On the local news last night was a story about a billboard that was stirring up some controversy. The giant text on the billboard declared, “You don’t need God- to hope, to care, to love, to live.” This is designed to get your attention and ultimately guide you to their website, Livingwithoutreligion.org . My curiosity got the best of me, so I checked it out.
It is actually a nice site and does a good job at explaining how non-believers can and do live meaningful lives. The homepage gives a broad and generic explanation on the lives and thought processes of non-believers. Each succeeding page goes into detail on their views concerning hoping, caring, loving and living during their lives. The main difference I noticed about this website as opposed to other atheist type sites I’ve visited is that they do not attempt to bash or discredit the viewpoints of others. They do not believe in a God, but they are not out to try to disprove that God exists.
I agree with most everything that is written on their site. You can actually have a fulfilling life here on Earth in which you experience hope, care, love and life. You can do all of this without believing in a God. But what about after you die? I realize that people with their viewpoint don’t believe in a God and therefore don’t believe in an afterlife. But I believe that what somebody believes does not matter. What matters is what the absolute truth is. A good explanation on this is written in a piece entitled, “The Absolute Truth About….”
Non-believers will live their meaningful loving and caring loves, but one day they will die and that day they will find out what the absolute truth is. It is sad, really, that so many people can be so naive when it comes to their beliefs on the hereafter. Instead of spending their lives ignoring God and focusing on their hopes, cares, loves and life, perhaps they should be focusing on finding out what the absolute truth is.
I realize that by my own admittance, my beliefs do not matter any more than yours or theirs. But what if my Christian beliefs are the absolute truth? I believe that the moment somebody dies, their eternal fate is sealed and they are going to either heaven or hell. I wrote about this in detail in a piece entitled, “Choosing the Up or Down Escalator….”
In conclusion, I think it is very stupid and naive to ignore what happens to a person after death. Sure, believers and non-believers alike can live joyous and meaningful lives here on earth. But our time here on earth is so short compared to the eternal life in paradise that we Christians look forward to.
References:
http://LivingWithoutReligion.org/
Matthew Allen, Yahoo! Contributor Network