The Absurd Assertion of Atheism
March 8, 2010
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, has a more direct bearing on the moral decisions made by individuals or the purpose proposed by society, than belief or disbelief in God.” – Ravi Zacharias
It’s the one question above all others. It’s a question that challenges every thinking person and demands to be answered. The question “Does God exist?” continues to be most debated, speculated, and researched above every other one we could propose. Philosophers, theologians, and scientists have long wrestled with this question throughout the ages. For Christians, our entire faith, worldview, and reason for existence lies in this one question. If God does not exist, than He can’t possibly have a Son (Jesus), the Bible isn’t the Word of God, and there is no difference between right and wrong. Before we look at the evidence for the evidence for God’s existence let’s look at what atheism is and the dangerous implications it brings if it’s true:
Atheism simply states there is no God. According to a recent study, approximately 2.5% of the world’s population is atheist. The atheists that have had a lasting impact on society today are Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. In today’s society the self-proclaimed atheists who are well known are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Books such as God is not Great, A Letter to a Christian Nation, The God Delusion, and the Blind Watchmaker have all reached the New York Bestseller list. Atheist thought is predominant in school textbooks, movies, and in our government. Atheism is on the rise in our society but why is this?
Why do atheists passionately fight for their position? What’s so enticing about atheism? If there is no God, then there is no right and wrong. There is no one to answer to for our actions that we make on a day to day basis. We are in control of our lives, our destinies, and how we want to live. Suffering and pain are unnecessary and should be avoided at all costs. Pleasure, fame, materialism, and money are all the idols to be pursued above all else. It’s survival of the fittest—whoever has the most toys wins. Live however you please, say what you want, do want you want, and when you die it’s all over and there are no consequences. This train of thought is becoming the predominant in Western society. We want our lives to be our own; we want all the glory for ourselves; we want to be God. This is the greatest lie of all–we can become like God. This is what Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden with: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” -Genesis 3: 5. Before we look at the dangers of atheism let’s look at the main flaws in its thesis.
Atheism in itself is impossible to confirm. One would have to be omniscient and omnipresent to be able to have all the facts and know for certain that there is no God. In other words, they would have to be God in order to say there is no God. Only someone who has been present at all times and a perfect knowledge could know can make such a statement. As Ron Carlson and Ed Decker state in Fast Facts of False Teachings: “…to be an atheist you must have infinite knowledge in order to know absolutely that there is no God. But to have infinite knowledge, you would have to be God yourself. It’s hard to be God yourself and an atheist at the same time!” As stated in the Bible in Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
Atheists state that science, evolution, or the existence of suffering and evil in the world are reasons that God cannot exist. In the recent studies in biology, astrology, geology, physics, and many other fields of science it has been confirmed that the universe is fine tuned and that science actually supports creation-not evolution. The Cambrian explosion is just one example of this. Science and creation don’t contract one another–they support each other! Also the existence of suffering and evil is not an easy question to answer but it certainly doesn’t prove that God doesn’t exist. There are many plausible arguments on why God would allow suffering and evil in the world. As Dan Story so boldly put it: “Today, people continue to rebel against God. We curse Him, ignore Him, and flaunt our disobedience. Motivated by pride, greed, and selfishness, people destroy one another and willfully abuse and pollute God’s earth…it’s amazing God has not lost His patience and destroyed all of us. Rather than condemning God for allowing evil, we should be thankful that He withholds the punishment we deserve.” We should first look at ourselves before blaming God for evil and suffering in the world! So the argument that claims that because there is evil in the world, there must be no God, is illogical. Now let’s look at the implications of atheism:
Why is the worldview of atheism so dangerous to our society? First, without God, there is no basis for what’s right and wrong. There are no morals and we are free to make our own law system without any restrictions. Lying, stealing, drunkenness, or adultery are acceptable if it feels good and benefits us in the end. Moral relativism, the quickly rising worldview of this generation, strongly supports this way of thinking. It’s a chaotic system that promotes lawlessness, corruption, and debauchery. It teaches that there is no standard on which to live and we need to tolerate everyone’s different moral values. Those who are weak, poor, or unintelligent are seen as useless and there’s no reason to show love and compassion to them. With no basis of what is right and wrong, laws seem pointless and only from one person’s point of view. There simply is no foundation for any law system, no correct way of living, and no reason to follow rules. It creates a system of chaos and calamity without a care or a cause for concern of others.
Another danger of atheism is the lost of purpose. With God there is a reason for our existence and we have an identity. Without God, there is no purpose, no meaning, and we have no identity. In the worldview of atheism, everything happens by chance and it’s all one big chaotic mess of a universe. There’s no reason on why we’re here, why we feel pain and suffering, why we long for certain things, and why we can’t seem to be completely satisfied. With this train of thought, everything we accomplish in life, every act of love, every sacrifice–has no meaning and it’s all a waste of time. So then we buy into the lie to live for ourselves, gain wealth and power, and get as much pleasure as we can simply because when we die–it’s over; so why waste time building up things that wouldn’t last past the grave? As King Solomon wrote: ”Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.” –Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 When we lose our purpose; we lose hope, and when we lose hope; we only gain despair.
The final danger of atheism is the lost of relationships. If God doesn’t exist, than building loving, meaningful relationships is futile. Once someone dies, they’re gone forever–that’s it. There is no hope seeing them again no matter what they believed. Love is seen as a cruel emotion that shouldn’t be used and avoided with all costs because nothing has lasting value. Why love, if it’s all for nothing? Again with this worldview, the only logical conclusion is to live for one person–yourself. So with the atheist reasoning, relationships are given little to no emphasis and above all else; you own survival is seen as the ultimate good. When you die; you die, death is the final blow to your existence.
So with all of this said we can now see that the question “Does God exists?” is of utmost importance and changes the entire basis of our existence. In the upcoming three weeks we will examine the three main proofs of God’s existence: cosmology, intelligent design, and morals. We will look at the scientific reasons, philosophy reasons, and the common sense reasons. This research is by no means exhaustive but it’s a good basis for proving to someone that God does indeed exist. The evidence is simply overwhelming for God’s existence and I hope by the end of this month that your faith will be stronger because of these truths. Then you can boldly tell the world “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist!”
**Next week we will start off with a look at the cosmology argument and the often asked question: “Who made God?”. Also we’ll briefly look at why Earth is so privileged and the amazing facts behind its unique location. Then in two weeks we’ll get a brief look at the incredible design of life and why science supports creation. Finally, at the end of the month, we’ll look into the moral argument and why we have a sense for what’s right and wrong. God Bless.
Kyle Jackson is a member of Northside Christian Church and is the author of the Shoutitforlife blog. You can read more articles written by Kyle at http://shoutitforlife.com/
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If God is omniscient and omnipresent, then he is a jealous, petty, violent and horrible being for sending his son to be tortured and killed, for killing the women and children in Jericho, and for the utter failure that Jesus was: he did NOT lead his people from Roman domination, he failed as a savior, and failed to return as promised within a generation.
And also: even Christians are 99.88% atheist. Mankind has invented 2500 major Gods, and you believe in only three of them.
33,000 denominations of Christianity according to the World Christian Encyclopedia. How do you expect us to take you seriously when you can’t even decide what your religion believes?
Last question, and I really hope you try to answer:
If God disappeared tomorrow, how would you know?
I should also mention that American atheism is closer to 10% currently, and the rate of the national Academy of Science (the best scientific minds in the country) is closer to 90% atheist.
Europe, who had to live through the horrors of Catholicism and Hitler (who died a confirmed Catholic) is around 50% godless.
Recent studies also show that higher levels of education and intelligence equate to higher rates of atheism.
And there is no longer enough gaps in the fossil record or the history of the earth to even suggest a creator was necessary. Bottom line: the Christian cosmology is far more absurd than the views of science and atheism.
Are there REALLY people who still believe that Genesis tells the true story of the beginning of the world? Anyone out there want to debate how old the world really is?
Mr. Jackson’s article displays a high level of ignorance about atheism and I would like to correct a couple of his more blatant mistakes:
“Atheism simply states there is no God.”
Wrong.
Atheism is not a positive assertion about the non-existence of any god or gods; instead, it is the absence of belief in god. This is a fundamental difference and one I would encourage the author to better understand before writing any further articles on the subject. Yes, there certainly are some atheists who positively assert the non-existence of any and all supernatural beings, but that does not reflect the nature of atheism itself. Simply being without a belief in god is sufficient to define atheism in it’s broadest meaning.
“If there is no God, then there is no right and wrong. There is no one to answer to for our actions…”
Wrong. And shamefully so!
This attempt to malign the morality of a group of people simply because they lack religious belief is not only contemptible but entirely dishonest. Atheists are not without a sense of right and wrong, they simply do not attribute their morality to any supernatural being. Of course there is someone to answer to! Not only must we answer to ourselves for our actions, we must also answer to each other and to the greater society in which we live. Who is the more moral individual: the person who behaves rightly because he/she fears punishment from above, or the person who behaves rightly purely because it is indeed right to do so? The debate about the origins of morality continues; in the meantime, perhaps Mr. Jackson could refrain from making spurious and mean-spirited comments about the morality of those who do not share his personal belief system simply because he finds it convenient to do so! I suspect that his willingness to offer such ill-thought statements may elucidate more about his own true sense of morality than he intended.
“Atheism in itself is impossible to confirm.”
Let me state this again as clearly as I can: atheism is NOT a positive assertion about the non-existence of any god or gods. Atheism contains no dogma, no system of belief, and makes absolutely no assertions that require confirmation. It is simply the lack of belief in supernatural gods. Rather it is for religious believers, people who make many(!) positive assertions about the nature of the universe, to offer evidence in support of their belief system. This is something atheism cannot do because it holds no beliefs to confirm. The continued insistence on misrepresenting the nature of atheism is either a display of utter ignorance about the subject, or a transparent effort to obfuscate the real issue. The burden of proof lies with those who forward positive assertions about the nature of the universe.
The rest of Mr. Jackson’s essay seems to follow largely from his unfortunate misunderstanding of atheism and is therefore false by definition. He also makes some profoundly ignorant statements about science which are so blatantly, painfully incorrect as to not even be worthy of rebuttal. Suffice it to say that if any reader is not fully capable of discerning for themselves the glaring errors presented in Mr. Jackson’s portrayal of scientific understanding, they would do well to improve their own understanding of science.
I am not attempting to proselytize for atheism; however, I do encourage people to take the time to understand the meaning of the word before they criticize it. I also hope people will realize that human morality is an innately human trait and not the plaything of religion.
Yikes! I apologize for my it’s/its error. One of my biggest pet peeves!!! (shame)
Apparently, Ravi Zacharias had not met the same woman I had last year who bragged on the bus to all who would listen that she had found a wallet containing ID, credit cards, and $500 in cash. She kept the wallet and spent the money. She added, “I’m Christian, but I’m struggling.”
Guess what. I’m an atheist. I’ve found many wallets in my time. I’ve always gone out of my way to return the wallets I find, with all cash, cards and everything intact. Yes, the temptation is there. I live off SSI. I get less than $700 to live off of a month. Finding a wad of cash would be an excellent bonus. Yet, no matter how badly I was struggling in life, if I had found that same wallet, I would’ve turned it over to the police or tried to contact the owner in some way.
Your bible says “Thou shalt not steal.” Keeping a lost wallet and taking the money from it like that is stealing. It’s your moral obligation do at least inform the police about it and hand everything over to the law. Where do you get your morals from? Obviously not your holy book.
I find it rather funny that God is seen to be the reason that believers are moral. First of all, is it moral to act solely out of self interest? If you merely fear punishment or desire reward, are you really acting morally or merely selfishly?
Atheists happen to commit less crime by far than would be expected. Approximately 0.2% of crimes are committed by atheists in the US where they represent between 2% and 13% of the population depending on who you ask. This is about 1-10% of what you would expect. This alone would show that morality is not solely the property of believers.
This post is full of all sorts of false information. The Cambrian explosion, for example, happened over a period of 70 million years, in which time we saw rapid evolution, not species just popping into existence fully formed as would be expected if it were creation. This has been explained by punctuated equilibrium, and to the chagrin of creationists, is an evolutionary model.
Now, for the real kicker, if it weren’t for God, blah blah blah would not exist. This is just plainly incoherent. First of all, who is to say that anything God commands is really moral unless morality comes from somewhere besides God. If the original source is God, that means that God could say that murder is okay, and that would make it so. God would have no reason to command good over evil whatsoever, other than subjective opinion, which really would make morality subjective.
I usually don’t even respond to such utter nonsense, but I am bored today, and was looking for more creationist insanity to talk about on my blog.
This argument, though presented by the faithful with the repetitive insistence of a churchbell, as no more an argument for god than it is an argument for “dark matter” or “invisible pink unicorns”. Essentially, the non sequitor presented is that but for the existence of a god we would not have a sense of right and wrong and therefore we require that god must exist.
There are two primary concerns with this line of reasoning:
1. It assumes that morality is not human; and
2. It assumes, based on that assumption that the existence of our concept of morality must therefore be attributable to god.
The concerns may seem interrelated, but they are not. Afterall, it is possible for our morality to be non-human but inspired by chimps, unicorns, aliens or an extinct sub-species of the genus homo. In essence we could attribute point one to any list of different sources in point two, it need not lead us to the conclusion that there is a god at play, certainly when there is no evidence suggesting this to be the case.
However, to even consider point two we need to have accepted the non-human origin of morality. The author uses bible texts, purpose and wishtinking to claim that we need the existence of a god, however, how does believing there to be a god for fear of feeling lonely and purposeless mean that such belief becomes actual truth? Wishthinking is no argument for anything and the mere fact that something would be nice if it were true, does not make it so.
The only truly sensible comment was: “We are in control of our lives, our destinies, and how we want to live.” – I couldnt agree with the author more, we most certainly are. As have all human generations before us, some of them then and some of us now just havent realised it. The moral development of our conciousness and indeed biblical morality in the past 2 millenia is ample evidence of our morality as an evolving changing function relative to our concepts of self-control, destiny and purpose. The more human centred our societies have been the more human centred our morality, whilst the more convinced we have been of the existence of an eternal dictator, the more god centred our morality has become at the cost of our humanity.
You say it would be nice to have a god because it gives us control, destiny and purpose. I say that your concept of an eternal dictator premised on wishthinking is logically and morally flawed. How can you claim control and destiny in the name of religion when you have nothing but wishthinking the consequence of which is eternal pain or reward?
Its a non-sensical line of reasoning. On the other hand, recognising that there is no evidence whatsoever of a sky-daddy is a liberating and realisation. We are in control, we do determine our own worth and we are responsible for our own actions. The insistence that we are minions at the behest of an unevidenced “spooky incompetent fatherfigure” is the kind of bronze age mythology that has no place in a time of free enquiry, none at all.
It’s the one question above all others. It’s a question that challenges every thinking person and demands to be answered. The question “Does God exist?” continues to be most debated, speculated, and researched above every other one we could propose. Philosophers, theologians, and scientists have long wrestled with this question throughout the ages. For Christians, our entire faith, worldview, and reason for existence lies in this one question. If God does not exist, than He can’t possibly have a Son (Jesus), the Bible isn’t the Word of God, and there is no difference between right and wrong. Before we look at the evidence for the evidence for God’s existence let’s look at what atheism is and the dangerous implications it brings if it’s true:
I am amazed by some of the conclusions you have already made in the first paragraph. You believe that without the god of the bible that there is no difference between right and wrong? So let me first ask you this: Is something right because God says it is, or does God say it is because it’s right? Take a moment and think about which one it is. If the first part is true, that would mean that slavery, killing homosexuals killing women who aren’t virgins on their wedding night, killing disobedient children, killing people who work on the sabbath, forcing raped women to marry those who raped them, ordained genocide, killing atheists and other non believers, and many other things would be considered right or “good”. Would you consider these things to be right or good? If the second option is the one you choose, then what is right and wrong is already known and God is just pointing it out. Or to put it more bluntly, morality exists despite a god or his rules.
Atheism simply states there is no God. According to a recent study, approximately 2.5% of the world’s population is atheist. The atheists that have had a lasting impact on society today are Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. In today’s society the self-proclaimed atheists who are well known are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Books such as God is not Great, A Letter to a Christian Nation, The God Delusion, and the Blind Watchmakerhave all reached the New York Bestseller list. Atheist thought is predominant in school textbooks, movies, and in our government. Atheism is on the rise in our society but why is this?
No, Atheism is a lack of a belief in a god or gods. Strong Atheism states that there is no god. If you are going to criticize something, please at least define it correctly. I want to point out now that Atheism has no creed or agenda in and of itself and that there are even some atheistic religions like: Buddhism, Raeliens, Taoism, Unitarianism, some branches of reformed Judaism, and several minor asian religions. There are different degrees of atheism and different atheistic groups, communities, and organizations and each have different goals and ideas. It is important to remember that in the strictest sense atheism is only a lack of a belief in a god or gods and anything else has to do with community or personal preference and understandings.
Why do atheists passionately fight for their position? What’s so enticing about atheism? If there is no God, then there is no right and wrong. There is no one to answer to for our actions that we make on a day to day basis. We are in control of our lives, our destinies, and how we want to live. Suffering and pain are unnecessary and should be avoided at all costs. Pleasure, fame, materialism, and money are all the idols to be pursued above all else. It’s survival of the fittest—whoever has the most toys wins. Live however you please, say what you want, do want you want, and when you die it’s all over and there are no consequences. This train of thought is becoming the predominant in Western society. We want our lives to be our own; we want all the glory for ourselves; we want to be God. This is the greatest lie of all–we can become like God. This is what Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden with: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” -Genesis 3: 5. Before we look at the dangers of atheism let’s look at the main flaws in its thesis.
No, no, no, no, no. You mean to tell me if you woke up tomorrow and found out there is no god that you wouldn’t know right from wrong? I’m sorry, but if you think the only reason you don’t go out raping and murdering people is because of a belief in a god then I am really worried for my safety. I have a very strong idea of what is right and wrong and statistically speaking, studies have found that the countries with the lowest number of religious people in the population usually have the lowest numbers of crimes and higher levels of happiness and success among its populace. You are right, we are in control of our lives and even if you don’t want to admit it, you are in control of your life right now too. Suffering and pain are unnecessary and should be avoided. The world would be a better place if we could wipe out most suffering and pain. Those may be things some pursue, but not all. We all have individual things that make us happy. The consequences exist here in life. If you murder, you go to jail and face the possibility of execution. If you commit a crime, you have to answer to the law. No, I don’t want to be God, and not many people I know would want to be either, especially if we have to be associated with the evils and atrocities connected with the biblical god.
Atheism in itself is impossible to confirm. One would have to be omniscient and omnipresent to be able to have all the facts and know for certain that there is no God. In other words, they would have to be God in order to say there is no God. Only someone who has been present at all times and a perfect knowledge could know can make such a statement. As Ron Carlson and Ed Decker state in Fast Facts of False Teachings: “…to be an atheist you must have infinite knowledge in order to know absolutely that there is no God. But to have infinite knowledge, you would have to be God yourself. It’s hard to be God yourself and an atheist at the same time!” As stated in the Bible in Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
First, you yet again don’t know what atheism is. It is a lack of a belief in a god or gods. Second, the burden of claim is on the one making the claim, which is you. Christian’s make the extraordinary claim that the God of the bible is real, that the bible is his word, and that Jesus is his son. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Where is your extraordinary proof? Third, the christian god can be shown to be a logically impossibility, but I won’t go into that unless you ask. Fourth, you are misdefining atheism, yet again. Fifth, Matthew 5:22) -“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty befo the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ sh be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
Atheists state that science, evolution, or the existence of suffering and evil in the world are reasons that God cannot exist. In the recent studies in biology, astrology, geology, physics, and many other fields of science it has been confirmed that the universe is fine tuned and that science actually supports creation-not evolution. The Cambrian explosion is just one example of this. Science and creation don’t contract one another–they support each other! Also the existence of suffering and evil is not an easy question to answer but it certainly doesn’t prove that God doesn’t exist. There are many plausible arguments on why God would allow suffering and evil in the world. As Dan Story so boldly put it: “Today, people continue to rebel against God. We curse Him, ignore Him, and flaunt our disobedience. Motivated by pride, greed, and selfishness, people destroy one another and willfully abuse and pollute God’s earth…it’s amazing God has not lost His patience and destroyed all of us. Rather than condemning God for allowing evil, we should be thankful that He withholds the punishment we deserve.” We should first look at ourselves before blaming God for evil and suffering in the world! So the argument that claims that because there is evil in the world, there must be no God, is illogical.Now let’s look at the implications of atheism:
Again, no. All atheists state those things and those things are not mutually exclusive to atheists. There are many christians and people of other religions who state those things as well. Could you point me to credible sources in those fields of science that actually support creation and have been accepted as scientifically viable? What do you have to say about the mountains of scientific evidence and facts that are inconsistent with the bible and creation? Do you understand the cambrian explosion? Do you not realize that this has been explained time and time again? Do you realize even if there was no explanation that is not evidence for creation, but evidence that we just didn’t understand something yet? No, your lack of a logical answer to the problem with evil and your attempt to make an excuse for an imaginary god created several thousands of years ago by a primitive desert people in an attempt to explain what they didn’t understand is what is truly illogical.
Why is the worldview of atheism so dangerous to our society? First, without God, there is no basis for what’s right and wrong. There are no morals and we are free to make our own law system without any restrictions. Lying, stealing, drunkenness, or adultery are acceptable if it feels good and benefits us in the end. Moral relativism, the quickly rising worldview of this generation, strongly supports this way of thinking. It’s a chaotic system that promotes lawlessness, corruption, and debauchery. It teaches that there is no standard on which to live and we need to tolerate everyone’s different moral values. Those who are weak, poor, or unintelligent are seen as useless and there’s no reason to show love and compassion to them. With no basis of what is right and wrong, laws seem pointless and only from one person’s point of view. There simply is no foundation for any law system, no correct way of living, and no reason to follow rules. It creates a system of chaos and calamity without a care or a cause for concern of others.
*SIGH* Really? This claptrap again? You don’t need a god to know what is right and wrong. Would you like to be raped? Lied to? Cheated on? Abused? Murdered? Would you like these things done to the ones you love? If not, then why would you do them to others? Morality is like the buddhist version of the Golden Rule (which, by the way, predates Jesus and I like more than his version) which states : Don’t do unto others that which you wouldn’t want done unto you. And remember, there are societal morals which have to be obeyed as well, unless you wish to be punished for disobeying them. Your little rant on moral relativism quickly rising is interesting, but has nothing to do with atheism and leaves me wondering where you got your information about it? You go on to talk about the poor and weak and state that there is no reason to show compassion to them. Really? If I were down, I would want somebody to help me back up, so I help those who are down. If all people have is this life here on earth, wouldn’t you want to help them have the best one they could have? I know I do and so do many atheist charities and organizations who work to help the poor and the weak all over the world. I really suggest you study philosophy, morality, evolution, psychology, and ethics because you really seem to be lacking an education in these things if you think the bible or the belief in a christian god is necessary for laws, morality, or empathy. Remember, if we relied on God’s morality, then slavery would still be around.
Another danger of atheism is the lost of purpose. With God there is a reason for our existence and we have an identity. Without God, there is no purpose, no meaning, and we have no identity. In the worldview of atheism, everything happens by chance and it’s all one big chaotic mess of a universe. There’s no reason on why we’re here, why we feel pain and suffering, why we long for certain things, and why we can’t seem to be completely satisfied. With this train of thought, everything we accomplish in life, every act of love, every sacrifice–has no meaning and it’s all a waste of time. So then we buy into the lie to live for ourselves, gain wealth and power, and get as much pleasure as we can simply because when we die–it’s over; so why waste time building up things that wouldn’t last past the grave? As King Solomon wrote: ”Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.” -Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 When we lose our purpose; we lose hope, and when we lose hope; we only gain despair.
This is extremely pompous and arrogant of you. My life is more purposeful now as an atheist than it was the 22 years I was a christian. I have an even more meaningful existence and more of an identity now than at any time in my life. My life’s purpose is about making life as good for myself and more importantly, the world, as I possibly can. It is about me working to further knowledge, understanding, medical breakthroughs, About making the world a better place and discovering new things every day. About working for freedom and peace. No, there is no worldview in atheism. The universe isn’t chaotic, we are here because if we weren’t, we wouldn’t know it, we feel pain because we evolved a nervous system as a survival mechanism, we long for certain things because of biological and psychological reasons. Satisfaction levels are different for every individual for many different reasons. I know that I am a rather satisfied individual in most areas in life, but there are some things in life where it is good to not be satisfied in because it improves your chances of survival. Actually I find that acts of love and sacrifices have more meaning. I only have this one life so I love more deeply and realize that every sacrifice I make in life has drastic consequences to the only life I will ever live. Why? Because if you have but one life to live, then it makes sense to make the most out of it and to help others to do the same. That is pretty darn meaningful to me.
The final danger of atheism is the lost of relationships. If God doesn’t exist, than building loving, meaningful relationships is futile. Once someone dies, they’re gone forever–that’s it. There is no hope seeing them again no matter what they believed. Love is seen as a cruel emotion that shouldn’t be used and avoided with all costs because nothing has lasting value. Why love, if it’s all for nothing? Again with this worldview, the only logical conclusion is to live for one person–yourself. So with the atheist reasoning, relationships are given little to no emphasis and above all else; you own survival is seen as the ultimate good. When you die; you die, death is the final blow to your existence.
I will agree that loss of relationships is a danger when becoming an atheist, but not for the reasons you stated. The danger lies in the religious friends and family abandoning and shunning those they once loved. I have talked to countless atheists who all tell me about how painful it was for them to “come out” as an atheist because their religious family and friends spat hate and hurtful words and them and even shunned them. As for the idea that as an atheist it doesn’t make any sense to build relationships, I am astonished. If all you have is this life to spend with friends and loved ones, then you make the most of every moment and enjoy it every chance you have. Love isn’t all for nothing, its everything when it comes to family, friends, and relationships. When you die, you are dead, so wouldn’t it make the most sense to enjoy the time you do have with those you love?
So with all of this said we can now see that the question “Does God exists?” is of utmost importance and changes the entire basis of our existence. In the upcoming three weeks we will examine the three main proofs of God’s existence: cosmology, intelligent design, and morals. We will look at the scientific reasons, philosophy reasons, and the common sense reasons. This research is by no means exhaustive but it’s a good basis for proving to someone that God does indeed exist. The evidence is simply overwhelming for God’s existence and I hope by the end of this month that your faith will be stronger because of these truths. Then you can boldly tell the world “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist!”
I look forward to addressing your posts on cosmology, ID, and morality. I am also interested in seeing this “proof” you have for a god’s existence and seeing how you explain away the mountains of evidence that are contrary to the bible. I also hope that if you read this, you actually research atheism, sciences, history, and philosophy with an open and honest mind. If you have any questions or comments for me, then please contact me at: mrgoodwithoutgod@gmail.com
Thanks & Peace
Mr. GoodWithoutGod