A few hours ago, someone posted some thoughts about atheism. This prompted me to also write about some things I have considered. Some of these things were covered by the other blogger, while some thoughts were not.
I recently read something posted by someone who brags about being an atheist. He has every right to believe as he wishes. That is one of the great things about America – freedom of religion (or lack thereof). This individual has also made statements about what is right and what is wrong. I began to contemplate this. If this person does not believe there is a god, then who decides right from wrong? We do. Doesn’t that elevate us to a god-like status?
That is a huge part of today’s problem…we have become our own god. We would swear that we don’t worship ourselves, but the evidence proves to the contrary. Life, for many, is all about what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it, etc. When did we get the authority to call our own shots? Yes, God gave us free will and many have chosen to elevate that free will to “show God who’s boss”.
Many today want just enough of Jesus that might get them into Heaven but don’t want the obedience that goes along with it. Those who claim to be atheists are often those who have experienced trauma in life and do not know how to balance the sovereignty of God with the trauma they have experienced. They feel that God has disappointed them, so it is easier to say there is no god than to try to work through the tough questions.
I am, by no means, an expert on the subject. I know that I see a generation who has elevated itself to a God-like status either by claiming to be Christian and calling their own shots or denying the existence of God and placing God-like authority upon themselves. Any way you look at it, it is a sin. We have no right to place ourselves above God. There are consequences to such actions, and the results will be humility and humiliation. My question to all of us is “Who/what is the ‘god’ in your life?”
Matthew Winters (Honest Thoughts from a Pastor) 
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Excellent blog… and question! I only know that when the God and Father of the Universe, the One who sacrificed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for my sin, and indwells us as believers through the power of His Holy Spirit is on the throne of my heart, THAT is when I am the happiest, most at peace and most joyful in this life. That does not disclaim the struggle for it to always be that way, but it does claim that when ‘I’ stay off the throne, lay down all other idles and surrender to Him ‘the place of honor and glory’ that is His, my life is in its best state ever! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! 🙂 Thank you for this!!!
That should say Creator, but Father is good too. 🙂
God the father, Christ Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit!
There is only one God…. the I AM. So thankful He has been so patient with us until calling us to know Him. All the more reason we need to walk the walk so that it speaks so clearly of His grace as a witness for those who will perhaps never pick and read His word.
Good point.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
Calling themselves…without any definable obedience to the Christian God, is about it!
Thank you for reblogging! This thought convicted me, and I pray God will use it to help us all decrease and our Savior increase.
I just ran across a supposed “believer” who has also pretty much drunk the “kool-aide” of deciding he can support all the things our Lord says in the Bible are abominations. No Names, of course—he has the opportunity, one hopes to be taught the truth and then decide whether or not to obey GOD–or his gods! 🙂
Doesn’t it say in both Judges 21: 25 and 17: 6…that everyone (in the Last Days, too) went obout with itching ears, to find whatever teaching agreed with their own thoughts and desires (2 Timothy 4: 1-4 ) -?
We were warned that it would come to this. While we still have time, we better sound the alarm.
Hey brother—that is–in THIS MEDIUM—what we are doing. I had another opportunity near home when a number of our neighbors got talking about THE SHACK–both book and movie! I happened to have a copy–and did my best to politely warn them about it.
You make a great point. I have had long conversations with a few atheists and I have always questioned where they pull their morals from if their morals do not come from a spiritual place. We have social norms that can help dictate our moral standards but essentially, our social norms have just become laws. The majority of our laws were based off of Christian beliefs from early settlers. Many people live by these social norms only because if they don’t, they go to prison. A prime example is the outrage and chaos in the Middle East where social norms are quite different than American societal norms. The law there is not the same as the law here and so many Americans are horrified by societal norms of that region. Yet, if left to our own free and unabashed will, what would the human be capable of? And so the atheist essentially has morals that are dictated by themselves and reinforced not by their belief in a higher power but by either their own sub-conscious or by the legal system. Yet, how does the atheist determine right from wrong based off of their own sub-conscious? As you said, the atheist essentially operates in a god like fashion. Excellent post I would love to delve into this further with a post of my own. Great thoughts.
You Make a lot of great points. There is nothing new under the sun (as Ecclesiastes says), so feel free to expound on this. Someone else triggered my thoughts, and I look forward to following your blog. Thanks for the follow!
Thank you and I am glad to have stumbled on your blog myself! Thanks for the follow back as well.
What kind of question is “where do atheists get their morals from?”. From being raised like good human being that knows that I cannot kill people just because I want to. And no, I do not see myself operating as a god. I am just me, period.
The question you mentioned is a good question because I am curious. Are their morals set by their culture: parents, authorities, local and national laws, etc.? If so, my question is “Where did they receive the authority to set those morals?” Did they give themselves the authority? Was it passed down from generation to generation? Who ultimately set those morals? The Big Bang? The ape that some say is our ancestor? You mention murder. Some say it is okay to murder in some circumstances. Once again, I would really like to know who the authority is and where that authority comes from. Finally, you made an awesome statement in saying “I am just me”. You may disagree with me on this, and that is okay. However, you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the God of the universe who created you for a purpose and has great plans for your life. I, by no means, want to argue. Some who disagree with me have been gracious in their disagreements. I do welcome healthy discussion.
@ComebackPastor and MyWorld:
Why would I need an “authority” to hold a value set of morals? The only reason I could think of, is if I wanted the *responsibility* to be somewhere other than myself.
That’s a little too close to “don’t blame me, I don’t make the rules” to my way of thinking. If there were absolute moral values, [objective rather than subjective] then they would be unchanging. We know from both observation and cultural history that values DO change over time, there are even examples of that in the bible. Morals are by definition subjective because they require the operation of the human mind and they have no independent agency.
Being our own god, wasn’t that the carrot that Satan put in front of Adam and Eve, if they ate, they would be a god.
Reblogged this on MyDoorIsAjar and commented:
I haven’t managed a good “athy” post in a while, but here’s something I bet you can chew on.
It’s an appeal to authority for the most part, something we’ve seen many times before. I think this is a good opportunity to explore Hitchens famous challenge: Name one moral act a christian can do that an atheist can’t.”
Thanks for sharing😀!
Thank *you* for the opportunity to add something to the discussion. I’ve left comments open as sometimes dealing with us atheists can be like reciting “Candyman” in the mirror three times. 😉
It is obvious at the end of the day that we will disagree. That does not excuse me from extending you common courtesy.
Here are some of my observations. Your post assumes there HAS to be a God but you don’t explain why there HAS to be a god. I understand it has to in order to support your arguments. Without the assumption of god the views in this post would not stand. Starting with the assumption of a god is kind of like starting a race at the halfway point. From the point of view of an atheist the roll of god does not need to be filled therefore the people you say are elevating themselves to the roll of god could only be believers in god like Christians. Also, your characterization that atheists are many times people that have experienced trauma in their lives and don’t know how to deal with it is simply not true. I think you know that and if you don’t then you should spend some time talking with an atheist. I hope you don’t find my comments offensive. That is not my intention.
I don’t take offense to your comments. In the case of atheists I know, they will not admit that they have chosen their path based on trauma or their difficulty in trusting to understand God’s sovereignty in light of poor choices that humans make. I’m not generalize all into that category. I’m sure there are those who have chosen that path who have studied the broad spectrum and feel that is the best choice for them. The bottom line is that everything begins with a presupposition…atheism, agnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc. Presuppose there is no god and the world evolved from monkeys or a Big Bang? Presuppose there is a God who beautifully and masterfully created the universe and all that is in it? All arguments begin with a presupposition, and anyone can take any theory or belief and support with the use of “facts”, whatever or whomever defines what facts and absolutes are. I appreciate you commenting and doing so in a courteous manner. You’re not flaunting your beliefs nor bashing me for mine. I appreciate that.
@ Comeback Pastor
“It is obvious at the end of the day that we will disagree. That does not excuse me from extending you common courtesy.”
Again, I’m grateful for the opportunity. Hopefully I won’t upset your readership too much.
They/you are free to pop over and comment at my house if they feel like it. And you’re right, we most likely won’t come close to agreeing on much. I find it useful to get to know christians and they us [atheists]. At the end of the day, perhaps we can at least understand each other.
By way of background: I’m a former evangelical, theologically trained fellow who spent 20+ years in the service of faith. My skepticism came from exhaustive study of the bible. Eventually I realized things just weren’t adding up.
I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.
Welcome to Virtual Vitamins! I’m thankful my words bless you. You, too, write with real substance, as someone who has experienced, and rest in, the grace of God. May your words bless many indeed, for His glory.
God is simply an abstract concept and as such EVERYTHING we think about God is then about God.
But..
Due to the subjective nature of abstract concepts my concept of God, Beauty, Love, Justice, Goodness, etc. is different from your concept of these abstract ideas or anyone else’s, therefore no one is actually speaking of these concepts in and of themselves.
‘I am, by no means, an expert on the subject. ‘
‘Those who claim to be atheists are often those who have experienced trauma in life and do not know how to balance the sovereignty of God with the trauma they have experienced. ‘
Why do you claim to know how I think but then play the ‘I am no expert’ card?
My statement is strictly an observation, as I’m sure anyone who disagrees with me has observations and thoughts about why I believe the way I do. We all have a free will and can choose a belief system (or whatever we choose to call it) based on fact or feeling. That’s the beauty of free will. In the end, we will discover who is right or wrong (if such things exist).
But isn’t it better that we are our own God? If we are the ones experiencing the suffering and trauma of life, aren’t we much better equipped to determine what is right and wrong?… Not some being in the sky.
To complain that we are the ones making our own decisions is to sound like God’s little teachers pet, and I do not think that is a sign of strength nor self respect.
If you view God as a being like a blob in the sky rather than the Creator who is powerful enough to have spoken the world into existence (including you and me), then I can see how you would arrive to such a conclusion. I see Him, however, as the Creator who is loving enough to give us authoritative truth and boundaries for our protection. God has no teacher’s pet because He loves us all equally but forces none of us to love Him. Strength and self respect are choices related to our character, not whether we determine we are a god and call our own shots. We call our own shots anyway and either choose to embrace God’s best for us through obedience to Him or settle for less.