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Why Aren’t Christians Better People?

C. Michael Patton began a series on questions he hopes no one will ask, which relates to my own series on DaGoodS’s questions that Christians hope no one will ask.  I examined a few of his questions in brief already, and I had intended to continue examining them as he posted more.  In the interest of time, I wanted to just write a small snippet on each and combine several in a single post.

That didn’t happen with the question of why Christians aren’t better people. Read the rest of this entry

The Moral Bankruptcy of Atheism

Let’s try this thought experiment:

On the side of the road is a man, his wife, and a child.  They are holding up a sign that reads, “We lost our home.  Help would be appreciated.”

Moved by their plight, I’m compelled to help them.  I pull my car over to an out-of-the way place.  I exit the vehicle and approach the family.

“Hi,” I call to them.

“Hello,” the man says.  His wife and daughter remain silent, though his wife offers me a tenative smile.

“I feel for your plight, sir,” I say.  “I’m going to give you $20.”

“Thank you,” the man says.  His wife smiles more broadly this time, and she extends a hand to thank me.

“But first,” I say, dangling a twenty dollar bill from my fingertips, “I want you to do a little something.”

The woman drops her hand to her side.  The man looks at me, while the woman raises a quizzical eyebrow.

Then I propose my deal.  “I have a hula hoop, clown shoes, and a colored wig in my trunk.  I want you to strip all of your clothes off–totally naked–and wear nothing but the wig and clown shoes.  Then, I want you to spin the hula hoop as many times as you can while chanting, ‘I can’t provide for the basic needs of my family, so I’m begging people for money instead of looking for a job!'”

Awkward silence.  I dangle the twenty dollar bill even closer to the man’s face.  “I don’t think so,” the man growls.

“I’ll make it $50 if you do this at the busiest mall in town,” I say.

The man just shakes his head vigorously.  His wife won’t look at me anymore.

In this example, I think that we can confidently conclude that I’m an asshole who should be shot.  Making the homeless jump through hoops for my own amusement is reprehensible behavior. People who engage in it deserve the label “asshole.”

Well, what have we here:

Though no one would praise my actions in the itallicized example, folks on ex-Christian.net are applauding the actions of the maker of that video.  Had the asshole done what I did above in the thought experiment, they (hopefully) would have universally condemned him.  Yet, when he asks the homeless person to deny God for money, that somehow is awesome.

To recap:

  • Make a homeless person jump through sadistic hoops for money = immoral.
  • Make a homeless person deny his Creator for money = strong commentary on religion.

Conclusion: Atheists have little moral compass, especially when it comes to making religion look bad.  Anything goes.  This is so disgusting that I can’t even come up with words for it.

Remember, the spirit is more important than the flesh.  Denying God has spiritual consequences greater than the physical consequences of turning down $20 from a complete asshole:

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:4-11)

And:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Mt 10:29, 31-33)