Evolution

What is life without God?

A few weeks ago we took a look at the theory of evolution. We looked at it as a scientific theory and compared it to actual scientific proof, looked at it from a biblical perspective made some scriptural comparisons and so forth. We did not discuss the social impact of this idea.

I mentioned this theme to my wife and she said “oh, you mean, if you believe we are all just animals then we will start to treat each other like we are animals” to which I said. “Umm… Yeah basically”

Evolution is clearly an attempt to explain the development of life in the universe, without God. Its an idea that has allowed those who say God does not exist a sense of boldness and confidence by letting them believe they are on the side of science, fact, logic. Evolution lets atheists feel they have a good explanation for life and how it came about.

Likewise new theories about the formulation of the universe such as the Big Bang etc attempt to explain how the planets and stars developed, a universe without God. None of these theories, ideas, logic systems explain how something comes from nothing… but they are very appealing to those who have decided they want no God in their lives and with the support of our government-sponsored schools is proving to be an effective means to win over young impressionable minds… but to what?

Life Without God Is Without Purpose, Meaningless and ends up Violent, and Chaotic

Such a statement makes a big leap…  Let’s try to connect the dots by taking a look at three basic ways humans attempt to describe the meaning of life without God.

1. Atheism (hardcore determinists)
2. Humanism (or existentialism)
3. Pantheism (new age etc)

Atheism is not a new or necessarily modern phenomenon but it has become increasingly popular lately… Schools teach children that living beings just rose up out of the slime pits (for no apparent reason) and all that we see around us and in the skies are debris of a gigantic explosion that also for no apparent reason or causes just happened. Now, gum chewing teenage girls in designer T-shirts profess to be atheists and rub shoulders with your teenagers and mine on the school bus and in the lunch lines. Atheism is no longer just for Bolsheviks and university intellectuals!

But are today teenyboppers thinking through to where the supposed logic of atheism really leads?

What does an Atheist believe?

A world without God the creator is just matter… atoms and energy colliding randomly in the universe. What else can it be? This means that everything you think and know and experience is defined by physics. (explain: DETERMINISM using billiard table example).

Everything you know and experience as an individual is just action and reaction, matter and energy. There is nothing that is personal, nothing that is really YOU, nothing spiritual… just nothing. That’s atheism at its core. It’s grim, lifeless pointless and without meaning.

God mockers accuse people like you and me of creating God in our own minds as a crutch because we can’t handle the grim reality. Atheists tend to present themselves as the ones brave enough and bold enough to face the awful truth. But do they?

I personally don’t think there are many or any real hardcore atheists out there… most people who still want to imagine the universe without God find some kind of compromise. One reason is because the pure atheism just described clearly does not explain what they themselves are feeling, dreaming, experiencing or suffering.

Theories about how the universe came to be in a way that does not allow for God have a fatal flaw. They are simple unable to explain how a purely mechanical universe (like our billiard table example) results in beings capable of thinking of non-mechanical things… like justice, fairness, free will, or love. Except perhaps to say “such things don’t really exist”… again very grim, very grim indeed.

People start off liking the idea of a reality without truth or meaning because it frees them from suffering feelings of guilt for their actions. It's liberating… exhilarating, blah, blah, blah. “quotes”

But a universe with no place for justice, fairness, love… does anyone really believe that? Does anyone really want to live like that? Plus, (and this will become important in a minute or two) a universe where you are just the result of mechanical operations of matter and energy you have NO FREE WILL. One of our billiard balls cannot just decide one moment to just do something wild and crazy, to decide to jump off the table sit on the rubbers and watch the other balls go by.

That sort of pure atheism is pretty hard to swallow. And simply doesn’t jive with the reality of our own experience. And so, most often when you come across someone who claims to be an atheist what you are really dealing with is an existentialist or a humanist.

What is an Existentialist or Humanist?

An existentialist also believes that the universe has no purpose or meaning … BUT… the existentialist also says “I can create meaning in life how I choose to act and to think. I have a mind… its more than just a brain, more than merely a collection of neurons, ganglia, hormones, chemicals and electricity. I know this because I can think thoughts and then act them out. Not just operational thoughts like eating drinking, and reproduction, keeping the balls moving around the table… I can think about weird stuff, beautiful stuff, crazy stuff, deviant stuff and I can either do it or not do it… so I must have free will”

Why do I equate Existentialists with Humanists?

Because for both, the human is the god of this world… whether individually or collectively the humans or human defines truth, determines what is to be considered just, what is fair, what is allowed or not allowed. However because each person is unique, each has a unique concept to justice (for example). This individual concept of what justice means that’s so unique it can’t even be described in words. I can’t even really be explained to any other person.

• “I have to do what feels right… for me”
• “That may work for you but it doesn’t work for me”
• “ follow your heart”

Why Do Humans Even Think About Stuff Life This?

The fact that we do is obvious… the reason why, not so much!

Gen 1: 26, Eccl 3:11

You and I know humans are a spiritual creation (presently in jars of clay), made in the image and likeness of God. We know humans are made with a spiritual component and a longing for eternity in our hearts and minds. Theses God type thoughts and concerns are built in. (Note: we know this by revelation)

But for one who does not acknowledge God it’s complicated. “There’s this concept of justice that I cannot shake off but since I refuse to acknowledge God and accept the worthiness of His righteous character as a pattern for life all I have to work with is my own mind and thoughts”.

Jeremiah 17:9

It’s all going to end very badly…

Atheist, evolutionist, Muslim, Hindu and Christian can all agree on this… humans cannot survive alone on this rather savage and brutal planet. Without claws, fangs, fast running legs we have to work together to stay alive as biological organisms… but a world full people each with their own sets of unique standards and codes of conduct, subject to dramatic shifts due to mood or just indigestion, incomprehensible and unreliable to anyone but themselves… such humans will devolve into chaos and get eaten by tigers.

Humans are designed to work together… so, either for survival or the sheer thrill of ruling over others, forceful people will impose their self-developed ideas of justice, fairness, and other standards upon others. And in a world where we don’t accept absolute truth beyond what we ourselves think and feel and desire, all of which change tomorrow… the only means of “persuasion” is by brute force.

Hitler, Stalin, Mao… (beaten back by ever-weakening U.S.)… what lays ahead?

The universe is God / God is the universe… Pantheism or New Age

Some people recognize that there appear to be concepts larger than what their own mind can dream up and like the idea of a “higher power”.  This believes the universe contains objective values which we can seek out through observation and discernment of the billiard balls of the universe. Saying the universe is God means God is not a personality standing outside the billiard table. He didn’t build the table, set up the balls, break the first shot. He is the table, and the balls… nothing more.

I believe in a supreme being or intelligence but not a personal God like in the bible

No thoughts, plans, character, integrity, personality… not God as He makes himself known to us in His acts,  His self-declared moral laws and finally in the flesh, as Jesus, God who could be witnessed, experienced and testified to as an historical person appearing in space and time, like you or me.

So, let’s say God is the stuff of the universe, or the stuff of the universe is God and we can discover truths, values or moral lessons by studying nature or the planets, or the galaxies, math, physics, quantum mechanics… Or perhaps we are the sort who sits cross-legged and hums so we can tune into the universe and hear what it has to say to us… But where does man get the needed moral intuition to realize and understand these truths and moral values and to choose what is good from among the many conflicting choices the universe has to offer. 

Does A Non-Personal God Offer Purpose And Meaning to Life?

“I believe in something beyond this life but not anything that involves personality or character, no I see my personal destiny as becoming one with the universe, at one with all things” …which translated into real-speak means no personal thoughts, no personal actions, …once again it all leads to nothing.

What’s the difference between that and being thrown into the lake of fire to be destroyed permanently and forever? Where is the hope and purpose in a non-personal destiny?

Saying God is the universe seems more spiritual than atheism, or existentialism… but it’s really more of the same. Truth and moral values still end up being the “discoveries” of the human mind. Justice is whatever we are able to figure out using our powers of observation… all I can call right is whatever seems right, to me. Where are we in the discovery process? Do we have half the total picture yet, a third? 90%... how can we ever know? Do we know what justice is or not… It’s still out there.

All 3 of these no-God or non-God approaches reject the idea of any personal intelligent authority above the human mind. All three reject the concept of knowledge revealed in a tangible, intelligent, understandable or rational way… instead, you are offered grimness, fleeting pleasures and suffering…

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Macbeth

Without a clear concept of God as real and personal, human life has no purpose, no goal, and no value. The end is no different that being thrown into the lake of fire. The atheist can offer only a deathbed of eternal silence, the god is the universe people offer you a slow dissolve into nothingness.

Psalm 16:25

The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the one who descended and dwelt among men as Jesus gives you two options: life versus death. Deut 30:19

Why do men reject God… and unwittingly choose death? They want to be free!

• Free from rules that restrict their powerful sexual lusts
• Free from authority… anyone else telling them what to do (parents, church, God etc)
• Free from judgment… free from guilt “through the law I know what sin is” Rom 3:20

Is the church free from moral relativism?

Disruption in the church over the last two decades has greatly diminished our sense of authority within the church just as we see in the society around us. Should we follow our hearts to try to make sense of what we see going on around us?  Shall we reason for ourselves what the true meaning and application of what scripture to suit our changing circumstances?

The bottom line is you have always had to decide matters of right and wrong for yourself and always will. The church cannot and never really could make you believe (and act upon) things you do not believe (and don’t want to act upon). But we can continue to proclaim the truth in a rational, intelligible manner. To ensure that there remains a place where the truth of God is taught and preached. Belief and faith are internal decisions between you and God but acted upon among the brothers and sisters and hopefully everyone you interact with in life.

You must decide to submit yourself to the authority of God.

Ironies of ironies is… that’s how you achieve freedom. Not in an “I love you Big Brother” or “just go with the flow” way. But as the true path of enlightenment that frees you from the tyrannies of lusts and passions frees you from guilt, and frees you from the fear of death. Not by dissolving into non-being, but by becoming a God being, a part of the everlasting God family which is what you were designed to become.