Think a
moment about the big questions of life: Why are we here? Where are we headed? Do we really matter?
What
answers can atheism give to these?
“Why are we here?” We are accidents. All this amazing order and complexity and the
delicate balance of life developed over billions of years by accident. If any one thing had been different, none of
this would be here. So life is just a
lucky, lucky accident.
“Where are we headed?” Well, if we are cosmic accidents then we have
no soul. And no part of us will live on
after we die. We are headed to
nothingness.
“Do we really matter?” If we are accidents with temporary bodies and
no souls then there is no ultimate lasting value to us, no real purpose or
meaning. We matter only to those who
know us for the brief time we are here, and it doesn’t really ultimately matter
how we lived or what happened in our lives.
Now compare
that to the answers we find in the Bible, in Jesus:
“Why are we here?” Because God wanted us. He made us because He wants a relationship
with people. He is a relational Being,
like us. He wants a family of those who
want to be with Him. Any of us who date
or get married or make friends or cherish our families can relate to that
desire. God made people because He
wanted people to love and He wanted people to love Him back.
“Where are we headed?” God created us with souls. He created us to be a part of His eternal
family, to live with Him in eternity, if we choose it. And this lifetime is our chance to decide if
we want to live with Him or apart from Him.
And in eternity, we will get what we wanted. We will either spend eternity with Him in
heaven or apart from Him in hell. We do
not simply cease to exist, fading into nothingness. We have a soul that will live on. And this is either comforting or terrifying,
depending on where you are headed.
“Do we really matter?” Yes!
We really matter to the One who created us. He loves us because He created us. We don’t have to do anything to deserve or
earn that love. He loves us just because
we are His creation. Because He wants
us. And He loved us enough to send Jesus
to die for us, to pay the price for mankind’s sin, to bridge the gap between us
and Him that was created when mankind rebelled against Him in the Garden of
Eden.
To Him, we – every human being - are
worth the price of Jesus’ life. That is
some major value! Some real hope! To know that we matter eternally to the One
who made us and that He made a way for us to once again have a relationship
with Him . . . if we choose to allow Jesus’ death to pay the price for our
sins. And if not, then we choose to pay
it ourselves, to live with eternal separation from God. The choice is ours!
I could
never be an atheist because there is no real hope in it. No real meaning or value or justice or
purpose or answers or anything.
Does it
really matter if you get to live life the way you want for a short time,
without having to follow the rules of some dusty, ancient Bible!?!
Does it
really matter if you get to pursue whatever you want and be sexually free for
awhile!?! (And isn’t that really what
draws a lot of people to atheism, the love of money and success and
pleasure. They get to do whatever they
want and focus on themselves and have sex when they want and with whom they
want, without anyone telling them that what they are doing is wrong?)
But
rather than having that kind of so-called “freedom,” I would rather have the
hope that things will someday be better than the pathetic-ness of this life,
that people really do matter, that we don’t just cease to exist when we die,
that all wrongs will be made right again someday, and that God is watching over
me and I am not left here alone on earth to navigate it all by myself.
To me, believing in
God is hope-filled and comforting and freeing, not restricting.
Atheists
might think they are having more fun in this lifetime than Christians. But Christians have more hope. We have Truth. We have forgiveness and grace and mercy and
God’s love. We have a strong Father to
lean on, the joy of knowing that God cares for us and that the best is yet to
come, and the promise that God will make all things new and right all wrongs
and reward our faithfulness and wipe every tear from our eyes.
And
that is a wonderful trade-off for being willing to bend a knee and let God be
God.
“But if
serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
