ATHEIST
TO A THEIST
Introduction
Ethics
is a difficult area of study. The difficulty lies in the birth of ethics in a
secular culture. For years ethics was a field of study taught solely by the
church. The reason for this is because for centuries theists have been the
interpreters of the word of God and how it should relate to society. That is
because of the centuries long history of Christianity, recognized even by
atheists, that was involved in the creation of the American nation. This has
since changed. Ethics is now a required field of study for most universities,
as well as high school educations. Christian ethics has been supplanted by the
study of secular ethical culture.
As
Richard Dawkins would say, “There is a new wave of reason sweeping across
America, Britain, Europe, Australia, South America, the Middle East, and
Africa.” People are developing ethical systems that no longer see God as a
necessary, or even useful, to develop morality. The purpose of this paper will
be to present how I would influence an atheistic culture through a biblical
worldview by diagnosing the problem with atheistic ethics, the origin of
atheistic ethics, the cure for atheistic ethics, and how this cure will be implemented.
This
is not a field that Christians must run away from. Christians must lead the
charge into the fight, and also to carry the wounded back to the throne of
grace.
The
Problem
Richard
Dawkins said in his book, The God Delusion,
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most
unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust,
unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a
misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential,
megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” That is about
as to the point as one can say it. This, ultimately, is the great problem to
solving an atheistic society. The problem is and always will be sin. Sin is
what causes mankind to not only fail in its understanding of ethical society,
but also in the birthplace of ethics as a whole.
Atheistic
ethics can find its place in various ethical systems. The decline of ethics
begins and ends when one fails to see God as the source of morality.
Acknowledgement of God just is not enough to develop a proper ethical system.
According to recent polls, almost 95% of Americans acknowledge that God exists.
All humans will also acknowledge that mankind has a serious problem. Richard
Dawkins even says, “Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because
we are born selfish.” Atheists decide to deal with this problem through various
methods.
The
first is that they try to eliminate God from the equation. This is where an
atheist tries to win the argument, ultimately. They try to establish some form
of ethical origin that does not involve the Bible, or the God of the Bible.
Atheists believe that ethics from the basis of religion is an impossibility
since the end goal is pleasing God, getting into heaven, or accessing Nirvana,
etc., which is folly because these places do not exist. Basically, the problem
for an atheist is living for a purpose that ultimately does not take shape in
present form. This is where their will always be a disconnect between
Christians and atheists. Godly Christians have no need for present reward since
they are to store up treasures in heaven. Atheists, on the other hand, believe
that ethics is centered around an end game that can be achieved at some point
in this world. But no matter what it is, it is something that can and should be
determined by human kind. The crux of this belief for atheists rests upon the
foundation of free will. For atheists, ethics is relative because all men have
the free will to decide what is right for them but not for anyone else.
Absolutes are for bondage thinkers.
What
this means is that culture, behavior, and utilitarian ethics determines what is
truly ethical when God is eliminated, if that is even possible. An examination
of how each of these core systems impacts atheistic ethics will now take place.
Cultural
relativism believes that the cultures of where we are raised ultimately
determines what man holds dear and raises up as ethically acceptable. For
example, most people raised in America today believe that God exists. Richard
Dawkins would maintain that this would not be the case if most of these people
were raised in early century Greece. They would not believe in God, they would
believe in Apollo, Zeus, Mars, Ares, or Aphrodite. This is because the culture
would dictate what is acceptable and what is not.
Behavior
ethics believes that men cannot help themselves when it comes to how they
respond to stimuli. Basically, men are no different from animals. We react off
instincts just as animals do. The purpose of ethics becomes pleasurable
stimulus to bring about the desired effect from people.
Utilitarian
is the trickiest of atheistic systems. It incorporates a lot of scriptural
truth, but without the scriptural purpose. Ultimately, the greatest good stems
from the greatest happiness. Thus, if eliminating an entire group of people who
believe in the God of the Bible brings about the greatest happiness of all,
mass murder becomes the de facto good. Utilitarianism dictates that happiness is
good and good is determined by our senses. Rules do not determine right or
wrong because rules can only effect intent as opposed to result. Result is the
determiner of what is right and wrong. Pain is the greatest evil.
The
Cure
The
cure is now the greatest of the problems. Atheism is the worst of all religious
systems. Its god is the human intellect. The thing that makes atheism so
difficult to combat, is the simple reason that it almost forces Christians to
fight on their terms. Christians almost cannot use the Bible, a reference to
God, or any apologetic involving a spiritual source or reference point because
to an atheist, these simply do not exist. This is a big problem because atheism
no longer wishes to simply say that gods, or God, is acceptable just so long as
He is not the only way. Atheism wants to eradicate religion completely.
So, how can
Christians try to administer a cure to a society that does not really wish to
be cured with the cure?
Ultimately, there
is not a whole lot that Christians can do in and of themselves. That does not
mean that Christians should just give up and call it a day either. Here are
some of the best steps that Christians can do in order to save a country
imploding on its own brilliance.
1. Pray. Prayer is
something that cannot be underestimated in this culture. Prayer is something
that atheists cannot do. Prayer is something that an atheist will never be able
to partake in and experience the calming nature that prayer and communion with
the Father has. Paul commanded Christians to pray without ceasing. Paul
commanded believers to pray for all who are in authority no matter what they
believe. Prayer is the hammer that God uses to soften the hearts of man(I
Thessalonians 5:17; I Timothy 2:1).
2. Apologetics.
Apologetics is the study of the defense of Christian faith. The study of
apologetics will greatly aid Christians in how they deal with the atheistic
worldview of ethics. Apologetics provides the study of the empirical proofs
that atheists crave. Apologetics brings Scripture onto the same playing field
as whatever atheists can throw at it from a purely intellectual sense, at
least. When the empirical veracity of the Bible can be proved to atheist, just
enough to recognized as a historical, believable, reliable document. When this
happens, Christians can move on from the petulant realm of debate and into the
relevant realm of changing the culture through changing the people. This change
in people is brought about by the third point to the cure(I Peter 3:15).
3. The Gospel. The
Gospel is the message of salvation. When it comes down to it, Christians cannot
meet the atheists on their playing field. A sad reality is that most atheists
understand their position better than most Christians understand theirs.
Christians must then rely on the workings of Christ in the lives of those whom
the Gospel is shared with. This is how faith has always been brought about.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Carl Sagan once said
that there is not enough proof to either prove, or disprove the God of the
Bible. All that scientists say is that with great claims, comes great demands
for evidence. Ultimately, the Gospel is the only thing that can change the
culture. Mankind is incurably religious and cannot develop a system of ethics
at all because is not something that can exist devoid of God. Now, how must
Christians implement this change?
Implementation
Atheists
need empirical proof for everything. Faith is a crutch to all who are not
willing to work hard enough to discern what is actual truth, according to the
atheist mind. Faith, to atheistic cultures, is the most heinous of all crimes
that must be punished. Because of this, the cures listed above must all be
expressed through the format of relationship.
One of Christianity’s
most iterated, and sadly least kept, principles is the concept of loving our
enemies, and blessing those that persecute us. Imagine how far one can go in a
relationship with an atheist by proving that the change enacted in the
Christian is from God. This is what all atheists want, and ironically, what God
wants at the same time. God wants faith with action. Atheists want our faith to
match our actions because faith is often the tool of manipulation among the
lower, less intelligent classes. That battle starts with Christians praying for
those who are our apparent enemies. This even extends to asking those who shun
the name of Christ how we can pray for them. Only the staunchest of religious
bigots would shun the goodwill of another human, be it from God or not.
Atheists hate
Christianity because they are oftentimes the least inquisitive people who have
no real reasoning abilities. 99% of all atheists are in fact brilliant people.
Their ability to reason and debate from a logical perspective is incredible.
This is why Christians must learn apologetics. Christians have a responsibility
to learn how to be intelligent thinkers who can defend their beliefs
rationally, logically, and most importantly, from the Bible that most claim to
know yet do not. Atheists know enough about the Bible to be dangerous, but not
enough to interpret most passages accurately. They can find their way to the
dangerous problem texts for Christians to interpret who are not well versed in
the historical implications of most of these verses. This is why Christians
must know how to use their weapons well, and instill doubt in atheists with the
mind God gave them. Ultimately, apologetics will not win someone to Christ.
Paul Watson once said, “Theistic proofs are great because they rattle cages,
but ultimately, they cannot save.” How true this is, as this brings me to my
final point.
The Gospel is
called the good news for a reason. It shatters the walls of the ignorant, it
reaches out to the drowning, and rouses the dead to life. Because ethics cannot
be established apart from God, God must be centric in the lives of men. It is
God who instills in man the desire for ethical parity that coincides with an
established order. That is why ethical systems have problems and are
self-defeating when they exist outside the boundaries of God. Cultural
Relativism cannot work because it cannot handle the idea of absolute truth.
Behaviorism cannot work because it ignores the reason why there are Buddhists
converting to Christianity inside the Buddhist community. As Justin Martyr once
said, “If you want proof of the reality of God, oh emperor, look at the
people!” Justin Martyr believed that the greatest apologetic of God’s existence
in ethics was the very fact that the people who followed God were moral and
good people. People who lived what they believed, and lived what Christ taught.
So many Christians have lost the plot when it comes to this. Christianity is
not lived in a bubble. Christ needs His people to get out into the world, into
the business world, into the education system, into the universities, into the
sports arena, and into politics and live as Christ would have them live.
Christians cannot expect the culture to change for the better ethically if the
very people who claim to be transformed by the renewing power of Christ do not
live any different than those who have not had the same transformation. Every
time a pastor is found in his office dying from pornography addictions the
atheists have just one more opportunity to blaspheme Christ and turn their
backs on Him and His people. Every time a Christian rains fire and brimstone on
every unbeliever that comes across their path, the atheist sees nothing more
than spiritual racism. I am not saying that we must be passive about sin, we
must state when sin is wrong, but we cannot instantly condemn to hell, but
rather, attempt to help the same way that Christ did. Present the cure!
That is the only
way that the culture can be changed. Bring the cure to the people. We cannot
make them confess, but I do not want unsaved people to stand at the judgment
seat of Christ and say back to Christ, “Your servant, Ross Harris, never once
told me about you.” How terrifying is that thought?
Conclusion
As
stated above, the culture can only change when the source of the culture
changes. Since mankind has set up counterfeit gods to replace the One True God,
it is the job of Christians to present the ethical solution to corruption by
first living out the ethical solution, defending the ethical solution, and
presenting the ethical solution. When this is done, it is no longer the
responsibility of the Christian, but the responsibility of mankind to respond
to the Gospel. When it comes down to it, we are not commanded to change the
culture, but to pray for those who can. The culture will change on its own when
Christ is the center of culture. This is what all believers look forward to
when we come into the millennial kingdom of Christ and His reign for 1,000
years before entering into the greatness of the never ending eternality of the
rule of God the Father. What a day that will be. Maranatha.
