What is love to an atheist?


I watched the movie today and it got me thinking a lot. The idea of having nothing after dead and no God gets me to think of something.

I googled my question to google and I came up with this. http://www.strangenotions.com/atheists-love/

I'd like to hear your opinions on this. My intentions are not to offend atheists. I just want to understand how it works.

By the way, Stephen Hawking is a perfect example of the 'problem of evil' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil - a common hypothesis to why there is no God, I believe.

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What a stupid question. I am an atheist; always have been, always will. Just because we don't believe in a higher being to make us feel secure, or to use as a blanket of blame when things get tough, doesn't mean we don't feel love. Love is an emotion seen all manner of different creatures. Whilst religious folk believe in God, and Heaven and Hell to help give their life meaning, we atheists have learnt that life has no meaning, it is pure circumstance, and so we live our life to the fullest!

Cadwch Y Ffydd.

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It's very sad to think that this man doesn't believe in a God who created him, gave him super intellect, and everything he has. It amazes me that some people think that we either came from monkeys (haha) or that there was just a big bang, and *poof* here we are! There is a reason why we have individual thumbprints, unique hairs on our heads, eyes that see, natural foods that be grown in the earth, taste good and that contain vitamins & nutrients that our bodies require, tastebuds that can decipher between sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Voices to communicate, hearts that beat and keep us alive, ears to hear, teeth to chew, water with a million necessary uses, feet to walk on, fingers and thumbs to carry and hold things..... We live on planet earth, and we use the oceans, skies, plants, trees, and everything to live, work and play. Specific animals to eat, keep us warm, and certain animals to have as pets (it's written in the Bible which are which and it all makes perfect sense). We breathe in oxygen without even thinking about it, and it's required for survival. God gave it all to us. Then there's electricity, the sun, moon, stars... WE ARE LIVING, BREATHING MACHINES.... MIRACLES.

God put us here for a purpose, and while life is never perfect, it is because Adam & Eve sinned so long ago, and because man fell, Satan rules the earth. There is good and evil in this world - all you have to do is turn on the news or look on the internet. Of course, many people can't imagine that Adam & Eve even existed, but then again who can imagine living in a history when there was no electricity? Or back when there were dinosaurs? Times change, and in 100 years, none of us will ever believe what will happen in the future will happen, but it will.... we'll just be long gone. Nobody can really explain why it all happened, and why God allowed it to happen, but you can find some really good answers on gotquestions.org. They have in depth answers there that really help you to understand better..... but we really don't have the capability to understand God, or we would overtake Him. And that is not remotely possible. God gave us the Bible to live our lives by, to protect us, love us, make us strong, and live the best life we can. Not to prevent us from having fun or to make us miserable. Everything you buy has labels on it, to provide instructions and to protect us from harm. The Bible is God's Holy word. He is in my life, and I could not live without Him. We are living and breathing right now, because we have souls. Our soul, our spirit, is what keeps us alive. It never dies. I even think that animals and every living thing will have a place of their own, maybe in Heaven or nearby it. Who knows. But as for humans, the body dies, and then our spirit will live on..... in Heaven or Hell. I choose Heaven. I wish everyone would.... because once we get to Heaven, we will finally be free and be able to live in a perfect paradise, which was how we were meant to live on Earth, until Adam & Even sinned. We will finally have paradise on earth. I suggest watching videos on the internet about true experiences people have had when they died and came back. And I hope that Stephen Hawking uses his brain to understand that GOD is the one and only creator.

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It's very sad to think that this man doesn't believe in a God who created him, gave him super intellect, and everything he has. It amazes me that some people think that we either came from monkeys (haha) or that there was just a big bang, and *poof* here we are!


You seem to be a bit confused about cosmological theories. The Big Bang theory ("there was just a big bang, and *poof* here we are!") is more accurately written "There was no space or time. After the Big Bang there was space-time filled with energy. After some time this energy cooled into the various forces (Electromagnetism, Gravity, etc.) and later masses started to appear. Billions of years later, stars, Suns and planets formed as a consequence of fusion and and gravitation. Once planets had formed in stable orbits around Suns, organic chemistry generated self-replicating molecules, with amino acids and DNA. Billions or years later, hominids appeared in Africa, and - after several million years of evolution - modern men and women appeared on then earth.

Every step in the process that I've just described has been studied, and while I wouldn't claim that science understands each step in perfect, or even adequate detail, it's a fairly compelling explanation for life on our planet that's backed with a lot of empirical evidence and theory.

In short, the Big Bang theory and the "evolution from monkeys theory" are not competing scientific theories, as you seem to think. Rather, they are two stages of the same, single scientific theory.

Evidently, you find this single scientific theory risible, but what is the theistic alternative? That men and women were created from mud by something called a "God" about 6000 years ago?

Incidentally, what is a "God" and how is it defined? (I don't wish to hear about god's alleged attributed, such as "he is infinite", "he is omnipotent" and so on. These attributes can only be ascribed to something that has already been shown to exist!) So how do you show that a God exists and how do you prove that it has these attributes of omnipotence, omniscience and unbounded power?

Finally, why does gog obey Aristotlean (two state) logic? Why doesn't it use three state logi? Or infinite state logic?

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Your post just shows you don't understand the theories you try to mock. I do understand religion, I just choose to reject it. It doesn't make any logical sense to me.

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or that there was just a big bang, and *poof* here we are!


Hypocrite much? Isn't this exactly what religious people claim god did? Created everything out of nothing? Do you know how stupid you sound? Neither claim can be proven correct so what's the point in arguing over it?

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I'm glad I fascinate you, Eva..... I also feel very sorry for you. Everyone has a choice to follow God or not. You really need to do some research instead of asking me for the answers to your questions.

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It's important to remember that there are several religions and several sets of rules. There are sects and factions within these, so by definition the real disagreements are between people of faith, not between people without faith and those with faith. Being born and raised in Britain it's highly likely that my values are influenced by protestant Christian values. I don't however believe that they originated from the supernatural. And I accept that had I been brought up in a different culture my values may well be very different.

No one will ever convince that there is or ever was a God. Neither do I think that makes a bit of difference to the decisions I make in my life. I can't tell religious people from non-religious people when I talk to them, unless they tell me, or wear clothing related to their religion.

Believers and non-believers fall in and out of love, and fall in and out of love with each other. My wife is a Christian, who converted from another religion. She thinks I'm genuinely God's answer to her prayers, which is nice, but I'm sure she loves me just the same as she would have done were she still a Sikh. And I sure I love her exactly the same way.

I do find it interesting that several unconnected ideas are accepted by people as a whole package. That a supernatural being created everything. That we continue to exist after we die, and go to another place, That the being that created everything is still alive and is listening to our prayers, and responding to them. Even if I could bring myself to believe the first of these, I'd still struggle with the other two. They don't logically follow. And if you do follow a particular religion, you have to accept that most people of faith disagree with your views of what God expects of us.

Not believing in the supernatural is not a problem. I live my life, I work hard, I love and am loved. I encourage my children to respect other peoples opinions, to realise their potential, and to do no harm. When I die I'll be remembered for a few years, and that's it. Life is great. I'm half way through mine. I'm going to make the most of what I have left. In uncountable billions of year's time the whole universe will probably have collapsed to dust and the atoms that make up my body will be floating around aimlessly. I find that far more reassuring than thinking that I might have been concious for all that time.

Don't try to define or explain love, just enjoy it.





"I'm entitled. Simple. End of.."

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Implying religious people are superior compared to the atheist peasants cause they believe in magical deities. Get off the high horse. If anything we love as strong as we can and try to squeeze every drop of it cause we know that THIS life is all we have. We don't waste away fooling ourselves with some eternal afterlife.
Religion does not make us what we are - WE MADE religion. It's a wonderful piece of fantasy literature but it's nothing more than that. Maybe we should write a dog bible cause how can dogs be what they are without a dog bible and a dog god.. What a stupid thread.

p.s. dog spelled backwards is god /gasp dog god confirmed

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I love real tangible things, not a God who may or may not exist. Why is that difficult?! I love my family, bf, friends, favourite music, TV shows, flowers, the sea, ships, etc... Why should it feel any different? I find the question quite absurd.

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-Romantic-Love is a neuro-chemical, con-job.
-The concept of romance is forcefully perpetuated constantly by all forms of media.
-Every living thing responds to the stimuli of positive affection(love).
-The concept of God and the human soul are self-aggrandizing illusions wrought from the superstitious minds of primitives to be recycled and recreated in perpetuity.
Jus' saying.

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They are trying to create dysentery in the ranks

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