One life to live

Living your life with the thought that this is the only one you will ever have, brings new perspective to how you will live.

You don't waste it. You enjoy it. You live to the absolute fullest. You may tend to respect and take care of your body better.

Even if you aren't sure, and even if you believe there is some other life after this one, I don't think it would be wise to waste this one, or refrain from living this one as it pleases you to do. After all, it is your life.

Life is what You make it, hard to disagree with that whatever one's beliefs are,,,

I have met Christian who don't enjoy their lives. They feel guilty about things, even their own thoughts. They look forward to death and being with God in heaven and they don't take the time to appreciate the life they are living now. They fear death because of their uncertainty. They have heard that if they doubt, they will not enter heaven.

This may not apply directly to you, but living like this causes problems in the long run quite a bit. If one lives for themself and how THEY wish to live it, that creates selfish people in one way or other. That causes exremists, criminals, even down to especially terrorists and or people that go to those extremes. If one believes this is our life and it ends here and lives it to the highest, they would act upon any notion that struck them. Drugs, fighting, even down to killing someone. If one thought they could kill someone and not be caught by a law enforcer, that entices one to do it. Yes I know not EVERYONE has thoughts of killing someone. Living for yourself makes one happy, yes I'll agree to that. But is life truly all about YOUR happiness? If so, does that not lead back to living a selfish life?

Why then are there so many religious extremists? And criminals that are religious?

And yes, I live my life to make myself happy. If I'm not enjoying my life, something is wrong.

You may be right in some cases. I have known people who, without their religious beliefs, who would very likely resort to criminal activity. It is as if they have no reason to listen to their own moral compass. In that respect I would say that those people should have some kind of religion.

If life is not about your happiness, then what would be the point of it?

But maybe it makes you happy that other people are happy, therefore you also want other people to be happy.

It is not likely that a person would be happy if everyone around him was unhappy. People like to share their joy. I think that is natural.

I am a believer in Karma. Cause and effect outweighs all, whether you believe in a religious doctrine or you don't.

No bad deed goes unpunished, whether you believe it is doled out by God or by man.

Choose your actions wisely, because more often than not what you do will eventually come back to bite you on the a$$. Whether it is deemed good and proper, or reckless and irresponsible..

I believe that too. BUT at one time I was thinking as an atheist and I realized that a person could conceivably do a lot of really bad things in their life and get away with it because when you die, no karma lord can follow you into the after life and collect the debt.

So if you believe that when you die you are dead and gone, you can out run the law to a point and then die. Death then, becomes your big escape from Karma.

Sure you might say that death is your payback, but its not really. There is no pain or punishment after death. Death would be your salvation.

3rd sentence you say they look forward to death, 4th sentence you say they fear it??

Yep, you read correctly.

They do both. They talk about how wonderful it will be to die and be with God, but in the end, they fear death and they grieve for their loved ones who have died and gone to be with their Lord.

It makes me wonder what they really believe.

I definitely believe in life before life, and life after death....It doesnt mean to waste one life or another....

People of every religion or non-religion are consumed by their actions and if it brings them joy to commit evil acts then that is what they will have to deal with, I live my life to the best of my ability. Trying to enjoy the time I have here and what the planet has to offer me. I attempt to be patient and nice to those around me...and help out where the world needs -via donations. Like Invictus said, it's good karma..it is also good for your soul.

Taking better care of my body has nothing to do with whether or not there is an afterlife. It's merely a shell to my spirit.

I agree with you on this...God does love a cheerful giver...and so does society....lol

But honestly it is true just as misery loves company so does a joyous heart.

...merely a shell to my spirit..."

There is were I disagree. Some people even go so far as to claim that the flesh is evil, or the people into out of body experiences claim that it is a mere cover or coat.


I do believe in body, mind and spirit, but my body is part of me in manifest form. It is my own manifested universe, not to be taken lightly or described with a word like "mere...."

When I was set on atheism, my body became my world, and my temple even more so than before. I found enlightenment from the body and it lead me to realize that I was also more than the body.

Taking care of your body-is part of maintaining your happiness through healthy living and allowing yourself to be able to participate in activities you otherwise would not be able to do with a dilapidated shell. Such as Painting, Hiking, Swimming. Poor care of your body would withhold you from such activities, therefore restricting your joy.

I totally agree.

But..the reason I mention it is because when I was living more with the atheism attitude, I noticed that my body became a much more important issue than before.

I had been taught to think of the body as a temporary shell and I had been told that going to heaven was the ultimate goal, and that we would soon leave our body behind. The body was just looked upon as less important to the religious community. They taught that saving your soul was the most important issue.

But once I began to "worship" the body so to speak, and really fine tune it, I found doing that was the thing that brought spirit and spirituality into my life.

are you referring to Buddhism or Christianity? I think a lot of religions actually promote treating your body as a holy temple..which is exactly what you describe as an atheistic thinker...I think Tibetans and vegetarians are the ones who really show disregard to their bodies..and focus solely on the spiritual realm.

I have seen Christians do both. Some talk only about how saving the soul is important. Others do respect the body more. It depends on the group I guess. But when I said religious community I meant both the Christians and the "soul travelers" or metaphysical and Tibetans etc.

I don't see vegetarians or vegans as a religion, but sometimes they do make that into a religion and try to shove their ways onto others.

I guess the thing I am trying to say in short, is I found "God" through a 'worship' of my own physical body. Deep breathing is what did it.

Vegans are not a classified religion, but their eating habits come from a very deeply rooted belief in spirituality and equality. I am not a vegan. equality in moderation-

I do kickboxing-- I find it very cleansing to both body and soul. I am able to get a lot of detoxing through the extreme workout and sweat. I am able to release a lot of pent up aggression as well which is cleansing to my mind. The physical aspect for my body....well that is obvious. I also have had surgical procedures as well. So i am not an extremist in any direction really...I think what makes YOU happy is what is right for YOU...generally speaking not directed at YOU specifically.

I still haven't read anything pertaining to advantages that unbelievers have.

As an example, JeannieBean writes:

"Living your life with the thought that this is the only one you will ever have, brings new perspective to how you will live.

You don't waste it. You enjoy it. You live to the absolute fullest. You may tend to respect and take care of your body better.

Even if you aren't sure, and even if you believe there is some other life after this one, I don't think it would be wise to waste this one, or refrain from living this one as it pleases you to do. After all, it is your life."

These areas are also true for believers.

Now, singmesweet writes:

"And yes, I live my life to make myself happy. If I'm not enjoying my life, something is wrong."

This is why I am glad to be a Christian. Sure, we want to be happy. Sure, we want to enjoy our lives. But there are times where we have to make sacrifices for others, even if it means not being happy for a while.

Christians get this. I'm not saying atheists do not, but when you have someone like singmesweet writing this, it provides you with a reason why Christians look at unbelievers as selfish.