An atheist just sent out a message to advertise a talk. I
thought that it was very reflective of the faith of atheism: 1. There is no
evidence of Intelligent Design, and 2. We humans are great because we are able
to navigate a design-less world with a body containing “so many design flaws”:
·
As professor of biology…explains how our
evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, a big pile of
compromises. But that's also a testament to our greatness -- humans have so
many design flaws precisely because we are very, very good at getting around
them.
In order to make room for “our greatness,” God must be
dethroned from any place exulting His greatness. According to the atheist, our
bodies are filled with “design flaws.” However, these flaws show off our
heroism in persevering despite these “imperfections.”
I don’t want to challenge the first part of atheistic faith.
So many have already demonstrated, far more ably than I could do, that we are a
wonder of coordinated design. Instead, I am more interested in examining what
atheism puts in the place of God.
Ultimately, their hope is a vain attempt to invent meaning
in a world that they regard as meaningless, purposeless, and godless. However,
our nature requires that we believe in a world of meaning and purpose. If our
lives have no purpose, then we must invent a purpose, one which we find
pleasurable, as when we assert our greatness. However, such a hope will fail
us. It had failed the late and great novelist Norman Mailer:
·
“I think we are all healthier if we think there
is some importance in what we’re doing. …When it seems like my life is
meaningless, I feel closer to despair. I like life to have meaning.”
Well, what’s the matter with a diet of endless sex, cruises,
gourmet foods, and thoughts about our greatness? The pleasure just doesn’t last
for very long, like the whiff of a rose whose scent can only be enjoyed for a
brief moment.
King Solomon had everything that anyone could ever desire –
endless power, money, women, and any other pleasure he wanted. Yet he was
miserable and despaired of life:
- Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
· Eccl. 2:17-18 “So I hated life, because the work
that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a
chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun,
because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.”
Even though he was reputed to have been the wisest man in
the world, his wisdom wasn’t able to provide the very thing that he longed for
– meaning and purpose. Nor did he ever consider the possibility that his wisdom
or power could create them or his money buy them.
Nor can we find this fulfillment by merely stroking
ourselves with the assurances that we are great, even if we call ourselves
“brights,” “freethinkers,” or other grandiose terms. Such a hope is a vain and
self-centered hope and looks as appealing as someone playing with himself in
the street.
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