RE: Being an Atheist in a Christian Dominated Country
@pinaynomad, the golden rule is ultimately meaningless in an atheistic reality, and without God, we're simply molecules in motion. Your perceived faith in humanity, then, is simply the outworking of biochemical reactions in your brain and body. They're not at all trustworthy, are they? And if you believe they are, that belief is simply the outworking of the same phenomena. It's a vicious cycle.
Not only that, but if a bag of protoplasm across the street decides to shoot and kill 50 people, there's no objective moral standard by which its actions can be condemned. Just as well, there is no objective moral standard that makes virtues out of kindness and love. Your preference for kindness and love over cruelty is just that: a matter of preference. And that's discounting the fact that love is...well...meaningless if atheism is true. It isn't a thing, and there is no authoritative, overarching standard by which it could be measured. We're just here, and shit happens.
You know God exists (Romans 1:18-24), and it pains me to see you deny Him.
Your comment gave me a headache not because I do not agree with what you said but because of the deep words you used in your sentences such as, molecules and protoplasm. 😝
I can see your love for "Science". It's my favorite subject in school. As you might already know, English is not my first language. So the words you used in your comment is kinda hard for me to comprehend. I googled, protoplasm and got this; the colorless material comprising the living part of a cell, including the cytoplasm, nucleus, and other organelles.
What does it gotta do with my belief? Why are you questioning the objective of moral standard? The virtues kindness and love as a matter of preference? How can love be meaningless if I'm an atheist? Everyone is capable of love, even the cat that I adopted last month knows the meaning of it. She blinks at me slowly and that's her way of saying, "I love you".
(Romans 1:18-24) God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
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Isn't it about the practices of idolatry?
God is right when He pours out His wrath on sinners. Specifically, idolaters get what they deserve for rejecting God as Creator. They had evil hearts; the evil in their hearts led them to reject God. God allowed them to pursue their own evilness and even poured out His wrath on them, not only by means of allowing them to reject Him but by casting them further into their perversion. The perfect example of how they were perverted is shown in their homosexuality. Homosexuality is only one example of their wickedness.
Why is being gay a sin? I am gay. Does it mean I'm a bad person? 😝
Ahh. What is your first language? I'm learning Tagalog since I'm in the Manila area, but I'm not very good at it yet. :-(
Simply put, there is no objective morality if God doesn't exist. Things just "are," and any moral judgment you make is ultimately arbitrary. Love and morality are not meaningless because you are an atheist. They are meaningless if atheism is true (but it's not).
Homosexuality is a sin because it involves a twisting of God's created order. It is an abomination to God, and yes, it means that if you pursue homosexuality, you are a bad person. The good news of the Gospel is that God saves bad people. He gives them a new heart, and as a result, they repent and trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation from sin and from the wrath that they deserve. And all people deserve His wrath. All people need Jesus, who took the Father's wrath on behalf of His sheep so that they could be counted as innocent "in Him."
My citation of Romans 1:18-24 underscores the fact that you know God exists. Atheists cannot escape the fact that they are creatures living in God's created order, but they suppress their knowledge of Him.
Hey mate! Good point. :-)
What do you do? I want to experience living in another country for 6 months. :-)
Do it. :-)
I make money online. I'm from the US, but I made the Philippines my new home. It's all my asawa's fault. ;-)
Yeah I will definitely do it when I go to yoga school in India or Thailand. How do you like the traffic in Manila? lol! 😊