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Originally Posted by Sean
I would think people might still be uneasy about whether they'd be going to heaven or hell, no?
And could you expand on why you feel that "life would be utterly pointless" if everyone had proof that God existed?
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well, i'm jewish, i don't really believe in hell. the general consensus among jews is that virtually everyone goes to gehenna, which is sort of like a temporary hell, so that they can learn all the things they did to people during their lives and learn from their mistakes. afterwards several things can happen, one of which is reincarnation and the other is going to heaven.
i think if everyone knew G-d existed, the purpose of this life, which is to learn right from wrong and to help other people, and whatnot, our values would be totally different. if everyone knew there was a G-d, they would say, "why doesn't he help the poor/sick/etc.?" or "it doesn't matter, i'm going to live forever anyway". all questions, inquiries, conflict, etc. would all be directed towards G-d to get him to solve all of our problems, and we wouldn't learn anything from each other or have any purpose in anything you do— why work all your life, find a husband/wife, become president, anything when you know that what awaits you afterwards is going to be better and in comparison this life is pointless?
but of course, this life isn't pointless— but some people have reached that extreme even without absolute proof. for example, the extremist muslims in al qaeda believe that suicide bombing is okay because they're all going to heaven and they do not value human life because of this view.