Im curious to know an Atheist's opinion on this?

>Well if you guys don't believe in an afterlife then whats the point in living now?

To experience happiness, and to bring happiness to others. In fact, most atheists agree that if anything, there is MORE point to living now WITHOUT an afterlife to look forward to. If this life is all we ever get, that's all the more reason to live it to the fullest, rather than merely living it in expectation of an eternal paradise after it ends.

>Like you can see some kids die in childbirth, some people are born just to starve to death (Darfur), some people are born into households where they're abused and there are many other terrible lives out there. WHats the point in existing for these people?

The same as the point of existing for anyone else. At the most basic level, we all share the same goal: We want to be happy.

>THey die then what? Go back to how it was before they were born?

Presumably, yes. There is nothing to indicate that people have any conscious experience after they die, and the fact that their brain patterns are normally destroyed indicates that it is probably impossible for them to experience anything anyway. Besides, if they could continue to have conscious experience, it wouldn't really be dying, would it?

>They were made conscious (by who?)

Not by a who. Their consciousness is the result of the way their brain structure forms, which in turn is caused by the information in their DNA being interpreted by their cellular chemistry.

>Did this kind of life just happened by chance(bad luck) for them?

Some of the time, yes. More often, unhappy lives like these are caused by greedy, corrupt people in positions of power who oppress other people and cause them to suffer for their own personal gain.

>You live now or you could have lived a billion years ago but you'd be forgotten in the year 2100

Maybe, but I'd say that's far from certain. The world we live in now isn't the same world as the world even just a few decades ago. Our technological capability is approaching the point where we will be able to artificially extend our lifespans almost indefinitely. Many of the people who are alive now may well be alive in the year 2100.

So you are saying some god(s) let a poor baby be born into starvation, and since generally god(s) know what will happen before it happens they know that this person will be abused in this situation or another--and they chose not to stop it...doesn't speak well for that deity does it?

We are animals and like most animals our main purpose in life is to continue our species. However, we are smarter than the average bear in that we can actually make a difference in the world for better or for worse. Just because some are so selfish/scared that they cannot fathom a day when they will not be around doesn't change the fact that when we die, it's game over--there is no reset button, there is no save now, there are no do overs.

Our consciousness is not unique, many higher animals exhibit some sort of awareness. Elephants and wolves mourn for fallen family members, Chimpanzee's and other apes laugh and can identify themselves in a mirror.

Some people need a carrot in the form of an afterlife to be a good, others do not.

No one was born to starve or to suffer or be beaten, and the purpose of life to an atheist is to make a difference now, to leave a footprint, to leave the earth a better place than the way we found it. There have been Christians, Atheists, and all sorts of people who have lived thousands of years ago who aren't remembered by the world now, and there are handfuls of all sorts who are still remembered. Achilles, Alexander the Great, Atilla the Hun, the Buddha, Confucius, and on and on. Some of these men believed in an afterlife, some didn't. Yet they all left a footprint on the world, and they all are remembered thousands of years after their death. You are obviously young and your mind is still narrow, I hope you grow into a more open minded man who embraces different ideologies and is tolerant and loving, like Christianity teaches you to be.

You're quite right, it is sad that some people die young and live terrible lives. And it would be nice if they had another shot at existence. But the truth isn't determined by how nice you think the consequences would be.

And I really don't see why the absence of an afterlife could make life pointless. It makes death pointless, I'll give you that one. But it only makes life far more important.

The just exist, and were born into a bad enviroment. They die then nothing happens, their atoms decay and then are used for something else, because of the conservation of matter.

For one thing you assumed they were made? What!!! By whom?

And death isn't just sleep it is just dying.

Yes they had bad luck, but their parents should've tried harder to make life better or at least known that their kids lives wouldn't have been great and waited to have kids.

The point in lie is to make you mark on history, when people die the memory of them survives so you try to make sure your memory survives as long as possible

Becoming rich, having 13 kids, etc.

Life has no point. We exist because of the air in our lungs and blood in or veins. Everyone on this planet keeps trying to find a reason to live... you live for YOU. I was raised in an abusive family like you mentioned. I hated my childhood. I was always and constantly emotionally and physically abused. What am I doing now? Going to school and becoming an airline pilot with a college degree to travel and see the world and live, love, and enjoy life as much as humanly possible.

Life is supposed to be lived for you. Theres no other reasons

The point is to experience life. The here and now is all we have. I live it to the fullest. I don't sit on my *** waiting for heaven or nirvana after I'm gone.

Life is what you make of it. Perhaps its that sit back and wait attitude of those that believe in a gifted afterlife that helps to condone and continue some of the atrocities that are happening in the hear and now. At least I'm doing what I can to make a difference.

Not believing in an afterlife should inspire you to live this life to the fullest. I don't know what happens after we die. That's why I try to make the best of the life I have now. The point of living is what you make it, no matter what you believe.

An atheist does not see an absolute point to life, as a theist would perceive, because we do not see there being an entity who would establish such a point. Atheists also have no central dogma, doctrine or organization so none of our answers will necessarily be consistent. To me, an atheist recognizes that the only person who can truly define a point for one’s life is that individual. If this is not recognized by that individual, it could lead that individual to think that the point of their life was defined by the opinions of others.

People are born because our biology predispositions us to want to perform the act of procreation just like every living thing on the planet. The purpose of people’s birth is that their parents were swayed to perform this genetically defined act. Sex is compelling because it is the core of evolution. Genetics have one key function, to create copies of themselves, and sex is how it is done. This is why no living thing needs a sex ed class.

People will actually trend to have more children in more challenging environments to increase the likelihood of having one of those children survive. This is simple biological math that may be totally unconscious to the individual, particularly if they haven’t had any education about sexual reproduction.

Consciousness is a simple self-recognition routine in our brains that has also been proven to exist not only in humans but in Asian elephants, certain chimps and certain types of ravens. It is merely neurological wiring not initiated by some individual, but by genes to help the animal survive and create more genetic copies.

Our consciousness helps us to understand that there are two major ways in which we perceive the world, subjectively and objectively. Our objective mind tells us how our genetics predisposition us to behave, while our subjective mind allows us to feel and consider the experience first hand. For example, the objective mind reads the review on how a car acted in a test drive while the subjective mind would take the test drive.

Personally, my point of life is to appreciate the ability to perceive and understand how the world actually works objectively so that we can decipher the true joys in life we experience subjectively. The more humans have come to understand the world objectively through science the more humans have been able to live better subjectively. Consider disease, for centuries humans believed that disease was the wrath of an angry God sent as vengeance for human acts. When humans started to look at disease objectively, through science, we began to recognize bacteria and viruses which allowed us to come up with vaccines and antibiotics to alleviate that suffering in the present. If we consider suffering as that of an act of God to teach us lessons to prepare us for the afterlife then we have fewer reasons to resolve that suffering because we consider it out of our control.

Here are a couple complementary questions for you to consider:

Why does suffering reinforce one’s belief in an afterlife?

There better ways to teach lessons than suffering, why would God be so cruel?

I do not kill myself because my life has meaning. Im living THIS life to the best of my ability. I love, i laugh, i live. Im a human being, not a human was or a human will be, so why torture myself about an unknown or with an afterlife. The purpose of life is to find a purpose to life. I agree with you that in a 100 years you will cease to exist, but that does not mean im going to walk around miserable the rest of my life, i got limited time here, im gonna enjoy it...