Hello my siblings in Christ, I am Bojan and in this short clip I’ll present to you some of my scattered thoughts on atheism.
Now, I’m a religious man, in the case you couldn’t tell, and naturally, I think that atheism is bad; for different reasons, an atheist will most probably think that religion is bad for me.
I see atheism as a faith system that is inherently bleak. Let me put it this way.
If God exists and He is good, then all suffering must ultimately end.
If God exists and He is evil, then all suffering will never end.
If God does not exist, all suffering is completely meaningless.
In all three cases, atheist loses.
See what I mean? At best, an atheist can hope for Pyrrhic victory of being right in the case God does not exist or, God forbid, if He exists but is evil. However, the last option, where God does not exist, is not the one where an atheist can even enjoy his or her victory.
It is a sort of Pascal’s wager. It isn’t a proof of God, of course, but it is a proof of atheism’s ultimate nihilism.
The second thing I mind about atheism is what that it presents us with what I call a two layered sieve to the evils of society. Here is what I mean. Let us assume someone wants to kill another person. What will prevent such a man to commit his crime?
First, we have the first sieve layer, we have our inherent goodness. Generally, we think it is wrong to kill a fellow human being. Us Christians call it ‘being made in the image of God’, some people will call it conscience, some will call it common sense, others good upbringing, some will call it their guardian angel. Whatever you call it, abstaining from murder because you think is wrong is an option open to both atheists and believers.
The second layer of sieve is law. Frankly, you might abstain from murdering someone because you’re afraid of getting caught. Maybe you’re just a coward to carry it out, getting your hands dirty. It doesn’t matter, whatever works. This option, too, is open for both atheists and believers.
However, religion and only religion adds the third layer of sieve to the mix - a man might abstain from murder because he’s afraid to sin. Again, this might be worded differently - maybe he’s afraid of hell, or being cursed by bad luck, or he’s afraid of being reincarnated as a limping ringworm. Yes, abstaining from murder because you’re afraid of hell is not all that conductive to your own spiritual life, but hey, it is very conductive for the person whose life you wanted to end.
I’ll share a story that a certain priest shared with me. His great grandfather was going to Ohio via boxcar to get some work. Along the way, two people jumped on the boxcar, killed two passengers and left his great grandfather for dead. Left him as in - threw him out of the boxcar. He barely made it out alive - he even had an open fracture on his leg.
Thank God, he made it out alive, and years later, in Oak Ridge, he saw one of the men who tried to kill him. He went and fetched a pastol, and as he was going to get his revenge, he head voice of God, Who told him to turn around and put the pistol away. He did as commanded, called the police and his would-be murderer was jailed.
Now, I know what some atheists might be thinking: “But Bojan, a lot of people claimed God told them to kill people!”
Yes, that is true. However, we must remember that ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is still one of the Ten Commandments that Christ not only did not abrogate, He strengthened it. We are commanded not only not to kill, but even not to hate.
Not killing is what we were ordered by God Himself. A voice telling us to kill is an aberration, a psychotic episode at best and a satanic prompt at worst.
Now, I’m a religious man, in the case you couldn’t tell, and naturally, I think that atheism is bad; for different reasons, an atheist will most probably think that religion is bad for me.
I see atheism as a faith system that is inherently bleak. Let me put it this way.
If God exists and He is good, then all suffering must ultimately end.
If God exists and He is evil, then all suffering will never end.
If God does not exist, all suffering is completely meaningless.
In all three cases, atheist loses.
See what I mean? At best, an atheist can hope for Pyrrhic victory of being right in the case God does not exist or, God forbid, if He exists but is evil. However, the last option, where God does not exist, is not the one where an atheist can even enjoy his or her victory.
It is a sort of Pascal’s wager. It isn’t a proof of God, of course, but it is a proof of atheism’s ultimate nihilism.
The second thing I mind about atheism is what that it presents us with what I call a two layered sieve to the evils of society. Here is what I mean. Let us assume someone wants to kill another person. What will prevent such a man to commit his crime?
First, we have the first sieve layer, we have our inherent goodness. Generally, we think it is wrong to kill a fellow human being. Us Christians call it ‘being made in the image of God’, some people will call it conscience, some will call it common sense, others good upbringing, some will call it their guardian angel. Whatever you call it, abstaining from murder because you think is wrong is an option open to both atheists and believers.
The second layer of sieve is law. Frankly, you might abstain from murdering someone because you’re afraid of getting caught. Maybe you’re just a coward to carry it out, getting your hands dirty. It doesn’t matter, whatever works. This option, too, is open for both atheists and believers.
However, religion and only religion adds the third layer of sieve to the mix - a man might abstain from murder because he’s afraid to sin. Again, this might be worded differently - maybe he’s afraid of hell, or being cursed by bad luck, or he’s afraid of being reincarnated as a limping ringworm. Yes, abstaining from murder because you’re afraid of hell is not all that conductive to your own spiritual life, but hey, it is very conductive for the person whose life you wanted to end.
I’ll share a story that a certain priest shared with me. His great grandfather was going to Ohio via boxcar to get some work. Along the way, two people jumped on the boxcar, killed two passengers and left his great grandfather for dead. Left him as in - threw him out of the boxcar. He barely made it out alive - he even had an open fracture on his leg.
Thank God, he made it out alive, and years later, in Oak Ridge, he saw one of the men who tried to kill him. He went and fetched a pastol, and as he was going to get his revenge, he head voice of God, Who told him to turn around and put the pistol away. He did as commanded, called the police and his would-be murderer was jailed.
Now, I know what some atheists might be thinking: “But Bojan, a lot of people claimed God told them to kill people!”
Yes, that is true. However, we must remember that ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is still one of the Ten Commandments that Christ not only did not abrogate, He strengthened it. We are commanded not only not to kill, but even not to hate.
Not killing is what we were ordered by God Himself. A voice telling us to kill is an aberration, a psychotic episode at best and a satanic prompt at worst.
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