(that is what I will spend the rest of my life answering and exploring)
What difference does it make? How does it matter in my day to day life?
(this was the honest and genuine statement of a friend of mine)
I say 'statement' and not question because I don't think he was really asking.
To many people, the modern day atheist is the pinnacle of humanity... celebrated as scientific, rational, logistical and free from the delusion of God. Isn't it common knowledge that science and the world of academics has uncovered the foundations of life? Hasn't research broken down the human experience to their most fundamental chemical components? Have we not conclusively shown that life is the result of an evolutionary process that was sparked by a spark that was thrown together by a bang? Let us drop the outdated belief in God. We know that the belief in God is the result of the ancient mind, constructed to make sense of what we now have all the answers for. Let us free ourselves to the pleasures and beauty of the world. We do not need God to live good lives. We do not need God to love our children. We do not need God to live our lives.
Okay then, there is no God. We can live by that creed, and if it is a good creed to live by, we must answer to it for all its promises, advantages and consequences.
There is no God. The only laws we are bound to live by, are those of the physical universe. The only influence outside of our humanity we need recognize or acknowledge is that of nature. Man is free to shape his own destiny. We need not God, we are our own god.
What do we know of nature? We know that the universe is the result of chance, which by chance gave rise to the planets, which by chance gave rise to life, which by chance gave rise to nature, which by chance gave rise to humanity.
So all the human laws, beliefs and institutions we make, ultimately are under the greater laws of chance and nature? But more so nature. For where does chance play into the law of our lands? How can chance be useful in the courts of the land? So we live under the rule and law of nature.
My next few questions are not intellectual ones. I only want you to answer as a human being. What are your hopes and dreams? What is the most important thing to you? What do you love the most in life? What makes life worth living? What are the most beautiful things in life to you? What gives you the greatest sense of meaning?
Now can we look at all those answers, human answers, in contrast to the laws of nature. Can we please be careful to avoid the irrational, unscientific, and mystical escape of anthropomorphism. We cannot give human qualities to nature. Nature as a force does not have personality. An oven can bake a cake, but no matter how many cakes it makes, it does not somehow take on the qualities of that cake.
Let us describe the reality of the force nature as per science:
Cause and effect.
Impersonal.
Unthinking.
Uncreative.
Incapable of right or wrong.
Incapable of good or evil.
Incapable of choice.
Now can we look at life as per nature:
Survival of the fittest.
The strong dominate the weak.
The strong feed off the weak.
The disabled and sick die.
The weak are expendable for the benefit of the whole.
Circle of life.
Unless a genetic mistake, all functions of life meant to continue the species.
Continuation of species ultimate function.
All functions are ultimately self serving.
Incapable of right or wrong.
Incapable of good or evil.
Basically right and wrong, good and evil do not objectively exist, they are subjective in their usefulness to nature. Delusions to influence us in the right direction. Love, pleasure, kindness, generosity, hope are all just tools of nature to give our species the best chance of existing. So what we label as the criminals and tyrants of humanity are simply the inferior functions of nature which because they were not successful were 'decided' not the best way to strengthen and continue our species. If however a super strong and intelligent group of humans with superior genetics managed to take over the world, kill all the inferior genetic men and women, and forced all the genetically beneficial women to have offspring... well if they succeeded that would be considered a success of nature...would it not? We see the same thing done in the animal kingdom, it is nature, we do not judge the animals for it.
I admit, there would be pain and suffering felt by some of the human species. Some of the human animals would be sacrificed. But it would be worth it for the whole. It is justified for the goal of continuing the human species, and ensuring it is at its strongest.
The origin of humanity is chance to nature, nature to humans.
The ultimate purpose of humanity is survival.
The ultimate purpose of humans is to continue the species.
The destiny of humans is to spread genetic material if successful, then die.
The destiny of humanity is to survive as a species for as long as possible.
There is a 99.9999999999999~% chance that we will not survive the inevitable collapse of the sun.
But there was also a 99.999999999999999999999999~(add another 50 or so nines) that humans would not exist, so we are a pretty lucky bunch.
We should be fine, we still have a chance. Who needs God anyways. I'm just glad guilt, remorse, regret, sin, evil, wrong, hate, rape, murder, genocide etc. are just a part of nature. All this time I've been feeling kind of bad and sad about all of that stuff! Now that I understand all that is just a part of nature, life is so much happier. I'll just make sure I never hurt anyone genetically superior to myself and I can die at peace with knowing I fulfilled my function.
It just seems so cruel that nature and evolution made love, because then we are capable of grief.
And why did evolution invent the idea of eternity? it makes us search for meaning! and then when we can't find it we get all suicidal and hopeless. And what the heck is the purpose in seeing beauty in nature? it just makes us sad to see it's destruction. Nature sure does seem cruel.
I guess that's why nature and evolution made-up the idea of God, so that we wouldn't blame nature and hurt it's feelings. So something made nothing (the universe), chance made nature, then nature by chance made you and me. And somehow personality, meaning, love, the idea of eternity, the ability to make a choice, the ability to make moral decisions, beauty, obligation, reasoning, emotion, intelligence, dreams, hope... all that somehow came to be somehow.
Wow, amazing how completely directionless, random forces made you and me.
"...for most, the truth does not really matter-it is the will that is wrong."
-Ravi Zacharias from Can Man Live Without God
This really breaks my heart. It is a powerful reminder to me for why I need to pray in love out of love for those I love. God changes the hearts of men and women. Not arguments. I am sorry friends and family if ever I forgot this lesson and was a barrier to God for you.
Nathan, did you write this? If so, why?
ReplyDeleteHey Trevor, yeah I did write it. It was a response from my heart to a very brief conversation I had with someone. My tone may not have come through, but it was out of frustration, exasperation, and then quiet sadness and cynicism of the hope offered in the 'no god world view.'
ReplyDeleteHow did you see it?
It seemed to me that you were putting yourself in the position of your "friend" and explaining his point of view, and more generally the point of view of people like him. I'm not sure if you were attempting to describe the point of view of atheists, yourself (knowing you, I doubt this), your friend or some other person, group or discipline, but much of your post relates to science. So maybe you were attempting to talk from the point of view of scientists? Please clarify.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I found at least 30 things in your post that are wrong according to broadly accepted modern science, and an additional 16 things that oversimplify to the point of inaccuracy. I hope this blog post isn't a representation of what you think scientists believe, or really any individual or group. I would be surprised if this was even an accurate representation of your friend's understanding.
I think many who thought they might have been a part of the group whose perspective you were writing from felt insulted while reading this.
Trevor, I am genuine when I say you have a fascinating and brilliant mind. I am excited to have my understanding refined by your sharp knife of a mind! This post, was at the end of a long day and a the result of a long, deep, sigh of my heart. As you have observed, probably not useful as a scientific article :) Re-reading my post, it is definitely important for me to recognize that I have drawn a very basic caricature of the person(s) and group(s) I was attempting to understand. This entry only reflects a portion of the vast thoughts and feelings that they have (anything short of 1000 pages is probably the same). Everything I wrote however, are real arguments I have come across. But like all belief systems, not every atheist or theist agrees with all of it. For example many people who believe in God find no place for evolution, but I do...and I am not the only one eg. Dr Francis Collins. What I want most out of this all, is to find God. I find that many of us in this world unfairly use science as a barrier to finding God, whereas some find it as a tool to see him. I obviously am in the camp of the latter. Mockery is a tool I find totally useless in discovering the truth, for those who might have felt that while reading this, please give me the benefit of the doubt, and assume that anything said was either from a lack of understanding or a genuine question. We are all wrong sometimes, that is a fact. But the more we realize it, the closer we get to the truth!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing more.
-Nathan