I am catholic so I believe that there is heaven and hell. I do beleive that you have to do good in this world to be able to go to heaven but if you do evil and bad more than good in this world I do believe that you will go to hell.
Heaven it is hard to concept the thought of living for eternity in heaven and that everything would be perfect and everyone would be nice and kind.
Hell it is also very hard to think that you will be punished for many years until getting the chance to go to heaven. Also you could be in hell for eternity suffering if you do very bad things in this world.
What is you thought on heaven and hell?
Do you beleive in heaven and hell?
Do you think you will go to heaven or hell?
Is God really real?
Discuss, it can be short or long answers or views.
What bugs me is that atheism (a- theism) is a definition that does not stand on it's own. Theism is; it makes its own claims. But atheism defines 'everyone else', and is completely dependent of the definition of theism and the concept of a deity. Atheism doesn't make own claims, it's just the people who don't make the claims of theists. How can you see that as a belief? In a world where there was no concept of god, people couldn't 'believe there is no god' because they don't even know what all this is about. Now just add theists, and voila: you have people like before, and you have people who believe in a god.
You were trying to say what an Atheist is. Are you an Atheist? No. Were you ever an Atheist? I don't know. The point is, Moe and I and Mage and others ARE, so don't you think we know what we don't have a belief in?
But atheists BELIEVE that there is no God. Therefore, belief.
I fear you are incapable of understanding the atheist point of view, since you're too anchored in the concepts of your theism. Seems like my nice excursus about the definition of atheism was in vain... but it was worth a try.
Okay. So, I don't believe aliens exist. You dont believe God exists. Your belief that God doesn't exist isn't a belief. So why is my belief that aliens don't exist not a belief?
Okay. So, I don't believe aliens exist. You dont believe God exists. Your belief that God doesn't exist isn't a belief. So why is my belief that aliens don't exist not a belief?
Those are two very different statements. One says you don't believe in God, the other says that you believe God doesn't exist. Atheism is the first, your alien thing is the second.
Okay. So, I don't believe aliens exist. You dont believe God exists. Your belief that God doesn't exist isn't a belief. So why is my belief that aliens don't exist not a belief?
You could simply not accept the claim "aliens are real". You wouldn't be believing aliens are real, you would simply lack that belief until shown otherwise.
I've thought of one more way to put it.. but it's my last attempt.
Think of this: Theism includes concepts, like the concept of a deity. Atheism is the complementary group, or in other words: all the rest. Since atheism is the complementation, it does not include the theistic concepts. Now that means that atheist do not acknowledge the mere concept of a deity, nor do they acknowledge the concept of belief/faith. So how does it make sense to attribute an exclusively theistic concept to atheists?
I like to talk in terms of assertion and belief. While, philosophically, the two terms come apart, this works well in ordinary language. If I believe something then, in the context of inquiry, I will assert it. So take a proposition:
G: There is a god.
There are three things I can do with respect to this proposition.
1) I can believe it is true. That means that I will assert it in the context of proper inquiry. In other words, I will claim that, yes, I do believe in god.
2) I can believe it is false. Here, I will assert that G is not true in the context of proper inquiry.
3) I can withhold belief about G. In this, I will assert neither G nor not-G. I will simply withhold assertion entirely.
