How do you guys feel about eventually dying?

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

This is a DC thread answer but I figure I’ll address this answer respectfully and OP at the end.

Bertrand Russell, hardly a Christian, once said that without God, it is meaningless to talk about the purpose of life. I cannot live a life without purpose. We just ride this rock around the sun and then die? Truly believing that is a good way to go insane.

Just gonna drop the full quote off here...

"Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless, and like Laplace, ‘I have no need of that hypothesis.'”

Now for some context...

Who was Laplace? He was a physicist who, when asked by Napoleon Bonaparte...

“I am told that in this great book you have written on the system of the world there is no mention of God, its creator”,

to which Laplace replied: “Sire, I have had no need of that hypothesis”.

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Now, this post isn't to made to refute your belief system, dissuade you from it, or even get into a theological discussion in the Lounge. I have thoughts about other parts of your post but this isn't the forum for them thus they were not quoted. The only reason this post is being made is to highlight the importance of a full quote and context.

Russell wasn't advocating the idea of intelligent creation by God in that statement nor was he acknowledging a deity at all. It wasn't an admission that life is meaningless without God. He was replying to a letter in a sharp and sarcastic manner in the same way that Laplace did to Napoleon. The fact he quoted Laplace makes that evident.