Briefly, Atheists strive to live the best moral kind of life they can while they are alive.

My first thought in response to this was: why?...similar to geegee's curiousity in stating, "What are your reasons for this?" And then my follow up question is...where do you base this "moral kind of life."  What is moral, where do you find the authority to define a "moral kind of life."

It is my opinion that if more people lived lives with high moral and ethical standards, knowing this life is all there is, they would not be afraid of death.

OH! Now I see, there is the answer...the reason why: In your opinion...since this life is all there is...to not fear death.  Gotcha. But still...I want to know what you mean by "moral kind of life" and how you decide what that is?

Now, I find it interesting that you say this is in your opinion.  In what authority do you base this opinion of yours?

"Knowing this life is all there is..."
Again, what authority...how do you know this life is all there is?

"...they would not be afraid of death."
Who is afraid of death? Not me, its been defeated for me.  Are you afraid of death...your statement implies that you are not, but I want to ask just to be sure...I like absolutes and definites so I would truly appreciate a clear answer on this.

Whereas, theists/deists worry about whether or not they have complied with the rules and dogma of cults or religions.

"theism |????iz?m| theist:noun--- belief in the existence of a god or gods, esp. belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures. Compare with deism ."

"deism |?d?iz?m| deist: noun--- belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. Compare with theism ."

I am a theist, not a deist.  I believe God intervenes in our lives, I feel His presence.  His Holy Spirit lives within me...now that that is cleared up...
I do not worry about whether or not I comply with the rules and dogma of cults or religions.  Again, authority...Id love to know where you are coming up with your information...who, specifically, do you base these statements on because I am a theist and I do not appreciate you speaking falsely for me.

They would not be worried about going to hell. They would not regret a life of "sin" because they know they have done the best they could

I assume the "they" in this statement umbrellas over all theists.  I cannot speak for all, and I wish you would not either.  I, myself, would be considered a theist.  However, I fall far from agreeing with you on what you claim I believe, feel, fear, or am worried about.  I do not worry about going to hell.  I know I am not.  I am not happy with my sin but I do not regret my life.  And finally, I do know that I am trying to do the best I can day by day and; furthermore, I have done the BEST I can by accepting what Christ has done for me and choosing to follow Him in this life He has given me.

Shineslikestars gave a very heartfelt statement and brought up some good questions for our welcomed friend, the once AntiChrist.  But it must be noted SLS that AC is not known to give many clear answers.  

I disagree. AC usually gives very short answers, and he is prone to typos and spelling mistakes, but his intent is usually pretty clear. Your own posts, geegee, usually make no sense whatsoever. I wasn't going to point this out, but since you decided to go on the attack I figured you deserve it. In fact, your post about AC's sig makes very little sense, and I think you got confused about what he was trying to say. It seems you are often confused, geegee. You asked AC why atheists fear death in response to a statement where he clearly said that atheists don't fear death. This is, of course, merely his opinion. But it is stated clearly. You also invented the term "non-atheist." That is actually a double negative. A "non-atheist" would be a theist. If you mean agnostic, say agnostic. Don't go making up grammatically incorrect terms.

Shines did a much better job of calling AC on a lot of assumptions, and I would be interested in a response from AC. But geegee, I wish you would just stay out of it because all you ever do is confuse the issue.

Personally, I'm terrified of death, because I know there is nothing after.  I would very much like to live forever. If someone ever figured out a way to transfer a human mind into another body I would jump at the chance. I am very seriously considering having myself frozen while I'm alive when I get old, if I could find someone to do that. I like living, and there are too many things I want to do to accomplish in one lifetime. I believe fear of death is the primary motivation for why so many otherwise rational people still think there is an afterlife. I mean, think of it. Nothingness for eternity. It's a terrifying concept, but one in which I am forced to believe because nothing else makes sense. It's easy to fool yourself into thinking you go on after you die. It's a nice thought. But I can't lie to myself like that. All I can do is accept the truth and enjoy my life as much as I can.

One more thing. Geegee, you owe me a buck  

Personally, I'm terrified of death, because I know there is nothing after.  I would very much like to live forever. If someone ever figured out a way to transfer a human mind into another body I would jump at the chance. I am very seriously considering having myself frozen while I'm alive when I get old, if I could find someone to do that. I like living, and there are too many things I want to do to accomplish in one lifetime. I believe fear of death is the primary motivation for why so many otherwise rational people still think there is an afterlife. I mean, think of it. Nothingness for eternity. It's a terrifying concept, but one in which I am forced to believe because nothing else makes sense. It's easy to fool yourself into thinking you go on after you die. It's a nice thought. But I can't lie to myself like that. All I can do is accept the truth and enjoy my life as much as I can.

Curious...where is your authority on this?  How can you say, how can you prove there is nothing after death? No afterlife? How can you claim this to be the "truth"?

Curious...where is your authority on this?  How can you say, how can you prove there is nothing after death? No afterlife? How can you claim this to be the "truth"?

The evidence is overwhelming. Or rather, the lack of evidence for an afterlife. Plus, the assertions of religions have been proved wrong countless times, and have never been proved true once. So that leaves you with faith, of which I have none.

I use to be afraid of DEATH.  Oh, my gosh, what IF I were to die today?  Where will I go, heaven or hell?  Or sometimes I use to be afraid that there was simply nothing!!  Yes, what if after death there was nothing?  In my own personal way of thinking about this, this life would not then be accurately accounted for if there was nothing afterwards.

But, I can probably say for myself, that I no longer fear the death of myself.  I don't fear what awaits beyond the grave.  I know that death will come...hopefully later than sooner.

But what I do fear is that someone close to me will be taken from me.  I will then have some loss in the life I know for now.

Still interested in how Ragnar responds to SLS's question.  

I bet you 1$...never mind  

Quote from: ShineLikeStars

Huh?
You didnt answer my question.  Where is your authority?  What is your evidence/proof?

What is your evidence for an afterlife? Where is your authority? The theist makes a positive claim. The burden of proof is on the theist, as it always has been.

LOL, well thats rather cheap and lethargic.  So, youre maintaining to your beliefs based on nothing...hmm, sounds like a good stance to me.  You do realize this is a DEFEND and DEBATE forum...if you make a claim you should be able to defend it and debate it.

"the assertions of religions have been proved wrong countless times, and have never been proved true once"

Another huh?
Where are you getting your information?
What religions do you speak of?

Religion was wrong about the earth being at the center of the universe, wrong about the age of the earth, wrong about heavenly bodies being perfect spheres. These were all assertions of the Catholic Church at one time or another.

I don't have the reference off hand, but I believe it has been proven that a world-wide flood as given in the biblical account was scientifically impossible. That is, there just wasn't enough water for such a flood to have occurred.  

When has a claim made by a religion ever been proved true? I'm saying I've looked and haven't found any instances. If you disagree, the burden of proof is again on you.[/quote]

I'll get back to you asap (when I dont have to be running off to perform in a show, work to be done) especially on that flood comment.  Prepare yourself for proof: to hear the truth.  

I see people like my signature.

I will try to keep this less brief than normal.

Quote from: me

Briefly, Atheists strive to live the best moral kind of life they can while they are alive.

Good. What are your reasons for this?

We try to usually do what we think is right not what a book says is right.
And I at least try to do the best at whatever I do.

Quote from: me

It is my opinion that if more people lived lives with high moral and ethical standards, knowing this life is all there is, they would not be afraid of death. It is my opinion that if more people lived lives with high moral and ethical standards, knowing this life is all there is, they would not be afraid of death.

Good thing that this is just a personal noted opinion. Nevertheless, are you and other athiests (as you believe) living in some type of fear? Fear of what?

Every body who is sane is afraid of something. Personally I am afraid of snakes.
I'll answer the rest of the questions later when I have more time. [notice: this not brief for me]

How do you think? Events.