Worldviews: There is no God - Atheistic materialism

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - TRUTH

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

There is no God - or gods. Atheistic materialism

"God is the DNA code"
Timothy Leary

Reality

This material universe is what is really real. As Carl Sagan, astrophysicist and populariser of science puts it, "The cosmos is all that is or all that ever will be." The present scientific view of how the universe came into being, now taught in major universities worldwide, is that it all came into existence with a "big bang" some billions of years ago. The atheist would say this was initiated by some physical process as yet unknown.*

Humans

Human consciousness and intelligence developed from chemicals by a long process of chance evolution. Personality developed from impersonal hydrogen atoms. "God is the DNA code," says Timothy Leary. We are all the products of matter, time and chance alone.

How do we know things?

Knowledge is the result of physical processes in our brains. A problem here was well expressed by Professor Haldane as follows: "If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motion of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true...and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms." If my self-awareness, intelligence and ability to make choices is something more than just the movement of atoms in my brain, then, according to the materialist view, this self-awareness has somehow come about only as the result of physical processes.

"Human destiny is an episode between two oblivions"
Ernest Nagel

Meaning

As there is no intelligent being who planned it all, life only has what meaning we humans choose to give it. Some would give it no meaning. Samuel Beckett's play Breath is a 35-second play that has no human actors. The props are a pile of rubbish on the stage, lit by a light which begins to dim, brightens (but never fully) and then recedes to dimness. There are no words, only a "recorded" cry opening the play, an inhaled breath, an exhaled breath and an identical "recorded" cry closing the play. For Beckett life is such a "breath".

Death

Death is the end of our personal existence - blotto! "Human destiny," Ernest Nagel confesses in Naturalism Reconsidered, "[is] an episode between two oblivions."

Morality and values

Right and wrong are merely what we decide for ourselves as humans, either individually or in groups. Usually it is the majority decision that wins the day.

History

History has no ultimate purpose. We have to make the most of what we have got. In the end, this planet will certainly burn up or freeze and that will be the end of everything.

Atheism is a relative newcomer to the historical scene in any significant measure, but now appears to be in decline. Statistician David Barrett says that since 1970 the number of atheists has dropped from 4.6% of world population to 3.8% (222 million). He predicts continuing decline.

*For a look at the development of the Big Bang theory, and its implications for Christian beliefs, see my booklet The Complementary Nature of Science and Christianity.