Why Christianity instead of atheism?
Copyright 1999 by Jeffrey Stueber, all rights reserved
Question: Both Christians and atheists want what's good for
society and advocate laws to accomplish that purpose (e.g. you
can't steal, rape, etc.). Both know right from wrong. So what
difference does Christianity make?
That's a good
question, one I think has occupied the minds of a few
philosophers while few have given a direct and concise answer to
it. So I will try.
Many Christians say you can't have
knowledge of right and wrong without religion, belief in God, or
what have you while atheists deny both charges. "We can be as
moral as you and obviously know what's right and wrong," they
say. They have a point because deep down they feel some actions
are right and some are wrong. They don't need to read the Bible
for this. What I think the Christian means by this is that even
atheists can know some of "the good" because we have God's law
imprinted on our hearts (so to speak) but that often man can
forget it or lose sight of its tenets or absolute measure by
which our actions are judged. We can also explain away some
wrong actions as right actions, supposedly, though if we looked at
God's record of right and wrong, we'd know they were
wrong.
Where I find the biggest disagreement between
Christians and atheists is in the area of sexual rights and
expression and abortion. It is obvious - Biblically speaking -
that abortion is wrong and chastity is to be recommended except
in the realm of marriage. I know from reading on abortion that
it is advocated by the slipperiest of logic, as is much sexual
activity and it is clear to me the farther one goes from the
Biblical guide of conduct the more "pagan" one gets. Man can
know some right and wrong, but he strays from the proper guide
when straying farther and farther away from the code of conduct
displayed in the Bible.
While there are other
religions whose conception of morality differs from Christianity,
my sole purpose here was the clarify the Christian position on
this.
Jeffrey Stueber
jstueber@globaldialog.com