Do atheists "sugarcoat" the human condition?

@moonbus said
People such as KellyJay are looking for meaning after death, in eternity. Whereas Jesus’s meaning was clear: it is here and now, but people don’t see it.

If the only meaning is here and now oblivion washes away everything, time and history swallows up all until it becomes forgotten.

The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids. If hope only resides in this life alone everything is permissible since all choices end up being no different from one another in the end.

Desiring that is simply not wanting any accountability for our choices. If all meaning is found here it is nothing but a momentary fleeting blip in time.

@kellyjay said
The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids.

"The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids..." unless one shares KellyJay's religious beliefs.

Gosh. There could hardly be a more noxious blend of misanthropy and narcissism.

@fmf said
"The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids..." unless one shares KellyJay's religious beliefs.

Gosh. There could hardly be a more noxious blend of misanthropy and narcissism.

It doesn't follow, logically, that things lose all meaning and value, simply because they're impermanent.

If it did, one could claim that there is no value to eating normal food over a pile of steaming excrement, once the sickness and digestive distress passes.

@kellyjay said
If the only meaning is here and now oblivion washes away everything, time and history swallows up all until it becomes forgotten.

The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids. If hope only resides in this life alone everything is permissible since all choices end up being no different from one another in ...[text shortened]... y for our choices. If all meaning is found here it is nothing but a momentary fleeting blip in time.

Life is a dance; there are hours of hard training, moments of seemingly effortless sublime gracefulness, and there is sometimes stumbling and falling down. The meaning and purpose of the dance is to master motion. Even if the dance is never again performed, nothing erases the fact that someone danced and mastered motion. It does not matter in the slightest whether anyone else remembers it.

A thing is not less meaningful because it is fleeting and irrepeatable; it is more so, precisely because of its rarity, and the odds were slim that we should have had the chance at all.

Someone who dances only for the critic's review the day after, is not dancing. Life is passing him by. He's merely waiting for life to happen, not seizing it and making it happen. He's faking it.

You are responsible for who and what you are every moment of your life. If you think the only difference between a murderer and a hardworking parent who sacrifices all for his kids appears only after death, you're not looking in the right place.

Can you see into the soul of the murderer and see genuine remorse and contrition there? Can you look into the soul of the hardworking parent and see the secret grotesque perverted fleshy desires seething under the surface? No? Then why do you presume to judge one better or more worthy of God's grace than the other?

@fmf said
"The murder, child molester, thief, are no different from loyal hardworking parents who sacrificed for their kids..." unless one shares KellyJay's religious beliefs.

Gosh. There could hardly be a more noxious blend of misanthropy and narcissism.

KellyJay's secret agenda is vengeance. If God doesn't punish evil people, KJ is gonna be awfully disappointed.

@moonbus said
KellyJay's secret agenda is vengeance. If God doesn't punish evil people, KJ is gonna be awfully disappointed.

I'm not happy about what will occur to those who die in their sins; who could be? Jesus paid the price for all sins, His grace and mercy are being offered, yet the warnings and the offer are falling on ears that do not hear, eyes that do not see. Hearts that don't care! Judgment day is coming; it isn't in the here and now; there is a day appointed; in the here and now, we have God's offer of grace.

Setting that aside by suggesting there is no day coming for judgment, that would mean anyone who feels wronged needs to get it now; it can never be too late. If it is delayed and people still feel the need for vengeance, that would mean as soon as possible, all of those connected to the wrongs done need to pay. Historic wrongs could be hundreds or thousands of years old, and if some identify with those wrongs, those living today who connect to those wrongs, even if they were not alive, still need to pay! That is a dramatic change regarding wrongs being done.

That is a dark, hopeless world you describe, one without grace or hope!

@kellyjay said


That is a dark, hopeless world you describe, one without grace or hope!

People like you make the world a dark and hopeless world. Jesus said that his followers will be the light of the world. THE LIGHT. Got that? The light comes from all those who are the peacemakers, the meek and humble, the good Samaitans, those who visit the sick, who entertain strangers, who feed the poor.

Those are the words of Jesus Christ, who condemned mouth worshippers like you, condemned the Pharisees, the proud boasters who think they are better than others.

@suzianne said
"That Smith woman?"


And by the way, what do the sexists inherit? Are they blessed?

Are you going to answer this, or are you going to just keep waving me away?

@rajk999 said
People like you make the world a dark and hopeless world. Jesus said that his followers will be the light of the world. THE LIGHT. Got that? The light comes from all those who are the peacemakers, the meek and humble, the good Samaitans, those who visit the sick, who entertain strangers, who feed the poor.

Those are the words of Jesus Christ, who condemned mouth worshippers like you, condemned the Pharisees, the proud boasters who think they are better than others.

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, not people. It isn't dark and hopeless because Jesus said He would never leave or forsake us. The good works you keep talking about are good works that those who are walking with the Lord are doing. Jesus makes us righteous, not our good works; our good works are just a byproduct of what comes from being one that belongs to the Lord.

@kellyjay said
Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, not people. It isn't dark and hopeless because Jesus said He would never leave or forsake us. The good works you keep talking about are good works that those who are walking with the Lord are doing. Jesus makes us righteous, not our good works; our good works are just a byproduct of what comes from being one that belongs to the Lord.

Ye are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14 KJV)

The rest of your post is church baloney

@kellyjay said
I'm not happy about what will occur to those who die in their sins; who could be? Jesus paid the price for all sins, His grace and mercy are being offered, yet the warnings and the offer are falling on ears that do not hear, eyes that do not see. Hearts that don't care! Judgment day is coming; it isn't in the here and now; there is a day appointed; in the here and now, we ha ...[text shortened]... arding wrongs being done.

That is a dark, hopeless world you describe, one without grace or hope!

If you need another life to find meaning, then you are wasting this one.

Suppose God appeared to you, and there was no doubt it was God. Suppose He told you that He had made up His Mind about you and that you would not be given eternal life, neither heaven nor hell; you would die and stay dead and nothing of you would remain. You would vanish. Would you be dejected? Would you throw yourself under a bus? I'll tell you what I would do. I would make something of this life. If there is only one life, then it is very precious precisely because there is nothing else later.

Hope is for people who think this is a rehearsal for something else later. Life is not a rehearsal for something else later.

You talk about historic wrongs and needing to pay. Sounds like you hold some grudges. That is dragging you down; explains a lot of the grimness in many of your posts and the disparaging view you take of humanity. To live in a world of grudges is to suffer needlessly. The way out of the grudge-suffering-mentality is to forgive. That is what Jesus taught. You should try it sometime, before you die.

@moonbus said
Life is a dance; there are hours of hard training, moments of seemingly effortless sublime gracefulness, and there is sometimes stumbling and falling down. The meaning and purpose of the dance is to master motion. Even if the dance is never again performed, nothing erases the fact that someone danced and mastered motion. It does not matter in the slightest whether anyone else ...[text shortened]... rface? No? Then why do you presume to judge one better or more worthy of God's grace than the other?

Life here is but a vapor; it is here and gone, like the blades of grass, flowers they grow go away. The life of animals is instinct; animals behave as their nature dictates; there is no right or wrong with lions as they attack and eat the weaker creatures when the opportunity arises; it is what they do; they are lions. With people, you see what we do; you know how we are a mixed bag of things within us, each of us is quite capable of doing the most selfless things and the most selfish, and to suggest this is acceptable, our nature makes doing the most selfless no different than the most selfish turning both into amoral acts.

Being responsible means accountability is at play with all of our actions, and we are to the timeless God who created us, who sees the beginning from the end? There is no falling off into forgetfulness with Him simply because time has passed us, and neither are there obscure people doing obscure things that don't matter; every hair on our heads He is aware of He sees us in secret when we pray, when we do little things for the benefit of others, or to their harm.

There is no one worthy of God's grace, none of us are; if we were worthy, it wouldn't be grace; it would be something earned due to our actions, our manner of life, the good works we do; it would be something about us, it isn't. It is all about Jesus Christ, our Savior. He will never leave or forsake us, and He is always interceding for us even now.

Our actions and words define us; if we stand in those alone, we will die in our sins because all of us have them, and it only takes one for us to be guilty. When Jesus died for us, He took all of our sins upon Himself, so everyone, regardless of what they have done, can be saved. Because it all rests on Him and not us, the Nazi who turned to Christ can be saved, and those who faithfully go to church and do what we would call good works who die outside of Christ will go to Hell. It is not a matter of good works of righteousness we are saved, works of the law that save us, but our Savior who promised He would never leave or forsake us.

Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament letters, his confession shows how God can take anyone and save them and use them.

Acts 22:3-5
English Standard Version
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

@rajk999 said
Ye are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14 KJV)

The rest of your post is church baloney

We are light and salt as we obey the Lord, doing the good works He tells us to; we wouldn't know what good was without Him; nothing about us can we take credit for concerning righteousness. He chooses us to walk with Him, as Jesus walked with the Father while He was a man in His time on the planet, doing the will of His Father. No one is disputing we are to do good works; we are, but our Savior saves us. We cannot bring anything to Him to become worthy of His Kingdom.

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

@moonbus said
If you need another life to find meaning, then you are wasting this one.

Suppose God appeared to you, and there was no doubt it was God. Suppose He told you that He had made up His Mind about you and that you would not be given eternal life, neither heaven nor hell; you would die and stay dead and nothing of you would remain. You would vanish. Would you be dejected? Would ...[text shortened]... ring-mentality is to forgive. That is what Jesus taught. You should try it sometime, before you die.

It is NOT a matter of doing better; the scale for goodness is so high it is beyond our grasp regardless of how hard we try to reach it, and even if we did manage to hit once in a while, that would not get rid of us all of those times we didn't. It isn't a waste to find why we are here; it is one to miss it.