I'm atheist too! >_> I probably should get into religion, but meh, I'm lazy. (I know, poor excuse.) : P
You know all those old guys who have been atheists of their lives, but then, when realizing they are really old and are about to die soon, get into a religion? Yeah
I think it's a lot more difficult to believe that nothing is waiting for you after death, whether if it's another world or another incarnation, it's easier to believe that SOMETHING is waiting for you after you die except grave-worms.
In reply to #1:
Happy YK2K7! And thanks for the info... and thanks for asking for forgiveness. I shall let you have it, this time.
Do you believe this is truth, or do you celebrate out of respect for tradition? Because if someone truly believed that, then went out and murdered 30 schoolchildren, and they didn't get struck down by God the following year, then you would have to acknowledge that God is cool with something like that.
Ah! It's not happy.
It's a terrible day for Jews, which they fear the whole year. It's a day of fast, throughout which religious Jews do not eat or drink, and spend the day at the Synagogue, praying. That is one of the reasons the Alliance of Arab States decided to start
a war with Israel, on that very day, in 1973.
I am not a religious Jew, but yes, I do fast out of tradition and respect to my brothers.
Ah! I cannot answer your question because I am not a rabbi or something. But I can say, that this kind of question belongs to one of the most important philosophical topics in religion:
"Why do righteous people suffer, while villains live well?"
It's a very logical question to ask. How come a good person who helps others, works hard, follows the law (pays the taxes, lol), and loves God, may have a life of suffering and bad luck, while evil people who kill, rape, steal (or even as said in the bible, rob widows and have no mercy on orphans), may be rich, live a long and satisfying life?
Probably the only answer that could be is "every dog has it's day". (like in the
Eichmann trial.)
There is a book about this question in the Bible, called "Jov". In my opinion, it's more a fairy-tale about this philosophical question than a story of a real person.
It's about a wealthy person who has a happy life, children and everything a man could wish for, and loves God very much and always thanks him for anything he has. One day, God has a chat with Satan, and tells him of this person, Jov, how much he loves him and is loyal to him. Satan than argues God, saying that if Jov wasn't so wealthy and lucky, he wouldn't be as loyal to God. God disbelieves him, claiming that even without all of that, he would still stay loyal to him, and gives Satan permission to test Jov.
Satan than proceeds to step by step, break Jov's spirit. He takes all his money away from him, kills his children, and gives him a terrible sickness, but Jov, even though his spirit was broken and he curses the day he was born, still believes that "What God gave, God has taken away", and remains loyal to him.
Personally, I don't think this story answers the question. But hey, nice story nevertheless