There are things one loses in giving up God, and...

There are things one loses in giving up God, and they are not insignificant. Most importantly, you lose the guarantee of redemption. Suppose that you do something morally terrible, something for which you cannot make amends, something, perhaps, for which no human being could ever be expected to forgive you. I imagine that the promise made by many religions, that God will forgive you if you are truly sorry, is a thought would that bring enormous comfort and relief. You cannot have that if you are an atheist. In consequence, you must live your life, and make your choices with the knowledge that every choice you make contributes, in one way or another, to the only value your life can have.

Good Minus God: The Moral Atheist - NYTimes.com, via nick douglas

via rickwebb : The redemption is a big part of my thinking about atheism. The thing is, though, we can’t really know, in life, if “god” forgave us. We only know it after we’re dead. And the stone cold hard fact is an atheist and a christian are both gonna find out - or not - whether they’re forgiven after they dead.

Where it gets interesting, to me, though, is redemption while you’re alive. As someone who believes in god, you have to go through an intermediary - either yourself through some spiritual connection, or through a holy person.

An atheist goes to the source. I wronged you? You’re the person to go to first for my redemption, and I have to apologize and possibly earn it. But when I do, I flat out did, and no one else is involved but me and the wronged.

And where it gets REALLY interesting is when that doesn’t work - maybe the person died. Maybe they’re so broken they refuse to redeem. That’s when you have to be honest and decide, all by your lonesome, if you are worth of forgiving yourself. That’s a pretty intense step, and one I like to keep with myself.

I once wronged a person. I then lost touch with them and thought they might be dead. For ten years I lived with that guilt. Eventually I found it in my heart to forgive myself. I had to let go. Then, later, I found them again, through sheer coincidence. The redemption they gave me upon asking for forgiveness was pretty amazing. I would have gotten by forgiving myself or maybe believing I had been forgiven by a god, but being forgiven by the wronged, that’s something special.

The New York Times