Hello to everyone here at Atheist Republic,

I decided to join this site so that I could engage with atheists about their beliefs. As a former atheist, I wanted to challenge the atheist worldview while also putting my own to the test.

To begin, I am unashamed to admit that I am a Protestant Christian by the grace of God. I believe that God is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, just, merciful, and good in all of his ways. I believe that he--having a divine will, mind, and purpose of his own--personally decided to create the world for his own glory and the good of its inhabitants. I believe that mankind, created in his own likeness, chose to commit evil on the basis of deceit and ignorance. I believe that God, being Holy and apart from evil, punished mankind for his evil, thus resulting in a world full of pain and death. I believe that God, being merciful, sent his eternal Son (for God is love, and love requires relationship) to pay off our deserved eternal separation from God--who is holy. I believe that his Son was the historical Jesus Christ of Nazareth, attested to by the writings of the apostles and the prophets handed down through the generations since the beginning of history (what we call the Bible.) These historical accounts depict a man who healed and taught the chosen nation of Israel, but was rejected by them and suffered death by crucifixion at the hands of Pontius Pilate (predestined in God's purpose of redemption). These scriptures attest to him rising from death three days after, and rising into the spiritual realm of God some time after that--never to die again. I believe that anyone who puts faith in Jesus as the Son of God and repents of their evil will be born again as a child of God and be given the gift of eternal life with God.

Now, surely this is a small summary of what I believe, as Christian men have spent these past two thousand years expounding on the intricacies God's plan in the chaos of human history.

Having the basics of what I believe out of the way, I now present the topic of this thread: Atheist Eschatology. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, eschatology is derived from the Greek words eskhatos, meaning ‘last,’ and logia, meaning 'study.' In simple man's terms it is the study of the end of human history and things related to it. Christian eschatology is focused on the return of God's Son to rule and reign on this earth, the final judgement of mankind, and finally a renewed and eternal universe in which only goodness exists. In other words, eschatology is the Christian's hope for all wrong things to be made right by God.

Surely, other religions have their own views of how the end of human history will play out, but I am here to pose the question to the atheists: how will (or might) human history end, and what is the ultimate goal or purpose of a universe with no God?

I believe your answer will fall into one of two categories: It will either be pessimistic, having humanity destroyed from outside or within, or it will be optimistic (if you can really call it so), having humanity achieve immortality to float about in a cold and impersonal universe. Now, I think both of these eschatologies are problematic to our existence, but only one is truly relevant to atheists today. Immortality is very unlikely to be achieved within our lifetimes, and so what good does that eschatology do for you if you will be nonexistent by the time it comes to fruition? In other words, you will likely no longer exist or have any relevance to the universe in the near future (sure, you can impact others, but how does that help a nonexistent you?). It may sound noble to spend your existence for the benefit of those in the future who may achieve the optimistic end, but what does nobility matter in a universe with no God? Noble people die every day. Nobility can't save you. Humanity can't save you. You can't save you. So, as an atheist, you are forced to believe that your life is ultimately of little importance in a universe that is only subjectively important to those who are lucky enough to exist.

So I ask you this: do you want to exist? If not, then die now. If so, then why believe in something that renders your existence empty and vain?

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I look forward to reading your answers.

-Grace Alone