Apathy, Atheism, and the Absurdity of Life Without God
by Aaron Brake
Here is a truth I wish everyone would take the time to earnestly and honestly contemplate:
If God does not exist and there is no life after death, then there is no ultimate meaning, value, or purpose in life.
The question of God’s existence is the most important question we can seek to answer. If God does not exist and we do not survive the death of our bodies, life is ultimately absurd. J.P. Moreland provides an illustration which helps bring this truth home:
“Suppose I invited you over to my house to play a game of Monopoly. When you arrive I announce that the game is going to be a bit different. Before us is the Monopoly board, a set of jacks, a coin, the television remote, and a refrigerator in the corner of the room. I grant you the first turn, and puzzlingly, inform you that you may do anything you want: fill the board with hotels, throw the coin in the air, toss a few jacks, fix a sandwich, or turn on the television. You respond by putting hotels all over the board and smugly sit back as I take my turn. I respond by dumping the board upside down and tossing the coin in the air. Somewhat annoyed, you right the board and replenish it with hotels. I turn on the television and dump the board over again.”
Now it wouldn’t take too many cycles of this nonsense to recognize that it didn’t really matter what you did with your turn, and here’s why. There is no goal, no purpose to the game we are playing. Our successive turns form a series of one meaningless event after another. Why? Because if the game as a whole has no purpose, the individual moves within the game are pointless. Conversely, only a game’s actual purpose according to its inventor can give the individual moves significance.[1]
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As Moreland articulates, if the game of Monopoly as a whole has no purpose, the individual moves within the game have no meaning or value. The only way your moves within the game of Monopoly have significance is if you discover the purpose of the game and you align yourself with that purpose.
As it is with Monopoly, so it is with life. Like the game of Monopoly, the only way our individual lives have any ultimate meaning or value is if life has purpose behind it, and real purpose requires both God and life after death…
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Apologetic Junkie: Apathy, Atheism, and the Absurdity of Life Without God
RECOMMEND RESOURCES FOR YOUR APOLOGETICS LIBRARY:
Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe
Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science
>If God does not exist and there is no life after death, then there is no ultimate meaning, value, or purpose in life.< The fallacy you are using is the God Of Personal Necessity Fallacy.
Belief that the universe is organised to meet your personal requirements is a delusion which often persists into adulthood and so allows believers to be duped by charlatans who earn a living partly by reassuring them that their god is indeed everything they need it to be. It’s probably the nice warm glow of self-affirmation which makes this such a persistent and attractive fallacy for both religious exploiters and their victims alike.
Do you remember who fooled you with it or were you too young at the time?
That’s because you like other people to write the rules for you, cause otherwise you wouldn’t know how to play. That’s truly sad. The fact that you wouldn’t know how to come up with your own game. A game that was exciting for you and not one imposed by your imaginary friend. Our life has sense, because value makes sense only if it’s contemplated in the the framework of some conscious evaluation, for example our minds. Value has to be valued by a mind. There are no objective values. To say that you value what your god values is not to actually value anything. It’s to pretend to value it and pretend your life makes sense for adopting a purpose that is not even your own. George H. Smith said:
“The universe doesn’t give a damn about you. It doesn’t give a damn about me. The point is you’re supposed to give a damn about yourself because if you don’t, no one will. Certainly the universe won’t. And in that sense I suppose you are insignificant as far as the universe is concerned. If you died tomorrow, the universe is going to hold a funeral for you or stop in its tracks. The universe will continue on its merry way. It’s not really correct to say you’re insignificant because the idea of significance and insignificance makes no sense when you consider an inanimate cosmos. Significance is a term that only applies to some sort of conscious evaluation. But nonetheless, in a sense, you are not that significant as far as the totality of the universe is concerned. So far as the problem, “What purpose is there in man’s life?”, there is no purpose in man’s life. There is a purpose hopefully in your own life but it is up to you to set it. Again, if you don’t, no one will for you.” (George H. Smith)
Amen.
I really feel sorry if you truly need your imaginary companion to come along and give you a purpose, for you to feel your life makes sense. To whom else other than yourself your life should make sense? But it is true that some people, unfortunately thanks to religion, cannot find sense in their own lives because they’ve already been told a sky daddy has a plan for them. If you’re one of those, remember: someone else’s purpose, real or imaginary, doesn’t have to be your purpose. Unless you a slave-minded individual on whom someone else’s purpose and sense can be imposed. If you’re this kind of person, yes, of course you couldn’t come up with your own purpose in life even if your life depended on it. And even if you did, you would still be wondering how is your own purpose legitimate enough? Our purpose in life is legitimate enough because is ours and not anybody else’s. That’s what matters. And you have to create your own purpose in life and give your life meaning, cause if you don’t, no one is gonna do it for you. Even if somebody did, it would stop being YOUR purpose and YOUR sense.