Conversations with an Atheist

"Can a person be good without believing in God?" asked my atheist friend. He said that human beings need not believe in a deity or belong to any religious group in order to be good or act morally. He continued to say that the idea of the doing good preceded belief in a god, for religion evolved from the imagination of ancient man. In fact, he believed that the concept of god is alien to the algorithm of human goodness and morality. Humans already have a sense of moral right or wrong, for moral rectitude is innate within the human spirit.

I agreed with his last sentence, but disagreed with the origin. It is true that human beings have an innate sense of moral goodness. But where did that come from? Did it develop from monkeys or other genetics within the evolutionary chain of human kind? Or did a Greater Power place it within the human spirit? Probing deeper, I asked him to define good. I wanted to know his definition of good and if every human being had the same definition. What my friend failed to realize is that an atheist's morals are not absolute. Not every atheist would agree with what “good” is. Islamist extremists, for instance, believe that good is killing infidels, i.e. everyone who does not accept or conform to Islam. A secular humanist in all likelihood has no problem eliminating a child from the womb. They believe it is good for the woman to choose what is best for her. The sanctity of life people believe that killing the unborn is murder.

 

In other words, there are no absolutes when it comes to morals and ethics among an atheistic community. They do not have a set of moral laws upon which they agree. Therefore, social contracts or compacts are desirable to govern with a semblance of peace and order. Legislation is needed in order to prevent chaos within the community. Even a codified set of laws, however, are not absolute, for the legal system of what is right and wrong may change when the majority in society believes something different. Then new laws are made to reflect contemporary attitudes. For instance, in one century abortion is wrong; in another, it is right.

If there is a God, killing the unborn in a Christian society is wrong. If there is no God, then man decides the issue? If killing serves the best interest of society, then it is determined good. This is none other than situational or temporary ethics. It is tentative morality that promotes, “whatever works best at the moment is morally correct.” If humans have the innate ability to determine what is ethically right, then why is the world in such a mess? Defining good by individual atheistic standards is dangerous in that the majority determines what is good at the moment. If a totalitarian political system is established (as we see with Islamic Jihadists), then a mandate to kill dissenters, the mentally and physically handicap, or Christians and Jews become morally feasible. Atheists who may disagree with such a government will nonetheless tacitly join forces to preserve their self-interest because that is what their inner morality tells them to do. Atheistic morality therefore becomes a standard of convenience, of self-preservation and cannot be deemed an absolute.

Although people, including Christians, are inconsistent in applying their value system to life, a world and life view is based on ethics and morals. If morals are relative, then behavior corresponds. Doing that which is right in one’s own eye is quite dangerous, for it is the way of death (Prov. 14:12), not only for the individual, but also for society. Something bigger than the individual has to exist in order to bring order to chaos and judgment to evil. Atheistic thought cannot provide the answer, for there are no absolutes upon which to build consistency and order. Only God who is absolute can provide absolutes—a reality unacceptable to atheists but the hope of all Christians.

The Story of Valentine's Day

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine, one being Saint Valentine of Rome who was a priest martyred about AD 269 and buried on the Via Flaminia, the Roman road that led to and from Rome over the Apennine Mountains. His relics are said to be at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome and also at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland—the result of a gift by Pope Gregory XVI.

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. He had healed her of her blindness. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legend is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial — which probably occurred around 270 A.D — others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'Christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them clean, and then salt and a type of wheat called spelt were sprinkled throughout the interior. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February (i.e. February 15) was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification.

Boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with goat hide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed by the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D as a feast day in order to superimpose Christianity on a pagan holiday.

Valentine may have been a symbol of love, but no truer love can be found than in the person of Jesus Christ who gave his life for his bride, the Church. This is why he gave his disciples and by extension us a commandment of love.


“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” John 15:12-17

Out with the Old

It’s the New Year—2015. Time does fly, especially for us older folks.  With the New Year comes the expression, “Out with the old and in with the new.” Why? We just celebrated Christmas, and we wouldn’t throw that away. Christmas reminds us of the love of God that extended to us even while we were yet sinners. The joy of knowing that should carry us into the New Year and beyond. Christ never leaves us, which means we can face the coming year as a new adventure, for if Christ is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. The Hebrews had an expression of “walking backwards into the future.” They didn’t know what lay ahead, but they could look back and see how the Lord brought them through the difficulties of the past. One of the reasons they piled stones at strategic places was to remind them what God had previously done for them. The stones also served as an encouragement to walk boldly into the unknown, knowing that God who had brought them through the past will help them face the future.

The promise of Christ is to be with us always (Matt. 28:19). So, whatever 2015 holds, we can face it because we have Jesus. We can look back over our lives and see the hand of God protecting and guiding us through our own ups and downs. Hindsight, in this regard, is a wonderful thing, for like the stone monuments in the Old Testament, we are able to view our own spiritual benchmarks and receive encouragement from them. We can face whatever 2015 holds because we walk backwards into it, holding the hand of Christ who leads us.

“Out with the old” should include all the bad stuff that keeps our focus away from Christ. Jonathan Edwards once resolved the following, “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” Living for God is the response of gratitude for Christ dying for us. We are rescued reprobates who but for the love of Christ would continue to live in the deadness of our sins. But we have been salvaged and whisked from darkness to walk in and with the Light who illuminates the path behind us. We don’t have to see more, for Christ knows where he is taking us; and that is what makes life worthwhile.

“In with the new” is to join in the adventure that 2015 will bring. The New Year represents the end of the Christmas season where the birth of Christ was celebrated and gifts were exchanged. It is a time to remember that the best present we received never changes. It is the gift of Christ who granted us power to live as one favored with new life. The New Year is a renewal of that life. We therefore have the power to trek the adventure of another year, knowing nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Enjoy the adventure of 2015!

Concert for Valor

I watched the Concert for Valor last night on Veterans Day and was appalled. As a combat veteran in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War I was looking forward to a concert that would honor our veterans and active duty servicemen. Aside from a couple patriotic songs and short video bios on military heroes, the concert was neither honoring nor patriotic. Most of the songs sung were popular hits from recent headliners, which was probably entertaining for the young, but did nothing to rouse one’s patriotism. The concert, though performed on Veterans Day, was more of a USO entertainment extravaganza. With the cussing of Eminem and the introduction of military heroes by actors and politicians known more for their anti-military views, the show was not about promoting valor, but rather an opportunity for liberal celebrities to align with our distinguished heroes of the armed services. The most enjoyable part of the concert was the booing that Bruce Springsteen received, especially when he sung a CCR song called “Fortunate Son,” which is an anti-war protest song.

HBO produced the concert and was responsible for hiring the acts. With what occurred, one has to wonder what was the intent behind booking Springsteen, a person with an anti-war protest background, and Eminem, who usually appears with an expletive-laden vocabulary. I was certainly disappointed that this concert was not more honoring to veterans. A more appropriate name would have been “Concert of Pallor”—for it certainly paled in contrast to honoring veterans.  

How the Pilgrim's Landed

Queen Elizabeth in ascending to the thrown of Great Britain succeeded her half sister, known as Bloody Mary. Mary, a Roman Catholic, killed and outlawed hundreds of reformers. Elizabeth was Protestant and established Anglicanism as the religion of England. She, however, would not tolerate other religions, like that of the Puritans and Separatists. The Pilgrims were a group of people who strove for religious freedom and worshipped quietly in Scooby, England. Once King James I (a Stuart) succeeded Elizabeth, their existence was tested, for James proclaimed, “I shall make them conform or I shall harry them out of the land.” So, the Pilgrims as a group fled to Holland where they could worship in freedom.

They stayed about 12 years in Holland, but desired the traditions and nationalism of their homeland. Fearing their children were becoming more Dutch than English and more morally loose and free spirited, they decided to look for new horizons. They found the opportunity in Sir Edwin Sandys, a friend of John Robinson and William Brewster, the Pilgrim leaders in Holland. Sandys was a sympathizer to the scruples of Separatism, which was the religious name assumed by the Pilgrims, for they separated themselves from the Church of England. When Sandys became the treasurer of the Virginia Company of London, which held the land rights to the Virginia Colony and granted charters, he arranged a 7000 pound loan to the Separatists to sponsor a colonization effort in the new world. The loan was terribly small in comparison with the 200,000-pound financial backing given to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the 300,000-pound loss incurred by the Bermuda and Jamestown effort. Even though small, the Pilgrims would have to trust God for a successful colonization.

On September 16, 1620, a group of 40 Separatists and 62 sectarians sailed from England in the now famous ship called the Mayflower. They first landed at what is now Provincetown, some 200 miles off course, for they were to settle in New Jersey, which was then part of the Virginia land grant. While anchored off the coast, they enacted the Mayflower Compact, which was a covenant whereby all the settlers agreed to submit themselves to the laws of the colony. It contained the seeds of democracy, the foundation upon which America was built. After a month of exploration, the Pilgrims chose Plymouth to become their new home, for there they found a deep harbor, fresh water, and hills for defense.  A deserted Indian village was also located on the site; and the fields for planting were already cleared. They realized that God had been one step ahead of them, providing a new home.

The first winter, however, was terrible. Scurvy set in and took more than half of the colonists. Out of 18 married women, only 4 survived the winter. Bodies were buried during the night in order to prevent the local natives from knowing how depleted they were in people. Yet, when spring came, not one Pilgrim abandoned the colony to return to England. They persevered and were fortunate to have met Samoset, who on March 16, 1621, entered the encampment at Plymouth and spoke to the colonists. He had learned his broken English from fishermen that came to fish off the coast of Maine. After spending the night with the Pilgrims, he left and returned with five others, who brought deerskins to trade. As it was Sunday, the colonists declined to trade at that time, but offered them some food. On March 22, 1621 Samoset came back with Squanto, the last remaining Patuxet, who spoke much better English than him. The Patuxet Indians, known to be a more ruthless tribe than the Wampanoags led by Chief Massasoit, had settled the Plymouth area, but were wiped out by a plague. Squanto, at the time, was in England, thereby avoiding the plague. He eventually lived outside the village and became a friend to the Pilgrims.

God surely prepared a place for the Pilgrims. Psalm 104 says, “These all look to you to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things” (vv. 27-28). The Pilgrims certainly looked to God who also provided fields ready to be planted, which insured their survival. He also surrounded them with friendly Indians, with whom they would eventually sign a pact for mutual defense. To celebrate their blessings, they held the first Thanksgiving in which 100 Indians attended. The feast of fowl and venison, pumpkin and corn, lasted three days. Certainly, this great banquet was a fitting celebration of God’s providential care.