What if there is no God?

WhatTheHeckIsMyNickToday wrote: Do you think dogs go to heaven (i.e. "Rainbow Bridge)? What about cats? What about other animals, or is it exclusively for pets? Where do bad animals go, if anywhere?

And here's one I've always wondered...

If God wants you to be happy in Heaven for eternity...

And you believe you'll meet your relatives in Heaven...

What happens if, say, your brother is a killer and goes to Hell...

You'd never see him for all eternity, and wouldn't that make you and your parents unhappy for eternity?

Would a loving and forgiving God really do that to your family?

And here's one I've always wondered...

How much thalidomide do you lace your crack with?

NutmegGuy wrote: Do you think dogs go to heaven (i.e. "Rainbow Bridge)? What about cats? What about other animals, or is it exclusively for pets? Where do bad animals go, if anywhere?

Animals do not have an afterlife. Whenever they die, they are dead. All manner of animals cease to exist: fleas, worms, dung beetles, canines, amoebas, etc. There is no such thing as a "bad" animal just as there is no such thing as a "good" animal. They have no moral understanding.
Their life is carnal and cannot be otherwise.

NutmegGuy wrote: If God wants you to be happy in Heaven for eternity...

And you believe you'll meet your relatives in Heaven...

What happens if, say, your brother is a killer and goes to Hell...

You'd never see him for all eternity, and wouldn't that make you and your parents unhappy for eternity?

Would a loving and forgiving God really do that to your family?

This will be a simple reply to the last part of your question:
Your brother did this to your family. All things evil are done by humans, not God.
Concerning the remainder of your question:
There is nothing that says that you will meet all of your relatives in Heaven.

So I guess those who believe in the "Rainbow Bridge" where you are reunited with your pets or those who believe they will be greeted at the gate by dead relatives are wrong, according to you.

Heaven would be a sorry place without pets.

major bean wrote: Animals do not have an afterlife. Whenever they die, they are dead. All manner of animals cease to exist: fleas, worms, dung beetles, canines, amoebas, etc. There is no such thing as a "bad" animal just as there is no such thing as a "good" animal. They have no moral understanding.
Their life is carnal and cannot be otherwise.

Why the heck are there so many 'Animal blessings" in churches across the country every year. By the way I think you may have just offended the large group of "Rainbow Bridge" believers on this site...

major bean wrote:

WhatTheHeckIsMyNickToday wrote: Do you think dogs go to heaven (i.e. "Rainbow Bridge)? What about cats? What about other animals, or is it exclusively for pets? Where do bad animals go, if anywhere?

Animals do not have an afterlife. Whenever they die, they are dead. All manner of animals cease to exist: fleas, worms, dung beetles, canines, amoebas, etc. There is no such thing as a "bad" animal just as there is no such thing as a "good" animal. They have no moral understanding.
Their life is carnal and cannot be otherwise.

How do you know this? I assume your statement is based on scripture. Why can't animals go to heaven?

major bean wrote:

WhatTheHeckIsMyNickToday wrote: If God wants you to be happy in Heaven for eternity...

And you believe you'll meet your relatives in Heaven...

What happens if, say, your brother is a killer and goes to Hell...

You'd never see him for all eternity, and wouldn't that make you and your parents unhappy for eternity?

Would a loving and forgiving God really do that to your family?

This will be a simple reply to the last part of your question:
Your brother did this to your family. All things evil are done by humans, not God.
Concerning the remainder of your question:
There is nothing that says that you will meet all of your relatives in Heaven.

But if being a unified family is part of being happy, then not seeing your brother would not be part of your heavenly bliss. There is a Christian belief that you must be saved to be in heaven, so if a sibling or parent were not saved, they would not be in heaven. I think that's the part that would mean not all relatives would be in heaven.

PrintSmith wrote: I'm a Roman Catholic, and under my Christian faith Nmysys, you, agnostics, atheists and even those who commit suicide; none are forever barred from rejoining the Father for eternity. Christ said that no one gets to the Father except through Him.

If I believed there were a "Father", that would interesting... Since I don't, that's like me telling you that you can rejoin the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM, for short) for all eternity...

As I said before, atheism isn't about "proving there is no God"...It's merely the absence of belief that there is one. One is active, the other is passive.

NutmegGuy wrote: So I guess those who believe in the "Rainbow Bridge" where you are reunited with your pets or those who believe they will be greeted at the gate by dead relatives are wrong, according to you.

Heaven would be a sorry place without pets.

What you have mentioned leads into quite a discussion of the nature of Christianity.
If a person believes that what he sees around him will be replicated in "Heaven", he may be very disappointed. But let's discuss something on the lighter side.
Why would you want to be reunited with a spider who lived in the corner of your room near the ceiling? Or the hookworm that lived in your intestines for a time whenever you were a child? Or the polio virus that you were not able to clean from between the floorboards of the house?
I am sure that you loved your pets but what if a pet loved you, unknown to you. It could lead to quite a dilemna in heaven. An infatuated head-lice might cause you an eternity of misery.
What about the human slaves that some in this world kept as pets? Would they be owned as pets in heaven also?
Really, this whole question of pets is extreme nonsense that a child would even dismiss.

Spiders, hookworms, virusi(?) and head-lice aren't pets.

As for "this whole question of pets is extreme nonsense that a child would even dismiss" -- tell that to the people who support the conception of Rainbow Bridge and that they'll be reunited with their pets in the afterlife. I've had pets who are better humans -- in their deeds -- than some humans.

One man's vermin is another man's pet. "Pet" or no-"Pet" is man's definition. God never said "And let there be pets!". You argument for "owning" an animal in heaven is silly, childish, ridiculous, and fantasy. You are placing value of one animal over the value of another animal. That is stupid. I do think that you are disingenuous or you entertain the conceit that such foolish arguments will hold up others to ridicule and scorn. You only fool yourself.
On your deathbed such foolishness will not dominate your last thoughts.

I never said anything about "owning" a pet in Heaven. God did say let man have dominion over the animals.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

I did have an idea that I might be able to communicate with my pet entity in the afterlife. It would be fun to actually talk to my dog instead of using hand gestures as I do now. And he could ask me questions.

"Hey, remember that time you drove off in the car and left me at home, even though I knew you were going camping? Why did you do that?"

major bean wrote: You are placing value of one animal over the value of another animal. That is stupid

Are you calling pet owners stupid?

You sound like a cat person.