Do we need God to make sense of life?

@josephw said
To what end?

To learn, to teach, to love and be loved. The "end" is death. The fact that life presents us with a finite opportunity to do these things makes it all the more precious.

@fmf said
To learn, to teach, to love and be loved. The "end" is death. The fact that life presents us with a finite opportunity to do these things makes it all the more precious.

The end isn't "death" for believers.

@josephw said
The end isn't "death" for believers.

If your belief that this is true is what you need to make sense of life, then that's fine.

@fmf said
If your belief that this is true is what you need to make sense of life, then that's fine.

What makes sense of life is knowing the author of life.

@josephw said
What makes sense of life is knowing the author of life.

I know many people ~ and have lived among many, many more people my whole life long ~ who make sense of life in more or less the same way as you do.

If you would not be able to make sense of life without "knowing" your God figure - the author of life, as you put it - and without the belief that death is not the end, then that's OK.

But your spiritual/psychological needs - in this matter - have no bearing on the sense that non-believers make of their lives. And this works vice versa too.

@fmf said
If your belief that this is true is what you need to make sense of life, then that's fine.

It’s not about “making sense of life.”

This is where atheists are so screwed up. They think God simply fills some psychological need in a human being rather than being a reality.

As I’ve said many times, if every person on earth were an atheist, God would still exist. God’s existence has NOTHING to do with whether people believe He exists.

@fmf said
I know many people ~ and have lived among many, many more people my whole life long ~ who make sense of life in more or less the same way as you do.

If you would not be able to make sense of life without "knowing" your God figure - the author of life, as you put it - and without the belief that death is not the end, then that's OK.

But your spiritual/psychological needs - ...[text shortened]... have no bearing on the sense that non-believers make of their lives. And this works vice versa too.

If God created life, then not knowing Him would make making senses of life meaningless.

Your dismissal notwithstanding.

@pb1022 said
This is where atheists are so screwed up. They think God simply fills some psychological need in a human being rather than being a reality.

The fact that they see God figures as simply filling people's psychological needs rather than being a reality is precisely why and/or because they are atheists. It's not them being "screwed up" at all.

@josephw said
If God created life, then not knowing Him would make making senses of life meaningless.

If I thought your Christian God figure created life, I would undoubtedly believe that "knowing" him would make sense of my life.

@fmf said
The fact that they see God figures as simply filling people's psychological needs rather than being a reality is precisely why and/or because they are atheists. It's not them being "screwed up" at all.

Well, actually, it is them being screwed up because they’re pushing their beliefs onto Christians and then arguing from the position that Christians have those beliefs.

So yeah, atheists are screwed up.

@pb1022 said
Well, actually, it is them being screwed up because they’re pushing their beliefs onto Christians and then arguing from the position that Christians have those beliefs.

I don't have any problem discussing the beliefs that Christians hold as they have no bearing on the reality in which I perceive myself to be living. I am not "pushing" any beliefs on you. What I am doing, however, is pointing out that non-believers do not need God figures to make sense of their lives.

@fmf said
I don't have any problem discussing the beliefs that Christians hold as they have no bearing on the reality in which I perceive myself to be living. I am not "pushing" any beliefs on you. What I am doing, however, is pointing out that non-believers do not need God figures to make sense of their lives.

You’re doing more than that.

You’re arguing that Christians believe in God to make sense of their lives. You’re pushing your false and erroneous beliefs onto Christians and then claiming Christians have those beliefs.

I have yet to meet a Christian who believes in God to make sense of his or her life as you have falsely claimed in this thread.

@pb1022 said
You’re arguing that Christians believe in God to make sense of their lives. You’re pushing your false and erroneous beliefs onto Christians and then claiming Christians have those beliefs.

I am saying that religious beliefs give people a sense of purpose, structure and meaning in their lives and so their belief in God and their belief in an afterlife help them make sense of their lives. I am not "pushing" anyone to do anything.

@pb1022 said
I have yet to meet a Christian who believes in God to make sense of his or her life as you have falsely claimed in this thread.

I have never met a Christian whose beliefs didn't give them a sense of purpose, structure and meaning in their lives.

@fmf said
I am saying that religious beliefs give people a sense of purpose, structure and meaning in their lives and so their belief in God and their belief in an afterlife help them make sense of their lives. I am not "pushing" anyone to do anything.

<<I am saying that religious beliefs give people a sense of purpose, structure and meaning in their lives and so their belief in God and their belief in an afterlife help them make sense of their lives.>>

You claimed Christians believe in God to make sense of their lives and you’re just flat-out wrong. Maybe that’s why you once believed in God but I have yet to meet a Christian - online or in real life - who cites that as a reason.