From here: ‘Saganism’

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again.

I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.

Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful… The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday.

I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”

― Ann Druyan

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My commentary…

These words (above) very much remind me of my beloved Uncle who passed away in recent years.
He was a committed atheist who believed life was ultimately meaningless and that death was the end.
I can be certain he never entertained any hope or expectation of ever seeing his beloved wife (my fabulous Aunty) ever again.

How tragic and empty.
They did not *know* they would never see each other again… that was simply an article of their faith… and what a hollow faith it is… devoid of meaning… devoid of hope… foolish even… given so many of us know the truth of the Bible.
The time of Sagan was tragically dominated by the delusions of scientism and materialism… both have been overthrown… yet sadly so many millions still cling to them because they cannot fathom or bear the alternative paradigm. They are Aliens to God… Aliens to the truth… They prefer the darkness of Nihilism.
I know this because I was once one myself… a militant atheist trapped in the delusions of materialism… despite the fact that it’s foundations have been utterly overthrown.
The Ultimate death nail being the fact that the Laws of physics have been proven to be contingent, temporal, and strictly limited… not absolute as was once believe as the foundation stone of Materialism. That has been Blown to pieces. I tell my Children that even though I shall die… I will see them again, as we have that Divine promise in the Gospel and the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ.
Christianity is a superior faith in every way over the paucity and delusions of Atheist materialism.

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Retort 1….

My reply…
Nihilism. Yes. For it follows from Godless materialism.
You don’t have to take my ‘whacky’ ‘crack pot’ theistic word for it.
No less than Nobel prize winner for Philosophy Atheist Bertrand Russell deems it so!

I myself had a wonderful and intelligent Atheist Uncle… I do not hesitate to say he was a good man. Kind, and charitable, yet he would be the first to admit that atheism has no foundation for morals.

I loved him very much and had many conversations attempting to sway him to realise his errors… He would no be moved.

He simply chose to be kind… displaying many atheists cannot bear to live consistently with their own professed world view, but instead mimic Christian values… as if morality really is objectively true. This evidences the inner conflict such atheists face… for intuitively we sense moral laws… yet they cannot be reconciled as objectively valid from Atheist premises. Instead they are often given ‘Darwinian Attributes’… ie that moral sentiments ’embed themselves’ biologically… not because they are *moral laws* in the Christian sense… but because they serve beneficial genetic survival properties…. so such rationalisms…

This is the tragedy of the delusions of Materialism… for such souls pass into eternity not accepting or admitting their own sinful fallen moral condition and need for Christ.

Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
King James Bible believer.

More from Tim…

Nyctophilia: Hiding in the Dark….

Faith, Science, and Reason. The Pomposity of Atheism.

Death of an Atheist. Follow the evidence.