Some thoughts on integrity

I recently saw an informal “religion” survey, one asking questions about one’s religion and associated history and practices. As a research tool, the survey was worthless, for a variety of reasons, but nevertheless, it was interesting.

Respondents were mostly from the US and Europe, with a smattering from other areas. The interesting part was a large number of respondents identifying themselves as Christians and an equally large number claiming atheism or agnosticism.

This got me thinking. What’s this atheism and agnosticism stuff all about? What kinds of people are atheists and agnostics?

The very concept of a “formal” atheism is a recent one. Until the last 300 or so years, it was assumed that there was a God or gods. Only a fool believed otherwise. Nothing else accounted for what we saw in the world around us.

Then came the Enlightenment and with it the first philosophical, formal atheism. And it was only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that there was even a concept, much less the practice, of an officially secular or atheistic country, such as we find in France and the former USSR.

There are some major repercussions from this. First, there is no case of a nation over time successfully living out atheism. A good example is the USSR. They couldn’t do it, and became a government by thugs, overseeing a nation of cheaters and manipulators. Russia today is a moral disaster area. This is because any group derives its view of life and its moral code from the dominant religion of the members of the group.

We can see this easily. For example, countries with a Muslim heritage invariably share certain characteristics. And those with a Roman Catholic heritage have different characteristics, while Protestant Christian countries are still different in their nature. There are fascinating things associated with this, but that’s for another time.

So there are problems for a godless society, but there are also problems for a godless person. This includes overt atheists and agnostics, and the great many professing Christians who are de facto atheists.

As I have spoken with a variety of these folks, one thing has struck me: As a group, they seem satisfied that they have answers to life’s questions, and are not much concerned with the “God question.”

However, another thing I have noticed is that few can present a rational explanation for their belief. They very often raise objections to some assumption about the biblical God and say they could never follow such a God. And from there, they decide that God doesn’t exist, because that’s a more comfortable position to hold. But their opinion, of course, has no bearing on whether God exists.

I have also noticed that their opinion is generally not open for examination. It’s sort of like the old cartoon character Yosemite Sam, who said, “There ain’t no reason for it. It’s just our policy.”

So I have concluded that, while there may be sincere folks among this crowd, the greater number are simply intellectually lazy. They have found a place that serves their own desires and stopped looking. They’re comfortable and unchallenged and like it what way. I point out, again, that I am including many professing Christians, who live their lives as if God did not exist.

It seems to me the most important choices one can make in life concern God. After all, if there is any truth to the biblical teaching about God, only a fool would knowingly ignore it. The consequences are too great. What we believe about God will shape our entire life, for better or for worse. And to simply ignore the question or to claim a convenient “answer” to the question without even considering the evidence is the height of foolishness.

But for many of us it’s not a problem. We just ignore it and live according to our whims and wishes. How can we do that, with strong evidence pointing to the folly of such a practice? Denial. We do it by simply denying to ourselves that there’s anything wrong. We live with blinders on.

Some would argue that we all live in a state of denial, refusing to acknowledge some aspect of our world. It’s only a matter of how great the issue is: Some deny small things, others big stuff. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Sounds plausible, and whether it’s universal or not, it’s certainly widespread.

One agnostic told me, in response to a statement I made about standing before God, that he doesn’t believe in God, so the question is meaningless.

But is our belief in something relevant to its reality? This is clearly nonsense.
Things objectively exist, and it makes little difference whether I believe in them or not. The difference it makes is in my decisions, not the reality of other things. If I refuse to believe something that is actually true, I live a life divorced from reality. Not good. So whether I believe God exists means little in the big picture. It makes a difference only to me and perhaps those I influence, but God either is or is not, regardless of my arrogant – and small – opinion.

I wonder if God finds it humorous when men and women take it upon themselves to decide he doesn’t exist. It would truly be funny, if it didn’t have such tragic implications.

I will, however, applaud these folks – atheists and agnostics – for one reason. They have a quality that many professing Christians do not: honesty about their lack of concern. They don’t care about God, they don’t mind saying so, and they live their lives accordingly. Many Christians don’t care much more, but carry on a façade that is utterly reprehensible. In that respect, I have to ask who has the most integrity.

Been busy?

What have you done lately?

No, I’m not talking about getting the latest technotoy or buying a new car. Nothing like that.

What have you done lately that matters? What have you done that changes the world, helps others, and lives on after you?

Anything?

One of the saddest things I ever read was from the Greek philosopher Aristotle: “The masses choose the lives of grazing animals.” Utter insignificance. Profoundly depressing, and the most depressing part: “Choose.” People choose insignificance.

So what have you done lately? What have you done that isn’t centered on yourself, that makes a positive difference in another life, that makes the world better?

Anything significant?

What have you done that isn’t the choice of a grazing animal, a sheep?

What are you doing with your life? Are you pleased with the legacy you will leave? Are you happy with what someone will write about you after you are gone? “He had fun” isn’t so great, you know.

Does the thought of standing to give an account before God scare you?

God has called us to himself, to be his, to represent him in the world. It’s an honor high beyond our imagining. He has called us — his own — to be an essential part of redeeming the world that is his and was stolen away.

But we’d rather play games. Little kids’ games. And we pretend they’re real life.
We live in a little, fake, cartoony world, a world of our own devising. And we try to convince ourselves that, man, this is really living! We’ve got a good thing going!

But it isn’t. And we don’t. And deep inside, we know it. Deep inside, we know that there has to be more. Our pain and our tears have to mean something.
We want to be more than sheep. It just can’t be we live, we die, and nobody cares.

So what are you doing that matters?

Thousands of children die of starvation every day. Every day. While the western world becomes a place of obese, self-indulgent brats. What are you doing about it?

Millions of people live on the edge of disaster, one failed harvest away from starvation. Millions more have no clean water to drink. How would you do, drinking water from polluted rivers, lakes and ponds? They don’t do well, either. They get sick. They die young.

What are you doing about it?

If you were born anywhere on earth as a “person of color,” your chance for quality education and a quality life are far less. No fault of your own. Only because of where you were born. Or the color of your skin. You could look forward to bad schools if you had schools at all, and a bigger chance of dying young than going to college. This is simply wrong, and our hearts should break from it.

What are you doing about it?

These are huge problems of injustice. But many of them are solvable. And if they are solvable, we have a moral responsibility before God to do something about them. But we can’t do it living selfish lives.

So what are you going to do? Nothing?

One day, we will all stand before God. “Give an account.” For some of us, that will be a very bad day.

According to the Bible, we were created to do good works. Works God planned for us in advance.

What are you going to do about it?

*****

Tutor school children • volunteer in a literacy program • volunteer at a hospital • volunteer at a nursing home • volunteer to work with AIDS patients • repair houses for those who are unable • deliver meals to elderly shut-ins • adopt orphans via Compassion International and similar organizations • volunteer at a school as a teacher’s assistant • mentor a child • give money to organizations that are making a difference in solving social problems • volunteer at a homeless shelter • join an organization assisting refugees • help buy medical supplies for disadvantaged people

• stop living as if the world revolved around you and your whims

• invest your life in something bigger than you