[this was my contribution to a Western Standard Shotgun blog]
If there is no God, then personal conscience is an absurdity, and morality and rights are ultimately artificial, fictitious constructs based on what, social consensus?
But what if the social consensus strays, into, for example believing that it is fine to kill dogs, cats, and children under the age of seven?
If there is no God, there is no ultimate right and wrong; just conventions.
And that deep sense of injustice you feel when someone wrongs or harms you? Just chemicals in the brain.
Concepts such as honour, dignity? Absurdities.
Our consciousness, our existence, our self-awareness, all absurdities.
Wouldn't it be great if God did exist! That would mean that there is ultimate meaning to life, and concepts such as honour, dignity, justice, right and wrong, objectively exist. And the deepest longings of the human heart, to matter, to be relevant, to be loved, and to be reunited with loved ones upon death, all exist not to rub in the absurdity of human consciousness, but to be fulfilled.
But, it would also mean that there are moral consequences to our actions, and constraints on what we see as our "freedoms". And many people simply do not want there to be eternal consequences or moral constraints on their lives.
Why many in our culture object specifically to Christianity:
a) it is, for better or worse, the religion of their childhood, the moral code that they are now straying from or rebelling against
b) Christianity tells us that what they we are doing is wrong better than other faiths--many which don't even bother to try.
c) Jesus Christ makes a lot of people uncomfortable in a way that other religious leaders do not; his self-claims, his death which he declared was sacrificial and atoning, and his purported resurrection.
If he really did rise from the dead, it's game over. Materialistic atheism, game over, agnosticism, game over, actions without eternal consequences, game over.
And many people simply prefer to keep playing the game.
Posted by: Richard Ball | 29-Jan-06 8:39:44 PM
3 comments:
It's hard to put it better than this:
“The tragedy of a person’s disbelief in God is not that they will end up believing in nothing. Alas, it is much worse, they may end up believing in anything.”
G.K. Chesterton
Remember, this anti-christian bias is only going to get worse. It has been said by the man himself so we have to prepare ourselves for the situation. It will get worse, the only question is, who will be here when it does?
Mr. Ball, I am not a deep thinker so I am taking all this in with a sense of joy. It is joy to see someone do the deep thinking for me.
I am a Christian who has surrended her life to Jesus, even the thing that was driving me to ask Jesus to remove my guilt feelings. He did, I knew it, my husband knew it, and Jesus is my life now, and will be eternally.
I say now but,actually it was 30 years ago!!!!
It was conviction and it was simple, yet it was hard.
Thank you for your thoughts. Like I said I am reading with joy.
God bless you greatly.
See you, Betty
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