Atheism: the new killer?

Dad links son's suicide to 'The God Delusion'

A New York man is linking the suicide of his 22-year-old son, a military veteran who had bright prospects in college, to the anti-Christian book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins after a college professor challenged the son to read it.

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I can kind of see both sides to the story. On one hand, this quite demonstrates the meaninglessness of atheism and God-rejection. A world without God offers little comfort, the religious will be quick to say, and leads naturally to despair and hopelessness.

On the other hand, it could well be argued that the poor boy was headed this way already. Suicide is rarely an impulsive action; often much thought and planning preceeds the attempt/event. The boy was obviously struggling with far more than what we could see, and probably found himself being tugged in too many directions.

Besides, atheists would say, for many, a world without God is rather liberating! Far from being hopeless, you find yourself free from the ridiculous shackles of religion, and free to live how you want and how you think you should. Notice also (I imagine they would say) that the boy found himself convinced by Dawkins' book. Even if a world without God offers less comfort, it doesn't mean it's not the truth.

Fair enough.

My personal opinion? I agree with both sides. I'll explain what I mean by that, because on the surface they appear anything but complementary.

I agree with the atheists who say that the boy would probably on the path towards suicide anyway. I don't think we know enough to pinpoint the specific triggers. I also agree that life without God can appear liberating, free from the shackles of man-made man-controlling religion. And I definitely agree with the fact that the most comforting worldview is not necessarily the right one.

In other words I don't think we can say for sure that atheism was what pushed the poor boy over the limit.

But I don't think atheism did (or could have done) anything to protect him.

What does atheism have to offer to someone looking for meaning, purpose or goodness in his or her life? Without God, the aim of life is simply to live it. It's as profound and as shallow as that. Some might add that you should live it in a way that makes you happy, or that you think is right. Live for your family. Live for your friends. Live to make a difference in this world. Live to experience. Live to enjoy. Live for what's good - the hedonistic cry.

But what is good? How do I know whether something I'm doing is good? Perhaps if it makes me happy. But is being happy good? Well, let's take the biological angle. Since we all evolved to survive, then whatever I do that promotes my survival must be good! Afterall, that's my evolutionary purpose.

But is surviving good? Just because it may have been what we evolved to do doesn't mean it's good, or right, or meaningful, or purposeful. Without God, "good" can mean anything you want, but it can't mean any one thing. "Good" is simply a social construct. There is absolutely no anchor or foundation for what "good" means, if you believe that God is simply a delusion.

With God, however, everything is different. (At issue here is not whether God exists, but rather what the implications are if He exists.) If God told us what was good and bad, then there would be a clear and objective definition of good and bad that transcends mere opinion and social interactions. Good would always be good. Bad would always be bad.

I'll borrow an analogy from mathematics. Say you had to plot a graph. Imagine if you had to do so without any reference point; for example, the origin (0,0). It's not that the origin has not been specified and you can place it wherever you want; it's that the concept of the origin doesn't even exist. You can still try plotting your graph and making meaning out of it, but at the end of the day, all your inferences are at best guesses.

With God, the graph has an origin. The playing field has boundaries. The ship has an anchor. The universe has laws. And life has meaning, because good and bad do exist and there actually is a right way to live.

Of course, that also means that there is a definite wrong way to live. But we don't test the truthfulness of a claim based on how comforting it is to us, do we? :p

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The article is a chilling reminder that life without God, at its very heart, is empty. It sure seems liberating - you make your own rules, do what you want, live for enjoyment - but when pressed for answers and for truth, it falls utterly short. If goodness can mean anything, then goodness means nothing.

I believe that there is a God who has told us (through the Bible and through Jesus) what is good and bad, and what is the right way to live. Far from being restricting, this completely frees you to live life the way you were made to - we can't even imagine anything better. Maybe it's time for us to stop thinking we know what's right for us. Let's start listening to our maker.

Make your own Google map!

I've been making personalised maps using Google Maps for a number of years now, and it only occurred to me recently that many people don't know how to make one, let alone know it exists! I was just about to make a video tutorial explaining how to do so when a quick youtube search showed me that Google had already made such a video, which saves me lots of effort. Watch, learn and use!

Dec 08 update

Man it's been a while. The last month or so has been a crazy ride. It began with the big storm, not having Hercules (our car) for a few weeks, preparing for our church's Carols Service, and spending the last two weeks in Singapore. During which both Claire and I got pretty sick :(

But otherwise, we're ok. And we're back in Brisbane. And we've got lots ahead of us! Namely, the Carols Service this Sunday evening (for which I probably have a practice every night this coming week), and for Claire, a thesis. One big fat masters thesis, due early February. Poor girl. I'll be free after this Sunday until mid Jan which is when I'll be starting school. This really deserves its own post, but by God's amazing grace, I got a job at Northside Christian College (which only just happens to be the coolest school ever :p). The classes I was given for next year are year 7, 8 and 9 science. Should be interesting.

So in the 3-4 weeks that I have between now and then, I'll be busy preparing for classes, cooking and making life easy for Claire so she can concentrate on her thesis, playing Red Alert 3, having friends over, learning a bit more jazz piano, and I might make another video should the inspiration come. Sounds good? I think it does.

I'll end with this - a random video of an unusual "massage" that Claire and I had in Singapore.

It was at a random shop at the Night Safari, and Claire and I thought, why not! $10 for 10 mins. Enlarge the picture below to see what the sign on the tank said.

Shortchanging the Good News

Written by Lee Strobel

Hollywood-bad-boy-turned-Christian Stephen Baldwin raised more than a few eyebrows when he dared to question U2's seemingly sacrosanct front man, Bono, in his book The Unusual Suspect (FaithWords).

“Look, Bono, I'm a huge fan of yours,” Baldwin wrote. “I just think ... that you would do far more good if you preached the Gospel of Jesus rather than trying to get Third World debt relief.”

Some people said Baldwin went too far. But did he?

We're seeing increased social action among evangelical churches. There's a heightened interest in addressing poverty and injustice on the other side of the planet—as well as on the other side of the street. American churches have launched major initiatives to help deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

As Newsweek observed, megachurch pastors who built their congregations on local evangelism over the last three decades “are turning their focus further outward” and addressing “larger issues worldwide.” The reporter wrote: “New life [is] being breathed into the evangelical community by ... people who are making social causes ( Africa , poverty, HIV/AIDS) the centerpiece of their faith.”

Obviously, it's a good thing when influential Christians bring help and hope to those who are suffering. After all, Matt. 4:23 says Jesus went around “healing every disease and sickness among the people.” He called his followers to be compassionate toward those who are in physical need.

But that very same verse also says Jesus was “preaching the Good News of the Kingdom.” He knew that tending to the sick and disenfranchised would provide only temporary relief. Indeed, every person Jesus healed is long dead. Ultimately, their biggest need was spiritual, because they would be spending a lot more time in eternity than in this life.

In short, this is a “both/and” issue, not an “either/or” proposition. Should we care about Third World debt, rampant disease, illiteracy and the ever-multiplying number of AIDS orphans? Absolutely! And should we be concerned about the eternities of people in India , Indonesia and across the street from us? Of course!

But problems occur when the scales tilt too much in either direction. When we reach out to help others but don't tell them about their need for a Savior, we're cheating them out of an opportunity for the spiritual healing that they may not even know they need. And when we preach the Gospel of love but turn a callous eye toward human suffering, we're failing to live out the compassion of Christ as he told us we should.

Christian leaders should carefully monitor how those scales are balanced in their own church. In some cases, I'm troubled by how the evangelistic value has dramatically dissipated as churches move toward a “social Gospel.” After all, there are always subtle pressures to slack off on evangelism. Why?

First, the media and community applaud pastors who lead teams to serve the poor. Public recognition feels good, and this can reinforce pastors' commitment to social action. But let's be clear: The secular world sees zero value in bringing the Gospel to the spiritually needy.

Second, it's often easier to motivate church members to serve the poor in Mexico than to share the Gospel with their colleagues at work. I've seen far too many Christians who are more than willing to travel halfway around the world to volunteer for a week in an orphanage, but who cannot bring themselves to take the personal risk of sharing Jesus with the co-worker who sits day after day in the cubicle right next to them.

The truth is that when we serve others as Jesus did, we also open up more opportunities to share the Gospel. As the old saying goes, “We have to be good news before we share the Good News.”

But we must share the Good News! Otherwise, we're merely humanitarians who are no different than the Kiwanis Club. And our mission is infinitely more important than that.

http://www.leestrobel.com/newsletters/2008DECEMBER/shortchangingthegoodnews.htm