"Yes, there's an afterlife, many of us just refuse to believe it and live for the moment as evidenced by all the craziness that's happening in our world today."
And where is the evidence for this afterlife?
"If you don't think there's anything after this, why be good? Why help other people?"
It's beneficial for society and pretty well ensures that people will be nice/good toward me which, ultimately, is beneficial for myself.
"Why not just live selfishly and only strive to get as much as you can in this world?"
Because humans are socially animals and tend to dislike such people. Whether I'm a greedy bastard or not, it's obviously better for me to at least play along and pretend to like and help others (even if I didn't) because I'd end up getting more out of it than if I were a completely selfish and greedy bastard out only for myself.
"Hmmm, that sounds so much like what is happening right now."
No it doesn't.
"esus lived--you don't have to have the Bible to see evidence of that--other people of his time wrote about him."
There are no contemporary accounts of Jesus. The earliest Gospel is dated some 50 years or so after the events it supposedly records. We have no Roman or Jewish documentation of any of the events of the life of Jesus.
"As C.S. Lewis said he's either "Lord, liar or lunatic.""
Lewis was a philosopher on par with Pascal. There are many other options than those three. Jesus may have existed as many different people who were combined into a single person for the purposes of the Gospels. Jesus may have never existed at all. Jesus may have been mistaken. Jesus may have been misquoted. Jesus may have been mistaken and misquoted and so on.
"Too many people have died claiming Christ was who he said he was, and they were killed by being skinned alive, burned at the stake, all proclaiming the same thing."
And?
Have you not been paying attention to the news for the last decade? People regularly blow themselves the fuck up over their religion. Does that mean Islam is right?
People believe, and die for, all kinds of silly shit. Just because someone does some such thing doesn't validate their beliefs.
"You don't die for something that's a lie."
Ah, so Islam is the One True Religion. Thanks for clearing that up.
"I believe in the afterlife and Christ is The Way to that life."
Good for you. I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else who says something like this to me: you're welcome to believe any damn fool thing you'd like but don't expect me to believe it with you without some actual evidence.
"It's a shame that we can be so skeptical about something that should be the top thing on our list."
There's no fucking evidence so I have every right to be as skeptical about that as I would if someone were to tell me a leprechaun lived in my closet and was upset because I didn't worship him daily.
"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though...I just now saw the "most recent questions" posted right below where I'm now typing. Wow, judging by the questions asked here, it certainly proves my point that we're more interested in the very silly and temporary things of this world. I will continue to pray for our nation."
Yeah. You do that. All that praying has paid off so far, obviously.
