- Oct 31, 2012
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- #41
It's been my experience that atheists tend to think that humanity is basically good.
Has anyone come to the same conclusion?
Yes, I have encountered this as well. The serious problem with that is atheists cannot describe in logical or rational detail why good is good or bad is bad, or name the fundamental/primal source from which they derive their moral systems. Just "because" is a cop-out to the heavy intellectual lifting required to effectively dodge belief in the Logos.
It is interesting because there is eternal evidence as to people not being "good" throughout history, yet they persist in believing people are naturally good.. However, they don't believe in God when there is a great deal of evidence that he exists.
That is because, I think, the atheist has difficulty accepting authority without blaming said authority for the bad things which have happened, both in his own life and the world around him. Lack of personal responsibility for accepting consequence of bad behavior. Atheists claim to not believe in God, and yet they continue to blame God for all the terrible evils of the world.
In believing people are naturally good, they (atheists) can fall back on moral relativism to redefine good and bad "on-the-fly" as needed. Accepting that people need a higher power from which to draw guidance and base foundational moral facts on means accepting they cannot use moral relativism as a tool to make good and bad situational or redefinable. They represent the ultimate rebellion against the Father, in thinking--with an astonishing lack of maturity and surplus of foolish arrogance, that they know better--than perhaps millions of years of historical living experience experienced before their birth, and that they know better than God.
I think it has to do with the internal need for a shepherd. As the Bible states, we are all sheep looking for a shepherd.
For the atheist, it is the state. After all, in their view the role of king has been vacated, so it needs to be filled to help guide and protect the sheep.
But if you were to agree that the inherent character of man is not good, then where does that leave them?
In 1 Samuel 8, we see the Hebrew nation asking God for a king. It grieves God as he warns them of the abuses that will ensue if he gives them what they want, but they would not heed his warnings, so God gave them Saul.