Who Knows wrote:Atheists and theists are all shooting for the same thing - happiness. Theists are just hoping to have it in the next life, while atheists want to have it now.
Theists want it both now and later.
A distinction can be made between
soft atheists and
hard atheists.
While neither subscribe to or commit to some
theism, the
hard atheist has a more difficult position in that he/she may attempt to argue a negative: (There is no God.)
The
soft atheist does not try to turn the negative assertion above into a hard claim. Hence, (There is no established evidence for God claims.)
Neither the theist nor the atheist is generally in a hurry to end a life he has known. Some very old or very sick people (atheist or theist), have expressed:
I just want it to be over meaning suffering and pain and the certainty that it will be over sooner rather than later.
Perhaps the atheist has a greater appreciation for life
now. At least some theists are quite disagreeable and mean-spirited, but the retain the
belief that they will get to
heaven and the invent that any why the wish – usually where (if they really got it) it would be boring with
no goals, no projects, nothing to do or achieve – just eternal bliss like the first day of a vacation from ill-health or unrewarding work.
They don’t give much thought to just what it would be like to have NOTHING to look forward to as they would now have EVERYTHING of preconceived value.
I should think that if people who want
heaven would find it to be
hell if they got it. Rod Sterling's
The Twilight Zone.
One of his gems featured a person who died and went….
At first the person was delighted to find himself in
heaven. It was just as he had thought it would be. Total comfort, everything to eat he wanted, all lovely.
After a while, he asked to be made to feel hungry so that he could appreciate good food. But he was advised that
being hungry is not good. Only good things are
here. Then he asked to feel cold and chilled to the bone so that he might
appreciate the feeling of warmth and comfort. But he was advised that
being cold is not good, and that too was denied. Even though he refused to eat, he could not feel hunger. It was all the same. He tried to make himself cold. But there was no place, no thermostat to adjust to make it cold. Nor could he make it hot.
As the 30 minute show continued, he noticed that all the faces of people were like a mask always smiling and happy.
Happy is good.
And so with a variety of scenes, Rod Serling lets the audience discover slowly that the man is really in
hell. There is NOTHING to do, no challenges to meet, only the same, same, same
perfect world.
Serling caught a considerable amount of flack for the show. Most of his
Twilight Zone shows carried with them some subtle, subversive element which caused people TO THINK rather than merely be entertained as in
I Love Lucy which aired in same historical period.
JAK