Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Downsides to Atheism

The atheists are so keen on facing up to harsh realities. Here is what they face.

If you are an atheist, watch out for the true free thinkers.
Lose the belief in God with an eternal judgment and suddenly Right and Wrong cease to have meaning. There is, after rejecting God's imposition of moral law, only that which is pleasant and unpleasant.

Unfortunately, there will be plenty of people who realize, as you, that they are free to do as they please. Everyone is his own god in a Godless world. And like the despotic gods of Olympus, I doubt their idea of what is pleasant will take much into consideration your happiness, comfort, convenience, or possibly even your continued existence. So watch out for free thinkers. For every Positive Atheist, there is probably a Negative Atheist lurking nearby.

If you are an atheist, this is the best you can do.
If nothing lasts, nothing can have value. The joy of watching your child running in the park, the pride of graduating school, the thrill of your first kiss, the pain of losing your grandmother, the shame of being caught lying, the fear of death, and the restless wondering about your life’s purpose…all will vanish. Oh you can claim these things have value while you live, but this is fighting a war that you know is already lost. The best thing you can do is to enjoy what you have for as long as you can. Oblivion, however, is the destiny of all. You are, in the final analysis, helpless, hopeless, and absolutely pointless.

If you are an atheist, you could be right, but so what?
If Christianity turns out to have been a lie, then I suppose you could say I have wasted my time. But from the free thinker’s point of view, why should I feel bad? If my hope in Christ is futile and I’ve annoyed or even emotionally hurt everyone with my beliefs, what does it matter? The atheist himself guarantees that everyone will get over my unpleasant influence when they’re dead. Then again, if I’m right and we are all going to be judged, what a terrible thing it will be for the atheist?

If you are an atheist, could you be wrong?
What if you’re wrong? What if there is a God? Then you are probably going to hell. Given the possibility of hell, it makes sense to believe in God in the face of the Atheist’s charge that the burden of proof is on the believer. As though cosmic truth ever depended upon what we little humans thought.

How do we know Christianity is the right religion? A few necessary assumptions will quickly lead you to the Bible as the only logical answer. Assumption 1: The true religion will provide some kind of eternal life. If it doesn't, it was not worth following in the first place. Assumption 2: The true deity has hidden himself from science. Since we cannot find God unless he wants to be found, we must look for a divine revelation. Scriptures are widely held to be such revelations. Only a few have survived to this day.

If you are an atheist, why not take a chance?
There is a saying: Jesus will not disappoint you. If you believe and he really does exist, you’ll experience a heaven beyond your wildest imagination. If you believe and Jesus is a lie, you won’t care because you’ll be dead. Either way, you win as much as it is possible to win.

It’s only logical.

If you are an atheist, you say...
Carl Sagan once said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Truth, however, does not depend on what limited, fallible men can discover. In fact, there is so much we don’t know, it is literally scary. We don’t know how to live forever. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t know what comes after death. We certainly don’t know whether or not there is a God. We can only choose how to interpret the vague sensory impulses feeding our brains. Personally, I don't see the point in choosing to not believe in God. You can't possibly win without Him.

5 comments:

Brian Westley said...

Lose the belief in God with an eternal judgment and suddenly Right and Wrong cease to have meaning.

That's only true if you make the unwarranted assumption that only gods can give meaning to right and wrong. But that's an assumption, not a given, and most (if not all) atheists wouldn't grant that assumption. I don't grant it.

Larry Hamelin said...

Same b... baloney, different day.

If you find comfort in slave morality and ludicrous self-aggrandizing fantasies that you're the special pet of the creator of the universe, well, it's your life, to waste as you please.

Intelligent people are, however, just pointing and laughing at you.

Brian V. Mansur said...

I know I can't give myself lasting value, so I'm left with either God or nothing. If it is nothing, then you must ask the question, why bother with anything at all?

Brian V. Mansur said...

The Barefoot Bum - nice driveby, er, walkby barefoot?

per http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/notes-nietzsche.html

"slave morality values kindness, humility, and sympathy."

Are you saying this is a bad thing? Scary.

Anonymous said...

*points and laughs