego (or whichever one has the sense of self) to the point where I could remember my life but had trouble relating to it. Experiencing consciousness without that emotional connection to who I was allowed me to accept the temporal nature of my current identity.
At death, there will either be an end to my consciousness but I won't know it, or there will be an end to my current me and my consciousness will continue on to do whatever. I hope for the second option, mainly because I'm still curious about a lot of things and hope that there's a chance to explore or just reset it all and start a new life with 0 knowledge, but both are ok.
How old are you? I used to ve terrified of death since i was a child. I used to lay in bed and think about the nothingness of being dead and all that. I'm 39 soon and the older i get the less i care. I'm not looking forward to it, but i understand how elderly people look forward to just being done with it.
Besides that, i doubt that she's going to "heaven" if you read the rulebook close enough.
I mean duh? Of course you have more to fear when you're younger. Getting older you cross more off your list and have less regrets. That ain't nothin new that's just life.
God Fearing person here... we enjoy our lives just as much as you satanic evil doers.... ;D Except.....we're going to a better place and you'll be giving demons rim-jobs lol.
As for us naturalists, the fires of Hell, heck the 65×10¹⁶° core of the sun, won't matter much after we die. Our nerves will no longer trigger from heat or pain; our eyes will no longer respond to light; our ears will no longer respond to sound, our brain will no longer processes nervous signals, or formulate reason, or surrender to faith, or feel joy and despair. We won't notice the passage of time, or our existence.
Once I am dead, the main sequence of the sun will pass by in a blink, as will the next billion years as it expands into a red giant and engulfs the earth. I will be long gone, as will (very likely) all the rest of the human species and any notions of Jesus or Adonai.
For dust you are, and to dust you shall return
Or as Carl said, we are made of star-stuff.
Without another thought, the sun will cool to a white dwarf, the last remnant of a sun whose system once hosted life. The universe will go on, never noticing humankind once existed and does no longer.
Well, Christians should be enjoying life to the fullest, and yeah, some do. This was part of the Protestant reformation. Sola fide tells us that faith alone (that of a mustard seed) should be enough for salvation. Sola scriptura (by scripture alone) are we to determine our path.
It should be easy then. A protestant pilgrim can relax, knowing their faith is enough, that what they take from the bible, whether cherry-picking Paul's cruelty or Jesus' generosity is right, because the self is the ultimate arbiter in how to read scripture.
Except not so much. The conflict is with the ministries and apologists who assert they and not the common layman, decides how to read the bible, and according to most of them, faith is wanting and grace doesn't fully bridge the gap. According to most ministries, a lot of Chistians are going to Hell. Especially so those of false denominations.
The exception is, of course universalists, but according to them, demon rimjobs take place in Heaven and everyone gets salvation. Period.
So, it depends on who you ask. The confident Protestant pilgrim will tell you that God is reasonable and sets a very low bar for salvation. A college try modified by your circumstances (say China's 720 million nonbelievers) is adequate to escape hellfire. But according to the ministries, Heaven is empty except for a handul at the top of their leaderbard. And that excludes you as well.
So you might hope that Hell is more compex a place than a lake of fire and the dwelling of Ammit the Devourer.
Oh, yeah, we technically understand that most Christians say the deal is "Keep doing terrible things, just say you're sorry." Jeffrey Dahmer: heaven. His victims: at least some in hell. Not a bad deal for terrible people. Or maybe just, you can masturbate whenever you want as long as you feel really guilty about it afterwards. That definitely sounds as enjoyable as our experience.