If God has always been, he must have been lonely for a long time.

[John317]

Don't scientists believe that the earth will eventually become uninhabitable and then soon uninhabited?

You and I die in some way-- possibly from heart attack or in an accident or from cancer (hope not from being beat to death!)-- and then about 2.3 billion years later, or at some other time, all of humanity will be destroyed by the heat of the sun. That will be it. And that's only if humans don't destroy each other in a nuclear war, etc. I don't see much reason to be encouraged in this scenario, and I don't see the beauty you mentioned (although I do see life as beautiful whether God exists or not.)

Here's what the wikipedia says about the future of the world and of humanity "without intervention":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

Let's assume that this scenario is true. You and I lie in our graves endlessly without any prospect or hope of knowing anything at all ever again. Where is the justice in this? It seems to me that there's no real chance of righting any wrongs in this scenario.

You suggest your scenario would be for everyone to do whatever they want without negative consequences (not even from "nature") and no one gets hurt. But isn't that just the problem? Millions of people are already getting hurt--- almost all of them are hurt by other people-- and before now, many more millions died horrible deaths at the hands of other people. So, how do you mean "no one gets hurt"?

Am wondering if you believe in life or consciousness after death?

By the way, even if I were to find out today that God does not exist, I wouldn't change my life as I live it now, because I've found that living the way the Bible teaches me to live leads to the greatest happiness in life. At least it has for me, and I know it did for my parents as well.

[Bravus]

There won't be 'humanity' in even a million years, let alone billions. At the rate we're going, there won't be 'humanity' in hundreds of years. I'm not so much talking about us blowing ourselves up or polluting ourselves to death, though those are possibilities too, but of becoming 'posthuman'. Life extension is nearing the point of virtual immortality at a stunning rate, and humanity is moving toward both genetic manipulation and merging with its technological tools at a similar headlong rate.

Given that, worrying about the death of the sun - in more like 10 billion years than 2.3 billion - seems like a fairly remote thing to worry about...

[cardw]

As far as no one gets hurt I did say that I was making that up.

I said that if I could make up a scenario I would think a universe where everyone could do what they wanted with no negative consequences would be rather nice for a change.

All this fear really is based on the imagination. The only use I have for fear is to help me run from immediate danger. Fear of the future is a waste of energy. I see no useful purpose to fear something I have no control over. And if I had control then there would be nothing to fear.

So, to me, we make up stories so we don't have to be afraid. And that seems to me what most religion is based on.