One thing Christians always hear from Atheists goes something like this- “I don’t need to believe in God (i.e. the invisible Sky-Daddy) to be a moral person.”
They are exactly right. Anyone can exhibit moral behaviors whether they believe in God or not. In fact, I know atheists who are outwardly more moral than many Christians I know. I know atheists who behave more nobly and generously than I ever have. Atheists can show good moral character without believing in God, but no one can be good WITHOUT God.
Atheists are like fish who take pride in their ability to swim while denying the existence of the water that holds them up. Fish don’t believe in anything. Their brains have no awareness of the incredible hydrodynamic properties of H2O that makes their flight possible. They just swim, some better than others. Their belief in the existence of water, or lack thereof, has no effect on their ability to glide freely through the ocean to their next meal.
Like the very real water in the oceans, there is a very real law-giver and common grace that gives the Atheist his moral conscience. Just as every breath is a gift of God, so is every prompting of the internal moral law He has written on our hearts.
We don’t invite the Atheist into belief so he can be moral. We invite the Atheist into belief so he can be saved and fulfilled by the loving, personal, author of it all. Come join us, all you fish!
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Yeah, I think the complacency you brought up here in the USA doesn’t just include atheists, but also Christians as well, (please don’t bring up “true” Christians), not only the USA, but also much of the western world. I knew a German friend who was here in the on a job assignment for a few years, who told me that one of the greatest mission fields is Germany, the land of Luther as well as other European countries. Beautiful, giant centuries old cathedrals that sit empty week after week.
Missionaries who have visited our church who work in Africa, report of the people they’ve witnessed to and converted to Christ, pack the little primitive buildings they use as churches, every week.
I agree. One of the Iranian women interviewed said the Western church is asleep… very sobering.