a world without god

teejay

It was five or six years ago that it dawned on me...

... the realization of what the world would be like if enough people finally figured out that there was no god.... no virtual Santa Claus that was checking on them (us) 24/7 and waiting at our life's end with blissful rewards or everlasting penalties. I figured that if even a handful of people figured that out as I had, we'd be in deep doo-doo.

Now... I don't care much for religion. Spirituality? Yes. But "religion"? Nah. Don't have much use for it. Thanks to some "godly" parents, I happened to be raised with a fair amount of morals, including having the idea built into me that what happens to other people matters -- whether I'm personally affected or not. At this point in my life I couldn't care less if god is watching what I do or whether there's a pay-off for me at the end. Regardless, I do what I can to help my fellow homo sapiens... whenever and wherever I can. I take particular interest in helping those I know can never repay me in any way.

I learned in first year Psychology that it's a stage "normal" people go thru in their development toward maturity -- a stage where we learn empathy... to see things from the perspective of other people -- to see what they see, to feel what they feel.

On the other hand and quite to the contrary, the person, or people, in D.C. -- the one(s) who are killing ordinary folk at random -- worry me. Worry me immensely. I don't know why, but I think about it (them) all the time, though I'm hundreds of miles away. It's like a bad dream from which I can't awaken. Like a bad feeling that I can't shake. But it's real. Happening. Now.

It seems that somebody (else) has figured out that there is no god and no penalty at the end of days, except this person (or these people) have absolutely *NO* morals and no compassion for their fellows.

I hope I'm wrong, but I think we're in a lot of trouble. If word continues to spread that there is no god, I can only imagine what the future holds.

I can't help but think that if there *is* a god, it would be sorta nice if he kinda stepped up right about now... and did something. Anything.

ChrisVance

Prisons are filled with people who believe in god. I know many atheists who are honest good hearted people. Use your brain.

SixofNine

He would do something, but that damn moses has him over a barrel with the NRA.

PopeOfEruke

Have you ever heard the song Black Cross? It has the great line in it

"There's a lot of good ways for a man to be wicked"

Pope

kenpodragon

wait, wait, am I suppose to take from this that there is no Santa Claus. I am not old enough to know that. Do not burst my fantasy bubble.

My thought

Dragon

Jigrigger

Hi Teejay,

Personally, I don't buy into the notion that belief in "God" fosters good morals. Countless atrocities have been committed throughout man's history in the name of "God".

The Bible has accounts of "God-fearing" men who did awful things...

Jrig

LDH

Being a good human being and believing in God are not mutually exclusive.

Lisa

clash_city_rockers

This was a cool artical from 12 years ago and still appies to us today

A World Without Religion By Dr. Greg Bahnsen

The intellectual circles of Europe in the nineteenth century experienced the exhilaration and pride of an aggressive rationalism which trusted in the guiding and saving strength of man's reason. Unaided by divine revelation, and spurning any superstitious faith in God, human intellect could answer the ultimate questions of life and discover the solution to our enduring social problems.

The French Revolution had enthroned the goddess of Reason. Hegel, who had once admired the French Revolution, taught that the culmination of the progress inherent in history would be the "world-mind" (Weltgeist) - the Absolute. Feuerbach turned Hegel on his head by teaching that history is the development of matter, not mind (or idea). According to him religion is simply the "dream of the human mind."

Karl Marx was in turn influenced by Feuerbach and advocated an enforced socialism which banished God from consideration. Religion was no better than "the opiate of the masses." Such delusions needed to be eliminated in favor of a rational world where men solve their problems without "Outside" intervention.

Such hostility to religious faith was given practical implementation by the Russian Revolution of 1917. Russia would become history's guinea pig for scientific socialism. The last religious services celebrated within the walls of the Kremlin were conducted in October, 1917.

Until this year. October, 1990, witnessed Patriarch Alexi II lead Christian worship in the Kremlin for the first time in 73 years. Praise God! In his first meeting with the Roman Catholic Pope, Mikhail Gorbachev told the pope that his mother had baptized him in the Orthodox Church. In a recent speech, the Russian leader contended that "The Soviet Union is suffering from a spiritual decline."

These are amazing words and amazing events in the amazing time through which we are living. My point is not at all to endorse the theological errors of Romanism or the Orthodox church - much less to trust Gorbachev's assessment of spiritual matters. My point is that it is amazing that the political bastion of atheism can now see such things happening or being said. Religion could be oppressed, but not vanquished. The spiritual nature and longings of man cannot be removed, even within the most hostile anti-religious political regime of history.

Atheism can be legislated. It cannot be lived. Men's hearts will remain restless (as Augustine once said) until they find their rest in the living and true God. What is transpiring in eastern Europe these days is not simply a confrontation with cold economic reality, it is a renewed confrontation with the reality of our Creator and Redeemer. Atheism continues to be the great failure of history. It is Jesus Christ "whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall never pass away nor be destroyed" (Daniel 7:14).

Edited by - clash_city_rockers on 23 October 2002 4:49:40

Guest 77

I hope that 'sniper' GOD doesn't get to read your post because your history!

Guest 77

LyinEyes

Teejay, I totally agree with you on this. So many questions as to "why?". We may never know why a loving God would wait so long , while so many suffer and die every second. I would be sick of death if I were him, actually death would be easier to watch than the other evils men are doing .

a world without god

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