Are you theist or atheist?
Who do you think leads a better life,theist or atheist?

Neither one Religion or Beliefs have no barring on if one leads a better life. It all has to do with the person that is leading it...............

Opening your heart and mind to God brings a life of blessings and joy.

Good people will be good and bad people will be bad, what they believe doesn't appear to have much effect on that.

However, I have heard quite many religious people suggest that if they didn't believe in a God they would have no reason to conduct themselves in a moral fashion. In fact many theists actually use that as some sort of argument for the existence of God, claiming that if there is no God there's no reason to be moral.

So apparently all those people are saying is that if they didn't believe that they would be rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad behavior they'd have no reason to be good.

I personally think that's pretty sad.

Also, I can't help but wonder who a God would truly be more pleased with: An atheist who is good simply because it's who they truly are, or a religious person who's only good because they fear punishment or lust for a reward of eternal life?

It would seem to me that a God would be far more pleased by an atheist who is good simply because it's who they truly are even though they believe that when they die it's just "lights out".

So I would think that nothing could possibly impress God more than a good atheist.

A good atheist has got to be God's greatest pride and joy in all of creation.

good point..never thought about it like that! Its a win win..for me

Their actions would then be in vein. They wouldn't be done sincerely. We obey our father out of love, not out of duress. We don't follow the commandments to save ourselves from burning. We do it again to be obedient to our father. We don't seek a reward for our obedience, we seek to make our father proud.

sorry not buying it..atheists live life for life itself in all its glory. believers live a life of fear...fear of being alone...fear of your own heart...fear of being judged...fear of hell fires...fear of not being loved...fear of not obeying...

Who are you to judge whether someone's actions are sincere?

For someone who isn't suppose to judge others you sure do seem to be obsessed with doing precisely that.

So you judge all atheists to be insincere?

And here I thought you believed in following the teachings of Jesus.

Well, not only that, but religious people who belittle the physical world are actually belittling creation.

All they are basically saying is that they don't like creation, they don't think it's very good, and they hope that heaven is a damn sight better.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The physical world is God's creation, to take it for granted or worse yet to reject it as being unimportant is to reject God's work.

We should be worshiping creation. To worship the creation is indeed the very same thing as worshiping the creator.

After all, what has God given us other than creation? Not much. Because life itself would not exist without creation.

This is why any true religion must necessarily embrace all of creation.

So in a very real sense atheism may very well be the truest religion of them all, actually.

No lol, you didn't get what I was saying. For these "Christians" to do as we have been told just purely in attempts to reach heaven would then make it in vein. We are to obey out of love and obedience to our father. Not for a prize, a gift, or any form of reward. We are to obey just because our father has told us to do as such.

And not judging anyone. I did not once say that a specific person(s) was going to die or going to heaven. I said no such thing, therefore no judgement passed. Just pointing out the fact that if something isn't done with a sincere heart it is in vein. This applies also outside of spirituality.

Oh, I see.

Well, my apologies then for misunderstanding.

I thought you were saying that the actions of a good atheist would be in vein.

I'm not surprised that the actions of an insincere religious person would be in vein. Most religious people probably are religious in vein.

But that just makes my point all the more vivid.

Good atheists would clearly be far more sincere then any religious person.

In fact, the truly sad thing is that religious proselytizers are always trying to convert people to become religious, yet the people who are most likely in the worst shape are those who are already religious. Including many of the proselytizers themselves.

So what we should really be doing is trying to convert everyone to become good atheists were sincerity is guaranteed.

But the problem is that there would be no way to achieve that goal. If you had to tell them that to not convert would be against the will of God, or that they would lose a prize of eternal life, then we'd be right back at doing it in vein again.

Proselytizing itself is in vein. If you convince anyone to convert for the purpose of pleasing God, or winning a gift of eternal life, or avoiding spiritual death, then the entire process will have been in vein.

The only sincere reason to be good is because it's what you truly want to be. There can be no other reason. All other reasons would be in vein.

So this flies in the very face that a God who wants people to be good would even bother to write any scriptures. Just leave them alone and grab the ones who are naturally nice.

Then there won't even be any chance of people repenting in vein.

Yes if purely for those purposes. If it is done out of love for one another, out of care, out of compassion for another it is not in vein. It's not done for the prize or for the bettering of yourself.

In that case, then atheism would be the only true path to God and we can do away with all religions.

LoL, howso? Christians aren't obedient for the prize of heaven. We are obedient cause of just that, obedience to our father. It's not for the gold shiny things, it's for love my friend. That is why we obey the laws, out of the love for our father for the love of the world.

I believe so too. The tricky part is, most people(rather believer or non believer) will choose those paths and things that lead to what makes them 'happy' at the time. And most people will equate those things that make us happy with BETTER than those which dont. You may find certain escorts who are much happier than certain married couples with children and so their life will be by most tangible definitions BETTER for them.

So, to live a BETTER life is all up to the individuals idea of what BETTER is and most will naturally make the choice that is 'BETTER' for them(in terms of happiness).



Another interesting question might be whose definition of better will be measured and how it will weigh in on what happens AFTER this life.

I think atheists do live a better life. their own life from their own heart...not a printed guide on" how to." Faith in ones self is the strongest faith of all.To better ones self and the world around them. oddly enough i have a very religious friend with three boys..i asked her one day if she would disown her child if one was gay? her answer was that she hoped she would never have to find out. Meaning she would disown him be cause the teaching say so. My children are my treasures..how could i turn them away on the basis of a few words on a page.It sounds like a life of forced decision making.this is just an observation not a judgement. LIVE AND LET LIVE

Yeah right.

her answer was that she hoped she would never have to find out. Meaning she would disown him be cause the teaching say so


perhaps that just means its not something thats easily predictable until you live through it,,,,

the bible didnt teach me to disown anyone, it taught me to hate the sin and love the sinner,,,,I have lived through it and trust me,,my family is my family regardless of their choices but I dont stand by or support all their choices just because they are family(isnt that another form of making a decision due to traditions?)

if you didnt like cigarette smoke would you continuously allow a smoker to smoke in your home,, the way I was raised and what I got from the bible was to SEPERATE the sin from the sinner, which is what I would have done even without the biblical teaching but was REINFORCED through those teachings,,

I agree.

And besides why would I ever turn to a book on religion that teaches hatred, male-chauvinism, or anything like that.

If I thought I'd have to become a bigot for god, then I would want no parts of that so-called "god". Surely that kind of mentality can only come from a hateful demon.