James: Please review our commenting policy. I've removed this comment, and if the insults and mockery of atheists continues, we'll unfortunately have to block you from the comboxes. Thanks!

But StrangeNotions.com is different. Our goal is not to defeat anyone, embarrass them, or assault their character. Our goal is only the Truth, and to pursue it through fruitful discussion. Like Socrates, like Jesus, we embrace healthy dialogue as the path to Truth, even and especially with people we disagree with.

This conversation 4 years ago convinced me that the entire concept behind this website was wrong, and no conversions could result

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How Yin/Yang-y, with a touch of death to make it spicy.

I've been contemplating the question for a while, taking into consideration that very phrase, "You cannot have happiness without suffering."

Thing being, global death for humans is a no-no for most people these days, and doing so doesn't quite bring happiness... Because they're dead (unless heaven's a good deal here, in which case, have fun!). Plus, if people think killing everyone (<- in the ultimate sense) is a good thing, it's very likely that they're either dead or in another fairly depressing-looking situation. (Eh, whatever one'd call depressing. You get it, though, right?)

As a person with an "alright" set of morals, if I ended up causing something like the Holocaust, then the suffering would happen there: both in my own consciousness and among the people I slaughter.
Once I set the plan for being a "bad" person, I thought of how that'd end up making people happy.
Then, I looked at World War 2. For a brief moment, *almost* the entire world banded together against Adolf Hitler. I figure that killing a bunch of people would gather such hate that they'd do the same.

There's one problem though: beliefs.
Not just religion, no. Despite many religions getting a bad rap throughout history and in the past, we have shown to be able to sit down together and just be *chill*.
What I'm talking about is beliefs in governmental systems and economic systems: Republic vs Democracy, Capitalism vs Communism, etc.
This is what caused such a lovely alliance during WW2 to fall apart quite badly between the USSR and the USA: One the former was Communist, while the latter was Capitalist.
And so, I'd have to do something *more*. Something *big* that would cause a long-lasting friendship throughout the entire world.

And no, I will not kill everyone because that'd ruin the purpose of my goal.

And of that part of the plan itself, I still haven't figured it out yet. Hey, it's just mentally practicing philosophy, I'll get there eventually :P

Theoretically speaking, should I have attained such a goal then some degree of world peace would occur. Myself, along with all my victims and those who helped me carry it out, shall shoulder the weight and bear the major sufferings of the world. Call it casting oneself into hell.

Of course, there will still be trivial things among everyone else's lives, such that I don't exactly consider too bad. Perhaps some may be a bit extreme, but in the end it'd be hard to make one's life about as bad as my own as well as my brethren's.

My plan is not perfect in the slightest and few things are fleshed out in my head. But hey, there's a way around everything.

If you shot an arrow across the globe, it'd be bound to hit something eventually. But in that case, you could very simply pick up the arrow and shoot it again. When it hits another object, keep going. The arrow can always move forward.

I will take that on, because it is easy. The best way to guarantee no suffering in the world is to end all life on the planet, because you cannot have happiness without suffering.

That is the easy answer that if you take atheism to its logical conclusion, you are left with. Without the spiritual, death by coca in overdose is the most expedient way to stay happy.

Ted Seeber

*Looks at article*
Oh okay seems reasonable.

*Looks at Disqus Comments Section*
*Sees Theodore's comment*
Well I'm going to spend a million years reading this. Huh.

*Reads a few comments*

Yeah, no, screw this. A lot of you seem far too uptight (even if unintended) to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if some of you eagerly anticipated the opposing side's argument.

Personally, I'm Catholic and think of everybody getting uptight on either side is absolutely ridiculous. Then again, that's just me being super laid-back.

We've all blabbered about morality and stuff, so here's another question that I find worth dwelling (and is even somewhat relevant to the original comment):

If guaranteeing everyone's happiness meant becoming the "most terrible person alive", would you? If so, how would you do it?
^ And all that you think would be a part of that package.

A LOVE LETTER TO OUR BELOVED ATHEIST BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Written by PAUL JOSEPH C.

Have you ever fallen in love? Have you ever had a strange coincidence happen to you? Have you ever wondered about the infinity of the Universe? Have you ever had a dog or a cat? Have you ever felt your heart beat differently when the person you were madly in love with would be looking at you? Have you ever seen a
rainbow? Have you ever been to a forest? Have you ever met a kind person? Have you ever cried tears of joy? Have you ever had goosebumps because of some incredible music moving you? Have you ever screamed of joy when you passed a test? Have you ever cried tears of pain because someone you loved passed away?

Have you ever felt hatred towards you? Have you ever met someone you felt
hatred towards? Have you envied someone before? Have you ever been
depressed? Have you ever seen the world through a dark filter? Have you
ever felt fear? Have you ever stolen from somebody? Have you ever
insulted someone? Have you ever been cheated on? Have you ever felt
humiliation? Have you ever felt pain? Have you ever cried because others
gossiped about you? Have you ever felt lonely? Have you ever been
abused mentally or physically? Have you ever angrily fought with
somebody? Have you ever killed a person?

I do not know you. You do not know me.
You never saw me.
Yet, you are with me, even if you do not know or see me.
I speak to you and you read my thoughts, which come from an unknown corner on the surface of this speck of dust called earth.
I am real, yet invisible to you.
I'm invisible to you, yet you reflect upon my written words on this white screen.
I do not need to know you to understand you, and you do not need to know me to understand me.
We are so different and yet, we are the same.
In my life, I have laughed and so have you.
I have loved, and so have you.
I have been rejected, and so have you.
I have cried, and so have you.
I have suffered, and so have you.
I have known joy, and so have you.

…and the list can continue endlessly…from now…until the never-ending eternity ~

You, whoever you are and however bored or intrigued you may be with my
words, must know that understanding one another is not a challenge – the
human condition is the same for everyone.
What it is that I know not of you, and you know not of me, are the nine-tenths of that inner iceberg of deep secrets kept hidden from all others' sight. People keep those only to themselves, so embarrassing they are, as they cast a judgment upon
them. So, what is that inner voice that tells you not to reveal such
things? When you make that discernment inside yourself, don’t you almost
feel as if two were living into one, whom is you? You feel safe locking such secrets into that room deep in you, where it’s always night: but no stars can be seen down there, nor can the sound of crickets ever be heard.
Lonely it is, indeed, to keep that inner you away from those whom you love. When they make a rough comment about an action they do not know that you have secretly committed, how do you cover the hurt of that punch? When they express their dissent about that something they say they would never do - and which you have repeatedly done beyond the limits of their knowledge – what happens in that imprisoned you?

As I speak of you, unknown to me, I am dying inside for I would give anything to now meet you and truly know you. I have created one image of you and fifty at the same time. Your silence destroys me as I would love for you to now write back to me - to let me taste that exile in its best and, even more, in its very worse. The whole of you! I know the freedom you would experience if even and only one person, in this infinite universe, shared thine very mystery of thee which thou hast lonesomely carried on thy very shoulders.

And, as I have been speaking to you, have you wondered about me, the invisible man speaking from an unknown place? You think I am writing this to all
those who will read this page? You could not be any more wrong: it is you and only you I want to know about. In this limited reality, though, until you
decide to contact me directly and share yourself with me, our
relationship will stop at this never corresponded letter. I would always wonder how it could have been to communicate with you and grow together in depth.

But it is all up to you.

I reach out but respect your choices.
I do not intend to bother you.
I’m just waiting from here to see if you are interested.
I know that I'm not offering you any money, or a new job, or a big house
on the hills: I'm poor. What I offer you is friendship and an invisible
smile. Please, write to me and tell me all you want…everything. Your secrets will always be our secrets. I would never and could never share them with anyone because all I care for is YOU.

Think about it.
I’m patient.
I'm not asking you for anything but to be open with me.

And if you and I become friends, I will always listen to you and promise – and I repeat PROMISE – to help you with all that you go through. Every single thing you go through. This is a promise. My promise.

We understand each other, remember?

I love you madly and I am madly in love with you…

Looking forward…

…And know that I am with you always. Yes, to the end of time…

~ Jesus Christ ~

The beginning of life has nothing to do with moral guides, and everything to do with how genetic strands combine to create a new individual of the species..

Yes, the 10 Commandments are a guide to our action, but that has nothing to do with whether or not abortion is murder. Plenty of people who think Moses was full of hooey reject murder, you don't need the 10 commandments to reject murder, or to see that the lies about a fetus being "a clump of cells" is nothing more than rank bigotry against a developing child that can't defend itself.

There are higher laws than what is in a 2000 year old book "inspired" by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is not the end-all-be-all of knowledge that Biblical Atheists or Christian Fundamentalists make it out to be.

And while Scripture is a part of Apostolic Tradition, it isn't all of it, no matter what the Protestants claim.