Ask a Christian if they would live their life the same way they do now if they knew for certain there was no heavenly reward for doing so, and no hellish punishments for not doing so, and watch as their mind begins doing cartwheels as they try to come up with reasons why they think they would.
But if it is true that the Christian would live the same life they are living now, even without a hope for reward or to avoid the threat of hell, then what reason does the Christian have for thinking they deserve to be rewarded with heaven for living as they do? And why does the Christian likewise think that others deserve to be punished with eternal hell for daring to live differently than the Christian?
The incentive to live a certain way that comes from hopes of heaven and fear of hell cannot be separated from how the Christian views the life they have chosen, versus a life they may otherwise have chosen if there was no hope for heaven or fear of hell. Without such hope or fear, would Christians engage in homosexual relationships that they now avoid? According to their own logic, they are suggesting the would. They are also saying they would also prefer to be engaging in acts that they currently refrain from engaging in, like rape and murder and stealing and such.
Can the Christian think of any reason why they would NOT engage in acts of rape and murder outside of a fear they will be punished with hell or rewarded with heaven? If they can, then those are the same reasons atheists do not engage in such acts. Plato called it having a conscience. A conscience would create an inner hell for the person riddled with regret for having engaging in such horrible acts. In Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment," for example, we see how this occurs when a man who engages in murder for all the right reasons is nevertheless haunted by his crime so much he becomes physically ill.
On the other hand, if the Christian cannot think of any reason for why they would not engage in rape and murder without the fear of hell or the hope for heaven to keep them in check, then they are saying that it is not the acts or rape and murder that they abhor, but the punishment or reward that they expect to receive for performing such acts. Notice how the focus is not on how the acts of rape and murder effects the victim of the crime, but only the consequence to the perpetrator. There is no empathy for who is being raped and murdered from this perspective, only for what will occur to the Christian if they engage in rape and murder. Such a morality amounts to narcissism of the Christian's eternal lot masquerading as altruism for others, who are merely the means by which the Christian achieves the true object of their desire - avoiding hell and winning heaven.
And that's the problem. Christians tortured and burned witches because they did not care or feel for those they murdered, but focused instead on their own reward in heaven for fighting "evil" by burning witches and heretics, who they "believed" were pawns of the devil, even as Christian were acting like the devil toward those they saw as such pawns. The indifference Christians showed toward those they burned alive as witches and heretics is the same indifference they show to those they expect, or even hope, will be tortured by their God in hell, for all eternity. How then does this not make such Christian looks exactly like Ted Bundy or Jack the ripper in their indifference toward such victims?
Or, right, because in the Christians mind, those their God tortures for all eternity clearly deserve it. And for believing so, the Christian expects they deserves no less than eternal pleasure. But Houston, we have a problem.
To expect a better life than the one you are living is to admit that the life you are living is a burden that is only with enduring if, and only if, there is a reward for having bore than burden. And to believe that life is a burden that can only be bore by "believing" you will be rewarded for having done so, lest life have no meaning worth living for, is not to have gratitude for the life one has. It is only to have gratitude for the life one expects to earn after they die for suffering through this life, which they see as woefully inferior to the one they expect to earn through their obedience to their religion.
"Why be moral if you do not believe in God?" the Christian so often asks, as if being moral is a burden from which they wish they could free themselves, and for which they expect to be rewarded for being bound by. Such a question suggests the Christian would much rather be immoral than moral, and yet they only act within the confines of morality because they fear hell and hope for heaven.
Notice that when the Christian then believes that avoiding hell and earning heaven requires them to act immorally toward unbelievers, whether those "unbelievers" are Muslims during the Crusades or witches or heretics, suddenly the Christian's desire to be immoral is unleashed from its restrictions, and the Christian then proceeds to be as immoral as they wish, in the name of defending their brand of morality as issued by their God.
Comments
Post a Comment