tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post710046448331265523..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: "Nice nihilism"Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-88348987933729475642012-06-16T23:41:21.133-04:002012-06-16T23:41:21.133-04:00James
"It doesn't make the nothingness g...James<br /><br />"It doesn't make the nothingness go away entirely, but it makes it recede a bit into the background."<br /><br />To pool individually meaningless lives doesn't make life worthwhile. It's just sharing a bit of body heat on an arctic night in the open tundra before you freeze to death.stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16547070544928321788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-7887755006716213792012-06-16T21:39:38.846-04:002012-06-16T21:39:38.846-04:00James ends with this:
" Atheism does not equ...James ends with this:<br /><br />" Atheism does not equal or lead to malevolence, in other words."<br /><br />Granting that it doesn't have to, that's not the point.<br /><br />The point is that, given atheism, there is no real reason to avoid malevolence if you can make it serve your interests. It may not always lead there, but it does nothing to avoid going there.Gordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14527530618839981892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-7805830732992267102012-06-16T07:26:57.567-04:002012-06-16T07:26:57.567-04:00Phil writes: "Morality isn't all you have...Phil writes: "Morality isn't all you have, it's your possessions and as such you should void morality whenever possible to get more of them."<br /><br />I am not an atheist, but I can imagine being one (and who doesn't experience those moments or even periods of deep doubt)? <br /><br />While for some people, atheism is accompanied by a desire to grab as much material goods as possible in this life, it doesn't always play out that way. The notion of an eternity of black nothingness (both throughout the universe and after death) can increase the sense of isolation, loneliness and even despair, and so we seek to alleviate this with friendship, family and other meaningful human relationships. It doesn't make the nothingness go away entirely, but it makes it recede a bit into the background. These relationships aren't possible when one lives only to please oneself. <br /><br />Is this a form of morality? Well, it's a weaker form of one, but yes. Self-sacrifice is involved, but the goal is still one's own personal satisfaction. It's not the total emptying of self as seen in the ideals of the Christian ascetic life, but how many Christians ever manage to embody that level of ethics throughout their lives?<br /><br />So whatever one's philosophical conclusions on the universe are, it doesn't eradicate the human need for personal fellowship with others (with the exception of the many sociopaths out there for whom human empathy is absent). Atheism does not equal or lead to malevolence, in other words.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01694207997231305470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-19821543412692714842012-06-15T15:21:17.268-04:002012-06-15T15:21:17.268-04:00All right guys, time to pack up and go home, Philo...All right guys, time to pack up and go home, Philosophy of Religion is over because Alex Rosenburg says so. <br /><br />First off, where are the knock-down arguments of atheism? Can anyone point me in the direction of these devastating critiques? Please?! I desperately want to stop believing in God so I can go back to living a life like He doesn't exist. Is is so much easier. Then again he would also have to take away the images seared in my brain (and on my body) from when I sought and found Him.<br /><br />Secondly, the question isn't "why do you bother getting up in the morning," it's "if this life is all there is, then why aren't you living like it's your only shot at it?" How many of these atheists spend their time watching Youtube videos, or on Blogger, or trolling Christian websites? Cause I gotta tell you, if I knew this was all I had, I would at the very least be trying to meet girls, or back-packing across some foreign country, not sitting back arguing about the existence of God as if it's some sort of noble act for humanity, especially when I have no basis for my nobility. <br /><br />Thirdly, is science over too? Do we understand the universe so well that we have proven that the physical world is all their is? When did that happen? This sounds like the same silly self-congratulatory attitude about the knock-down, argumentative awesomeness that is atheism. Science only studies the natural world, presupposing God had no hand in it, to say that science has shown that God doesn't exist is to beg the question. With a proper grasp of omniscience and omnipotence one should have no problem understanding that a Being such as this would be quite capable of creating and sustaining a universe that brought about us.<br /><br />On a side-note, I find it really quite intriguing how the only people who take the Genesis account to be literal are YEC's and Darwinists (at least they have that common ground).<br /><br />When he says "morality is all we have" the big question is, "huh"? Morality isn't all you have, it's your possessions and as such you should void morality whenever possible to get more of them. It's like an odd form of Hedonism. <br /><br />I really wish these moral relativists and nihilists would face their beliefs head on instead of just jumping in and out where they see fit, like a taxicab...fallacy.Phil Losthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601718795232875032noreply@blogger.com