Can There Be Meaning in a World without God? 

Me too. I was a muslim for 25 years and now I am not. I am even still living in a Muslim country.

You might enjoy and appreciate Bill Donahue on RU-vid who, like Bart, deconstructs religion, mostly Christianity, but gives new insights to many other religions including Muslim. He helps fill in the gaps between the major religions and helps one see that the written words are to be interpreted spiritually and not literally. This helped me tremendously as a former Christian! Idk if Bill's videos will help you (I hope it does) but he does talk respectfully of the religions outside Christianity that influenced the formation of the world's religions.

In Indonesia it’s compulsory to state a religion on your ID

@@arusirham3761 betul, bang

The most virulent scoffers/mockers of religion/God tend to be former believers who've 'de-converted' because they feel they were duped and want to gain back credibility they feel they lost. 'Saving face'. It's a childish part of our nature. Glad to hear you're not bitter at once believing in something you no longer do & good luck for the future. I happen to believe in God & Jesus because I think, on balance, the evidence supports their claims & that's been borne out time and again in my life. But each of us must follow our hearts & the facts of this world.

They created their god in their image.

A curious notion in the 21st C if it's something that we invent. You'd have thought we'd have 'moved on' by now. Yet apparently well-adjusted, seemingly intelligent people (in all fields) keep talking about this 'God' notion. Strange

@@amateurprojects3341 , And all the people that don't believe it god tithing to churches. It's funny and sad at the same time.

People have moved on. Besides the many atheists in the world, even believers do not have the same kind of concept of god today as ancient peoples do. It is very very different.

And that life's meaning is...

You can have meaning being a serial killer too then. Just for the sake of being an atheist, nothing personal. Wrong or right does not exist for you then only if you being honest to yourself. There is nothing speaking against becoming a serial killer for example, as an atheist.

@MrUndadoggPtownCity I think it's in fact the opposite to be honest. If you are a Christian and a serial killer, all you have to do is accept and believe in Jesus before you die and you're off to heaven. An atheist has no afterlife to look towards. For me at least, it makes me cherish this current life more, and to try to do good things.

@@ajar1000 no who told you that. Maybe you are young, but you did not understand anything. The christian doctrine, jesus from the bible tells you to go and sin no more. Not to continue and have a free ticket to heaven. So there is no christian serial killer, it does not work that way and does not exist. You better read the new testament because you are assuming very wrong, in a childish way of thinking.

@@Horvat04 Jeffrey Dahmer became a devout Christian whilst in prison. Is he not a Christian?

​​@@Horvat04Would God not forgive a repentant serial killer? The only sin I recall being unforgivable in the Bible is blasphemy. It is true that Christiany compels people not to kill one another, It compels people to not do any harm to one another in fact. But so does secular humanism, a belief system grounded in atheism.

It’s called “Tuesday”.

you guess? Isn't that something you would know for sure?

@@tawan20082008 Not really. I've never really understood what Christian apologists mean when they talk about meaning in this context. My take is more along the lines of what Bart says talking about old Hellenistic philosophers, but I feel like Christians talking about this are trying to say something more profound. I also think that most Christians don't actually feel whatever that is.

@@tawan20082008 No, as in my younger years I necer thought much about it. But I tended to look at the Christian religion as mythology, much like the Greek myths that were read to me.

If you are completely fulfilled, then you're all set!

youre lucky you lived in a great world, would you be able to retire working today

It’s obviously not

I don't care so much about 'Why' I live, but give more value to 'How' I live.

Because it is so unpleasant to think that there isn't. If a parent loses a child, will "shit happens" feel sufficient?

@@brokenrecord3523 Dealing with grief is a very personal matter. Megan’s partner (Dr. Josh) has said in a livestream that when one of their little ones passed away, the most sincere and comforting words they heard from a friend was “this is not fair”. Some people don’t need to believe pretty lies, they deal with hard truths head on.

​@@brokenrecord3523my sweet middle son died a few years back - I can assure you the doctrine of universal blood attonement was no help. But sure, life is a meaning of itself ...

And for this atheist, saying "the Reason is God" just pushes the question up a level.

Accept all the tickets are losers.

As if jesus was crucified for claiming to be a king of the jews, (political aspect only). Thats not how it works but that is bart ehrman teaching. I guess you did not find the mistake yet.

​​​@@Horvat04if I recall correctly Jesus was crucified next to other felons. Do you think those were claiming to be the Son of God? Romans didn't need too much of a justification in order to execute and punish people that were causing some kind of disorder...

Christianity is a bastard religion.

I enjoyed the recent Netflix documentary "Life on this Planet." You get a sense that there is nothing "random" in evolution. It's better to think of it as wonderful chaos, driven by many factors, including (but not exclusively) by "evolution."

evolution is garbage, houses dont build themselves thats insane

​@@chillyfingerwonderful chaos doesn't build bodies

Don't get me wrong, I have the greatest respect for Meghan's intellect, application and achievement. I also think she is doing a brilliant job here as a foil for Bart's luminous wisdom. BUT, if her taste in hand made gifts is the same as her taste in spectacle frames, I'm relieved NOT to be on her gift list 😂❤

Also, I keep correcting the spelling of her name, and RU-vid keeps changing it to the wrong spelling!

lol@@chrisdsouza8685

Only evil would create children for the sole purpose that they worship him. YHWH is an evil false god.

somebody made us houses don't build themselves.

@@AdolfsGirl Seems a tad egotistical to imagine the human inclination to manufacture stuff is responsible for an entire universe.

@@DJTheTrainmanWalker seems a tad bit insane to think boobs and bodies made itself.

@@DJTheTrainmanWalker ok darwin worshipper..

like objective meaning?

"Doing well by doing good." Ah, yes. The Old Dope Peddler. 😈

I can't, and I don't get it. But that cracks me up! Love, "still suffering cuz I can't let go"

PS i do get it but I resist. Glad you posted this. Food for thought.

hobbies, sports, passions, food, traveling, gardening, volunteering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Good to hear. You sound completely fulfilled. Congrats!

@@amateurprojects3341 Thank you! Hoping the same for you!

your nuts houses dont build themselves something made and designed us

I don't care so much about 'Why' I live, but give more value to 'How' I live.

I think it's only natural for us humans, the famous pattern seekers. We are wired to look for reasons, so we can predict consequences thereof, explain. Applying this to the concept of life is the logical next step.

I wonder if a jellyfish asks this question? More likely it just drifts along, enjoying life to the full and being at peace with the deeper reality that sustains our transient existence.

Your first paragraph is a total misrepresenion of he Christian God that I worship. However, the purpose you speak of in your second paragraph is at the core of Christianity. and is the meaning of Christ's resurrection. Jesus died to save us from condemnation and fill us all with the hope of eternal life.

Dr. Ehrman doesnt say that theology doesnt provide any meaning. But that that meaning CAN be found without it. One can find meaning through theology, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be found by non-theological means. The community aspect of religion is something that Dr. Ehrman misses in secular society. This also doesn’t mean that community can’t exist outside religious settings.

Why are you no longer a Christian? Did you not have any prayers answered?

@@1bengrubb Has nothing to do with prayers. The overall Christian mythology lost its relevance for me. I could no longer recite the Lord’s Prayers or any of the creeds. They lost their relevance. We need to focus on preserving and celebrating earth. Christianity does not emphasise the preservation of the planet. also, The Church is a massively screwed up organization. So, here’s that.

@@kjmav10135 what is not relevant about the lords prayer? Even if you ignore the mythical but keep the principal every line in the lords prayer is relevant. Even Bart does not believe in the mythology but he believes Jesus is relevant... but it is true the church does not emphasize the preservation of the planet----the people that go their are massively screwed up as it is.

Oh man, did you really give up the truth? So you believe in reincarnation ? The origin of Buddhism Buddhism is the religion founded by Gautama Siddharta (560-480 BC). Buddha belonged to the second highest Hindu caste (warrior caste). He grew up in great wealth. He married at the age of 23. At the age of 29, after the birth of his son Rahula, he began to seek the truth and left his family. He devoted himself to yoga. But this brought him nothing. After that he tried for a few years self-mortification. After this second failure, he tried the meditative path. At the age of 36 he experienced his enlightenment. From then on, he called himself "Buddha" (= "the enlightened one")

Yes, YHWH is a false god.

.... and one world, Peace.

its nice to see another fellow Christian Biologist who feels the exact same way about life!

Her glasses are totally cool, but I suspect you might be enabling an addiction. She really seems to have a lot of pairs.

@skipinkoreaable not an addiction, just an observation. The s shaped pair are interesting.

@@Steven_Rowe You don't think she's addicted to glasses? Maybe not. I haven't been counting but she really does seem to have a lot of them. I think the S ones are cool too. S is for Sumeria.

@@Steven_Rowe Maybe she's got the whole alphabet. A for Aramaic B for Babylon C for Canaanites etc

@@skipinkoreaable great comment I wonder if she has the Arabic alphabet too She may even have some Dame Edna glasses too lol

A thing in infinite supply has no value. Eternity reduces meaning, not increases it.

Please study Islam (with an open mind, no prejudices). You'll find the meaning of life in Islam.

@@nrnar what did you find?

@@nrnar Frankly, your proselytising annoys me. I have given zero indication that I'm open to joining a religion, in fact, the opposite, but still you try. I'm not saying that you're not allowed to do that, I'm a great fan of free speech. I'm just saying that what you do achieves the exact opposite of what you want. And that's actually the beauty of free speech, it has a tendency of showing people as they are. You're not interested in me, you just believe in the perfection of your religion so arrogantly that you want to force it on me as if it's a one size fits all. In fact, I've read a significant part of the Quran and I'm definitely not a fan. I find it dar too black and white. If I would join any religion now, it would be a liberal version of Christianity. And as far as I know, a liberal version of Islam, namely one that doesn't require me to believe in the divine revelation of the Quran, Muhammad riding a flying horse to Jerusalem, etc, doesn't even exist. Also, Islam is very alien to me. I would feel very uncomfortable with all the religious behaviours expected of me. They're simply to different from the tradition I grew up in. Moreover, if there is a God, I would not want to worship one who requires my subjugation, that's just pure evil. You can't go about creating people and then expect them to basically be slaves. To compare: Jews see themselves as partners of God and Christians describe God as a father, those are much healthier relationships. And, worst of all, if I became a Muslim and then decided later that I wanted to leave again, Sharia says I should get killed because of that. There's definitely no religious freedom for Muslims. So, as you can see, I have lots of very objective reasons not to join Islam.

Exactly, I've thought along very similar lines. I grew up a Jehovah's Witness, so their doctrine is about eternal life (for JWs only of course!) on Earth in the "new system", after God has destroyed the current "system" (and the "wicked" people, which is bascially everybody else) in Armageddon. This eternal life is held up as the purpose that one needs to attain. But what is the purpose of eternal life? In their publications, JWs always depict people having picnics with their friends. So this is the purpose of life, apparently: billions and billions of years of daily picnics... I also find that the book of Genesis does not say what the purpose of creation is. God creates the Earth and sees "that it is good". But for what reason, what purpose? He might as well have been doodling and then thinking, "ooh, that came out rather nice".

@@katew.9402 😂 Your comment about God doodling is hilarious!!!

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Most people in the ancient world (and some today-especially children in the womb) stayed in survival mode….its basic. Blessed be the poor.

While I also recommend Marcus Aurelius, I couldn’t find evidence the Church ever banned the work. Partial evidence from the fact it even survived to the present.

And that meaning is...

@@gridlock1492 What “I” give to it.

@@MrCanis4 You create your meaning according to...

@@gridlock1492 Myself

@@gridlock1492 Myself

Yep. The trolls are on to them.

Exactly. Christians claim that God creates "meaning", but not really. They never really answer "why?" - that part hasn't been made up yet. Sure they claim that this life is all a test for sorting the good from the bad in the next life... but why? A perfect, omnipotent god wouldn't need any of it. Mysterious ways? Um... OK... but that doesn't answer "why?". Anyway the point is that finding meaning is still up to you, irrespective of your religion or lack thereof.

comprehend. Good thing I'm a hobbyist

What are you talking about lol

Esoteric text and stories developed and morphed over time. People who studied these built on the stories and sources they had prior to them. These ideas or stories of early Christians are similar in that they were diverse right from the start and helped to lay a foundation for early Christians. Then the councils started and there was a more concertive effort to arrange the stories and include/exclude books. I’m interested to know what Bart thinks about stories that people create or recount and how they have a profound impact on shaping our understanding of the world. We learned as children through stories that while not real conveyed some morale understanding or teaching. I’m not arguing for or against God or religion I’m interested in how storytelling shapes ourselves.

@@512Riddler do stories impact stuff? Yeah dude lol are you like 10 yrs old?

You should make a T shirt that says that. Seems to be your tagline.

Jesus is God. He is the Alpha and Omega Revelation 1, 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

It definitely can be. We are herding creatures and when you choose to leave the herd the isolation can be painful. Old friends just aren’t the same as they think you have betrayed them and some groups practice shunning. Some old relationships can survive as long as neither party try’s to convert the other. I do have some groups I participate in where we share common interests without requiring common beliefs and have developed some new friendships. Finding your communities is important for moving forward IMO.

Yeah, they're gorgeous and quirky

They are cute but they mess with my head when I look at them. 😂

Yes they are lovely, and I loved your name too.