Can atheists go to Heaven?

[Khazmatistan]

I don't think so.

I have considered a very similar question recently - "What about the Ignorant? Those who have never heard of the Abrahamic Religions? What happens to these individuals?" Such as the Native Americans or Australians before contact with the Europeans?

They go to Hell, as stated by the oldest theologians who answered the question.

It's unfair, yes.

[Hitchensland]

From an objective stand point, atheists can't go to Heaven because there is no Heaven to go to. Secondly, if the theists' God is as compassionate and loving as they claim him to be, it would judge people based on moral character, rather than belief. In reality, if people follow Pascal's Wager and believe in God only for the sake of having a good gamble, that in my opinion is simply cowardly, and is doesn't show any signs of moral improvement or growth. So why wouldn't the atheists who lead good lives, but simply couldn't bring themselves to believe in God because there simply wasn't enough evidence go to Heaven, instead of the cowardly evangelicals who are under the assumption that they can achieve salvation purely through faith alone? In addition, I'm happy that there probably isn't a Heaven or Hell. One option is to spend eternity praising and worshiping Big Brother, and the other is suffering eternal torture. Why do we fear the finality of death? If there is no afterlife, then we get to die, and experience an eternity of "eternal oblivion" in which we simply have no consciousness. It is the equivalent of having a "dreamless" night of sleep which you already experience almost every night anyway. The great thing about death is that you don't know when it's going to happen, and once it has happened, you won't have realized it. So to sum it all up, there is no point concerning ourselves with Heaven, because A: It doesn't exist, B: It would be a fate far worse than death (literally), and C: Death is not a truth that we need to turn to such primitive beliefs to escape the inevitable concept.

[Austin Setzer]

ignorance is stubborness and stubborness leads to suffering.
HITLER was stubborn
LENIN was stubborn
and the Taliban are stubborn
see where stubborness gets you? it gets you suffering

[Khazmatistan]

From an objective stand point, atheists can't go to Heaven because there is no Heaven to go to. Secondly, if the theists' God is as compassionate and loving as they claim him to be, it would judge people based on moral character, rather than belief. In reality, if people follow Pascal's Wager and believe in God only for the sake of having a good gamble, that in my opinion is simply cowardly, and is doesn't show any signs of moral improvement or growth. So why wouldn't the atheists who lead good lives, but simply couldn't bring themselves to believe in God because there simply wasn't enough evidence go to Heaven, instead of the cowardly evangelicals who are under the assumption that they can achieve salvation purely through faith alone? In addition, I'm happy that there probably isn't a Heaven or Hell. One option is to spend eternity praising and worshiping Big Brother, and the other is suffering eternal torture. Why do we fear the finality of death? If there is no afterlife, then we get to die, and experience an eternity of "eternal oblivion" in which we simply have no consciousness. It is the equivalent of having a "dreamless" night of sleep which you already experience almost every night anyway. The great thing about death is that you don't know when it's going to happen, and once it has happened, you won't have realized it. So to sum it all up, there is no point concerning ourselves with Heaven, because A: It doesn't exist, B: It would be a fate far worse than death (literally), and C: Death is not a truth that we need to turn to such primitive beliefs to escape the inevitable concept.

A nice post. I too am atheist, but for the purposes of this discussion we are assuming that Heaven and Hell do exist as described in the Bible (as the OP said).

[Techno-Kat]

ignorance is stubborness and stubborness leads to suffering.
HITLER was stubborn
LENIN was stubborn
and the Taliban are stubborn
see where stubborness gets you? it gets you suffering

Patton was stubborn and he liberated Italy, North Africa, and France from the iron fist of Nazism.
MacArthur was stubborn and he liberated the Philippines from the grip of imperialist Japan.
and the ISAF are stubborn.
See where stubborness gets you? it gets you freedom

[Pirateera]

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, to each his own, etc. etc.

The belief that all non-Christians go to hell is just one of the most absurd things to me. Regardless of theistic beliefs or lack thereof, consider about one third of the world's current population is Christian. Even if you assume every single Christian is good and deserving of going to heaven, you're still left with ~66% of the world, over 4 billion people going to hell. And again, that's assuming every Christian is going to heaven, and not counting all the people that were on this earth before us.

Such an unfathomable number of people being condemned just seems ridiculous.

[Khazmatistan]

ignorance is stubborness and stubborness leads to suffering.
HITLER was stubborn
LENIN was stubborn
and the Taliban are stubborn
see where stubborness gets you? it gets you suffering

Hitler was Christian. So he goes to heaven anyway.

And...I think your post is majorly flawed.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

ignorance is stubborness and stubborness leads to suffering.
HITLER was stubborn
LENIN was stubborn
and the Taliban are stubborn
see where stubborness gets you? it gets you suffering

Lincoln was stubborn.

[Khazmatistan]

Such an unfathomable number of people being condemned just seems ridiculous.

It is.

[Laerod]

ignorance is stubborness and stubborness leads to suffering.
HITLER was stubborn
LENIN was stubborn
and the Taliban are stubborn
see where stubborness gets you? it gets you suffering

Churchill was stubborn, the guy that led the 101st Airborne was while they were being beseiged by the Wehrmacht was stubborn, de Gaulle was stubborn, Bush was stubborn, the alleged ideal American pursuing the American dream is stubborn...

[Austin Setzer]

ok first i dont care about grammer because if i take the time to do that we have moved onto a COMPLETELY different subject.
and here is the answer to the forums question
We'll just find out wont we?

[Nightkill the Emperor]

-

[Nightkill the Emperor]

ok first i dont care about grammer because if i take the time to do that we have moved onto a COMPLETELY different subject.
and here is the answer to the forums question
We'll just find out wont we?

Great, question's over, fix your grammar.

[Hitchensland]

Yeah I don't think the transitive properly applies to this. Saying ignorance=stubbornness, and Lincoln=stubborn, does not mean Lincoln=ignorant. If you understand what I'm saying.

[Khazmatistan]

ok first i dont care about grammer because if i take the time to do that we have moved onto a COMPLETELY different subject.
and here is the answer to the forums question
We'll just find out wont we?

That's not a very good answer.

Anyway, you already answered the question earlier, the same way I did.

[New Manvir]

If not, then God is a total dick. That makes me think that God must be some sort of Fascist dictator and hell is his concentration camp. In which case hell should overthrow him in some sort of people's revolution.

*Storms the Pearly Gates with a mob of red gold and black flag waving sinners*

fixed

pfft. Capitalists are too busy counting their money to lead a bloody revolution of the people. And besides, everyone knows the left throws the best revolutions.

[Laerod]

ok first i dont care about grammer because if i take the time to do that we have moved onto a COMPLETELY different subject.

Ok, that's just flat out wrong. If you actually paid attention to proper grammar and used it in your posts, with time and practice, you'd be able to post fast enough anyway. All you're doing is reenforcing careless typing and the main person that harms is you.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

fixed

pfft. Capitalists are too busy counting their money to lead a bloody revolution of the people. And besides, everyone knows the left throws the best revolutions.

[Hitchensland]

Since one of you is probably going to say this before me, let me be the first to ask UMAD BRO???

[New Nassrau]

According to the Bible, yes. However, I think that God, being God, would not disown Man merely for not believing in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. God takes into account all good deeds, and I think that people like Gandhi do go to Heaven, despite their not being Christian.

Yes, God wouldn't be like
"Hey, your Hindu"
Man says"So!"
"I mean, your Hindu"
"Your point?"
"Just don't come"
"I've done good in my life!"
God accepts EVERYONE, maybe even satanists

[Greater Tezdrian]

-

Ba'al Hadad's .

But, back to the thread. No, atheists cannot go to heaven. Because they don't beleive i nhaven. So, none of the gods will take them, and they will be extinguished. The JCI God regulates his followers and where they go after they die. So does, Ereshkigal, Zeus, Jupiter, Ra (?), and the other pantheons.

[Artarnica]

Hitler went to heaven because he was Lutheran, amirite?

Hitler was Christian, yes. I'm not sure of his denomination.

I my opinion, if you did nothing but good, or even some good, then god shall let you in.

It's not about your opinion. The Bible says otherwise. Sorry.

not everyone has the same believe, so back off, it was written by people that did not understand all of life's things, it cannot be taken 100% the story of Adam and Eve is a story an example, and I am proud to say that is my opinion.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

-

Ba'al Hadad's .

But, back to the thread. No, atheists cannot go to heaven. Because they don't beleive i nhaven. So, none of the gods will take them, and they will be extinguished. The JCI God regulates his followers and where they go after they die. So does, Ereshkigal, Zeus, Jupiter, Ra (?), and the other pantheons.

I edited it, because it was a dumb post.

[Bentietum]

I was a Baptist before I turned atheist, and in that denomination they teach you that once you are baptized you have a guaranteed entrance into heaven no matter what you do. I was baptized on the 4th of July.

Ha.

[Geilinor]

I don't believe in heaven, so no.