We judge a worldview by its correspondence with reality. If it doesn’t
correspond, then it fails the test and fails to serve as a reliable roadmap for
our lives and perceptions. Consequently, it will not take us where we need to
go. Therefore, we ask, “Is it livable?” Here are some thoughts that I hope will
demonstrate that materialism (the belief that there is nothing beyond the
natural and material world) is not livable:
·
In a materialistic/deterministic universe, there
is no room for freewill. Therefore, the materialist must make-believe that that
he does have freewill to live life as if he is making freewill choices.
·
The materialist makes moral judgments but
lacks an objective standard to make these judgments. Therefore, he plays make-believe.
·
The
materialist wants to believe that love has meaning and purpose in his
materialistic world, but if these are no more than biochemical reactions, he
again must play make-believe that there is something transcendent about his
feelings, even something worth dying for.
·
He wants to live according to his conscience,
but if the conscience is no more than material reactions, why bother! He claims
that we do not have to believe in God to be good. However, he doesn’t believe
that the “good” is anything more than an evolving social convention.
·
He wants to believe in human equality and the equality
of all under the law. However, the materialist is unable to make a case for these,
since materialistically, there is no equality, and we are all different.
Therefore, he has no choice but to play make-believe.
·
He wants to hold to human primacy over the
mosquito and the COVID virus. However, the materialist lacks any coherent basis
to value man over the mosquito. Again, he plays make-believe.
·
He knows that humanity must distinguish justice
from injustice. However, for the materialist, these entities do not exist in
his “uncaring and changing materialistic universe.” Therefore, he makes believe
that they do exist.
·
He talks about human rights as if they
objectively exist but has no basis to believe that they exist anymore than
mosquito rights. Therefore, he makes-believe that they do exist.
·
His psychology craves for meaning and purpose,
which are non-existent in a materialistic world. He might create them for
himself but doesn’t fully realize that He is playing make-believe.
I know that this might sound harsh, but sometimes, even in
love, there is a place of jolting words. The atheist/materialist lives in a
fantasy world of make-believe. He has rejected God, and, in the process, he has
also rejected his own humanity, truth, meaning, and human needs. He has
minimalized his life at great consequence to himself and to society.
In view of the above, when we see that our worldview doesn’t
coincide with reality, even our lives, it might be time to search for a new
worldview.
