We’re continuing our tour through the epic failure which occurred when nearly 3,000 atheists from more than a dozen countries tried to replace the ten commandments with their own very helpful suggestions. In a lot of ways, it’s what I imagine would happen if a group of alcoholics tried to write up a list of reasons they believe that words do not exist. But not as funny.
Today we start with (non)Commandments of Atheism #5:
God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
I’ve heard a thousand variations on this argument, and they always fail for the same reason. The argument fails to understand the moral argument (Read about it HERE and more about it HERE). In short, Christians do not argue that a person who does not believe in God cannot do good things. We are saying that, in a universe where God does not exist, there is no GOOD or BAD just as in a universe with no light there is no red or blue, or in a universe with no food there is no fish taco with guacamole and a side of Spanish rice and re-fried beans.
Very simply, without God revealing His nature and will to us, the terms “Good” or “Meaningful” become meaningless, which makes them no good to anyone. Of course, we can simply choose our own definitions of “good” and “meaningful” to use when evaluating our own lives, but then there is no way to truly distinguish a “better” between the cannibal, the Nazi, the boyscout, or the Buddhist monk. Even if we just define ‘good’ for ourselves personally, there’s no way to evaluate whether we are truly becoming more ‘good’ by loving our neighbor or eating him. On atheism, there IS no objective morality, and thus no good or evil, or any objective law on which to distinguish between the two. There is also no purpose or meaning, and thus to ask if a life is meaningful is a meaningless question, just as it is to ask what the number five smells like. If the serial rapist/murderer/cannibal feels like he has lived a meaningful life, and has done good by his deeds, Atheism offers NOTHING in rebuttal. At best they can say,
“I define good and meaningful differently than you do.”
If you needed a reason never to vote for an Atheist, I think this is it.
(non)Commandments of Atheism #6:
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
In all seriousness, on Atheism this is stupid, and at best I can assume they mean, “If you kill someone, it’s YOUR job to hide the body. Don’t expect anyone to do it for you.”
(Non) Commandment #4 gives us the right to control our own bodies- to do what we like. #5 just freed us from anyone else’s definitions of Good or Meaningful. Now #6 expects us to take responsibility for what we choose to do?
Screw that. I’m passing the buck. I’m shifting the blame. I’m leaving the mess for others to clean up. I’m going to blame my mother, the government, and Santa Clause. And if all else fails, I’ll blame the God I don’t believe in for the world he made. Then I’ll put on my big wig and squeaky shoes and hide in the dark with my bottle of cheap wine, waiting for a Christian to throw it at.
The biggest problem for the atheist here is that this is part of a Biblical world view and part of the Gospel. Our sins are OUR debts. We incur a debt when we do wrong- I am responsible for the consequences of MY actions and I ALONE am responsible for them. I cannot pass blame to anyone for the sins I commit. This is true and Biblical, and is exactly the reason we need a savior- because we owe a debt we cannot pay (And Jesus, with his death on the cross paid a debt he did not owe). Once again, the atheists accidentally discover the truth, but the truth only works in the context of the Bible they have rejected.
That must be frustrating.
(non)Commandments of Atheism #7:
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
Ok, seriously? Now they’re quoting Jesus? 3,000 atheists are going to suggest the Golden Rule? This is what I meant when I said they REALLY wanted to be Christians or Jews. Naturally, if Jesus is the living God, then when he tells us this, his word is Law. But on Atheism, why should anyone do this unless it benefited them directly? Would someone like to show me how this concept coincides with Natural Selection? Because to me, this is a HUGE backwards step for evolution. You want to evolve? Kill the weak. This biblical ethic under the pretense of being an atheistic guideline doesn’t even make sense on Atheism. What would Uncle Charles “Chuck D” Darwin say? What would Nietzsche say? What would Hitler say? What would Hillary Clinton say?!?!?
(non)Commandments of Atheism #8:
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
I think I can dismantle this with a three letter word: “Why?”
Once again, the Bible teaches this in many places, such as Philippians 2:3, and the eight verses which tell us to love our neighbors, but if you can argue from the accidental explosion which created the universe, the amazingly improbable arrival of life, and the unguided, bloody struggle of evolution which created us that we have a RESPONSIBILITY to consider others, including others that DON’T YET EXIST, then I would sincerely like to hear that.
If you are reasonably sober, I think you already know that this is an empty proposition which, again, would make Uncle Chuck Darwin very sad. And Nietzsche would just slap the taste out of your mouth and declare you to be BENEATH the Superman. Hitler would put a bullet in your head, and then pretend he did it for future generations. And according to the 10 (Non) commandments of atheism which he has on his office wall, he has done what is right (According to how he chooses to define “Meaningful: and “good.”)
What we’ve learned from some of these (non)commandments, is that even the atheist knows right from wrong. They know that we should love our neighbors and take responsibility for our own sins. What they fail to recognize is that these truths only make sense in a Biblical worldview. You CANNOT build these truths on the foundation of atheism, any more than you can build a fish taco with guacamole in a world with no food.
Next time we’ll wrap this up and get on with our lives. Thanks for reading, and remember: #JesusLovesYou
A Bit of Orange 
If Christian morality is mighty, why is it not the best? YHWH couldn’t even outdo the Jains, or any regular mom and pop for that matter. “If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: ‘Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.’ Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. There you go. The reason Christian morality is ineffective baseless crap is it is invented by people that reflect their own nature in the cruel god they invented. How else could they justify their own atrocities but by saying god did it?
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Greetings Jim,
I find it almost humerus that you are able to say “If Christian morality is mighty, why is it not the best?” What standard are you using to say it is NOT the best? If I had to guess, I’d suppose you found a poll on one of those web sites which invite you to discover which Muppet, or member of the cast of Friends you are by answering a handful of multiple choice questions. Or maybe Bill Nye told you so.
Also, your ignorance of Church history and Christianity is, frankly kind of typical of people who learn about those things from Atheist videos on youtube. If you have any interest in truth I would suggest finding better sources when you do your history homework- also, maybe read the Bible. You’ll know it because it won’t say “The Quran” on the cover. What you will discover is that you are describing Islam, but using the name “Christianity.” Once again, typical. I don’t mean to be rude, but these pointless and ignorant comments are beginning to bore me. Next time you Atheists have your annual meeting, maybe brainstorm some new angry rants? I’d appreciate it. Also, you guys SERIOUSLY need to learn the difference between Islam and Christianity. You’re making yourselves look like idiots.
But thanks for your comments… even though you did manage to ignore the ENTIRE content of the article you are pretending to reply to.
If I can make one more suggestion, how about reading the article and replying to it next time? Personally, I would find that a refreshing change of pace.
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I did read the whole article. As your anger has grown so has your incoherent statements. Jainism, the old and archaic religion of India trumps Christian morality in one, clear statement. “Non-injury to all living beings is the only religion.” (first truth of Jainism) “In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should therefore refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves.” I could write my own much better than you were able to. Tell me if you will, and unchanging moral truth from the Bible. Everything I’ve read in the Bible is lagging in decency behind just about every normal being.
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Well, Jim,
If you did read the article, as you claim, then why are you still not addressing what I said in the article instead of trying so start a rabbit trail?
But on the off chance we can trail back around to the point:
Why is that one clear moral statement of yours SUPERIOR? Based on what standard do you compare the two and declare one better than the other?
Does your HEART tell you so?
or do you have reasons? Reasons you could explain and share?
Because, frankly, I find it horribly ignorant and useless- NOT moral or clear.
Also, when you give me the same stupid ranting nonsense about how “Christianity is the most evil, corrupt, rape and murder enslave and brainwash system in history”, I get from every other Roach Clown who stops by, it really shows how either ignorant you are or how truth does not matter to you. You’re like those idiot college kids who call Ben Shapiro a Nazi because he didn’t vote for Hillary. That’s not what NAZI means.
And if you really- REALLY- don’t know any better about what the Bible teaches, then “Everything you’ve read in the Bible” could probably fit on a napkin.
So, don’t get all defensive and pretend I’m the one having an anger fueled temper tantrum. Because I think we both know that is not an accurate assessment of this conversation thus far.
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And by the way, I don’t watch you tube and I have never read an atheist book. I did 50 years of Christianity and not one single line item is as it is presented. It’s easy to see out the bs when you don’t have apologists breathing down your neck, and as for my biblical knowledge, I have memorized the KJV bible although I have forgotten some of the precise wording. My masters was in Koine Greek and reading fourth century Hellenistic lit is almost par with my English and Spanish. You presume a lot from your narrow little world. I have found the most passionate, angry apologists have never actually lived the gospel—they only know the words. I gave my life to it and it doesn’t add up to any type of result but contradiction and procrastination of personal responsibility because jesus is coming to save us. He ain’t coming. We have to live in this cesspool of destruction encouraged by evangelicals who are supposed to be good stewards, but in the end all they do is take, sell, plunder the resources, and hoard all they can in the name of rights.
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Jim, Jim, Jimmy jim jim…
1. This is a pile of lies I don’t believe for a second. You really expect me to believe you were Billy Graham for 50 years?
And you MEMORIZED the Bible? And you are fluent in FOUR languages? And yet you can’t tell Christianity from Islam.
I don’t think so.
No, you were never a Christian, and you don’t know what Christianity is. You have made that clear from your own words.
2. You are still managing to badly dodge every point I made in my articles or previous replies to you. Don’t think I didn’t notice that.
3. Don’t call me an angry apologist. I’ve seen your blog. It’s you who is the seething apologist of religious ridiculousness and hate.
That’s called projection. You are calling me what you know to be true of you.
4. If you don’t reply to what I’ve said, such as the content of my articles and the questions I have already sent you, I will merely delete your comments from now on. If you have something worth hearing, or questions worth answering, let me know. But this garbage I have had enough of. Go lie and shovel your hate onto someone else. If I want lies and hate I can go read the comments section on my youtube channel.
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