OK, you have lived your whole life as an atheist, and now, you are on your deathbed, moments away from taking a dirt nap.
Will you pray to god and ask for his forgiveness for the way you lived your life, actively rejecting him at every opportunity, or do you stick to your guns?
Will you attempt to hedge your bet just in case you were wrong and god really does exist?
I once missed a disastrous end by inches on a car drive. The only thing I thought is 'wow, so this is how it ends, I hope someone feeds my pets'. So apparently no, asking a fictitious god for something.
Four years ago I had a heart attack. The doctors decided to do a quadruple bypass on me. Though they assured me that there was a low risk of mortality, I was still concerned. I looked at it this way; if it was my turn to go it didn't matter who I prayed to (or not) it was going to happen.
I'm still here and I do not have "God" to thank for that.
Either way I find solace in knowing that my body returns to the cosmos.
As others have said, any god that wanted to talk could have done so. No need to waste time at the end.
The closest I came to dying, it was not even a thing I considered. I was under a raft going through some rapids, and I could only think about getting out of harm's way and that it might be how I die. Dunno if I would consider prayer during a battle with an illness, but I strongly doubt it.
If you can comfortably say "I strongly doubt it", then my friend, you are still on the fence. Get back to me when you are all in.
@ReadyforaChange I strongly doubt I would even think about it. I know that I see no point in it. I cannot, with certainty, say exactly how I would feel in the situation. I do know there is no point in so doing. I find that dealing in certainty is exactly the problem with believers. I admit that I am uncertain about my future actions because I can admit that the world is unpredictable. I do not need the plans of gods to make sense of the random world, but I must admit that I cannot predict it, either.
No matter what people did that or who they were, it doesn't make a smidgen of difference. The real question is whether God exists, not how individuals might react, think, or feel or say on their deathbeds.
Philosophers call that question Pascal's Wager. The answer to the question is the premise is preposterous.
In other words, hell no.
Which one? [godchecker.com] .... be sure to pick the right one, because all the others will be PO'd.
No. Even when a youngin I would not have prayed, and had some belief. I could only accept the idea of a god who had no power after creation or big bang. Because if he did and he allowed such mass suffering, then he or she would be a total asshole with whom I want nothing to do.
Not at all. None of that. Absurd if one is an atheist. I recently had emergency abdominal surgery. The ER doctor insisted I had the stomach flu and wanted to send me home without an xray. But I stood my ground and got the MRI. Had I listened to him and gone home, its very likely i might have died. When I was being prepped for surgery I was alone and afraid. But not once did it even enter my mind to pray or question my atheism. Completely a non-issue. I only hoped that the doctors were skilled and that I was healthy enough to withstand complications. It all worked out I'm happy to say.
NO! I have no doubts about the non-existence of an invisible friend. And I have no regrets about the way I lived my life. I was not a racist, misogynist, hateful, hypocritical pedophile. I'm not "betting" there's no all-mighty being. There's just never been any proof. In fact there is contrary evidence. It's called science. So, no.
I think it depends. About twenty years ago, I woke up to go to work. As soon as my foot hit the floor, the room started spinning and I was hit with a wave of nausea. I went right to the floor, not knowing what was going on. Among my first thoughts were, "is this what it's like to die?" and I started saying the Lord's Prayer in my head, which I didn't remember all of at the time.
Managed to crawl to the throne before I upchucked. I obviously wasn't dying, but I didn't know that at the time.