Does God Exist? Part 2

Question:

Millions of people are good without God. We don't need God to be good. Why not choose the path of reason instead of the unnecessary superstition that there is a God?

Answer:

The comments that preceed this question are perfect examples of one of the truths of life I have noticed over and over again. Virtually every atheist I have ever met has been a very moral person. They have a clear understanding of right and wrong, and they are, as this quote states, very good people. The problem is not in their morality; the problem is that they live this morality in a way that demands the existence of the very God they deny exists. In other words, they live, and in some ways, speak as though God really does exist, while simultaneously denying His existence.

Let me explain.

If there is no God, then morality is a human construct, and humans can change it at will to fit the current situation. Morality, then, is no different that the rules of a house poker game. Nothing wild? One eyed jacks wild? Three cards? Five cards? Seven cards? Two cards down, the rest up? All cards down? One card on your forehead so only your oponents can see it? Ace's high? Ace's low? And on and on and on. If there is no God, then morality is whatever we want it to be, with no absolute, universal rules of any kind.

In fact, the very definition of things like "good" and "bad" would be completely arbitrary to the point of having no meaning whatsoever. If Hitler wanted to define "good" as the absence of all undesirables (Jews, Gypsies, handicapped, blacks, etc.) from existence, that definition is no more or less valid than any other definition of "good." If I want to take your brand new car away from you and keep it as my own, while that action may be illegal based on current law, there is nothing inherently "wrong" with it, because all definitions of "right" and "wrong" are nothing more than opinion.

The problem is, no one actually believes this, and no one outside of a psychiatric hospital or a high security prison (excepting those who have not yet been caught and encarcerated) actually lives their life as though morality is nothing more than a human construct. No matter what we claim to believe about God, humans cannot escape absolutes in morality. The most hardened atheists I have ever encountered have made some of the most astonishing statements that assume moral absolutes. Here is an example of what I am talking about from Penn Jillette, a staunch atheist. Listen to the entire story, and notice at time 4:30 how he describes the believer about whom he is telling this story:

"He was a very, very, very good man."

Penn Jillette talks about receiving a bible from a Christian.

The thing is, if there is no God, as Penn Jillette insists, this statement he just made is completely meaningless, since "good man" is an arbitrary tag that should mean something different to every person. But that is not how anyone actually talks, and that is not how Penn Jillette talks here. He is speaking in absolute terms, as though "good" exists independently of human opinion, and human behavior is measured against that standard.

And that is the problem.

While Penn speaks in the positive, it is often easier to understand the problem here if we switch to the negative. For example, while we may not always be able to agree on what is "good," we know beyond any doubt that there are some actions that are simply wrong, and can never be anything other than wrong, regardless of culture, age, government, or religion. Torturing and raping a six year old girl is evil, and will always be evil, no matter what the circumstances, culture, era, or reasoning. We all know this, deep down in the core of our being, and nothing could convince us otherwise. In the deepest depths of our hearts we know that labeling such behavior as evil transends human opinion. It is absolute, and no amount of argument or justification will ever change that determination. It doesn't matter what someone believes, this truth is independent of opinion, and requires no consensus to be True. It is manifestly obvious that this is True, and anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

We KNOW this to the very core of our being.

But if there is no God, absolutes such as this cannot exist. Without God, NOTHING in morality transends human opinion. We invented morality, and we can change it at will, whenever we want. When it comes to morality, the most we could ever say is that "I disagree with you." We cannot say, "you are wrong." We can make laws forbidding that behavior, we can punish those who engage in that behavior, but what we cannot say is that there is anything inherently "wrong" with that behavior.

And this startlingly simple truth, that moral absolutes really do exist, is one of the inescapable "hooks" that God has placed within each and every person. We know, beyond any doubt, that some things are simply wrong. We cannot escape the existence of absolutes, if for no other reason than to deny them is in itself, an absolute (that "no absolutes exist" is itself an absolute statement of truth, thus an inherent contradiction).

So when I say that every atheist I have ever met speaks as though there really is a God in heaven who has set the moral absolutes for humanity, and they themselves live as though these absolutes are not up for vote, but are so inherently obvious that they need not even be justified, this, to me, is one of the most compelling bits of evidence I have ever encountereed that God MUST exist. In order for an atheist to tell me I am "wrong" about anything I say or do, the very God he argues against must exist. In other words, no matter what he claims, his argument is not one of reason, but mere opinion.

Who, but God, could construct human minds in such a way that His staunchest enemies, those who despise Him the most, must predicate their strongest arguments against His existence on a premise that cannot be True unless He DOES exist? Is it rational to deny the existence of the foundation upon which your arguments rest?

The only truly rational conclusion is that God is real.

Now what are you going to do about it?